Raymond Chandler: The Art of Beginning a Crime Story
The 10 greatest opening paragraphs from a noir master.
Any Screenwriters On The Board??
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This is a good read, but beware; it has varying degrees of spoilers for American Fiction, The American Society of Magical Negroes, The Blackening, and They Cloned Tyrone.
Black Satire Is Having Its Hollywood Moment, but Something Is Missing
In 2017, Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was a critical and commercial smash that immediately became one of the defining moviesdnyuz.com
Black Satire Is Having Its Hollywood Moment, but Something Is Missing
In 2017, Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was a critical and commercial smash that immediately became one of the defining movies of the Trump Era. The next year, Boots Riley’s masterful “Sorry to Bother You” seemed to herald a new golden age for Black satire films. But as those movies stood out for using surreal plot twists to humorously — and horrifically — unpack complex ideas like racial appropriation and consumer culture, the crop that has followed hasn’t kept pace. The current moment is defined by a central question: What does the “Black” look like in Black satire films today? Too often lately it’s “not Black enough.”
By that I mean to say a recent influx of films, including “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” “American Fiction” and “The Blackening,” have failed to represent Blackness with all its due complexity — as sometimes messy, sometimes contradictory. Instead, they flatten and simplify Blackness to serve a more singular, and thus digestible, form of satirical storytelling.
The foremost example is “American Fiction,” inspired by Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure,” which won this year’s Oscar for best screenplay. In the film, a Black author and professor named Monk (played by Jeffrey Wright) finds literary success through “My Pafology,” a novel satirizing books that feed negative Black stereotypes. But Monk’s audience receives his book with earnest praise, forcing him to reconcile his newfound prosperity with his racial ethics.
The surface layer of satire is obvious: The white audiences and publishing professionals who celebrate “My Pafology” do so not because of its merits but because the book allows them to fetishize another tragic Black story. It’s a performance of racial acceptance; these fans are literally buying into their own white guilt.
Monk’s foil in the film is another Black author, Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), who publishes a popular book of sensationalist Black trauma about life in the ghetto. Profiting on her white audience’s racist assumptions about Blackness, Sintara is this satire’s race traitor — or so it initially seems. Because when, in one scene, Monk questions whether Sintara’s book is any different from “My Pafology,” which she dismisses as pandering, she counters that she is spotlighting an authentic Black experience. Sintara accuses Monk of snobbery, saying that his highfalutin notion of Blackness excludes other Black experiences because he is too ashamed to recognize them.
But the fact that it is Sintara who voices the film’s criticism of Monk shows how loath “American Fiction” is to make a value statement on the characters’ actions within the context of their Blackness. Sintara, whom Monk catches reading “White Negroes,” a text about Black cultural appropriation, somehow isn’t winkingly framed as the hypocrite or the inauthentic one pointing out the hypocrisy and inauthenticity of the hero.
This adaptation seems to misunderstand that “Erasure” is as much a critique of how white audiences perceive these Black characters’ art and their identities as it is about how the characters decide to manipulate or contradict these perceptions. “American Fiction” takes the easy way out by making both of these characters right, a move which undercuts the nuances of how Monk and Sintara are negotiating themselves as Black people and the ethical weight of their choices.
In the similarly watered-down comedy-horror film “The Blackening,” a group of Black college friends reunites in a remote cabin for a Juneteenth celebration. Once there, the friends are hunted and threatened by unknown assailants and forced to play a minstrel-style trivia game proving their Blackness.
The racial satire of “The Blackening” is straightforward: The villains are white people who appropriate, sell and kill Black bodies. And the whole concept of the film is based on that common racist horror film trope in which the Black character is the first to die.
