Before I get to today’s blog…

Thinking about doing more with your writing? Why not join me in Paris June 2-7 for my Masterclass in Screenwriting? Come be part of a dynamic community of writers and literary agents to learn, to write, to network, to energize your literary goals—and just to have fun in the City of Light!

The Paris Writers Workshop is the longest running literary program of its kind. This program offers 6 masterclasses by renowned authors, each a specialist in their field—and I’ll be teaching the Screenwriting Masterclass—in English, of course.

The workshop will be held at Columbia University’s beautiful Reid Hall campus in the heart of literary Paris—Montparnasse.

Registration is now open: https://wice-paris.org/paris-writers- workshop

We’ll have a great time getting your story ideas off the ground!!

Coming of Age Films—Dazed and Confused

As we continue to look at coming of age films, this week’s film takes us into the 90s—though it was about high school in the 70s.

Dazed and Confused [1993] by Richard Linklater tells the story of a bunch of teens on the last day in their Texas high school. It’s basically American Graffiti—which was set in the 50s—only D&C is set in the 70s. It’s 70s music, not 50s music, drugs are involved and sex is more common than in the 50s. But it’s dealing with the same stuff.

Take a look at the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQuvPlcB-8

Then take a look at some of the comments under the trailer. Here are a few gems:

It was pretty much like this in HS. I can't believe how many keg parties there were. Where the hell where all the parents...

This movie just gives off the vibe. Like I’m in it. It’s great if you’re interested in the 70s without a plot.

What made this movie so great is the way in which Linklater manages to channel that feeling of freedom that you experience when cruising around with your friends, smoking weed and drinking beer on a warm summer's night.

This… will be watched by cultural historians to understand what went wrong after the internet. Assuming we survive.

Watch it about once every six months. Even though nothing happens and It’s just about pretty narrow characters. I still love it and I don’t really know why!!

Jerry Seinfeld famously said that his hit TV show—which ran from 1988-98— was conceived as a show about nothing. In many ways, Dazed and Confused is a movie about nothing.

I mentioned earlier that it was on the order of American Graffiti—but I don’t think it’s as good. It’s missing that layer of humanity, of poignancy, that American Graffiti has in spades. For me, Dazed and Confused is too one note.

But for MILLIONS, it’s exactly the kind of movie they want to see. So that’s something to remember, too, as you choose what project to spend your time writing. And that choice is important because it determines the direction your writing career will head.

Sure, audiences responded to this film—but that doesn’t mean it’s the film you should write. But if YOU respond to this film, then, hey, go for it! Do a Dazed and Confused for the 2020s and see what that might be like.

You can’t please everyone with what you choose to write—but you should at the very least please yourself. So onward!

Copyright © Diane Lake

29Aug21

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com