Story Seminar

this film has sooooo many layers to it its mind blowing,
people dont realize it
one example (a minor one) is simply how he screams out about voiceover and how bad it is, and thats actually charlie kauffman making a direct comment on himself, because the nicholas cage is actual in the middle OF a voiceover when brian cox screams out about how voiceovers are bad. this film is brilliant

I do love this scene. McKee is right too. How can anyone argue with what he just said?
Well said Mr. Mckee (um, I mean Mr. Kaufman)..lol

Theory is just a jump-off to real world application. Funny to see theorists so certain about choices & methods AFTER the sausage has been made. They seem oblivious to compromises made because a generator blew and you had to save the shot by going with handheld light, etc. Working writers, producers and even execs may touch base with the theory as sort of a palette-cleanse/get back to basics, use a few, discard the rest. But spout McKee in a production meeting and people will go, "Um, yeah..."

concur. Charlie's self-indulgent navel gazing script was quite the rage for us struggling screenwriters back 2002.  That alligator was the perfect antidote.

"Self-indulgent navel gazing..." Doesn't the holy "write about what you know" edict imply that all effective writing will be navel-gazing?

His work does usually focus on only one person's experience. The rest of the ensemble always seems left out in the cold. This is probably what makes the scripts seem "self-indulgent." But I think this guy is a genius.

Yes. A genius. My copy of SYNECDOCHE arrives tomorrow. Mind feast is imminent.

Right on my friend! Enjoy it well. Well "enjoy" is a strange word, since It is a very serious piece. But there are some very serious actors at work in it. Philip Seymour Hoffman does very well. Also, Emily Watson and Samantha Morton are both in it! So I was guaranteed to love that. Great actors. The little girl actor is a gem, too.

Big fan of all of them. Tom Noonan is also awesome. A great movie he made called "What Happened Was..." is worth locating. There is a small clip here on yt.

I saw the clip you mention. It looked good. He is very good in the Charlie Kaufman piece too. He seems to give very thoughtful, understated performances, such as Richard Jennings is capable of.

I do too!