MasterClass.com caught screenwriters' eyes in a big way last
year when they launched their Aaron Sorkin video tutorial series. For $90, far
cheaper than the cost of most screenwriting classes, we could spend 35 video
lessons with the esteemed writer of A Few Good Men, West Wing, and The Social
Network, to name but a few.
You've gotta hand it to MasterClass. They have assembled a
roster of absolutely top-shelf talent for their video tutorials -- folks like
bestselling author James Patterson teaching writing, Hans Zimmer on composing
and Gordon Ramsay on cooking. Their videos are lavishly produced and yet
intimate -- you really feel like you are in the room with the instructors as
they share their tips, tricks and techniques. Take a minute to browse their
catalog and you will no doubt see several classes you'd like to take.
So how is the Sorkin? In the style of another cinematic
masterpiece, let's break it down:
The Good: Sorkin comes off as thoughtful, easy-going and
overall is a pretty good teacher, with a huge respect for the masters of screenwriting
who came before him. We get a glimpse into his thought processes and his workman-like style of tackling complex story issues -- such as how to write about real-life
people far smarter than he believes himself to be (Steve Jobs, for example.)
And there is a lot of content here as well. The lessons are structured in three
distinct parts: first, one on one with Aaron, wherein he pontificates on various
screenwriting-related topics. In the second section he workshops scripts with
five students in a classroom setting. And in the final section, he sets up a
pretend writer's room, and he and the students proceed to "break"
story for a new West Wing episode. This is a great look behind the scenes of
how a TV writers room works and shows how various ideas and story threads are
assembled. There are also a few lessons detailing his dialogue process. It goes
without saying that this is a no-brainer for fans.
The Bad: Those expecting an actual "master"-level
class may be disappointed. While Sorkin himself is unquestionably a master, the
class itself is for beginner to intermediate-level writers. Apart from the sage
advice to go back and read Aristotle's "Poetics," as it is the
foundation of all things story, my partner and I didn't really learn much from
the 5-plus hours of videos. However, we're coming at this from a higher level
than some.
As well, we felt that while Sorkin was super cool and
empowering to the students, some story issues in the workshopped screenplays
were missed -- such as a TV series pitch that probably should have been a
feature, except that it would be "Rain Man," which is why it's a
series pitch -- except it doesn't really work; and another where the concept
was just convoluted and broken. Sorkin did target a few of the logic and
research issues in that case, but the real note should have been to rethink the
premise from the ground up. Although we certainly can't fault him for being a
nice guy.
The Ugly: It goes without saying that Sorkin is a brilliant
writer. But our main criticism of his work -- that many of his characters sound
the same and all speak in that hyper-stylized patter -- also applies to what he
teaches. In fact he actually tells us not to write character bios, because that
may get in the way of the character saying what you want them to say. That is probably not the best advice and goes to the heart of the problem just mentioned. It results
in what we call "non-character-specific dialogue." You should always
have a solid idea of your characters and their backstory, because that informs
how they speak/behave. In contrast to what Sorkin says, in theory your
characters indeed have existed before the movie began. All those life
experiences, along with socio/economic status, country of origin/ethnicity,
quirks, tics, idiosyncrasies and personality, etc., should inform their
dialogue.
He also talks about using page count as a metric to where
you should be in your story at any given time, which is great. However, his
scripts can run 180-200 pages or more, and that is because they are so
dialogue-heavy. In his original draft of "The American President," Annette
Bening's character didn't even arrive in the story until the second half of the
script -- page 100! Could you imagine if you or I turned in such a draft to a
studio? We'd never work again. No wonder all his characters sound the same.
When you've got to cram 180 pages of dialogue into a 2-hour movie, that
necessitates characters speaking like Gilmore Girls at 78 rpm. Here in the real world, unless you've already got that amazing reputation, it's tough to get feature scripts over 120 pages read
-- no matter if your script is dialogue or V.O. -heavy or not.
Lastly, Sorkin can take a while to get to a point. There
were times when we'd be shouting out things like "White on the
page!" to summarize what takes him a bit of screen time to explain. That said, his ruminations are interesting and insightful and worth the journey.
Conclusion: Sorkin's
class is a great look into the mind and process of a true master, but don't
expect it to be a master-level class. It is however an affordable and
worthwhile experience for those looking to learn the basics and get a taste of
Sorkin. Just be aware that we are not all at Sorkin's
level, and there are a different set of rules for the likes of us.
(3.5 stars out of 5.)
2 comments:
I found the classroom setting great for ONE video. The majority of the class is in this context & it was very offputting to spend all this time on them...instead of me. Waste of money.
He gives the crux of his secret away in the promo. Just watch it & you've watched enough.
And if you're not a left winger, don't join the FB community (which you PAID to be in) because they just spout his left-wing politics all over the place without anything to do with screenwriting. If you're a lefty, you'll find plenty of commiserators. If you're not, you'll feel attacked even if you don't participate.
He keeps the politics in check for the most part in the videos except for a brief mention of Trump, acknowledging that there may be people in the room who support him. But look, this guy wrote The Newsroom and West Wing so one should have a good idea of his politics going in.
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