Contact Laurie Scheer via her website, lauriescheer.com, or email at mediagoddess@lauriescheer.com.
You may order her book via Michael Wiese Productions.
Dave Watson: You start with the reason for your book, and mention that consumers are confused and overloaded. What leads a writer to originality?
Laurie Scheer: Doing their homework, research; that leads to vision and an authentic version of a genre.
DW: Do you think we choose genres or do they choose us?
LS: Both. Genres choose writers at a young age, maybe fourteen or so. We’re naturally attracted to mysteries, comics, dramas, and then we read all the Nancy Drew mysteries we can get our hands on.
DW: Crime fiction and nonfiction are among my favorites, yet I didn’t get into it until my early thirties.
LS: But something probably triggered it for you at a young age. Something just screams at you, even when you mix genres.
DW: You talk about how important it is to know what’s been done before. Why?
LS: What’s been done in a genre influences each writer’s work. To use some music examples, Madonna, David Bowie, the Beatles all reinvented themselves with the intelligence of knowing what someone did before them. Madonna saw what Marilyn Monroe did. They admired an artist before them. With Lady Gaga, I don’t see much to her. There’s shock, then nothing. You can just go out there for show, but without depth, range, and looking at how others have influenced people before you, there’s not much to your work.
DW: You discuss fragmented viewership, and that made me think of segmented audiences. Is that still possible or are we in an era of niche audiences?
LS: We’re scrambling because the box office this summer was dismal. The studios don’t know how to get people into the theaters, especially males ages 18-35. The moviegoing experience is still okay. The theaters have put in nicer seats, food, alcohol, but you still have the person next you on their cell phone.
DW: You really have to have a reason to go to the theater. This leads back to authenticity.
LS: And more story. I saw the fourth Spider-man and there was no story.
DW: Of the summer blockbusters, and I saw Captain America, Godzilla, and Planet of the Apes, not many had memorable or truly original scenes, even though they were well paced.
LS: The filmmakers have been raised on those types of films.
DW: Appealing to generations spawns that storytelling notion, the more specific something is, the more universal the appeal. The Wizard of Oz makes very specific choices: Kansas, the yellow-brick road, the scarecrow, the lion…
LS: They all represent character. This was in the ‘30s. They represented hope, courage, a brain, yet it’s just a sliver of L. Frank Baum’s library of work. That story is viewed in the context of the ‘30s, yet things resonate on higher levels, and has many influences.
DW: There are several projects in the works now, and it had a prequel decades later.
LS: There wasn’t much of a story.
DW: As in the basics?
LS: Yes. A setup, conflict, resolution.
DW: Are we in an era of cult following? You mention Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman in your book, which ran for only three years in the late ‘70s yet has a huge following.
LS: Yes, we are. We’re pretty much scrambling for niches now, and the niches have different platforms.
DW: Is real-time storytelling gone or coming back?
LS: Nope, it’s pretty much gone. Even The Beatles came together for their fiftieth anniversary and nobody watched.
DW: On network television.
LS: On broadcast TV. If it had been on HBO or Netflix, that would have been a different story.
DW: So the venue really does matter.
LS: Absolutely. AMC has Mad Men, Netflix has House of Cards.
DW: Which has really rocked the distribution world. Barring platform, you ask the question all writers should consider: Who cares? Isn’t that the million-dollar question?
LS: (Nods) When you’re composing, you need to have that going in your head. “Who will care?” Will peers, parents, children enjoy watching what you’re creating? Some people have no realization of what’s going on around them.
DW: The late Paul Mazursky said people asked him why he made An Unmarried Woman with Jill Clayburgh. A great actress, and Mazursky answered, “Because divorce was happening, that’s what was happening around me at the time.”
LS: She’s terrific, and that movie holds up.
DW: It was authentic to him. Can reboots or remakes explore new territory? I’m thinking of the recent Fargo on F/X and forthcoming feature Annie.
