Michael Caine shares the story of when getting started as an actor, he was thrown off in rehearsal when a chair blocked the door he was supposed to walk through. The director told him âUse the difficulty,â saying that the chair was now a part of the scene, and he had to do something about it.
Itâs a variation on the improv chestnut âYes, And,â but takes it a step further. The unexpected or challenging constraint can be an advantage in making something unique and memorable. Itâs a tool, not a problem.
J.J. Murphy looks at the making of Take Out, and how Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou made a feature for $3,000 and found a powerful, insightful story because of the ways they planned around their limited budget.
Martin Scorsese, in conversation with Zach Baron, explains how his advancing age acts limits his ability to do all the things he still wants to do, but it also provides him with clarity and focus he hasnât always felt in his earlier years:
Getting older is a relentless process of paring down. Getting older is an exercise in letting go. Let go of anger: âIâm at the age now where you just â youâll die.â Let go of fitting in, of going up to Raoâs restaurant with important people. Let go of other peopleâs opinions: âThat doesnât mean you donât take advice and you donât discuss and argue, but at a certain point you know what you want to do. And you have no choice.â Let go of the idea that you might someday visit the Acropolis. Let go of the idea that a movie needs a beginning, a middle, and an end: âMaybe the middleâs all around it, you know?â
In Memento, Leonard Shelbyâs anterograde amnesia acts as a hinderance to his quest for vengeance, but itâs also the load-bearing structural element for the entire film. It acts as the North Star for his choices and the organizing principle of the filmâs fractured narrative structure. Abigail Oswald looks back on the film and what it says about grief, nostalgia, and memory.
But even smaller difficulties can reveal something about character and give a scene something special. In episode 394 of Scriptnotes, John and Craig sat down with Marielle Heller and discuss a scene where a missing knife provides a window into a characterâs point of view and priorities:
Marielle: There was a moment in Homeland that I remember my writing partner Katelyn pointed out, because it was such a great character moment. Mandy Patinkinâs character is alone, working late. Heâs at his desk and he pulls out a box of crackers and some peanut butter and he doesnât have a knife. And then he takes a metal ruler and he scrapes the peanut butter and puts it on his cracker. Itâs the saddest thing youâve ever seen.
Craig: I feel like Iâve done that.
Marielle: Like 1 am at your desk. But thereâs something â it was specific, it was character related. It was so defeated. Like something about it was like, ugh.
Craig: Itâs just the job now. Everything else, like the comfort of a meal or anything, itâs all gone.
Marielle: It wasnât the introduction of his character, but it was something that let you connect to him in a real way.
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đ Stronger together
Though the WGA has ratified a new agreement with the AMPTP, you can still help SAG-AFTRA!
For ways you can support the SAG-AFTRA effort to negotiate a fair contract with the AMPTP, check their strike hub for more information.
â±ïž Creating a helpful constraint
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
Whatâs a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but hereâs the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes thatâs all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so youâd better use it!
Shout out to Elyse Moretti Forbes for sprinting with us last week!
đ What you gonna read?
This weekâs Featured Friday in Weekend Read leans hard into spooky season, featuring Ghostbusters, A Nightmare on Elm Street, ParaNorman and more in the Discover tab.
Still havenât tried Weekend Read 2? Download the free trial from the App Store to check out our app for reading, listening to, and taking notes on scripts while on the go.
Previously on InnerestingâŠ
In case you missed it, in last issueâs most clicked link Patrick Rhone wants you to ask before making big changes whether you need a change of scenery or a change inside yourself.
What else is inneresting?
Vicky Stein and Daisy Dobrijevic delve into the many-worlds theory and ask what a realistic multiverse would look like.
Instead of prohibiting distracting phone apps, the app one sec delays gratification as a way to derail the urge to doomscroll.
Manuel Moreale compares the communities we build online to places we choose to live IRL.
And thatâs whatâs inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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đŁ Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art, or Bluesky @ccsont.bsky.social