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4 Great Directing Tips You Can Learn From ‘No Country For Old Men’

Learn How The Coen Brothers Put Their Minds Together For This Masterpiece.
When it comes to modern masterpieces, No Country for Old Men stands out amongst the crowd as a movie that keeps getting better and better with age. It’s about greed, anger, fate, god, and lots of other deep emotions. Getting behind the camera for a movie like this is no small feat.

That’s why the Coen brothers are such masters. They make it seem simple.

Thankfully, they didn’t direct it in silence.

The web series “The Director’s Cut” assembled a bunch of interviews with the Coens, cast, and crew that offer some helpful directing tips they learned while making the movie.

1. Thoughts Either Provoke Further Thoughts… Or They Don’t
Everyone battles some self-doubt or new “genius” ideas once in a while. Let those thoughts and notes manifest themselves. They could become things that save scenes or spark new intuitions. Or they could become nothing.

2. Storyboard And Plan
The Coens believe in working out the fundamentals before the set and letting the rest come together when the cameras roll.

The duo also admit that they storyboard and plan more than most directors out there. They’re meticulous when it comes to casting as well. They take their time and chase the people who feel alive in the part. This takes time, but that’s why they only inch forward with projects.

3. Find A Way To Manifest Ideas Without Dialogue
So much of a director’s job is to interpret what’s on the page visually. To show, not tell. There’s real temptation to let the tweaks to the script be additional dialogue, but the Coens have found a way to make characters pop without having them gab about it too much.

4. Be A Good Person
Last but certainly not least, don’t be an as***le.

This seems like a no-brainer, but people obviously keep doing it. If you’re trying to break in or sustain your career, try being someone people want to work with. In these interviews, Josh Brolin talks about how stellar the Coens’ reputation is amongst actors.



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Can Writing Great Dialogue Be Taught?

Writing Is Instinctual, Yet Practice Certainly Improves Your Work. Does It Also Apply To Dialogue?
Have you ever heard of someone having an ‘ear for dialogue’?

When writing a film or tv show, the story comes first, but once writers know what happens they populate the story with dialogue. Story and plot are often the results of study and hard work.

Can You Learn How To Write Good Dialogue?
The answer is… kind of.

I come from the school of thought that you can either write, or you can’t. Still, there are useful things to help finesse what you put onto the page.

Dialogue Writing Lessons
1. Focus On Context: What Do They Want? What Do They Believe?
Dialogue has to be spoken by someone. Guess what?

You created these characters, now you have to put words in their mouths. The most fun thing about developing characters is finding their voice. So think about where these characters came from. What made them who they are?

2. Follow David Mamet’s 3 Questions
One of the coolest tips in the video is hearing how David Mamet attacks his dialogue. He doesn’t use some weird mental tactic, he just asks himself direct questions:

Who wants what?
What happens if they don’t get it?
Why now?

3. Trust Your Instincts
As I mentioned in the beginning, the dialogue comes from you. You can imitate anyone you want but at the end of the day, screenwriting is about developing your voice.

4. Add Action
When I sit to write, I go at it from the purpose. Once I know what I need from the scene, I orchestrate dialogue like a dance. Much like in real life, I try to have characters work around what they want. then have the circumstances pull it out of them.

One of the easiest ways to make dialogue feel natural is to add an action.

5. Practice Again And Again
Chances are you’re not going to be perfect overnight. Writing takes practice!

Whether you have some natural knack for it or not, we all can improve. Each story we write should push us and expand our talents.

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What Does A Producer Do?

We Know The Tangible Skills Of Most People On Set, But What About A Producer? What Exactly Do They Do?
Perhaps you’re curious about the way the industry works, or you want to get into producing, or you just want some general knowledge. Regardless, you’ve come to the right place.

Producers are extremely important within film and television, but there’s a lot of confusion about what they actually do and at what stage.

What Are The Producer’s Responsibilities?

Development
Want to know how movies and TV shows get made? Development. I know that “development hell” is som**hing we all worry about, but your favorite TV shows and movies come from production companies that get scripts submitted to them. Interns or assistants read those scripts, write coverage, and if they’re good, they go up the ladder to producers.

Pre-Production
At this moment, a producer tries to keep a film or TV show on or under budget. You don’t want anything endangering it going into production, so you’ll negotiate with agents, find actors who might work for cheap, and keep the project rolling so that nothing stops it.

Production
Once your property is filming, the producer manages egos and expectations on set. There are lots of stories about tumultuous problems on set, from needing script doctors to directors freaking out, or being fired, the producer has to handle all this and more.

Post Production
While in post, the producer helps the editors by watching cuts and providing notes. They also speak with the other producers and talents about ideas for reshoots and even new scenes that need to be written. They also try to keep it on budget with VFX and other elements.

Release
A producer’s job is never done. Even when the show is on the air or the movie is in theaters, the producer keeps an eye on the numbers. They make sure the marketing team is doing everything correctly and that the talent are happy with the public perception of the film.

Different Kinds Of Producers
Film and television is an expansive industry. Things need to be produced, and we’re looking for producers to do it. But there are lots of different kinds of producers based on what each sector needs on the day-to-day. Let’s go over some definitions of individual producer titles and see what they do.

Executive Producer
The executive producer oversees all the other producers on the production. Many times, people are given an executive producer title on a film or show and are more hands-off.

Line Producer
Line producers are unsung heroes. They create the budget for the film or TV show. They also might manage the staff and daily challenges of production on a film or television show – sort of like a unit production manager.

Supervising Producer
Often called development producer, the supervising producer helps shepherd the project from idea to spec screenplay, through rewrites, to a shooting script.

Producer
When people use the general term “Producer,” they’re talking about the person who oversees every aspect of the filmmaking or television process. This person manages deadlines, egos, network executives, talent, and keeps the ship sailing.

Co-Producer
The co-producer is the title for someone on the team of producers that help push the project forward. It can apply generally to anyone in this list.

Coordinating Producer
The coordinating producer helps all the teams of producers on a particular project. For example, they’ll wrangle the supervising producers to make sure development and the script are going well.

Associate Producer
Associate producers, or AP’s as they call us on set, coordinate the producer’s life on set.

Consulting Producer
A consulting producer is basically the writer for a live or reality TV program. They contribute the words the host says in and out of segments, different joke lines, and help with the overall tone and feel of the show.

Segment Producer
Segment producers handle the segments of a talk show or reality TV show. They produce things like “Carpool Karaoke” and “Conan Plays Video Games.” They specifically work on new segments for each show and make sure they go smoothly.

Field Producer
A field producer leaves the studio and goes on location to help produce the segments or anything that happens outside of the studio or soundstage.

How Do I Become A Producer?
How do you become a producer in film and television? There are many different pathways, but most people start off working as an assistant at an agency, management company, or production company. As an assistant, you get to see how movies and television shows come to life. It’s an education in the way Hollywood works.

Can You Become A Producer Without Being An Assistant?

The short answer is ‘yes.’ You can be appointed a producer on a movie or TV show if you pay for it. Or if the idea is yours and you help attached talent to get it made, you’re a producer. As you’ve read, there are so many different kinds of producers that your best way in the door is seeing which kind makes the most sense for you, and trying to get a job working near them or for them to see if it still excites you.



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