What happened to great storytelling?

In the film Major League (1989), a beautifully simple premise underlies a magnificently structured plot. The unlikely heiress to the long beleaguered Cleveland Indians baseball club plots to assemble a team so pathetic that it’s inevitably horrible performance will justify moving the franchise to Miami, where she would rather live. The resulting collection of rag-tag, washed-up ball players first collides but then bonds. Then they uncover their boss’s ploy. Damned if they don’t rise above their mediocrity to win the pennant in an epic showdown with their long time nemesis, the New York Yankees. (It’s a bit late for a spoiler alert, I suppose, but the film is more than twenty years old.)

Watching the film or reading its script, you will find not a shred of unnecessary dialogue. Everything either sets up or executes a gag while advancing character and driving action. It’s a story about second chances, redemption and the prevalence of love. It’s a classically written screenplay that contains themes of which audiences never tire, dating back to Shakespeare and then before. Continue reading What happened to great storytelling?

Slightly scuffed-up cover and folded corners

What follows is an email I recently sent to my brother Stephen. I thought you might get a kick out of it.

Dear Stephen,

I have finished Zen and the Art of Screen Writing, and am able to kindly return it at mutual convenience. It was a fantastic read; thank you so much for lending it to me.

Please pardon the slightly scuffed-up cover and folded corners. I tend to read on the subway, where books are banged about, bookmarks scarce.

Wait, I need to cop to one other thing: There’s a big coffee stain spanning pages 14 and 15. This ol’ Starbucks junkie just wasn’t paying enough attention that day. There’s also a good deal of coffee spillage on the cover, rendering the title and author illegible. This is of no concern to you, of course, as you already know full well what book it is and who wrote it.

Come to think of it, please excuse any notes I’ve made in the margins. You know, those little notations we all make in the margins of an inspiring book? I did a fair amount of that, jotting down quotes and references. You may even find the odd unrelated scribble. I’m quite sure there’s more than a few games of hangman in there, not to mention one or two grocery lists and a map of my neighborhood. Continue reading Slightly scuffed-up cover and folded corners