robert towne

Lateral Screenwriting: Openings that Close… the Sale

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Robert Towne, screenwriter of CHINATOWN, SHAMPOO, TEQUILA SUNRISE, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE I & II, among others, once observed that films can open slowly as the audience will forgive the story anything for twenty minutes or so. by Lee Matthias I wonder, though, if that would have worked for him when, just starting out, for producer … Read more

Cinematic Storytelling (6)

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Here’s a sequence from Robert Towne’s Chinatown, a script that really deserves no introduction. This is my favorite sequence in this script in terms of screenwriting techniques. Reading this for the first time was such a revelation to me. by Mystery Man I love the way Towne uses Secondary Headings to cut back and forth … Read more