03-02-2009, 10:31 PM
It isn't really something that can be articulated in the matter of 5 lines on a message board. This is partially because of the sheer length of these two pieces. You'd be looking for a Reader's Digest version of over a thousand pages. But it's also because even in my passion for screenwriting, something I've done for personal gain for 20 years and attempted to get paid to do off and on for five, I haven't read either in their entirety.
Also, I didn't specifically say The Odyssey. I said Odyssey and/or Iliad. Here are two independent examples of each.
From The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting:
From Larry Brody's book, Television Writing from the Inside Out:
Also, I didn't specifically say The Odyssey. I said Odyssey and/or Iliad. Here are two independent examples of each.
From The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting:
Quote:How do such classics apply to writing movies? Well, The Iliad, set in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of the city of Troy, has been described as one of the greatest war stories of all time. What if a clever screenwriter changed the setting to a city in space, being attacked by an invader force, and now young men who were barely of school age when the siege began have to take over the battle from their dying fathers?
From Larry Brody's book, Television Writing from the Inside Out:
Quote:Do you suppose Homer's classic has been read for thousands of years because of its style and magnificent poetry? Hardly. Most of us don't even know Homer's language. We read The Odyssey in translation. And we read it for its story: man against hte gods who falls out of one trap and into another while lovers, partners in life, struggle to be reunited. Even those who haven't read The Odyssey know the plot because it's been retold endlessly, in a variety of ways by a variety of writers.