“IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.”
David Mamet (?)
My friend Carolynn sent me an email yesterday in regard to an alleged David Mamet memo. I had not see it before, but whether he wrote the memo or not, I think it is going down as instant legendary material that writers will be quoting for years. There was a TV show called The Unit which ran between 2006-2009 and David Mamet was the executive producer.
The memo said to have been written by Mamet was sent to staff writers of the show to, how do I say it, encourage them to write more dramatically. I have read enough Mamet to say that the encouragement has his not so subtle touch. (Heck, this whole memo even appears in all-caps, with plenty of bold type.) Mamet knows how to provoke, but he also understands drama. And he wants is writers to understand drama.
I was so fired up after reading this memo that I cranked out ten pages of a script and I haven’t done that much writing in one day in over a year. If this memo turns out to be apocryphal. I don’t care. Don’t tell me. I want to believe it’s Mamet speaking from on high. I don’t even want Mamet to say he did or didn’t write it. Preserve the mystery, the drama.
You can read the whole memo that Seth Abramovitch calls Davd Mamet’s Master Class Memo to the Writers of The Unit at Movieline.com. Because I know you have mountains to climb and pages to write, I’ve pulled a few helpful gems for you.
QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, ACUTE GOAL.
SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES OF EVERY SCENE THESE THREE QUESTIONS.
1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?
THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.
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THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. YOU THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE EVERY SCENE IS DRAMATIC.
EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.
THIS NEED IS WHY THEY CAME. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET WILL LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE, TO FAILURE – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS OVER. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE NEXT SCENE.
ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE PLOT.
ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.
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START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. IT MUST START BECAUSE THE HERO HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.
LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING “BOB AND SUE DISCUSS…” IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.
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HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
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IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION, INDEED, OF SPEECH. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM – TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)
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I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE SCENE AND ASK YOURSELF “IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT ESSENTIAL? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.
IF THE ANSWER IS “NO” WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU’VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.
LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05
Here are a few other posts that I’ve written about Mamet in the past:
Screenwriting Quote of the Day #94 (David Mamet)
Dickens vs. Mamet
Screenwriting, Mamet & Teachable Moments
Screenwriting Quote of the Day #6 (David Mamet)
Screenwriting from Iowa 
[…] “IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.” David Mamet (?) My friend Carolynn sent me an email yesterday in regard to an alleged David Mamet memo. I had not see it before, but whether he wrote the memo or not, I think it is going down as instant ledgendary material […] Original Source… […]
I had a UNIT writer as a Screenwriting teacher…this memo is real! I also heard that Mamet would come into the writers’ room and curse and threaten job loss…”write as if your job, your life, depends on it.” And, the unit was one kick-ass show. I was told to keep this memo exceedingly private as well. Odd for you to publish it…hmm…
Thanks Rasc. It sounds like a writer’s meeting at “The Unit” resembled that opening scene in Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross”;
Alec Baldwin character: “As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.”
I think it’s safe to assume that in this day and age anything you write in an email, on Facebook, on Twitter, in a note to a friend or co-worker is not going to be kept “exceedingly private.”
If Mamet really wrote this it is back in 2005 before the world became less private maybe he thought it could stay private. But jugging from his plays and other fine books about writing and directing, I think he understands the human heart better than most and probably wonders what took the memo so long before it started to cirrculate.
Remember Mamet loves poker and good poker players are sly dogs who think three steps ahead of the rest of us. Mamet’s speaking and writing fee just went up because of this memo.
I like the idea of the memo, of course it doesn’t say anything really new, right? I mean, we all know that conflict creates drama…It’s impossible to write amazing advice in a memo; for me, it takes a book.
Of course, I think the memo’s really brilliant, nevertheless. But conflict creates drama, words get in the way of good screenwriting, all of these things are known.
Jon-
One of my favorite sayings is “We need to be reminded, more than we need to be taught.”
Mamet’s memo is an in-your-face reminder.
It’s been said the writing is just rearraging words in a dictionary. Mamet does that rearraging better than most.
And remember that great line from The Maxtrix: “There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”
As far as conflict, check out this blog in the way back machine called, “Everything I Learned in Film School”—http://wp.me/paP6U-o
[…] course, that book came out ten years ago so apparently in light of the David Mamet memo he can now pass on a few things about the writing process. But Mamet’s quote brought to mind […]
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