This
week's answer:
Don't
Fight Writing About Fighting
Ruben, if you truly feel moved to
write a military/war script, by all means, follow that
instinct. There may be a story in you that needs
to be told. There are still many regarding certain
poignant war scenarios that haven't yet found their way
to the screen. If you happen to want to delve into
world of courage, sacrifice, passion, patriotism, valor,
bravery beyond the call of duty, and pathos, I know no
better "canvas" to work on. There's
always room for on the shelf with Saving Private Ryan,
Band of Brothers, Paths of Glory, Black Hawk down,
Tears of the Sun, The Red Badge of Courage, The Patriot,
Birth of a Nation, Glory, All Quiet on the Western
Front, The Longest Day, Days of Glory, Das Boot,
Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and so many more.
In regards to selling such a script,
what producer who wants to put their name on another war
classic, wouldn't want to release his or her movie
during the Memorial Day weekend? Well-written war
stories, screenplays, touch us deeply. They always
will. And, as long as we dwellers on this planet
have the misfortune of having to continue to wage wars,
their telling is extremely important. These
stories need to be shown to our children and their
children's children, until, finally, one day, war will
be a distant memory. It will be something
that can only be found in the history books.
And our movies.
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