Like “American Fiction,” it falls into the trap of building its scaffolding from an outside look at Blackness, as something defined by and reactionary against whiteness. The result is another film that neglects being “too Black” — skimping on an interior look into Blackness that may sometimes contradict or betray itself. Blackness is so singularly defined — these Black friends are celebrating Juneteenth, and the game asks them questions about rap lyrics and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” — that neither the plot’s action nor the comedy surprises. The reveal that the nerdy Trump-voting Black character (played by Jermaine Fowler) is the true bad guy is obvious, and says little on a satirical level beyond that “illegitimate” or “inauthentic” Blackness is dangerous and easy to spot.
“The American Society of Magical Negroes,” a title that references a particular character trope seen in movies like “The Green Mile” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” also fails to offer a three-dimensional depiction of Blackness. In the movie, a meek Black man named Aren (Justice Smith) is introduced to the titular group by longtime member Roger (David Alan Grier). Aren initially denies that he’s concerned about race but then embraces his role as a magical Negro — until his love life intersects with his first assignment, forcing him to choose between embracing agency over his own life and defying society.
The film’s fantastical central idea, however, is more show than substance. For most of a film that’s supposed to mock a racist character trope, it’s ironic that we don’t see much of these characters beyond their acting in this trope. Aren’s Blackness tellingly feels incidental though it’s central to the plot. His biracial identity is thrown out as a brief aside, when it seems like a prominent character detail to explore in a satire about proscribed racial roles.
The one-handed satirical approach of these films may, to some extent, come down to a failure of the writing. But there’s another factor at play — box office politics. The more obvious layer of satire, addressing white oppression and white guilt, seems aimed at white liberal audiences so they can feel in on the joke. Black audiences, on the other hand, are left with a simplified representation of their race that doesn’t dare be too controversial.
Just a few years ago “Get Out” and “Sorry to Bother You” each offered its own sharp satire about how whiteness may break down the Black psyche. While both films build their action around the absurd ways whiteness sabotages the protagonists on a societal level, they differ from the newer satires by representing, either metaphorically or literally, spaces of Black interiority or consciousness damaged by whiteness. In “Get Out,” it’s the Black hero’s entrapment in the Sunken Place, which became one of the defining metaphors of its time. In “Sorry to Bother You,” the hero’s moment of truth arrives when he must choose whether to retain his identity and class status, or to continue using a racial performance to gain clout and success, to lose his humanity.
There is one recent exception to the recent spate of middling Black satirical films: Netflix’s “They Cloned Tyrone.” In the film, a drug dealer named Fontaine (John Boyega), a pimp named Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and a prostitute named Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) discover a clandestine program at work within their town. The Black residents are being cloned, experimented on and mind-controlled via rap music and stereotypically Black products like fried chicken and chemical relaxers.
But the satire works in both directions. The film cleverly makes the main three characters conscious of the stereotypes they portray. They question whether those roles serve them or serve the racist scheming happening around them. Fontaine eventually discovers that the big bad is the original Fontaine, who initiated the cloning process and is trying to whitewash Black people into white people a la another famous satire, “Black No More.” Through this twist, “They Cloned Tyrone” showcases how racism can subvert the minds of even the marginalized.
“They Cloned Tyrone” succeeds in its depiction of “authentic Blackness” in comparison to other recent satires. It’s not just about the way characters speak or the exaggerated depictions of their lives; it’s also about their internal conflicts, whether they choose to submit to a racist narrative and how much agency they have over their own narratives.
These satires, after all, come down to narratives: Beneath the commentary, the jokes and the ironies are meant to reveal what are, essentially, Black stories. But so many of these films fail to understand the central, perhaps the only, parameter of a “Black story”: that it be honest and complicated and, at the very least, inclusive of the people it depicts.
The post Black Satire Is Having Its Hollywood Moment, but Something Is Missing appeared first on New York Times.
Good read, I enjoyed all of those films to varying degrees
Tyler Perry makes forgettable lowbrow comedies. He has an audience of people who don't know to demand more from their content.
I think the last Tyler Perry movie I saw that I enjoyed with very little ridicule was The Family That Prays in 2008. I swear if you seen five Tyler Perry movies you seen everything he is capable of writing. It's just weak.
