This Savage Art » Inspiration

Be Bold

William Speruzzi — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:09:56 +0000

After yesterday’s screenings of Badlands and The New World at the Museum of the Moving Image I got into a frenzied conversation about film that usually follows these things. An acquaintance asked me why did I think the films of 70′s Hollywood were more adventurous and my response was “Because everyone was coked up.” As flippant as that response was there is some truth at its core. What I was trying to say was everyone was looser with their ambitions, creative and otherwise. Wild ideas were explored, fostered and yes, they did make a profit, until they didn’t. With the unveiling of Terrence Malick’s new film The Tree of Life at Cannes today there is (if there isn’t a rumor, I’m starting one now) an undercurrent of hope that this film might, just might begin a trend of filmmaking in this country that’s not about reboots or comic book adaptations. It might just be the cinephile’s version of the blockbuster. Hyperbole aside, Malick is an adventurous filmmaker, maybe one of the purest and boldest working filmmakers in America now so let’s use him as inspiration.

Be bold. Some of the best advice I’ve gotten from a fellow screenwriter.

As I enter the Television Writing Intensive next Monday and stay immersed for six weeks I’ll keep these words in mind. I’ll be concentrating on a one-hour drama pilot that by the end of the course will be a fully realized outline. Does it matter that I don’t know what I’m going to do with a one-hour pilot when I’m done with it? No. This one’s about the getting there. The journey. A boost to the system.

So yes, be bold. Write those scenes. Bring something new to the table. Take a chance.

Desperate times, ya dig?

Salinger

William Speruzzi — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:22:46 +0000

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.

Viscera

William Speruzzi — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:02:19 +0000

I guess it’s always been my thinking that following trends in the industry is like pushing a rock uphill. Unless you can literally crank out a polished flavor-of-the-month screenplay in two months and ride the current wave it seems really difficult to gauge. Don’t get me wrong, I will probably die a miserable failure at this (my usual sunny outlook) but when I see someone do something that blows my mind it makes me feel like I should always follow my gut and write what turns me on.

If what turns you on is what is selling and will sell for the next ten years then I guess you really don’t have anything to bitch about but until we all get to that point I think creating what you want to not what you need to is always the way to go. I’m dying to write something fast and furious that flows out of me. Not be so precious. Who cares if it sells. Just to free me up. I have folders full of orphaned concepts. Maybe the time is now?

William Eggleston At The Whitney

William Speruzzi — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:54:58 +0000

From Gothamist:

The Whitney has just opened Eggleston’s first New York museum solo show since his MoMA debut. Called “William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008,” the expansive retrospective covers the beginnings of his career some fifty years ago to the present day, and includes more than 150 photographs, some never-before-exhibited, as well as the rarely screened video diary of Eggleston’s “legendary nocturnal wanderings,” Stranded in Canton.

Eggleston’s work has informed such filmmaker’s as David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola and many others. Make a note to attend.

Anything For John

William Speruzzi — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:27:14 +0000

No one can break your heart like he can.

A special thanks to PeraShsh for creating the tribute 100 Faces of John Cassavetes. [Hat tip: BSLS]