I had this amazing experience of being able to go into a screening room at Fox and watch [James L. Brooks] direct Broadcast News, through his dailies. I remember watching the dailies of the scene where Holly Hunter and William Hurt are in those rolling chairs, and it’s kind of a great romantic moment where they come together, and he gets close to her. I watched Jim build this scene out of behavior and dialogue, and I was just . . . high. I realized, I really want to do this. So I began studying all the films, everything I possibly could. That experience really made Say Anything fun, the beginning of a journey. Then I made Singles, and Jim said, let’s do another. He was getting ready to do As Good as It Gets, and we went and had lunch at Delmonico’s on Pico. And that began a whole period of journalistic research, of trailing after characters, building drafts. The first draft of Jerry Maguire was this basic, long, vomit draft. I remember Jim saying, ‘I’ve never read so much story with so little plot.’ It was 140 pages, but filled with the passion of the story. Jim is all about the process. So rather than accenting the problems, he said, ‘let’s embrace structure.’ Out of that came the odd but ultimately satisfying structure of Jerry Maguire, which begins with an ‘all hope is lost’ moment that usually happens at the end of the second act or towards the end of the movie. We started with Jerry’s descent. It was really exhilarating to find that starting point.”
Writer/director Cameron Crowe
Deadline interview with Mike Fleming Jr.
P.S. Could someone close to James L. Brooks encourage him to write some kind of book or do a long-form podcast of his extensive production experiences?
Related posts:
James L. Brooks on Chayefsky
Writing Grace Notes (via James L. Brooks & Judd Apatow)
The Devil Speech by James L. Brooks
Jerry Maguire’s Mission Statement