Latest / How To Talk To Humans / "Notting Hill" by Richard Curtis, Discussion on Screenwriting- American Writers vs British Writers

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"Notting Hill" by Richard Curtis, Discussion on Screenwriting- American Writers vs British Writers · How To Talk To Humans

• 0:02
  Larry Wilson: Hi, this is Larry Wilson and this is How to Talk to Humans.
• 0:07
  Larry Wilson: This is the podcast that shows you how to improve your communication skills.
• 0:13
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to get a better job?
• 0:15
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to find a relationship?
• 0:17
  Larry Wilson: Are you trying to do things in your life that have frustrated you and eluded you so far?
• 0:23
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• 0:27
  Larry Wilson: Now, I can only do it with humans.
• 0:30
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking to deal with vampires or zombies extraterrestrial, this is not the show for you.
• 0:35
  Larry Wilson: But if you're really looking to improve your communication skills, I can show you what I've learned for 40 years in the show business working with the biggest celebrities and superstars in the world, and their secrets are unbelievable.
• 0:53
  Larry Wilson: What I'm going to be teaching you during the course of this podcast every week are tools that you can use to communicate toward success.
• 1:06
  Larry Wilson: Thanks for joining me again for another episode of How to Talk to Humans.
• 1:12
  Larry Wilson: Many of you who are regular devotees of this podcast know about my love of film and of storytelling, of course.
• 1:23
  Larry Wilson: I mean, they're one in the same, as far as I'm concerned.
• 1:27
  Larry Wilson: And I was thinking particularly about the difference between British films and American films and the way they handle things, particularly as it involves language.
• 1:45
  Larry Wilson: I couldn't help but focus on this.
• 1:49
  Larry Wilson: I have a tendency to re-watch films that I like all the time.
• 1:57
  Larry Wilson: And sometimes, you know, I have the opportunity to introduce someone to them who's never seen them before.
• 2:04
  Larry Wilson: And it's fun because if it's someone you like, you know, oh, they're about they're in for a rare treat.
• 2:10
  Larry Wilson: And I was thinking about there's so many different things to approach here about the British screenwriter Richard Curtis.
• 2:21
  Larry Wilson: Now, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Americans don't know that name.
• 2:28
  Larry Wilson: But you know his films, you know the films he's written, you know Love Actually, and you know Four Weddings and a Funeral, you know Bridget Jones' Diary.
• 2:39
  Larry Wilson: The one that always comes to mind is Notting Hill.
• 2:44
  Larry Wilson: I think Notting Hill is almost a perfect film.
• 2:48
  Larry Wilson: It's flawless.
• 2:51
  Larry Wilson: It's so incredible.
• 2:54
  Larry Wilson: Now, I have to jump back and tell you why I was thinking about this so much as regards this podcast.
• 3:03
  Larry Wilson: Because there's a funny disparity between the Brits and the Yanks.
• 3:10
  Larry Wilson: In Hollywood, California, which at one time was, you know, the movie capital of the world.
• 3:19
  Larry Wilson: I don't know if it is anymore.
• 3:22
  Larry Wilson: But in Hollywood, the director was king, always.
• 3:30
  Larry Wilson: And there'd be jokes often made, you can even see them in films, popular films, jokes made about how the screenwriters who produce the material, if you don't have a screenplay, you don't have a film.
• 3:47
  Larry Wilson: There's a number of people who've tried to disprove that theory by shooting without it, and they've learned the hard way.
• 3:53
  Larry Wilson: Nothing good comes of it.
• 3:55
  Larry Wilson: But in the UK, the United Kingdom, there seems to be another tradition which is so fascinating to me.
• 4:07
  Larry Wilson: I don't know why, but the screenwriter is considered preeminent.
• 4:15
  Larry Wilson: The screenwriter seems to be more important than the director or the producer.
• 4:21
  Larry Wilson: Now, this is anathema to Americans in Hollywood.
• 4:26
  Larry Wilson: Oof.
• 4:26
  Larry Wilson: It's all about them.
• 4:36
  Larry Wilson: And maybe in a certain way, if you're just talking about business, you're right.
• 4:42
  Larry Wilson: If they're the ones who are making sure that things, they're able to raise financing, they're able to use powerful connections they have to bring certain pieces together, then perhaps you're right.
• 4:53
  Larry Wilson: But the Brits seem to have a different feeling about it, I think, where they're not as concerned.
• 4:59
  Larry Wilson: Um I don't know, having never been involved in the industry outside of the United States, I couldn't say for sure, only by what I see and what I read and what I hear from people, that uh screenwriters are accorded great respect there and I think great power that rightfully, in my mind, it makes perfect sense, because of course I'm all about the language.
• 5:35
  Larry Wilson: So I would think, of course, the screenwriter should be the most important person involved in the project.
