David Mamet: I'm no longer a "brain-dead liberal"

I didn't even know he used to be a leftist. He reveals his new orientation in a Village Voice essay in his typical prose, digressions and anecdotes. I like his style.

It really surprises me that he has been a staunch leftist. All his writing seems beyond politics, focused on character. Everything he talks about in "True and False, Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor" seems so beyond the blind idealism of the left. The whole book's philosophy is based in pragmatism, in a no bullshit approach, think for yourself, do it yourself - don't trust prophets, demagogues, authority-figures.

Reading his new essay I'm a bit worried that he now embraces the right like the newly converted he is, instead of doing his own pragmatic thinking, which I believe he is better at. Why play this label game anymore. Liberals. Conservatives. To me it doesn't really make sense. The big ideologies are now only ghosts haunting us, infecting politics and society with a time-wasting name-calling. We most rid ourselves of them. This is one of the reasons I like Obama. He thinks beyond the divisions created by the ghosts. He is pragmatic and idealistic. As Mamet himself express the link between the two in this quote: "There’s nothing more pragmatic than idealism". The idealism of Mamet has always been pragmatic - focused on the matter, on creating good theater, films - pleasing the audience by challenging them to be their best.

Bottom-line: Even though I'm happy he is not a "brain-dead liberal" anymore, I fear he trying out for a new role as "seen-the-light-conservative", while I much would prefer him to be himself, which I find much more interesting. Read more!

David Mamet told me to make a workshop

Today I went to the office of Highway Filmproductions down in Psiri to finally set up and begin the workshop on scriptwriting. This has been in the pipeline for a long, long time. I really want to do it. As one of my old teachers said in a paraphrase of a Danish saying: "You learn as long as you have students". I like the interaction, the meeting of other writers, trying to focus and distillate my knowledge and experience in scriptwriting to help them overcome their challenges.
There are two long term ambitions of this project - to stimulate the Greek film industry, where the major weakness is the script - and to eventually write a book about scriptwriting. Personally I like only two of the many book I have read: Lajos Egri's "Dramatic Writing" and Syd Field's autobiography "Going to the movies" - no not really his books on scriptwriting - more this one, as it narrates his own experience of finding the building blocks of his 'system'. It is much more educational and exciting to read. Then I like the website called wordplay.
Essential is David Mamet. His book on acting is a must for any writer. The writer and the actor are intimately linked. Or, the better they are connected, the better for the drama (the film, the theater, the tv-series). The history of their relation goes all the way back to ancient Greek drama - which was a writer and a bunch of actors - no producers, no directors, no middlemen. And by the way, TV-series are gaining ground as the major format for contemporary drama, and I believe one of the reasons is exactly the intimate relation between writers and actors.
David Mamet also informed me of the fact that instead of keep looking for a mentor, we should become our own. And it was this which initially set me on to creating the workshop. Read more!