I ask questions

Michael Blowhard wrote:

I thought Robert McKee's how-to-write-screenplays book Story (buyable here ) was a more interesting book about the movies than any volume of film criticism I've read in recent years. Really: I thought it was eye-opening and brilliant.

I ask:

Do you (anyone?) think that McKee's seminar would be of interest even if one has absolutely NO intent to write a screenplay? I mean, would it give one sufficient insight into creating movies so that watching movies would be more fun?

My reasoning is simple. I am absolutely sure that a 3-day seminar on "how to develop a building" would be extremely rewarding for anyone who simply likes to look at cities.

Comments

[praktike]

I am absolutely sure that a 3-day seminar on "how to develop a building" would be extremely rewarding for anyone who simply likes to look at cities.

I would love that. A 3-day media placement seminar is another one I'd love.

[Michael Blowhard]

What a great idea, sign me up. How about offering another one on how to make your town or neighborhood a more City Comforts kinda place?

[Carl Juarez]

Re McKee's seminar (which I sat in on at Microsoft a few years ago), a fair amount of it consists of him dropping names about people in "the industry". (Though now I know Johnny Cochrane's the guy to go to in LA if your son gets into legal trouble.)

The scene-by-scene exegesis of Casablanca is pretty good. Still, in the first day (this was a special two-day abbreviated version) I took only two hundred words of notes, which may give you an idea of how much real information was there. You could learn as much from a good film appreciation course, or a DVD documentary series on American film whose name I can't locate (god how useless IMDB has become), but which is shown here in Seattle on cable channel 12 (a Tacoma PBS station, I believe) on Saturday evenings.

On the other hand, a City Comforts seminar would be a good idea. I think you should look into doing something like that, possibly a Keynote-based presentation.