What do Humphrey Bogart, Crazy Stupid Love, Katherine Hepburn and The Talented Mr Ripley have in common? Punters attending the Wendall Thomas Talks Scripts and Adrian Wootton Talks Mavericks series will find out.
Organised by the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Industry Programs Unit, which stages film financing event MIFF 37ºSouth Market and the Accelerator emerging director workshop, the Wendall Thomas Talks Scripts and Adrian Wootton Talks Mavericks series are ticketed events open to the general public – be they film or media students, aspiring or existing screen practitioners, film aficionados or just the plain curious.
Former British Film Institute and London Film Festival Director Adrian Wootton returns exclusively to Melbourne for another series of his acclaimed Illustrated Film Talks, this year celebrating major screen culture mavericks, spies and tough guys. For more details, see http://miffindustry.com/adrian-wootton-2014
Presented by MIFF 37ºSouth Market & Accelerator, the Wootton Talks Mavericks series comprises:
HUMPHREY BOGART: Tough Guy & Romantic Hero (Thurs 7 August: 5pm to 6.30pm)
A late developing actor, Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) went from second-rank, tough guy gangster roles to become one of Hollywood’s greatest romantic movie hero icons. With a plethora of clips, Wootton explores Bogart’s life and career and the behind-the-series stories of classic movies such as Casablanca, The Big Sleep & The African Queen.
PATRICIA HIGHSMITH: From Strangers to Ripley (Fri 8 August: 5pm to 6.30pm)
One of the 20th century’s most influential crime and suspense novelists, the 20 novels of the publicity-shy Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) inspired numerous screen adaptations including Alfred Hitchcock famously filming her first novel Strangers on a Train and her series of Ripley stories, plus recent release The Two Faces of January. Examining the significance of Highsmith’s work, Wootton plays clips from various adaptations and footage of a rarely-seen documentary about her and recounts his own encounter with the legendary writer.
JOHN LE CARRE: Spy to Page to Celluloid (Saturday 9 August: 10.30am to 12 noon)
John Le Carre (aka David Cornwall) is one of the world's greatest living spy thriller/espionage novelists. His acclaimed and popular body of work has spawned celebrated screen adaptations, ranging from 1965’s The Spy Who Came in From The Cold to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and, most recently, A Most Wanted Man. Wootton looks at Le Carre's fascinating life (including a stint as a spy), his glittering career and the many classic filmed versions of his books, and describes his own experiences meeting and interviewing Le Carre.
KATHERINE HEPBURN: A Maverick’s Diamond Career (Sunday 10 August: 10.30am to 12 noon)
With a career lasting more than 60 years, Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars and the long-time on-and-off-screen romantic companion of Spencer Tracey. Wootton traces the life and sparkling career of this independent and strong-willed intelligent actress, who defied studio bosses and social convention, and plays clips from some of Hepburn's greatest roles like Bringing Up Baby, The African Queen and On Golden Pond.
Celebrated LA-based developer, writer and lecturer Wendall Thomas, who has written and developed projects for the likes of Disney, Warners, Paramount and Universal, returns exclusively to Melbourne for more of her popular series unlocking the secrets of films’ script structure with a series of four standalone all-day seminars. For more details, see http://miffindustry.com/wendall-thomas-2014
Presented by MIFF 37ºSouth Market & Accelerator, the Wendall Thomas Talks Scripts series comprises:
GENRE: THE ROAD TO BROMANCE – Writing the Buddy Film (Mon 4 August, 9.30am-4.30pm).
Beginning with classic duos like Laurel and Hardy, recent box office successes like 21 Jump Street and The Heat prove that the “Buddy” film is as viable as ever, with the likes of Some Like it Hot, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend, Thelma & Louise, Men in Black, The Wedding Crashers, and Australian classics Gallipoli, Muriel’s Wedding and Proof continuing and expanding the tradition. This session outlines how to create memorable, polarized characters, how to face the challenges of dual protagonist structure, and how to deliver (or consciously subvert) the classic conventions audiences expect from this enduring genre.
CHARACTER: MENTORS, TRICKSTERS & PAUL GIAMATTI – Writing Unforgettable Secondary Characters (Tue 5
Aug, 9.30am-4.30pm). This year’s supporting actor Oscar nominees demonstrate the vital part supporting characters play in the best screenplays. It’s hard to imagine Dallas Buyers Club without Jared Leto’s Rayon, who joins a pantheon including Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, Jackie Weaver in Animal Kingdom, Armin Mueller-Stahl in Shine and countless other films. This session explores how to create and use secondary characters to incite and complicate plots, illuminate aspects of the script’s protagonist, and echo and modernize classical archetypes like the mentor, the shape-shifter, and the trickster.
SCENE BY SCENE: MULTI-PROTAGONIST STRUCTURE – Crazy Stupid Love (Wed 6 August, 9.30am-4.30pm).
Multi-protagonist structure is always challenging and Crazy Stupid Love offers a perfect case study. This seminar breaks-down Dan Fogelman’s complex romantic comedy scene-by-scene, examining the structure of all 11 storylines and the ways they intersect, discussing economical ways to create memorable characters and character arcs, and finding the overall three-act structure and theme which hold the entire script together.
STORY & STRUCTURE: THE VITAL FIRST ACT: "Grab ‘em by the throat and never let them go.” (Thurs 7 August, 9.30am-4.30pm) Billy Wilder said if there's a problem in the third act, there's a problem in the first act. This session focuses exclusively on the all-important set-up of story, character, genre and tone, drawing on numerous film examples; and examines the importance of the inciting incident and how it relates to the climax of the script, creating empathy with the protagonist; the economical set-up of the script’s world and central conflicts; as well as the pivotal first act break decision which starts the story in earnest; and resisting the impulse to force too much exposition, subplots, and characters into the first 30 pages.
For more details, visit http://miffindustry.com/adrian-wootton-2014 or http://miffindustry.com/wendall-thomas-2014