And spelling? Psst. Gimme a break. Isn’t Tarantino famous for being one of Hollywood’s worst spellers? I guess “underachievers” like he and PT Anderson both felt content in returning all of the “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” rhetoric by doing to Hollywood what one of their characters Dirk Diggler did at the end of a movie. They pulled out their members and held them.

I read somewhere that he wrote that scene as a subliminal message to those who doubted him. And some of those people probably had a problem with the fact that they each got 1.5 to do their first features, with at least one of them having never had even a reel of previous work to show anyone.

Matt, unzip your pants. Its your turn soon.

Congratulations.

Arman Khos

Also, maybe I should take an English language/lit degree as well as a screenwriting one. Always wondered. Screenwriting is what I want to do, however. Though here in London there’s no such thing as a screenwriting BA degree (only a Masters), unfortunately. I don’t have A-levels, which doesn’t help either.

Plus have you got any tips on how to actually go about using the words when screenwriting? At the moment I’m having to intentionally use new words, with interesting results (the random words I’m forcing myself to use drives the story in weird directions.)

If Matt is actually the one directing (and lets assume he’s good hence the cash!), does it matter about his script? As he’s the one working from it, will it matter about spelling and grammar? Surely working with the actors and hearing his own dialogue back would show him where it was written wrong anyway regarding vocab, and the ‘black stuff’ would be what he is in charge of shooting himself?

Forgive me if I’m ignorant, I know a lot of other people would be working from the script also but I always thought that writer/directors had more leeway than a lone writer trying to sell a script?

FP x

I think anyone can tell you that you improve your vocabulary by either reading or listening. Be sure that you are reading/listening to people who know the language.

After you hear the word “fatuous” or “sanguine” a few times you should have an idea what it means and when it is appropriate to use it. Then, you use it accidentally in conversation because it is sitting around in your mind waiting to be spoken. You immediately run to your dictionary to be sure that you used it correctly. If you are lucky you used it horribly incorrectly. The embarrassment you feel guarantees that you won’t make that mistake again.

The previous paragraph sounds to me like “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” There’s a book that should be optioned for a film!

Incidentally, doesn’t a good vocabulary mean that all of your characters sound like Fraiser and Niles? If you want to write the way most film characters talk shouldn’t you simply drop the “F-bomb” liberally throughout? Not that I am offended by the “F-bomb.” Simply, most characters are not Rhodes Scholars, and they don’t talk like they are.

How bad is Matt’s vocabulary anyhow?

I for one find it almost as difficult as screenwriting (probably because I’m doing something wrong.) I mean memorizing a word? Easy. But then using the 100+ words I’ve just memorized? It seems almost impossible. I mean they just aren’t there when I go to write. Then I find later that I could have used many of the words from the list of words I’ve learnt, but as I say they weren’t “there” to be used. So I suppose I never actually learnt them properly, even though I can tell you what they mean — I just can’t use them. :(

I don’t know if you agree with me but, of all the screenwriting bloggers out there, John is by far the most polite. And I’ve always wanted to see him actually lost it and respond something along the lines of “Hey, buddy; are you dumb?” I really thought the Bible question was it.

However, if the above question didn’t do the trick, I guess nothing will. This puts John way above Ned Flanders in my book.