I like that he pays actors their worth, but This article below says exactly how I feel but put much more eloquently than I'm capable of. If you're not already, follow this author. She's damn good
I am making a lot of progress in The Naughty Nurse Chronicles Volume II, the sequel as of late. Over the past 2 days I have written over 3,000 words and with Easter eggs and tie ins to other parts of the story to have some continuity.
Also I've spoken with a few females who were in similar situations and was able to gauge from them their reactions to certain situations.
I'm having fun with this. I'm still better at creating the story than the dialogue, but I feel myself improving. Anytime I have some dialogue that is not quite right I highlight it in red, This way I know to come back to it later with words that better fit what I'm trying to say that have the pulse of the scene.
I'm thankful that NCAA 25 is a bit underwhelming, this way I can focus more on my work than a video game.
Also I've spoken with a few females who were in similar situations and was able to gauge from them their reactions to certain situations.
I'm having fun with this. I'm still better at creating the story than the dialogue, but I feel myself improving. Anytime I have some dialogue that is not quite right I highlight it in red, This way I know to come back to it later with words that better fit what I'm trying to say that have the pulse of the scene.
I'm thankful that NCAA 25 is a bit underwhelming, this way I can focus more on my work than a video game.
Vince Vaughn Says R-Rated Comedies Aren’t Made Anymore Because the ‘People in Charge Don’t Want to Get Fired’: They ‘Overthink It’
Vince Vaughn believes Hollywood execs are too cautious nowadays when it comes to financing the type of R-rated comedies that launched his career.
variety.com
This is a shame because as a writer we want to see our projects made, but the reality is black people are not monolithic. There is also a faction of black people who either don't demand better or don't know to demand better. They accept whatever bullshit is thrown at them calling itself Black programing.
Complex stories that just happen to star black people don't have a home. You have Tyler Perry's bullshit and the Black People who support him regardless of how paper thin the concepts are.
Us "high brow" Black people don't have a home.
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There is a space for shows that play in the background that you can keep up with.
When I'm working in the morning I listen to sports talk because I don't have to follow too close.
Also before I stopped listening to mainstream news, I use to listen to MSNBC because it didn't require my full attention.
Just another angle.
I did the same thing.There is a space for shows that play in the background that you can keep up with.
When I'm working in the morning I listen to sports talk because I don't have to follow too close.
Also before I stopped listening to mainstream news, I use to listen to MSNBC because it didn't require my full attention.
Just another angle.
Between the sports news and MSNBC a lot of the information gets repeated show by show segment by segment so even if you don't pay full attention you still pick up the information.
I think this is how a lot of TV shows, "Program viewers".
You repeat the message enough it seeps in.
Rebel Ridge
September 6th
September 6th
Writing now, I feel so empowered with the Easter eggs I'm dropping. Many of them pertaining to music.
"No fewer than five shots came. I took them and smiled" (obviously 2Pac)
I mentioned "secret rendezvous" and though I didn't use any lyrics, I was thinking of singer Karyn White
"Points up high" from Bob seger's Night Moves.
Now, I'm not sure how much if any credit I need to give in the novel, I'll figure that out later. If any of you know, let me know so I don't get sued, but it's the little things. Paying homage to where I learned about words from - music.
Long before I learn how to read, I was singing. The first song I learned was either 'lonely teardrops' or 'a woman a lover a friend', both by the late Jackie Wilson.
My mother taught me how to use the record player when I was about 2 years old because she was sick of me asking her to play a song over. I didn't learn how to read until I was 3, so I was singing these songs without a clue about what they meant.
As I'm working on The Naughty Nurse Chronicles Volume II, I am just 30 pages in, but I'm enjoying building the setups, setting the breadcrumbs, planting the Easter eggs. God writing is fun
"No fewer than five shots came. I took them and smiled" (obviously 2Pac)
I mentioned "secret rendezvous" and though I didn't use any lyrics, I was thinking of singer Karyn White
"Points up high" from Bob seger's Night Moves.