LS: You can. You know, the Coen Bros., what they did with True Grit was they stuck pretty close to the 1969 film. It was a good movie, and they were more true to the novel by Charles Portis. It doesn’t ring anything new.
DW: Speaking of the Coens, I’m also thinking of the recent Fargo on F/X and forthcoming feature Annie.
LS: With Annie, they’re clearly targeting urban audiences, and a younger, more multiethnic group. I don’w know how the 1930s could translate to today.
DW: Or if they could or would include anything centering around Wall Street, wealth distribution…
LS: It’s very difficult to translate that stuff. It’s a Wonderful Life on the other hand, I’ve seen every year for a long time, and there are things that still resonate: closing a bank, facing poverty, family, what happens to communities.
DW: That was going on in the ‘30s, and still today, with credit unions versus banks. Speaking of communities, in addition to working with the University of Wisconsin and running the spring Writer’s Conference, what’s next for you?
LS: I want to produce other editions of The Writer’s Advantage for novelists, Web writers, TV writers, do as much as I can, speak, go to conferences, and work with writers on how genres emerge and become hybrids. To discuss in large groups, people talk and elevate material to create authentic voices. It’s sort of a genre mash-up. I’d like to do what Vogler did. He showed a twelve-step process in how movies are structured. When you work in large groups, people eventually come to the point and say, “Hey! What if we did this?” We have all around better programming.
DW: Which ties back to the studios not scrambling if they have better storytelling. So, my last question: what is the most memorable cinematic moment for you?
LS: Wow. That would have to be “What we got here is a failure to communicate,” from Cool Hand Luke. It is such a wonderful story about rebelliousness. I saw it in high school, after it came out, and our teacher knew to show it to us, which was powerful that my teacher knew to do that. It came out…
DW: In 1967, a time of high social unrest.
LS: Yes! It was so heavy, filled with drama and so much about life at the time, life in general is in it. You also have Paul Newman.
DW: One of my all-time heroes.
LS: The film expressed how there was a failure to communicate between people, generations, and really said, ‘Hey! Wake up! Stuff is happening’.”
Clip: Cool Hand Luke
You may order her book via Michael Wiese Productions.
Dave Watson: You start with the reason for your book, and mention that consumers are confused and overloaded. What leads a writer to originality?
Laurie Scheer: Doing their homework, research; that leads to vision and an authentic version of a genre.
DW: Do you think we choose genres or do they choose us?
LS: Both. Genres choose writers at a young age, maybe fourteen or so. We’re naturally attracted to mysteries, comics, dramas, and then we read all the Nancy Drew mysteries we can get our hands on.
DW: Crime fiction and nonfiction are among my favorites, yet I didn’t get into it until my early thirties.
LS: But something probably triggered it for you at a young age. Something just screams at you, even when you mix genres.
DW: You talk about how important it is to know what’s been done before. Why?
LS: What’s been done in a genre influences each writer’s work. To use some music examples, Madonna, David Bowie, the Beatles all reinvented themselves with the intelligence of knowing what someone did before them. Madonna saw what Marilyn Monroe did. They admired an artist before them. With Lady Gaga, I don’t see much to her. There’s shock, then nothing. You can just go out there for show, but without depth, range, and looking at how others have influenced people before you, there’s not much to your work.
DW: You discuss fragmented viewership, and that made me think of segmented audiences. Is that still possible or are we in an era of niche audiences?
LS: We’re scrambling because the box office this summer was dismal. The studios don’t know how to get people into the theaters, especially males ages 18-35. The moviegoing experience is still okay. The theaters have put in nicer seats, food, alcohol, but you still have the person next you on their cell phone.
DW: You really have to have a reason to go to the theater. This leads back to authenticity.
LS: And more story. I saw the fourth Spider-man and there was no story.
DW: Of the summer blockbusters, and I saw Captain America, Godzilla, and Planet of the Apes, not many had memorable or truly original scenes, even though they were well paced.
LS: The filmmakers have been raised on those types of films.
