This Savage Art

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So much will be written. So many will wax poetic but in the end he had the last word. Living in obscurity, eating his frozen peas and keeping a death lock on his privacy he gave no one the right to interpret his world. Producers tried and tried and tried yet failed. It’s good to know that a man who gave us so much kept his talents from being possibly tarnished. It’s also comforting to know that in the world we live in not everyone is for sale.

A quick note about influence. The story A Perfect Day For Bananafish was an indirect influence for my short film The Face of the Earth. It may seem far removed from its inspiration but it really isn’t. It’s still about a tortured soul whose suppressed inner life to the world and to the people closest to him took him to a point of no return. In light of the event, one really wonders what Salinger was keeping from us. Maybe he was just tired of our frivolous ways.

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I think I’m a pretty smart guy. Not a Mensa member by any stretch but I have commons sense, can change a flat tire, know how to order a bottle of wine, can talk my way out of a traffic ticket and can count to ten in four languages. So I put this question to you fine readers, what is an MFA worth out there in the film industry with the state of things as they are?

I have been wrestling with the thought of going back to school and getting a Masters in Fine Arts. There are only two schools I’m applying to and I couldn’t have picked a better time. The deadline for both is December 1st. There’s the NYU Graduate Program — Tisch School of the Arts. World renowned. The film world elite have been students or have taught there — Spike, Marty, Jim and Oliver.  It’s a big program and the price tag is just as big. The other obvious New York City choice is Columbia, a school that has always been know for a solid screenwriting program and beyond. When I was taking some Continuing Education courses at NYU way back when, the general consensus was that if you wanted to direct you went to NYU and if you wanted to write you went to Columbia. Not sure how true that was then and how true it is now.

There are a few concerns here, money being one of them. There’s no way I could afford NYU on my own without any financial assistance and that doesn’t include making films, that’s out of pocket. Going through the bursars website I found out that a three year program, at about $20,000 a term, comes to approximately $150,000. That is including a modest budget for student films. Very modest.

The Columbia University MFA cost is slightly less. The first two years are all coursework, no film production at all, and it’s approximately $50,000 followed by thesis years which are about $3,000 a semester for a Screenwriting concentration. Big difference from the Tisch program but I know that NYU has invested a lot into their film department. I’m not sure how the Columbia Directing Program really stacks up.

I guess a big reason why I’m applying is maybe because I’m craving the need to be immersed in something I deeply care about and still want to improve at. I’ve spent the last year and a half caring for my son while Linda toils away in the coal mines. I feel out of loop and this could be a way to get back in. Besides, the film industry is in a complete state of panic and flux. Maybe now would be the time to do this.

I’m definitely applying to both. The decision of whether I go or not will be made when the time comes. The decision might be made for me for all I know. I would appreciate anyone who wants to leave a comment about their MFA/Film Program experience at either one of these two schools or any film school for that matter.

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Lived with the last version but it has to be black. Just has to.

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On the meaning of “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”:

It’s fine to keep that open because each audience has the privilege to see it in his or her way. But I think it’s basically a new form of film noir… The climate of time is favorable for film noir. When there is insecurity in things like the financial system collapsing. It’s always in these moments, as an echo, that you see film noir coming up.

You heard it people. Herr Herzog said it so it must be true. Any producers want to capture the moment and strike while the iron is hot I have a very relevant crime drama screenplay that takes place in New York City, noir capital of the world.

Any takers? Anyone? Anyone? [cricket]

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Office art.

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John Hughes was 59.

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Palookaville.

We have lost one of the great titans of literature and screenwriting. Writer of Elia Kazan’s corruption exposé On The Waterfront and the powerhouse insider’s guide to Hollywood backstabbing What Makes Sammy Run?, Budd Schulberg was literally born into the business by being son of B. P. Schulberg, head of Paramount Pictures and Adeline Jaffe-Schulberg, sister to agent/film producer Sam Jaffe.

What a life. Take a look at excerpts from this online documentary.

“The only novelist to come from Hollywood, not go to Hollywood.”

Updated. [Hat tip to Scott Myers.]

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