• 5:42
  Larry Wilson: But it doesn't seem to be that way here.
• 5:44
  Larry Wilson: But there, so it's very interesting to me that Richard Curtis has created some incredible films, just fantastic films.
• 5:54
  Larry Wilson: And I know you must know a great many of them, maybe you know all of them.
• 5:58
  Larry Wilson: Uh he's created some hostage, usually comedy is involved, uh hilarious television series.
• 6:08
  Larry Wilson: There's a series, I I don't know how old it is, it's going way back there, with a Rowan Atkinson, I think before Mr.
• 6:16
  Larry Wilson: Bean ever surfaced.
• 6:18
  Larry Wilson: This is also Mr.
• 6:20
  Larry Wilson: Bean, of course, is also Richard Curtis, writing.
• 6:23
  Larry Wilson: But uh Richard Curtis, my understanding is chose Rowan Atkinson for this television show, Black Adder, which is hilarious, but distinctly not American.
• 6:40
  Larry Wilson: You might look at it and go, I'm not sure I get this.
• 6:44
  Larry Wilson: It's not that the jokes are hidden or confusing, it has to do with their communication.
• 6:53
  Larry Wilson: There is a British cultural element, uh, there's a number of them that are very different from the way we communicate in America.
• 7:05
  Larry Wilson: Uh boasting about things, braggadocio is very much discouraged, I think, by the British.
• 7:16
  Larry Wilson: It's considered improper, it's considered uh crass.
• 7:22
  Larry Wilson: It just you just don't do it.
• 7:25
  Larry Wilson: And so a lot of times when the British are talking about things or referring, now this is not hard and fast, because so much of British culture, I'm sure, is influenced by American culture, and vice versa.
• 7:39
  Larry Wilson: You know, um, you read stuff about the Beatles, and they say, oh yeah, we were raised on Chuck Berry and Little Richard, that's who we wanted to be.
• 7:55
  Larry Wilson: Well, it's wild if you think about them saying that, then you listen to some of the Beatles, you think, oh, I can hear that.
• 8:04
  Larry Wilson: Of course, of course, this is what they wanted to be.
• 8:06
  Larry Wilson: So I'm I'm sure that transference of culture goes back and forth both ways.
• 8:12
  Larry Wilson: But uh I think sometimes Guy Ritchie's movies maybe, some of them may reflect more uh American gangster culture.
• 8:24
  Larry Wilson: I'm not sure, maybe that's completely authentically British, I'm not sure.
• 8:30
  Larry Wilson: But I know that Richard Curtis's writing, and part of what makes it so great, not only is he just a splendid writer, but he is able to bring forth comedic elements, sometimes hilarious, by underplaying something that we would never do in American films or television.
• 8:55
  Larry Wilson: American film television, boom, we want to give it to you, Sacco.
• 9:00
  Larry Wilson: We don't want there to be a chance you could miss it.
• 9:02
  Larry Wilson: Whereas the Brits, sometimes it's just an aside.
• 9:07
  Larry Wilson: Sometimes it's someone just raising an eyebrow.
• 9:11
  Larry Wilson: Everything is very underplayed.
• 9:14
  Larry Wilson: And, you know, one of the first things that comes to mind, uh, the reason I love this film, Notting Hill, so much is, like I say, I would think it's almost perfect.
• 9:25
  Larry Wilson: And it's a very simple story.
• 9:28
  Larry Wilson: When I tell you the story, if you don't know the film, you're gonna think I've lost my mind.
• 9:33
  Larry Wilson: The story is a guy who lives in this little neighborhood called Notting Hill, by accident meets a very famous American movie star and is attracted to her, and she's attracted to him.
• 9:49
  Larry Wilson: And then they have a falling out, and he's heartbroken and loses her, and then tries to win her back.
• 10:01
  Larry Wilson: That's the whole film.
• 10:02
  Larry Wilson: Like you're thinking, well, that's just boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy.
• 10:08
  Larry Wilson: Yes, that's all it is.
• 10:10
  Larry Wilson: Well, that's kind of the sign of what a great writer can do, a fantastic storyteller.
• 10:16
  Larry Wilson: And this should be encouraging to those of you following this podcast, hearing me talk about the power of storytelling as pertains to business.
• 10:29
  Larry Wilson: Because storytelling shouldn't be complicated, it shouldn't be difficult.
• 10:34
  Larry Wilson: If someone like Richard Curtis, who admittedly is gifted, if he can take a simple boy meets girl story and make it into this fantastic film, and filled with uh incredible, hilarious moments, but so memorable moments again and again and again, um, then surely you should be able to take any story that you're crafting to promote your business, what you sell, what you buy, all those sorts of things.
• 11:09
  Larry Wilson: There's hope for you yet.
