tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post4107224350068086982..comments2024-03-07T20:15:45.996-08:00Comments on The Bitter Script Reader: How much can I assume my audience knows about the clasics?The Bitter Script Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575166527272639709noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-27437834315511478492013-05-09T08:36:59.487-07:002013-05-09T08:36:59.487-07:00It's a delicate balance deciding how much info...It's a delicate balance deciding how much information is enough. While the audience needs to know enough to grasp characters' motivations, you don't want to info-dump on them. As Rod Serling said, "Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are."<br /><br />As true is this is, they still need to be informed. One can be intelligent yet still ignorant.Wolf Lahtihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02224957365394425997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-36902296943050515012013-05-09T08:02:49.162-07:002013-05-09T08:02:49.162-07:00I may be the exception that proves the rule, but I...I may be the exception that proves the rule, but I'm under eighteen and I've been watching/reading classic movies, tv, and books for years. I've seen the entirety of Star Trek TNG and DS9, my favorite movie is Billy Wilder's The Apartment, and I just finished listening to E.M. Forster's 'A Room with a View' on Audible.<br />I think that what you're saying is partly true, but becoming less so as DVDs and services like Netflix give younger audiences easy access to classic films that they missed.<br />For example, even though it went of the air over a decade before I was born, I've recently become a fan of M*A*S*H via Netflix.<br />I think there have always been people who will read/watch the classics, and people who won't. It's not a generation-specific phenomena.<br /><br />BTW, thanks BSR for answering my question! I'll start adding exposition to my screenplay ASAP.The Comic Scholarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14360969009688090857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-32968472293204118382013-05-09T06:59:40.003-07:002013-05-09T06:59:40.003-07:00Plenty of food for thought there and I totally agr...Plenty of food for thought there and I totally agree that both the diet and eating habits of the viewers have changed.<br /><br />In my twenties I was watching movies three sometimes four times at the theatre, but then it was a 12 month wait for a vhs release.<br /><br />Society today is way to disposable, digital downloads and usb sticks being passed around in schools makes movies less special, much less of an experience. When we were young you got what you were given and thrived on it, for every Casablance or African Queen I was also soaking up Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, Ealing Comedies and even Harold Lloyd.<br /><br />On a positive note I just came home from Star Trek and immediately wanted to re-watch it, at the theatre, something I have not felt in a long time. Possibly since the first time I got chills watching Jurassic Park in 93.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15180520342079092313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-47765773793624562572013-05-09T01:26:56.018-07:002013-05-09T01:26:56.018-07:00I couldn't agree with you more about most of t...I couldn't agree with you more about most of these points, although I do believe there are still plenty of good films being made. Perhaps that is in spite of the foundation you referred to?<br /><br />A curious and encouraging observation I've noticed is that when you can actually get younger people to sit down and watch a "classic" movie" (Capra, Wilder,etc...) they usually enjoy it. Sure, the characters don't translate into action figures but I believe that if this generation is given opportunities to see more story-driven films, they will respond to them and make them profitable. And maybe it will be an experience once again.Waves of Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17441593487387142147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-11112788871858161192013-05-09T00:54:02.390-07:002013-05-09T00:54:02.390-07:00Pfft, the kids in my film school haven't seen ...Pfft, the kids in my film school haven't seen most popular movies of the 80's or the 90's, let alone read, or seen "Les Mis" prior to Wolverine's version.<br /><br />I think it is totally safe to assume that if the audience is 30 years old, or under, they probably won't get any references to anything. The primary reason is information overload, and secondly movies are no longer experienced, but watched, and then literally evaporate. Think of most of the Oscar winners in the past ten years. Does anyone really want to watch most/any of those movies again?<br /><br />I've got a friends roughly half my age, who are in their early-mid twenties that have never seen any Star Trek episodes ever. EVER. Why is this? Because the last series (Voyager) went off the air before 9/11, when they were kids. This same "Generation Text" missed most of the classic Simpsons era (Up to Season 8), and really has missed mostly everything funny prior to movies like "Anchorman" and "Stepbrothers."<br /><br />But it is ironic this generation's aversion to New Star Wars. This can probably be attributed to that their parents are primarily Gen Xers who probably did the Romulan "There are four lights" test on their kids to make sure they understood how/why the prequels sucked.<br /><br />It's almost scary as I get older how the newer generations know so little about -any- history, let alone the classics, whether they be novels, t.v., or movie. This is why the new Star Trek movie was a success. Aside from Gen X (and older), there really wasn't any fanbase anymore. About less than ten years ago it used to be "Oh, you've never seen "Three's Company, or Taxi, or M.A.S.H.?" Now it's, "Oh, you've never seen Star Trek, or anything prior to Jurassic Park"<br /><br />This is only going to get worse. The current foundation of film is f'ing terrible. Movies today are made solely on attachments, product placement, baroque statistics, and whether or not the marketing department gives the green light. Movies today aren't being made to be re-watched, or experienced. They are being made only as product.Neilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16058601442026855932noreply@blogger.com