[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: How can a writer take an ordinary idea and transform it into what you call heightened concept?
Corey Mandell, Screenwriter and Screenwriting Instructor: By doing what Shakespeare did. Let’s think about Shakespeare for a moment. Shakespeare started the Globe Theater and it was in a very dangerous, unincorporated part of London because it was illegal in London to have a theater because royalty did not want common people hearing ideas, that could dangerous, it was illegal, they would have been killed. They did it in a place that was unregulated, not part of London. It was in a place where there were brothels and gambling, and people were murdered. The people who are watching Shakespearean plays had never seen theater before because it used to only be royalty, so their standing is basically unless they have any money they pay a shilling or a pence and they’re standing in this huge pit which is disgusting because there’s no bathroom and it’s in the middle of Bubonic plague, so this is pretty disgusting.
This is what’s really interesting, when we see a play we know about the proscenium arch, we know that there’s a stage and when the lights go up, there’s going to be actors talking. We don’t talk to them, we listen, they pretend they don’t see us, we don’t interact with them and we listen to the play. No one who saw a Shakespearean play knew any of that. They had never seen a play. How do you know that? They don’t know that, so they’re talking and drinking and whatever they’re doing and then these people get on stage and start talking. What’s to stop them from talking back? What’s to stop them from getting on stage and interacting with them? There’s only one thing that can stop them, which is the rest of the audience. The rest of the audience has to be like Hey, mate shut up. I want to hear this. Shakespeare knew he had to grab people’s attention right away or (and I’m not kidding) his actors were going to be maybe…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Corey Mandell is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has written projects for Ridley Scott, Wolfgang Petersen, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Warner Brothers, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Family, Working Title, Paramount, Live Planet, Beacon Films, Touchstone, Trilogy, Radiant and Walt Disney Pictures.
Corey teaches screenwriting via private online classes using video conferencing to allow participants to see and hear each other in real time. His highly popular classes draw students from across the US, Europe and Australia.
His students have gone on to sell or option scripts to Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, Fox 2000, MGM, Universal, USA Network and Lifetime. Others have gained admission to the USC Graduate Screenwriting Program, the AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Program and Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.
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