• 11:12
  Larry Wilson: Uh I was going to give you an example from Notting Hill that uh if I watch the film, and I I seem to watch it maybe every couple months, I watch it again.
• 11:25
  Larry Wilson: Because I see things in it I've missed before.
• 11:28
  Larry Wilson: Leading man is Hugh Grant, and the leading woman is Julia Roberts.
• 11:34
  Larry Wilson: She's the famous American movie star.
• 11:36
  Larry Wilson: I won't give away too much, I don't want to spoil I if you've never seen it, you should really treat yourself.
• 11:43
  Larry Wilson: You'll be so delighted.
• 11:45
  Larry Wilson: It's so charming, it's so winning, it's so human, it's really fantastic.
• 11:52
  Larry Wilson: So at one point, after they've just sort of gotten together, he says, Oh, uh, he knows she has a new movie coming up that she's going to be shooting.
• 12:03
  Larry Wilson: And he says, Would you like me to take you through your lines of practicing the script?
• 12:08
  Larry Wilson: And she says, Oh, would you?
• 12:09
  Larry Wilson: And he says, Of course.
• 12:10
  Larry Wilson: And so we see sitting on his rooftop there in London, we see him helping her with the script.
• 12:21
  Larry Wilson: And it's it's terrible, you know, it's awful American action, dumb stuff.
• 12:29
  Larry Wilson: And she's having trouble with the dialogue because it's it's all talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
• 12:34
  Larry Wilson: And she says, Oh, alert to GH1 that we have to have Blackhawks by O1700.
• 12:40
  Larry Wilson: And if you tell me how many mistakes I made there, I'll pelt you with raisins.
• 12:43
  Larry Wilson: She says, How many mistakes I made?
• 12:45
  Larry Wilson: He says, uh, 11.
• 12:47
  Larry Wilson: She's like, oh, and it's all that kind of stuff, right?
• 12:50
  Larry Wilson: And she says, Do you think this is terrible?
• 12:54
  Larry Wilson: He says, Well, it's not Jane Austen, but it's gripping.
• 13:01
  Larry Wilson: Now, clearly he's being sarcastic.
• 13:06
  Larry Wilson: He doesn't think it's gripping.
• 13:07
  Larry Wilson: But the way he says it is so funny.
• 13:09
  Larry Wilson: But the American movie star, all she hears is, Do you think I should be doing Jane Austen?
• 13:16
  Larry Wilson: And he says, Well, uh I and he he's been looking at the script, and he says, uh, he says, Well, uh, you know, I I think this is the work of a talented writer, and he looks at the cover of the screen and says, Oh, uh, writers.
• 13:31
  Larry Wilson: Now, this is the kind of joke that goes right by most American audiences.
• 13:39
  Larry Wilson: But of course, the point is, on American films coming out of Hollywood, there may be a dozen writers involved.
• 13:48
  Larry Wilson: And there are all these different peoples whose fingerprints are all over the script and changing it and doing all this stuff.
• 13:55
  Larry Wilson: And that character, in a film, he's poking fun at the fact.
• 14:00
  Larry Wilson: Richard Curtis, I think, writes all his own stuff.
• 14:04
  Larry Wilson: So if it's a Richard Curtis film, then he wrote it.
• 14:08
  Larry Wilson: But he realizes he's he's gently poking fun at a Hollywood film where there's all these names on him.
• 14:15
  Larry Wilson: I once um, I'm not gonna name drop on you, but I was invited to a screening of a film with some very famous people who knew film very, very well.
• 14:26
  Larry Wilson: And a big, big celeb saw me coming in and knew a little bit about me, said, You know film, you come sit next to me.
• 14:34
  Larry Wilson: I said, Okay.
• 14:35
  Larry Wilson: And then everyone looked at me like they'd like to strangle me, uh, because of course that's the joy of Hollywood.
• 14:41
  Larry Wilson: So we were sitting there, and I won't tell you what film this was because I don't want to spoil anyone else's day, but the film started and the credits came up.
• 14:49
  Larry Wilson: The credits came up for the editors, and there were like six names for the editors, and this big shot leaned over to me and said, That's a bad sign.
• 15:01
  Larry Wilson: I said, Yes, it is.
• 15:05
  Larry Wilson: And of course, he was right.
• 15:07
  Larry Wilson: It was a bad time, the film was terrible.
• 15:09
  Larry Wilson: But that's the kind of thing that Curtis is making fun of in that little tiny scene.
• 15:13
  Larry Wilson: I I left my own devices.
• 15:17
  Larry Wilson: I'd probably try to act out the entire film for you here.
• 15:20
  Larry Wilson: That's how enjoyable it is.
• 15:22
  Larry Wilson: But one thing that came to mind, and uh, you know, it's funny, I don't always talk about my personal life, um, but I know in a recent episode I mentioned my wife, and I have to give her credit again here.
