Book Review: SCRIPTtease

6StringMercenary
Aug 25, 2017 · 4 min read

Review 2 — August 25, 2017

Script tease by Dylan Callaghan

Summary of the Subject/Material

A collection of 30 excerpts from interviews performed by Dylan Callaghan during work for the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) internal publication, this is focused on Screenwriting. Many Artists interviewed cross into various Media — Music, Radio — or know the Film Industry from several roles — Actor, Director, or Writer, for example. What matters most to this book, and reflects great talent by Dylan Callaghan as an interviewer, is how “on subject” every entry manages in its own way, and therefore pack a great deal of surprises and guidance into a stout accomplishment.

The Best Part About Reading This Book

I’m the type of Film Student who makes sure to check out the Director’s Commentary track for New and Old favorites alike. James Cameron is a lot of fun on “Aliens”, specifically on how to get a cat to hiss on cue (“Stick a cat it doesn’t know in its face, and it will hiss!”), and “Bad Santa” clued me in to how much the dialogue has the fingerprints of Joel and Ethan Coen even while the final product drifted to a different vision. The interviews by Dylan Callaghan definitely fit the profile of a similar type person — knows Film out of Love and Professionalism, knows an Artist’s work well enough to engage with specific questions, and humble enough to apologize if a prompt comes out a bit wrong or could be considered insensitive.

This book brings you into the room with the Artists being interviewed, and because the framing is specific around Writing, it’s basically a collection of stories as told by the people who lived them. Because of the care in the interviewing, there are gems from Sylvester Stallone that can cause a jaw dropping reaction of “Wow, that’s being low down and broke” to Vince Gilligan basically saying “Breaking Bad” was an idea about a way to make a better living than Screenwriting in LA. You know, cook Meth in an RV.

It’s a dose of some of the most potent Writing inspiration available.

The Least Enjoyable Part About Reading This Book

Sometimes talked around in a hushed voice, or other times blasted full-on with a “Come At Me, Bro!” defiance, is the subject of The Studio System and how it affects Film. It’s a familiar tone for any Music Industry Student, because when there’s big Money to be made in Art, the Money starts to matter more. Sitting there, frustrated, are the Film Artists who have to find ways to get their hands on Money because otherwise there is no Film.

As difficult as slogging through complaints about the flawed system might sound, it’s a lot worse getting the sinking feeling that the Studio System version of the Film Industry is so ridiculously incestuous and profit driven that eventually something has to give…and it will probably be the willingness of an Audience to hand over $XX when they can go play in VR in two years.

So there’s a really depressing take-away from the collection, in how much “selection bias” is at play with the interviews. I’m not claiming to be interested in a book of interviews with people who have failed to reach their Creative or Artistic goals as a given, I just get the notion I’m also interested in these stories because of the success contained therein. It’s just a little too much of a “life ain’t fair” reminder.

Level of Difficulty

This is an easy read considering the format of interviews and the concision that packs 30 of them into one volume. Each lead-in to the interview provides useful info about the Subject, no matter how famous, they are great intros. The formatting within the interview material is a little padded for space, but that makes it easier to read as well.

Be careful when reading late at night, because it’s very easy to say “Ahh just one more chapter…” and somehow keep going through three more.

Who is the Ideal Audience?

Writers of all stripes, because Craft as a concept is repeated over and over. Individual approaches can help see that there is no one “Treasure Map” to a goal — sometimes it works, sometimes it needs to be put down for a couple years…Educators would also benefit from studying how these Writing Craft discussions enable Personality and Expression in Art, and how sometimes big lessons and Morality can be part of adapting “The Hunger Games” to Film. Another cross-over is if you like “Cooking Shows” like Hubert Keller — how a Great Chef treats a Meal is similar to a Great Writer treating a Story.

If you’ve watched at least five (5) great films in the past ten (10) years released in the United States, then I’ll bet you’ve seen at least one of the works by one of the people interviewed in the book. It’s that comprehensive, and Film has that kind of impact on people. As an easy type of read, a large audience can enjoy what’s inside.

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