Video: Do You Lack Confidence in Screenwriting? So Does Francis Ford Coppola
When we think about which directors really molded and shaped cinema in the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola's name is one of the first that comes to mind.
Having written and directed such masterpieces as The Godfather, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now, Coppola is certainly a voice in the cinematic community that we should all be listening to, and luckily we have the opportunity to do just that.
Filmmakers Carlo Lavagna and Roberto de Paolis caught up with the legendary director at the Marrakesh Film Festival to produce this short video interview for NOWNESS, in which Coppola explains his writing process -- from what time of day he writes to the different forms his stories take before they finally end up as a screenplay.
Like Coppola says, screenwriting can be learned. You can study all the books, screenplays, and movies, spend hours practicing your craft until you are finally good at putting stories together. However, you'll never get there without a little confidence to fuel all of your effort. That's why I think the greatest thing Coppola shares in the interview is the fact that he, as a filmmaker, at times feels less than confident in his ability to write a screenplay.
The man who wrote one of the greatest films of all time, The Godfather, feels this way. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel good -- not in a schadenfreude kind of way, but in a "Hey! You too?" kind of way. If a master of the craft can struggle with feeling confident in his creative ability, then the real hurdle to jump over in screenwriting is not obtaining talent, but being able to cope with the fear that we don't (or will never) have any.
Source: Nowness
