With The Dark Knight Rises opening this week, we thought it was the perfect time to show you a typical email — and Blake’s response — from January, 2009 (and check out the links after the blog to our beat sheets for Inception and, with irony Blake would certainly appreciate, Memento):
Mr. Snyder:
I am currently reading Save the Cat, and I have reached the point where you unabashedly malign Memento. I am taking you up on your offer, and without debating modern societal merit, I want to address your closing comment to Chapter 4 of your book, which references the value of Memento in terms of revenue (or rather, the lack thereof).
Of course, your book is copyright 2005, so maybe you were unaware of what brewed on the horizon for Mr. Christopher Nolan. Regardless, I find it thoroughly amusing that you actually refer to “all of the hullabaloo surrounding Memento,” and in the same breath, you sarcastically jab at it with “guess how much it made.”
Well, “all of that hullabaloo” has helped to create quite a run for Mr. Nolan, a run that he is still legging out. Batman Begins, The Prestige, and now The Dark Knight. Taking a risk like Memento created a lot of “hullabaloo,” which translated into opportunities, and those opportunities have blossomed, and the opportunities are still coming. You’ve got to applaud his willingness to take a risk.
Quality and craft aside, if the measure of a writer’s success is revenue, then I’d say Mr. Nolan has made out pretty well over the past several films. As far as quality is concerned, The Dark Knight was disappointing (when compared to his other films, in my opinion) — but hey, look at those box office numbers.
If the ultimate goal is to write films that make money because audiences love them, then I’d say Mr. Nolan got on a decently fast track to El Dorado. He struck gold with Batman Begins, but let’s not forget that before Batman “Began,” the last swing of his pick-ax was made by a memory-impaired anti-hero named Leonard.
Maybe I’ve missed something, maybe something huge, and if so, please enlighten me. If I’m way off base, then correct me. Rest assured, I am not a “believer” daring you to change your mind — I’m just a believer in the potential power of “hullabaloo.”
I look forward to receiving your response.
Best regards,
Graden W. Dahlberg
P.S. — I am well aware that creating “hullabaloo” can be dangerous to one’s health (and career for that matter).
Grady,
I immediately like anyone who uses the term “hullabaloo” so you’re in my friend circle already.
Thank you for your email and let’s start with the fact that I agree with much of what you point out.
Memento did a lot for Chris Nolan’s career all right. As a calling card, you betcha! And that is a really smart thing to point out — none of my Memento defenders have done so thus far, great argument!
But… I stand by my comment re: Memento for two reasons:
1. I state quite clearly in the introduction of STC! that this book is for those who are “interested in pursuing the mainstream film market” and my job is to tell the truth about that — even if it means occasionally pissing people off. As a teaching tool in that pursuit, I hate to say it, but we can learn more from Mall Cop than Memento.
2. My comment separates the men from the boys! Are you really serious about selling your script or are you just sitting in Starbucks pretending? My Memento comment is the splash of cold water for those who, in my mind, are stuck in film school, thinking it’s a film school world out there… and it’s not. And, again hate to say it, but 99% of those who bash me for that comment will never sell a script. And that in part is where the anger they display comes from in my opinion.
You’ll note when Nolan was recruited by Hollywood, they didn’t put him to work making more Memento’s. They gave him something they could do something with: Batman.
My book is about how to communicate any idea you have into something understandable — and even in the Indie world it’s the difference between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York. I desperately want my readers to beat a system in which 50,000 screenplays were registered with the WGA last year (estimate) and only 100 sold.
I want my guys to be the 100 and not the 50,000 and the splash of cold water accompanies those odds — and my little zing at your favorite movie — is something I am willing to risk to help you help yourself.
And on a personal note, I am a reverse snob when it comes to film. I think there is something beautiful about entertaining lots of people; it’s selfless, it’s giving, it’s thinking of an audience first and your “growth as an artist ” second.
I think there is something terrribly arrogant about many filmmakers who create movies to “make people think.” People can do their own thinking thanks. What they can’t do on their own is be entertained, taken away, lifted up, inspired, and delighted. That’s what “commercial” films do best, and I think it’s a pretty noble pursuit! Hollywood does it better than anyone in the world, and I am the defender of that philosphy — despite the fact that it often leads to overemphasis on box office.
To me, making money is not what being “commercial” is about. But if you want to know how people vote with their ticket buying, the only way to see what works and what doesn’t is box office — and that’s why I emphasize it.
But yes, sir, you are correct and very brilliant to point out all that you did. I agree with you 100% about Batman et al. And your argument is polite — which not every Memento fan (i.e., recent victim of being splashed awake by cold water and cranky) offers me in email form.
Thank you!
You had me at “hullabaloo.”
— Blake Snyder
Check out these beat sheets for Christopher Nolan movies:
Inception by Anne Lower
Memento by Tillery Johnson
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BJ, what a delightful re-post, and at a perfect time!
Blake defended his POV with humor and grace as always… but he also was one who was open to hearing another’s opinion – even if it differed from his. Polar opposites can make magic – and they did with this exchange! xo a
For Newcomers to this exchange, What started it is:
Blake said, “Screw Memento” OMG! when he said this the purist came out of the woodwork. The context is what is important. Blake was speaking to newbe students like me and he was correct to guide me away from complicated arrangements of the same structure. Blake also told me to stay the hell away from “Black Humor” and he was not talking about “Madea”.