Now, I'm not sure how much if any credit I need to give in the novel, I'll figure that out later. If any of you know, let me know so I don't get sued, but it's the little things. Paying homage to where I learned about words from - music.
Long before I learn how to read, I was singing. The first song I learned was either 'lonely teardrops' or 'a woman a lover a friend', both by the late Jackie Wilson.
My mother taught me how to use the record player when I was about 2 years old because she was sick of me asking her to play a song over. I didn't learn how to read until I was 3, so I was singing these songs without a clue about what they meant.
As I'm working on The Naughty Nurse Chronicles Volume II, I am just 30 pages in, but I'm enjoying building the setups, setting the breadcrumbs, planting the Easter eggs. God writing is fun
This shit looks good
Former Marine: People are getting hurt so i was thinking maybe we just walk away.
Sheriff : now you’re starting to talk
Former Marine: but then i was like nah
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Greetings Fam,
Here's a book on screenplays that I bought. I had just thumbed through it yesterday, and it's already making great sense.
I started reading it today, and it's already paid for itself as far as I'm concerned.
For instance, it says that most writers are writing for a movie audience. They should actually be writing for script readers, because they are the ones who will move the screenplay forward or trash it. If you can't grab them, you'll never get a chance to grab a movie audience.
It's called: Writing For Emotional Impact.
Here's a book on screenplays that I bought. I had just thumbed through it yesterday, and it's already making great sense.
I started reading it today, and it's already paid for itself as far as I'm concerned.
For instance, it says that most writers are writing for a movie audience. They should actually be writing for script readers, because they are the ones who will move the screenplay forward or trash it. If you can't grab them, you'll never get a chance to grab a movie audience.
It's called: Writing For Emotional Impact.
Hmmm
Kinda conflicted about this part, because if I'm writing for my audience isn't that writing to the script readers?
I'm trying to understand what the difference is between audience writing vs script reader writing?
Tell us more go deeper.
Gonna order this book tho sounds good, thanks for the heads up
Like I said, I just started reading the book today.
But, it talks about how most screenwriting books rehash the same information. But, this book tells you that if you can't grab a reader on your first page, your script will probably end up in the trash. That told me that I need to come with some heat right off the bat, versus trying to build a story up.
The book says to hook the reader, then keep him hooked... don't let him go.
Most movies that I've seen start off slow, then build, then slow a bit, then climax, then slow down, then end. So I have to figure out how to hook them, keep them engaged throughout my storytelling.
It also talks about "Emotional Content." People want to escape from their realities, but they want to have a connection with the characters. For instance when I watched Game of Thrones (Battle of The Bastards episode), when Jon Snow was running after Ramsey Bolton on the field, I felt like I was running too. I wanted to chop this MoFo to pieces. But my ass ain't in the story... But I wanted some of that action. That to me was great storytelling.
Yeah Ive been hearing the advice about capturing the readers attention since I first began to write in several mediums.
Since I been writing what Ive learned was an ebb and flow, you bring the audience up high and let them simmer down low but lately the new writing style Ive been seeing from shows is to stack the emotional conflict and only let the audience down long enough to consume new exposition that will add on to the conflict.
I really need to update my writing I spent so much time learning to write one way based on all these books I havent had room to add new writing styles.
In regards to this.
The book said that when you write for an audience, you have to remember that you're seeing in your head what an audience is seeing on a screen. And what's going on on a screen is created by "You," producers, directors, special effects people, makeup, wardrobe people, grips etc...
Whereas, the only thing a script reader sees is what you and you alone have placed on that page.
It's a question so many have. Can I break into film and TV while living outside Los Angeles? The truth is yes, as there are so many different paths writers can take to break in. Although getting your start from across the country can raise extra challenges, Jamarcus Turner (Bob Hearts Abishola) found a way to make inroads in the industry while still a factory worker in Indiana.
