Hill is known for his filmmaking economy, a style more in common with classic Hollywood filmmakers like Howard Hawks and Raoul Walsh than his '70s movie brat peers. Not quite literary, not quite dramatic. If your scripts are well-written and engaging reads, then I’ll read them, but here’s my two cents: do not be an EPIC writer if you can absolutely help it because if you’re an EPIC writer, then, inevitably, a lot will be lost from script to screen because there’s just so much that has been written that can’t be shown visually. Short. The Driver, which I think was the purest script that I ever wrote, and The Warriors. “I tried to write in an extremely spare, almost haiku style, both stage directions and dialogue. Plus, the story was designed to have no simple resolution—a kind of mix of history, nostalgia and speculation. Walter Hill famously said reading Alexander Jacobs’ script of John Boorman’s stylish, even nouvelle-vague influenced 1967 crime film “Point Blank” was revelatory to his process. The audience knows what the conclusion will be, but you still have to entertain them. Is backstory bad? I occasionally use onomatopoeias now, a luxury I would certainly never have allowed myself when I was younger. Narrated. Deleting Your Content: a Subversive Strategy. This is not the norm in Hollywood where effusiveness is generally a given. Longhand. Credits his spare writing style to an enormous influence on him from Alexander Jacobs's script for Point Blank (1967), which he read while initially trying to enter the film industry. Now, if you’re going to do action films, a certain amount of repetition, which certainly is a kind of straitjacket, is inevitable. Some of it was a bit pretentious — but at other times I thought it worked pretty well.”, We’ve discussed writer-director Walter Hill previously here and here. It’s a snapshot of gang violence in a decidedly Carter-era key, both flamboyant and aggressive, socially minded yet kept light (or close) by Hill’s high-style design. Will he live or will he die is the ultimate drama, isn’t it?“Purity is important. I never liked kid fiction much, read adult novels at a very early age, never much liked kid movies either. But the few that really work are sublime. It’s the work they do best and uniquely best. There are the mysteries of the head and heart. Walter Hill and William Goldman are two of my favorites and if you’re going to write screenplays, or if you already are and you want a boost or a shot in the arm—look at the structure, they way they’re written, the style of those two authors—Walter Hill and William Goldman— because between the two of them they account for the bulk of the stylistic stuff I do on the page as a writer.” And I had William Goldman and I had Walter Hill, and I had one thing Shane Black never had: I had Shane Black. I have posted numerous times before about Alexander Jacobs (Point Blank), Walter Hill (Hard Times), even Andrew Stanton (Wall-E), and the so-called ‘haiku style’ of writing scene description. I still punctuate to effect, rather than to the proper rules of grammar. At Hill’s best, his work as writer and director is as tight as a clenched fist, with not a word wasted in the dialogue and a simplicity of expression that extends from character development to the diamond-tight action sequences on which he built his reputation. My father and his father were my great heroes, smart, physical men who worked with their heads and their hands. And usually there are certain other limitations that are a given. Let’s take a closer look as I break them down for you: EPIC: These are the writers who fill their scripts with so much description and detail that it’s wall-to-wall black on the page. He was a friend (wonderful guy, looked like a pirate, funny and crazy). Details? This revelation came about despite a character flaw of mine. Fountain pen. Blocks of text so long you feel like you’re reading a novel rather than what’s supposed to be a screenplay. I’ve always been a good reader. Unless, of course, you are using repetition as a rhythm device in creating mood — which I guess is a perfect illustration of one of the things I like best about screenwriting : whatever is true, the opposite can also be true. Wright: You’re making me nervous, Walter. He relishes stories that center on male heroics, with cinematic action. I have always had difficulty being complimentary to people whose work I admire, when face-to-face with them. His writing style for Point Blank was very influential on Walter Hill. Walter Hill’s first produced script was in 1972, but his films are a throwback to the Golden Age and to storytelling traditions that seem increasingly endangered in today’s Hollywood. How do I know? Sometimes I don't feel like man enough to watch Walter Hill movies. Try to show a reader a new way to see it. I was able to make a living at it right away.”ON WHERE HE DEVELOPED HIS UNIQUE SCREENWRITING STYLE“Alex Jacob’s script of Point Blank (1967) was a revelation. Jacobs was born in London. LEAN: Zen masters. The screenplays below are the only ones that are available online. I should make it known now that, all jokes aside, I don’t personally have a problem with any one type of screenwriter. I admit to a somewhat juvenile sensibility, with an emphasis on physical heroics. By: Anthony Francis . I strongly recommend the Backstory book series, interviews conducted and edited by Patrick McGilligan. Walter Hill wrote ‘70s tough-guy flicks like “The Getaway” and “The Drowning Pool,” but took to the directorial chair for the 1979 sensation “The Warriors.” Hill’s stripped-down western themes bring a unique versatility to his work, and his crystal clear writing style drives home the dialogue. Then and now, I haven’t changed my opinions about that. If you’re a LEAN writer, well, then, everything you write is making it