DW: Appealing to generations spawns that storytelling notion, the more specific something is, the more universal the appeal. The Wizard of Oz makes very specific choices: Kansas, the yellow-brick road, the scarecrow, the lion…
LS: They all represent character. This was in the ‘30s. They represented hope, courage, a brain, yet it’s just a sliver of L. Frank Baum’s library of work. That story is viewed in the context of the ‘30s, yet things resonate on higher levels, and has many influences.
DW: There are several projects in the works now, and it had a prequel decades later.
LS: There wasn’t much of a story.
DW: As in the basics?
LS: Yes. A setup, conflict, resolution.
DW: Are we in an era of cult following? You mention Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman in your book, which ran for only three years in the late ‘70s yet has a huge following.
LS: Yes, we are. We’re pretty much scrambling for niches now, and the niches have different platforms.
DW: Is real-time storytelling gone or coming back?
LS: Nope, it’s pretty much gone. Even The Beatles came together for their fiftieth anniversary and nobody watched.
DW: On network television.
LS: On broadcast TV. If it had been on HBO or Netflix, that would have been a different story.
DW: So the venue really does matter.
LS: Absolutely. AMC has Mad Men, Netflix has House of Cards.
DW: Which has really rocked the distribution world. Barring platform, you ask the question all writers should consider: Who cares? Isn’t that the million-dollar question?
LS: (Nods) When you’re composing, you need to have that going in your head. “Who will care?” Will peers, parents, children enjoy watching what you’re creating? Some people have no realization of what’s going on around them.
DW: The late Paul Mazursky said people asked him why he made An Unmarried Woman with Jill Clayburgh. A great actress, and Mazursky answered, “Because divorce was happening, that’s what was happening around me at the time.”
LS: She’s terrific, and that movie holds up.
DW: It was authentic to him. Can reboots or remakes explore new territory? I’m thinking of the recent Fargo on F/X and forthcoming feature Annie.
LS: You can. You know, the Coen Bros., what they did with True Grit was they stuck pretty close to the 1969 film. It was a good movie, and they were more true to the novel by Charles Portis. It doesn’t ring anything new.
DW: Speaking of the Coens, I’m also thinking of the recent Fargo on F/X and forthcoming feature Annie.
LS: With Annie, they’re clearly targeting urban audiences, and a younger, more multiethnic group. I don’w know how the 1930s could translate to today.
DW: Or if they could or would include anything centering around Wall Street, wealth distribution…
LS: It’s very difficult to translate that stuff. It’s a Wonderful Life on the other hand, I’ve seen every year for a long time, and there are things that still resonate: closing a bank, facing poverty, family, what happens to communities.
DW: That was going on in the ‘30s, and still today, with credit unions versus banks. Speaking of communities, in addition to working with the University of Wisconsin and running the spring Writer’s Conference, what’s next for you?
LS: I want to produce other editions of The Writer’s Advantage for novelists, Web writers, TV writers, do as much as I can, speak, go to conferences, and work with writers on how genres emerge and become hybrids. To discuss in large groups, people talk and elevate material to create authentic voices. It’s sort of a genre mash-up. I’d like to do what Vogler did. He showed a twelve-step process in how movies are structured. When you work in large groups, people eventually come to the point and say, “Hey! What if we did this?” We have all around better programming.
DW: Which ties back to the studios not scrambling if they have better storytelling. So, my last question: what is the most memorable cinematic moment for you?
LS: Wow. That would have to be “What we got here is a failure to communicate,” from Cool Hand Luke. It is such a wonderful story about rebelliousness. I saw it in high school, after it came out, and our teacher knew to show it to us, which was powerful that my teacher knew to do that. It came out…
DW: In 1967, a time of high social unrest.
LS: Yes! It was so heavy, filled with drama and so much about life at the time, life in general is in it. You also have Paul Newman.
DW: One of my all-time heroes.
LS: The film expressed how there was a failure to communicate between people, generations, and really said, ‘Hey! Wake up! Stuff is happening’.”
Clip: Cool Hand Luke