Turner put in a lot of work in advance of getting his chance on Bob Hearts Abishola. His interest in writing started back with childhood punishments. He pointed out:
"I used to get in trouble all the time. Punishment would be I had to get sent to my room. There was no TV. No video games. I had an uncle who would send me books. He knew I was a serious kid so he’d send me books like The Way Things Work and all these science books, history books. And I’m a you can’t punish me, I’ll figure a way out of this kind of person, so it’s like I’ll just read these books. I can go into the book. You can’t get me in there. I’m not on punishment, I'm in Narnia."
Not only did diving into books advance Turner's reading level quickly, it created a love for linguistics that drew him to writing. It was a connection on Twitter/X that took Turner from writing humorous remarks on social media to writing scripts. Turner detailed:
"A writer and producer and actor named Yassir Lester DMed me. We had been following each other for years. He would say something funny, I would laugh. I would say something funny, he would laugh. He was like, hey man, what do you do? I was like, I build plastic tanks in Indiana. I didn’t understand why he was talking to me. He was just like, you should write. I think you're a writer. So he bought me a book about writing. He bought me a program for writing scripts."
With that encouragement, Turner sat down and wrote a script. It was terrible so he wrote another and shared it with Lester. The response he got on that second script:
"He was like, this is also pretty bad, but you’re doing better. Then I fixed it and fixed it and then it was an okay sample."
Turner embarked on his next script, but as he was finishing it, his little brother passed away. This had a profound effect on Turner's script. When Lester read it, he asserted that with a few cuts it would make an excellent writing sample. Pleased with this reception of his work, Turner didn’t fully get the significance of the praise. According to Turner:
"I didn't even know what that meant because I was still working sixty hours a week building plastic tanks in this factory. I thought it was just something cool I could show people."
Taking the Leap
Ready with a strong sample script, Turner heard The Problem with Jon Stewart was doing a nationwide search for writers. Anybody could apply. Turner sent in a packet. It was a blind submission and if they liked your writing you kept moving forward in the process. Turner made it to the finals. He didn’t make it any further, but his sample made an impact. He shared:"They hit me up and told me they were going to go in a different direction. I thought that was it and a couple hours later the head writer hit me back. She was like, we really like your writing and I want to send some of your writing to an executive that I know."
Turner sent his script over on a Sunday night and by Wednesday morning he had a meeting scheduled with Disney. He explained:
"They had read my script and passed it around and really liked it. So I got in a meeting with these people and they were great. We laughed and had a good time and I didn’t understand what big deals they were because I was still working 60 hours a week in a factory. I lacked perspective."
Staffing
From that first meeting at Disney, came even more meetings. Turner related:"They told people they liked me so producers started hitting me up. Agents and managers started reaching out to me because they realized somebody was going to pay me to write pretty soon."
In just six months Turner had an agent and a manager. They got him a staffing meeting for the series Bob Hearts Abishola, viewing it as a way to get practice in taking this sort of meeting. Turner commented:
"They told me hey, we're going to send you out on this interview. You're not going to get the job. They only hire 60-year-old White dudes because it’s a Chuck Lorre show, but it’s going to be a good experience for you. I was like hey, man. I'm up for all this. I'm 37. Me and my wife have twelve children. We live in the Midwest and it’s just like, cool."
Read More: The Bricks of Breaking In: TV Showrunner Moira Kirland on Staffing Season
This was a life-changing meeting. Turner found himself talking with Gina Yashere, a comedian who he admired and revered, and Al Higgins, who through meeting prep Turner discovered had two brothers who were also successful in entertainment. Turner recalled:
"I talked to them about comedy and my journey and they were just like, okay. We got off the phone and I was like, hey man, that was cool. I got to meet two cool people and I got to meet Gina Yashere and talk to her, that was great. I'm going to tell all my friends I got to meet Gina Yashere. A few hours later my agents and managers hit me up and were like, they’re going to hire you."
