[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What is the creative writing process and how is it different from other writing processes?
Christopher Vogler, Author: I’ve done a variety of jobs, worn different hats as under the dome of the writer, some of my work was sort of journalistic, some of it was critical and some of it is pure creative. They are very different hats and even within the creatives there are different hats so to speak. If you want to write comedy, you’ve got to put on a comedy hat, you’ve got to be tuned to look for the opportunities to be funny. If you’re writing something scary, you put on the scary hat and you look for those opportunities but it’s quite a different thing to write critically as I did for most of my career, the bulk of my career. I was kind of a threshold guardian actually, one of those archetypes whose job is to say No, it’s not good enough. Most of the time we were reading individually, maybe ten scripts a week, maybe twelve scripts a week. Eleven of those for sure would be a pass, meaning No, it’s not good enough, it’s not ready, it’s not right for this studio. But every once in a while maybe…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BUY THE BOOK – THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: Mythic Structure for Writers
BUY THE BOOK – MEMO FROM THE STORY DEPARTMENT: Secrets of Structure and Character
Christopher Vogler made documentary films as an Air Force officer before studying film production at the University of Southern California, where he encountered the ideas of mythologist Joseph Campbell and observed how they influenced the story design of the first Star Wars movie. He worked as a story consultant in the development departments of 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures and Animation, and Paramount Pictures, and wrote an influential memo on Campbell’s Hero’s Journey concept that led to his involvement in Disney’s Aladdin, The Lion King and Hercules. After the publication of The Writer’s Journey, he had a hand in developing the stories of many productions, including Disney’s remake of 101 Dalmatians, Fox’s Fight Club, Courage Under Fire, Volcano, The Thin Red Line and many others. Vogler lives in Los Angeles, California.
CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER VOGLER
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