Will Goldman's 'Which Lie Did I Tell?'

[E J Pennypacker]

I just finished reading his follow up book to 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' and would like to recommend everyone to read this book.

It's not only a book that talks about Bill's vast b.g. on writing for Hollywood, it also deals with a funny section where Bill writes the first 45pgs of his new script, entitled 'The Big-A', he then gets various proflick writers to SLAM his work for the sake of the book. And do they SLAMS all right, they basically rip him a new A-hole.

For anyone out there that interested in checking out what stories an old pro has on Hollywhooped then I'd say check this out. Especially for the last section, where he gets his work murdered.

EJ

[UserName]

I fully agree!
That book is awesome.

[BlueParrot]

I'm a big Goldman fan and I'd agree.

However, he does have one book that I wouldn't recommend to anybody. Crap, I even have the book but I don't remember the title.

Something like "The Big Picture".

[GirlinGray]

Um, "The Whole Picture" is not written by William Goldman, it is written by Richard Walter.

[BlueParrot]

Gig,

I don't remember the title of the book. but it's written by Goldman and is a series of articles from his days when he wrote for Premiere.

It's just reprint of his old material and nothing of value. I just can't remember the title.

[GirlinGray]

Um. My name around here is Gig, Blue.

[UserName]

Do all of your posts start with 'um', GirlinGray? :rolleyes ;)

Blue's right. The Goldman book is called "The Big Picture".

[BlueParrot]

Username, thanks for pointing out that the book was correctly titled, since I thought that my eyes were deceiving me when I read "THe Big Picture by William Goldman".

But the "whole picture" is that, um, not all of us are intimately familiar with Goldman's work or history. That's bound to happen.

[UserName]

Blue :lol .

The funny thing is that I just saw that book for the first time this weekend (and I've been continually browsing the film section of bookstores for almost a year now), and avoided it because of this thread.

[BlueParrot]

I'm a big Goldman fan. And read all his books and articles. I recommend everything but that book.

My favorite part of Which Lie is when he's candid about the script doctoring job, including his short stint of Last Action Hero.

[UserName]

Blue -- are you sure that's in Which Lie?
I couldn't find a mention of doctoring Last Action Hero.

[BlueParrot]

it is one of his grey columns (those at the end of the chapter).

He talks about his "supposed" work on GWH. Twins, Last Action Hero among others.

[UserName]

I checked out the section to which you refer, but there's no mention of Twins or Last Action... just GWH. (I liked that section too, although I found it a little irksome that he's so... sarcastic or something.)

[BlueParrot]

UserName,

It is quite possible that I may be confusing one of his many books. I read lots of his "how-to" and get them all mumble jumbled.

But he scriptdoctored Last Action Hero...got paid $1 million for 3 weeks of work. He doctored Twins. In that, he basically helped with the opening scene...and that's about it, he claims.

He, like Robert Towne, script doctor many works and don't often seek credit. I look forward to him tearing apart my script.

[UserName]

1 mil / 3 weeks!?! :D

Goodness gracious.

[CRASH]

It is in "The Big Deal" that discusses Goldman's work on LAST ACTION HERO.

[Gaijin Samurai]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote>Quote:<hr> He, like Robert Towne, script doctor many works and don't often seek credit.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->

it's not theirs to seek. you don't get credit for script doctoring. credit is only given to a writer who makes more than significant changes to the script, and it then goes up to the wga arbitration panel to decide.

[BlueParrot]

Gaijin,

Good point. I phrased it poorly. What I meant to say is that they probably scriptdoctored many many projects.

[E J Pennypacker]

Just from a formatting point of view, can anyone believe how bad 'The Big A' was?

Like all the stuff about his characters (like it could be filmed?) descriptions, which at times was cringe worthy.

I wonder if this script was a prelude to Spy Kids?

I just though his Big A should have gone along the lines of that film, not down the daytime movie-of-the-week court room drama route.

EJ

[wordhurler]

"Just from a formatting point of view, can anyone believe how bad 'The Big A' was?

Like all the stuff about his characters (like it could be filmed?) descriptions, which at times was cringe worthy."

I don't recall any of the professionals who critiqued the script telling Goldman "your formatting is wrong because the character descriptions include elements that can't be filmed." That's just Goldman's style, and that style has been very, very good to him.

(Formatting aside, I did think 'The Big A' was pretty bad. But of course that was the point; even Hollywood Bigshot William Goldman's first drafts are cruddy.)

[E J Pennypacker]

Samuel L Jackson voice: Please, allow me to retort...

:)

I should have written something along the lines of, "Wow, all that stuff he included in character description, like any of it could be filmed!".

Yeah, Word, it is humble and pleasing (in a sadistic type of way) to see that a big name can write a big pile of ....

Hold on, maybe he did it deliberately to make us all think that if he can write bad, then it's okay for us to write the same way!

Hey, I feel cheated!

EJ :)

[wordhurler]

Naw, Goldman's point was not that you can succeed even if you write badly. Bad writing is bad writing, and it never succeeds.

His point was that even bigshots like himself write badly in first draft. His point was that your first draft is never good enough, regardless of who your are or what experience you may have. The lesson to take away is a very old one: Great scripts are not written; they're rewritten.

[BlueParrot]

And bad scripts are rewritten...by Goldman at a rate of $300K a week.

I wish I could say that I'm making this up but that's his rate.