Copyright A.M.P.A.S. Critic/director/screenwriter
Paul Schrader spoke at Samuel Goldwin Theater on
Thursday. Schrader is a UCLA alumnus.
By Azadeh Farahmand
Daily Bruin Contributor
If the end of cinema was on its way, storytelling would still be
the one element that continues to live on.
This, in a nutshell, was critic/screenwriter/director Paul
Schrader’s witty and to-the-point response to a question
about the impact of the Internet on screenwriting, which kicked off
a wave of laughter in the crowd.
The UCLA alumnus’ lecture was presented by the Academy of
Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences in the Samuel Goldwin Theater on
Thursday. The event was part of the Marvin Borowsky lecture
series on screenwriting that in the previous years had featured
such distinguished writers and filmmakers as Billy Wilder, Richard
Brooks and John Sayles.
Schrader’s restricted upbringing in a Catholic environment
and limited exposure to cinema in early ages perhaps best explains
his attraction to the medium of cinema. This deprivation also may
have led him to his creation of characters struggling with
alienation and shadows of the past.
This relation between the individual and his creative work
reflects Schrader’s elementary approach to writing scripts.
For Schrader, the best source of inspiration for a story is the
very character of the story creator.
Outlining his methodology in coaching screenwriting classes,
Schrader described that he would first ask students to write down
the most unique set of problems they were each facing in their
lives. After the problem diagnosis phase, there comes the
metaphor allocation step, in which the human problem is translated
into a situation or materialized as an object.Â
For example, in “Taxi Driver” (1976),
Schrader’s remarkable collaboration with Martin Scorsese,
Travis’ (Robert De Niro) isolation is mapped onto his career
as a taxi driver. The cab, like a gaudy coffin, is a metaphor for
Travis’ loneliness, Schrader explained.
Devising a plot is next in the process, followed by what
Schrader called “oral tradition.” By telling the story
to someone, a writer seeks to win the listener’s attention,
as more things come out in this dynamic process of lively
exchange.Â
“If you can tell a story, you can write a story,”
Schrader said, “and if you can tell a story (to someone) for
45 minutes, then you have a movie.”Â
After outlining all the things one has talked about, and getting
a strong feel that the ideas are ready to go, the actual writing
that can be done in a matter of few weeks would naturally
follow.
In addition to the engaging personality of Schrader, whose
animated speech intrigued the audience, his versatility and diverse
background broadens his appeal. Schrader pursued a graduate degree
in the late ’60s in UCLA’s critical studies program in
the School of Film and Television. His academic training led
to a book publication, “Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu,
Bresson, Dreyer” (1972), which is still a widely used text in
cinema studies.Â
Parallel to his prolific screenwriting career, collaborating
with directors such as Brian De Palma, Harold Becker and Martin
Scorsese, Schrader started directing in 1978. His directorial
credits include “American Gigolo” (1980),
“Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985), and
“Affliction” (1998).
Asked about why he stepped into directing, Schrader replied
because he wanted to be the master of his own film.
“Being a screenwriter was a half,” he said.
And questioned about how he reconciled his background as a
critic with his screenwriting, he answered with another pair of
intriguing metaphors: “Criticism and storytelling are two
different things,” Scharder said. “A critic is like a
medical examiner “¦ and a writer is like a pregnant woman that
wants to take care of the baby until it is fully
delivered.”Â
So, if you are pregnant, the metaphor follows, you shall not let
the medical examiner come in before the baby is out.
A question toward the end about the logistics of selling
screenplays was indicative of the pressing concern that had brought
into the room the majority of people, who were eager to write not
just screenplays, but “successful” ones.Â
“There is nothing more debilitating than writing scripts
that do not get sold,” Schrader had said earlier.Â
And for him the challenge is a realistic one, which is to be
faced by effective networking, dispensing with the myth of
“overnight success,” and by maintaining the faith in
fearless and creative writing.Â
Even if no one walked out of the auditorium feeling as though
they had just been given the golden rule for writing successful
scripts, everyone most likely enjoyed an evening full of inspiring
words of wisdom, humor, creativity and a humanist approach to
life.
And these are perhaps the key ingredients in effective
writing.