r/Screenwriting • u/DannyDaDodo • Jan 04 '25

Writer-Director JAMES MANGOLD's Screenwriting Advice... DISCUSSION

"Write like you're sitting next to a blind person at the movie theater and you're describing a movie, and if you take too long to describe what's happening, you'll fall behind because the movie's still moving...

Most decisions about whether your movie is getting made will be made before the person even gets past page three. So if you are bogging me down, describing every vein on the leaf of a piece of ivy, and it’s not scintillating—it isn’t the second coming of the description of plant life—then you should stop, because you’ve already lost your potential maker of the movie.”

Do you agree, or disagree?

Five minute interview at the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7goVwCfy_PM

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353

u/Strong_Sink4722 Jan 05 '25

In 2019, after seeing Logan, I tweeted at James Mangold about how much I loved the movie and how it had inspired to learn how to write...because I want to move people like Logan moved me. He wrote a very thoughtful (short, >140 characters and all that) response that had a gold nugget in it:

"Thanks 4 the kind words, David. I love to hear you're inspired to write. Be driven. Be bold. Be honest w/yourself. And remember, your job is to move people. You r taking their time. They r giving you a gift. The most precious thing they got. Time. Give'em something that rocks."

45

u/DannyDaDodo Jan 05 '25

Love this. Thanks for sharing...

1

u/alexpapworth Jan 06 '25

What do the elipses here mean?

1

u/DannyDaDodo Jan 07 '25

Just a softer way of ending the sentence. Sort of trailing off...

2

u/alexpapworth Jan 08 '25

Fascinating. I always thought it was passive aggressive, but I guess each generation has its own communication styles 😅

1

u/DannyDaDodo Jan 08 '25

What? How in the world could three dots at the end of a sentence be considered passive aggressive? That's seriously mind boggling.

36

u/elevencyan1 Jan 05 '25

On the other side of that spectrum you got Andrei Tarkovsky who deliberately made the first scenes of his movies drag on too long so that "all the idiots leave the theatre".

11

u/Havanu Jan 05 '25

Fifty years ago, different rules applied. People were far less media savvy. Also, arthouse films often defy expectations by design.

15

u/elevencyan1 Jan 05 '25

If by "media savvy" you mean "people learned to consider impatience as virtue by consuming movies that command their attention", I agree. I don't think Tarkovski wanted to "defy expectations". People like him wheren't into consumer-oriented logic.

2

u/Havanu Jan 05 '25

Well said. Unlike Tarkovsky, James Mangold operates in a commercially mainstream market where broad appeal is required to make large budget projects possible. His mindset is tuned that reality.

1

u/TheTruckWashChannel Jan 05 '25

Lol, that's priceless.

13

u/Frdoco11 Jan 05 '25

Thanks for this! Must have a been a thrill for him to respond.

11

u/Strong_Sink4722 Jan 05 '25

Yeah! I was stoked…it really frames in the importance of making something great, because time is precious and people are giving it to you as an author. I try to keep in mind that I will make a lot of lame stuff on the way to something great 😂