Flutterby™! : Mamet on writing drama

Mamet on writing drama

2010-03-25 22:30:41.972318+01 by Dan Lyke 1 comments

David Mamet's Master Class Memo to the Writers of The Unit

[ related topics: Writing ]

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#Comment Re: made: 2010-03-26 15:33:08.032506+01 by: petronius

Best comment from the link: ABW = Always Be Writing

Its interesting how in Mamet's other works he either uses or violates these laws. often this is because he is foremost a stage dramatist, even when he's doing film or TV. In House of Games there's a scene where the protagonist listens in on a conversation by others that show how much she has been fooled. The conversation itself is a stage convention, the idea that other people in the barroom can't hear these guys discuss an illegal venture. Of course, if you have half a brain you have already figured out what's going on. (I remember whacking my wife's arm in the movie house when it suddenly dawned on me.) In his movie The Spanish Prisoner the object of desire is a pure McGuffin, you never find out what it is, but the plot is pure adreniline-powered conflict and resoultion.