What Makes Great Writing Great Writing?
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm (Lesson Learned)
Since my trip to New York over the weekend, I’ve been considering this question quite a bit. Since I went there for the purpose of seeing two plays and a film that was having a New York only showing, I was exposed to a lot of writing over the two days I spent there.
The film I saw, Backseat, got into the SXSW fest. It was quirky and raw. I did enjoy it, it’s true. It had its slow moments, but it also had some great moments.
Of the two plays that I saw, one was new. Something You Did, written by Willy Holtzman, was chock full of popular political talk of today. Translation: It will never become classic. How can something ever become classic if it is filled with references that no one will understand in ten years time?
The other was roughly twenty years old. Crimes of the Heart is a Pulitzer Prize winning play, written by Beth Henley and completed in 1978. Thirty years later, it is still mostly relevant. The only dated references refer to Johnny Carson and Hurricane Camille, but they didn’t detract at all.
But here is what I really realized. The best writing, when it comes to plays, and will hold true with screenplays and any other type of script, is the writing that brings out the most amazing performances in the people on the stage.