Yesterday I attended the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Lecture Series at Norris Hall on campus to hear James L. Brooks speak. I really don't like public lectures. I kind of feel like they cheapen such giants in the industry, especially when the interviewer is unprepared (not naming any names). Brooks was a very interesting person to listen to because he told of experiences in a narrative-type way (imagine that, he's a screenwriter!) and gave us students advice for the future.
As a writer, he believes that story is the most important thing of all, which is counter to what USC teaches that character is more important than anything else. However, Brooks has had a lot of success writing and producing Taxi (of which we screened 2 episodes) , the Mary Tyler Moore Show, the Simpsons, and more, so I think he knows what he's talking about. Brooks has won 19 Emmys and 3 Oscars-- that's more Emmys than anyone in television history.
His advice to writers: do your research. When he wrote Taxi, he went to a cab company in New York and spent a whole day hearing conversations and seeing people, and finished the day with a cast of characters to write for. I could spot, however, the fact that he doesn't put character first, as the episode of Taxi that we saw was so structurally tight, but I didn't get a sense of the characters. Maybe I need to watch a whole season. Or maybe I wasn't invested in it because I don't like public lectures. Anyway, he spent a great deal of time discussing the importance of actors and how they must be communicated to properly. They have a tremendous responsibility of being the face of the movie or show, so it's important that they are as developed as possible.
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