Reflecting on this experience, Turner encouraged up-and-coming writers to always concentrate on preparing for whatever meeting comes your way. He emphasized:
"Do all the research you possibly can on the people that will be interviewing you. Also on the subject you will be interviewing for. If they're bringing you in for a show, you should have been watching all of that show all day today."
He continued:
"They were interested enough in your writing and who you are to interview you. Be interested enough in them to do the research on them."
Breaking In From Outside Los Angeles
As someone who made the jump from the Midwest to being a television writer, Turner had two recommendations for writers living outside Los Angeles. The first, submit to everything. He elaborated:"The more eyes you can get on your projects the more likely the success will be. It's like throwing pasta up against a wall. Something's going to stick."
His second recommendation:
"Don't ever compromise the things that you're trying to do for someone else's success."
He asserted:
"Never compromise the writing or the work for anything else, because the work is what will get you the work. If you want to be a writer, writing will get you the work that you want to be doing."
When it comes to following your heart, dreams and goals in life, Turner offered:
"I was really good at making walls and building huge tanks and stuff. Just because you're good at something, does not mean that's the thing you've got to do for the rest of your life. It's what you're passionate about. It's what you want. Being good at something is not the same thing as it being good for you."
Read More: Do You Have To Live In LA To Be A Screenwriter?
Handling Rejection
The ability to deal with rejection is something Turner credits as key to growing and sustaining a career in entertainment. He suggested:"Take the criticism. Learn how to distill the criticism until it gets to the point where you're like this, I can use this."
He added:
"It is a business of rejection and criticism, but it's not that bad. Nobody's going to stab you or punch you in the face or put you in a trunk or something. They're just going to go, I don't like this. You're going to try to find people who like it and guess what, if not enough people like it, change it. Learn how to bend in the places where you can and learn how to be firm in the places you can't."
Staying Persistent
In his final words of advice, Turner stressed:"Keep submitting to stuff. Keep working at stuff. If you've already broken in, just keep on taking those meetings. Keep being cool. Be prepared for your meetings. It's staying on top of that."
Read More: How ‘Yellowjackets' Writer Elise Brown Turned Her Competition Win Into A Successful TV Writing Career
When you do get those meetings, Turner noted:
"They've already read your writing. They already think you might be good enough to hire if they're even talking to you. So now they're evaluating you as a person. Be the person that they want to have on their set. Be the person that they want to have in their room and you will be in their writers' room."
‘It’s a very tough time in Hollywood’: inside the shrinking world of the TV writers’ room
Between the impact of last year’s strikes, a reduction in scripted content and a racial reckoning, the life of a screenwriter has shifted
The Black List Helped Reshape Hollywood. Can It Change Publishing?
Almost 20 years after Franklin Leonard created the Black List, which has helped little-known screenwriters break into Hollywood, it is expanding into fiction.
The Black List Expands Into Fiction and Unpublished Novels
The initiative is intended to bridge the gap between early-career writers and the competitive publishing arena
www.thewrap.com
Two Decades After Shaking Up Hollywood, the Black List Sets Its Sights on Fiction
Franklin Leonard's unproduced screenplay platform is ready to shake up the slush pile, expanding eligibility to unpublished novel manuscripts as part of a new program led by Randy Winston, formerly of the Center for Fiction.
www.publishersweekly.com
The Black List, a platform for unproduced screenplays, expands into fiction books
The Black List is known for highlighting unproduced screenplays and vaulting titles like 'Spotlight' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' into the zeitgeist. It's now expanding into fiction.
www.latimes.com
The Black List Expands Into Fiction and Unpublished Manuscripts
Franklin Leonard's company behind Hollywood's annual list of the best-unpublished screenplays is now offering services for manuscripts and a new partnership with Simon Kinberg's Genre Films.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Franklin Leonard (l.) and Randy Winston.
10 Great Books About the Sea by Writers of Color - Electric Literature
Our global ocean, the least accessible yet most critical set of ecosystems on Earth, has always been a source of spiritual and creative inspiration
electricliterature.com
Home - Electric Literature
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