david j greenberg
My belief is that a film begins with the screenplay, a coherent statement containing a beginning, middle and end that all relate to one another. Today, more than ever before, filmmakers have a wealth of technology readily available to them but all the special effects and software programs in the world cannot make up for a faulty foundation, a lack of content, a story that is simply not “there.” The great Orson Welles once observed that the difference between filmmakers and all other artists is that filmmakers usually do not have access to all of the resources needed to make a film. Nearly fifty years later, as the digital age was dawning, Francis Ford Coppola stated that with filmmaking technology now within relatively easy reach of almost anyone, the form had, at last become democratic. So, it is true, now filmmaking is an art form that can be pursued by the masses. “Anyone can do it” but, I ask, how many know how to do it well? A screenplay is the instruction manual for a film. Actors deliver the lines and tell the story. Directors conduct the action and create the mood and pace. Cinematographers make the pictures that pull us into the characters and situations. All of these elements come from the screenplay. It is no longer enough to make a film that is merely good. Film is a public, commercial art. Film succeeds when people see it. In order to make successful films, we need to make films that people will want to see. david greenberg