Blakes wisdom for me is priceless as I follow his advice and continue to write for 6 years now. Have I sold anything yet? No, but when I am discovered a cache of well structured material will be in the pile, thanks to Blake.
Hola. Hey BJ. Memento again! Still dig this letter.
I know I slammed a previous Memento Beat Sheet. (And you contacted me via email with some choice words — most of them I deserved)
Still totally agree with Blake on this. I grabbed something from the Beat Sheet I slammed, because it was well written and insightful.
“It’s not a dark night from Leonard’s perspective, but from an audience perspective, things are pretty crappy for Leonard.”
I really think this is the problem with Memento. (And a lot of Nolan’s movies tbh–excluding the Batmans). He tends to hold the viewer at a distance from the main characters. We can never root for them. They often are doing things we can’t get behind, or don’t have enough information to understand, or in Leonard’s case — things they don’t ever know they are doing.
Leonard has no ability to choose. He’s doomed to repeat himself, but not in a dramatic sense, rather in an ironic sense. We can feel sad for him, but we find it hard to relate. In Memento, he never has a chance to escape his fate. And that’s what is missing.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy doesn’t escape his fate, but he had a choice — and made a heroic sacrifice in making that choice. That is missing in Memento.
What made Memento unique was very akin to a gimmick. It was a clever gimmick. Well executed at that. But really that’s all it was. Let’s tell a story backwards.
Play the story chronologically forward and you’ll see what I mean. (And this is something Blake pointed out as well). Yes, the film works chronologically forward in terms of plot and logic. But in terms of tension and story, it falls flat.
(I excluded the Batman(s) because I think they don’t have this problem that other Nolan movies do. My guess would be it has to do with David Goyer’s involvement. And as Blake pointed out, they didn’t ask for a quirky Nolan movie. They gave him a franchise and a heavy hitter of a writer to work with).
I can’t say I’m familiar with Memento. I may have to check it out sometime to see what the hullaballoo is about. But what I most enjoyed about reading this post, is that I get a chance to see how Blake might have responded to my big objection to his book where he shamelessly slams another movie, not once but twice. Since reading the first book, I’ve wished I could not only pick his brain for advice, but also set him straight on my favorite, “SIGNS”. First Blake knocks it for adding news footage in some scenes. He’s right to say news footage would do nothing for E.T. But these two movies are opposites. Blake didn’t really consider genre here. When it comes to a MITH movie the news footage can do a lot of what Blake tells us movies need. Most MITH movies have one thing in common. The heroes in trouble are all hoping for some white knight to come to their rescue. If they can get word to the police, the military, anyone… somebody will come save them. But what if in Jurassic Park3 when he called his girlfriend to send help he heard dinosaurs attacking her house on the other end of the phone? That’s what “Signs” does by bringing the news in. It tells the heroes and the audience that the trouble is not just in the heroes’ house or local neighborhood. It’s all over the planet. Everyone is in trouble. Everyone is on their own. Nobody is coming to save you, because they’re all hoping for someone to save them. That would certainly raise the stakes in my book and I’d call that “all is lost”. Too bad Blake didn’t see that.
The other thing Blake knocks “SIGN” for is having two types of magic. BIG WRONG!!! Calling faith in God magic like a genie in a bottle was really wrong. The faith in God and questioning it aspect of this movie was the theme, one of the best in my opinion. Faith is not a gimmick or hook. Where Blake makes his mistake is in thinking there is something out of the ordinary with God granting tiny unseen miracles. As the preacher said, do you see miracles or do you see coincidence? In real life everyone has bad things like death or asthma. You can see nothing good come of it or you can realize that something good in your life could not have happened without it. If you want to see it. Many miracles require faith to be seen.
If the movie had God show up like Bruce Almighty and help him defeat the aliens or the wife come back from the dead, then yes, that would be too much out of the ordinary magic. But M. Night Shyamalan did it wisely. As for success, its budget was 72,000,000 and it grossed 408,247,917 worldwide. That’s more than triple. It almost made budget on opening week end in USA alone. I’d call that success.
But I can appreciate Blake trying to help us beat the odds and he makes valid points about keeping the market in mind. Maybe Signs is the exception to others who failed to do it right. But I’d call Signs the template for getting it right.
Putting faith in God and aliens together or faith in God and dinosaurs together can be a challenge, because some say you can’t have both. But not all. Science and religion meet more and more as more people today believe in both.
The last point I have to argue with Blake on is this blog.
Blake
“I think there is something terrribly arrogant about many filmmakers who create movies to “make people think.” People can do their own thinking thanks.”
What did Blake think the theme is for? He himself pointed out how important it is to reach an audience this way and how we all seek growth and meaning in our stories to enlighten and inspire and are left disappointed and unfulfilled without it. We can certainly entertain a lot of people and make A LOT of people think at the same time with commercial film. Maybe it is arrogant to think we can change the world, but I wouldn’t call it selfish to try.
I can’t be the only one who rebutted Blake’s slam on Signs. Were there any exchanges that brought up my points? I’d like to see them re-hashed like this.
Susan – Sorry I can’t add to this discussion, but I’m not aware of any comments Blake received about “Signs.”