• 15:37
  Larry Wilson: She's a very, very smart woman.
• 15:40
  Larry Wilson: She picked me, so right there, you know.
• 15:44
  Larry Wilson: Uh, but she's uh is also a writer, and she also loves Notting Hill.
• 15:54
  Larry Wilson: And as she was watching it when it was over, she said, I just sort of realized, she said, this is all very mechanical, this writing for film.
• 16:08
  Larry Wilson: I said, yeah, it's a pretty clear structure how to tell the story.
• 16:13
  Larry Wilson: She said, but it's even more mechanical than that.
• 16:16
  Larry Wilson: She said, you have uh this guy and this girl who like each other.
• 16:21
  Larry Wilson: So to make the story work, we have to come up with problems that keep them apart.
• 16:31
  Larry Wilson: I said, yeah.
• 16:33
  Larry Wilson: That's pretty much it.
• 16:36
  Larry Wilson: She said, it's so simple.
• 16:38
  Larry Wilson: I said, yeah, that's all it is.
• 16:41
  Larry Wilson: You're just creating barriers that they have to somehow surmount.
• 16:47
  Larry Wilson: They have to somehow get over.
• 16:49
  Larry Wilson: And Curtis, Richard Curtis, knows it so well that he drops things in the script that you could say, why is that in there?
• 17:01
  Larry Wilson: It's in there just to heighten that tension.
• 17:06
  Larry Wilson: At some of the most uh highly charged dramatic parts of Notting Hill, something will come up that interrupts the two, the man and the woman, who we want so much to be able to get together and live happily ever after.
• 17:24
  Larry Wilson: The silliest thing sometimes.
• 17:26
  Larry Wilson: Something will pop up at one point towards the finale, which is very dramatic, and you really don't know what's gonna happen.
• 17:36
  Larry Wilson: And the Hollywood big star woman is trying to talk to the little bookshopkeeper guy, and we're thinking, What's he gonna say?
• 17:48
  Larry Wilson: And his assistant comes in from off-screen and says, Oh, there's a phone call for you.
• 17:53
  Larry Wilson: And he goes, Not now.
• 17:55
  Larry Wilson: And he goes, It's your mother.
• 17:57
  Larry Wilson: And he says, Tell her I'll call her back.
• 17:59
  Larry Wilson: He goes, She said you said that last time, and now the foot that was purplish is sort of turning black.
• 18:06
  Larry Wilson: And it ratchets up the dynamic tension of the scene so much, and he goes off camera to go talk to his mother, and he leaves his assistant, and there's just maybe maybe it's a minute or two.
• 18:23
  Larry Wilson: His assistant is this sort of um awkward, sort of socially uh self-conscious character, and he has a couple moments interaction with the big movies that are hilarious because this guy's so clumsy and it's so he's so British, he's trying to be polite and he's making a fool of himself.
• 18:46
  Larry Wilson: And then our leading man, Hugh Grant, comes back on and the scene continues.
• 18:51
  Larry Wilson: And you realize, oh, in an American film, he would have come back on and said, My mother just said she has this uh solution for cancer, or something, you know, it would be something about that's why he had to go off camera.
• 19:05
  Larry Wilson: No, Curtis understands everything that interrupts them getting together makes us more invested in what the solution will be.
• 19:18
  Larry Wilson: It's so simple.
• 19:19
  Larry Wilson: And that's what I think my wife just sort of tumbled on, where she realized, oh, you can make up anything to make it a problem for them to get together.
• 19:32
  Larry Wilson: And here's the thing I I think that may be so great about this episode of my podcast.
• 19:40
  Larry Wilson: If you go and watch Notting Hill and you don't take away any of the important lessons I I tried to convey here about storytelling and how you can use it, it doesn't matter.
• 19:56
  Larry Wilson: You'll still have the incredible delight of watching this wonderful movie.
• 20:03
  Larry Wilson: So there's really kind of no downside for you.
• 20:05
  Larry Wilson: It all will turn out fine.
• 20:08
  Larry Wilson: In the same way, it will turn out fine next week when you join me for another episode of How to Talk to Humans.
• 20:17
  Larry Wilson: This has been Larry Wilson.
• 20:20
  Larry Wilson: I want to thank you for spending this time with me, and I hope you found this information useful.
• 20:26
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking for more, you can find it at thewilsonmethod.com.
• 20:31
  Larry Wilson: There's a ton of stuff there.
• 20:33
  Larry Wilson: In fact, if you want, you can even speak to me because I'm human.
• 20:39
  Larry Wilson: Send me an email at info at WilsonMethod.com because I read every single one.
• 20:48
  Larry Wilson: I hope that you'll join us next week in this continuing journey.
• 20:55
  Larry Wilson: And you'll be with me for the next episode of How to Talk to You.