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The Cool - Smart continum
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There are two kinds of people in the entertainment industry. The smart and the cool. In order to do this job well, you have to be able to at least fake being both, but each of us has a natural tendency, a place on the Smart/Cool continuum if you will.
We all know those up and coming young exec's that spend all their time partying, can barely form a coherent sentence and yet somehow seem to be rocketing to the top of their field. It might puzzle those of us who fall further into the Smart end of the spectrum, but the powers of being Cool cannot be underestimated. In a business that's all about who and what you know, spending your days successfully glad handing the world can be a valuable skill indeed.
It is, however, a skill that can be faked. You can learn to say hello to everyone you meet. To ask people out for drinks whenever the opportunity arises. To go out to every event you're invited to. Even if you're not naturally inclined to be the life of the party, most of us can choose to be if we try hard enough.
Smart, however, cannot be faked. No matter how Cool the real players in this business are, you'll find that most of them are knife's edge Smart too. You can't really make Silver Screen dreams come true unless you do your homework and KNOW the craft of storytelling inside out. So do your homework:
Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters, Michael Tierno
The Art of Dramatic Writing, Lajos Egri
Making a Good Script Great, Linda Seger
Save the Cat, Blake Snyder
Screenplay, Syd Field
Screenwriter’s Master Class, Edited by Kevin Conroy Scott
Story, Robert McKee
The War of Art, Steve Pressfield
The Writer’s Journey, Christopher Vogler
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