Scripting Life

Have you ever noticed how great actors do not always a great movie make? I recently rented The Code with Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas fully expecting to be thoroughly entertained. I turned it off after thirty minutes, wondering why I'd given it more than three. Lousy is scarcely the word.

The story is poorly developed and the writing reflects it. If a script is badly written, guess what happens to the acting? I'm kind of on a rant about this lately because, for me, good writing makes a story real and I'm a sucker for real. Yes, it's true I love fantasy, but I like my fantasy to be as realistic as possible. That's why I love Treasure Planet: it's believable.

As a kid, I was the one who went to the movies and the next day got his friends together, told them the story line, gave each one his part, and then "directed" our play to recreate the film. We all had fun and, sure, we had to make a few thin

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gs up as we went -- it was play after all -- but I tried to keep us true to the story itself. And whenever possible, things had to seem real.
"The only certainty in life," my father used to joke, "is death and taxes -- especially in April." If for no other reason than that, getting our life story "down on paper and right the first time," is not something to mess around with.

Not only what we say, but how we say it, the set decorations and directing -- all of the things we take for granted because we're busy getting by, take on new significance. A psychoanalyst friend of mine has reminded me, "Life isn't a rehearsal. It's up to you to envision the kind of life you want and then get busy writing it." That's sound advice for anyone. See you at the "typewriter."