to the screen, and then some, because you’ve engineered your script in such a way that almost nothing can be taken from it. There’s something intoxicatingly elusive about the unmade projects of a great filmmaker - Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, Alfred Hitchcock’s Kaleidoscope, Orson Welles’ too-many-to-mention, and so on. It’s unconventional, to say the least. Just enough; move on. “Anyway, by now I’d been making a living as a screenwriter for maybe two or three years and had gotten to the point where I was dissatisfied with the standard form scripts were written in — they just all seemed to be a kind of subliterary blueprint for shooting a picture and generally had no personal voice. Learn more, Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Here is an excerpt from Sheridan’s excellent post: In my screenplay studies, I’ve noticed that, in regard to overall style, there are usually three different types of writers. Some of it was a bit pretentious — but at other times I thought it worked pretty well. Welcome to a special section of Action Rewind called When Action Films Had Balls where we look at the action films of yesteryear that had their own set of rules and made no apologies while carving out their own violent niche in cinematic history.. It’s easy and free to post your thinking on any topic. And often, again especially in the action field, what is personally interesting to you may be invisible to others. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Walter Hill has a stamp, a fingerprint, his work is recognizable as his own, distinct from other directors. Biography. Hill wrote Hard Times, The Driver, The Warriors, and an uncredited rewrite of Alien in this style. I was asthmatic as a kid, several years of school interrupted. And this ordering of things is complicated; it’s absolutely not simple. He has directed such films as The Warriors, Hard Times, The Driver, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs. Hill's haiku-style for Alien inspired Andrew Stanton to write his screenplay for WALL-E in a similar style to put the reader in the mindset of a new world: Many screenwriters talk about exploring genres in new ways and twisting conventions to keep audiences intrigued. Not a production draft, but the one Hill refers to reading and changing the way he approached writing.Comment Archive, Official Screenwriting Blog of The Black List, Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. My favorite description of the dilemma of screenwriting comes from David Giler, “Your work is only read by the people who will destroy it.”ON HIS WRITING PROCESS“When I’m working alone, the old hard way. We’ve discussed writer-director Walter Hill previously here and here. I wanted Bruce to very much offset the distance of The Driver. Shane Black is on record as saying he developed his writing style by imitating that of William Goldman and Walter Hill. Anyway, a mutual friend told Alex how much I admired Point Blank and John Boorman. You can read posts here, here, and here among others. Both at the technical level and at a much larger one — I think it’s best approached as an enigmatic way to make a living.”ON ACTION MOVIES“I love comedies, musicals, and thrillers like everybody else, but I confess to believing action pictures are what movies are most essentially all about. Write on Medium, Writing and the Creative Life: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling, 10 Screenwriting Skills and Traits You Need, A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 21. Along with columnist Jimmy Breslin, Hamill popularized a streetwise writing style that could seem equal parts Norman Mailer, Damon Runyon and the millions of … Co-founder of "Brandywine Productions" with David Giler and Gordon Carroll , a film company most famously associated with the 'Alien' series of films. He is widely known for his action films and revival of the Western genre.He has directed such films as The Warriors, Hard Times, The Driver, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs. My big problem was finishing — I must’ve written twenty-five first acts — abandon and move on, abandon and move on. Alex’s script just knocked me out (not easy to do); it was both playable and literary. I think I’ve loosened up in the dialogue department, but I still try to keep the descriptions fairly minimal, and in some cases purposefully minimalist. Take a listen to Walter Hill as he discusses his screenwriting and filmmaking process. Hard Times is a 1975 film marking the directorial debut of Walter Hill. The clean narrative drive of the material and the splash-panel approach to the characters perfectly fit the design I was trying to make work. ... many sequences were cut to preserve the "less is more" style that works so well to terrify. And it becomes such a chore to turn a single page of their 220-pager that it’s like taking out the garbage, or mowing the lawn, or watching Reflections of Evil. It was a nightmare trying to get it right. Films like Colorado Territory (1949), White Heat (1949), Ride the High Country, The Seven Samurai (1954), Scarface (1932), Heat (1995), Dirty Harry (1972), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), or a hundred others I can name… The real power of movies lies in their connection to our unconscious or semiconscious dream life, and action movies are about heroism and death. Another 48 Hrs. And his style was selling like hotcakes when I was in film school. Both had great mechanical ability, I had none. Fuck the flower. I now realize a lot of this was being a young guy who wanted to throw rocks at windows.“Hard Times was the first, and I think maybe the best. According to O'Bannon, producers David Giler and Walter Hill plotted to steal his writing credit. 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