away from home.
Keith: That's lovely. Yeah. Thank you.
I have a wife and four daughters.
I have no opinions.
- Dr. Lerner
Jim: When I was younger,
I thought having the perfect
Shakespeare quote for any situation
would make me beloved.
Keith: It's surprisingly unhelpful.
Jim: Yeah, it seems to really annoy people.
With all respect, I don't believe
that anything worth knowing
can be taught in a classroom.
And I intend to do as little as possible
while carrying on with this charade.
- Keith
Ellen: You know what J.K. Rowling said?
Keith: "Where did I put
that last billion dollars?"
Ellen: She said that failure was the best
thing that ever happened to her
'cause it freed her from the inessential.
It allowed her to concentrate on the
thing that mattered most. Writing.
Keith: ... I don't really believe
that writing can be taught.
Holly: Oh, interesting position
for a creative writing teacher to take.
Keith: But true. You know,
you can't teach talent.
Holly: I think most people have talent,
they just haven't been exposed
to the right teachers.
Keith: I beg to differ.
You can get me the best music teacher
in the world
and I still wouldn't be able to
write songs like Paul McCartney.
Holly: How do you know? Have you tried?
Keith: No.
Holly: Do you want to write songs?
Keith: Not at all.
Holly: What are we talking about?
Keith: About the fact that the most idiotic
thing that anyone has ever said
is that if you just put your mind to it
and believe in yourself,
there is nothing you can't accomplish.
Holly: I say that! Does that make me an idiot?
Keith: No, no, not you. Other people.
Protagonist is all about, you know.
What he aspires to be.
What goal he wishes to achieve.
- Keith
A goal has been established and
the story consists of trying to overcome
the obstacles in the way of that goal.
Feel free to write that down.
- Keith
Keith: Mark Twain said that,
"the difference between
the almost right word and
the right word was the difference
between the lightning bug
and lightning."
Holly: I love it. This is the
kind of stuff I want to learn.
Keith: Yes, and this is exactly
what can't be taught, so...
Holly: I know, I know.
No one can learn anything.
It's all set in stone,
let's just all kill ourselves.
Holly: This is what I'm talking about.
Keith: Late Bloomers.
Looks like one of those Victorian plays
where many people say, "arse".
Holly: Well, it is about people who find
their true talents later in life.
Sylvester Stallone,
he was a deli counter attendant.
Rodney Dangerfield gave up selling
aluminium siding to go on to become
one of the most famous comedians ever.
Keith: Yeah?
Alan Rickman, a fellow countryman,
didn't get a movie role until he was 48.
Keith: Wow.
Holly: Susan Boyle was 46.
Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't write
Little House on the Prairie 'til she was 65.
Keith: Incredible. And look at that.
Jesus didn't give up carpentry
'til He was 30.
Holly: Yeah, and now He's like,
a top guy in His field.
Keith: The thing is, you see, I would argue
Late Bloomers may have had talent all along.
It was just unrecognized.
There's a difference.
Holly: I disagree. I think
it's just about focusing.
Keith: Right.
Well, I always thought Paradise Misplaced
was about second chances
and how it's never too late to redeem
yourself and to start over again.
- Holly
.. what if you meet
your soulmate this way?
What if you meet the person
you're going to marry?
Is that something to be discouraged?
- Karen
You're very easy to talk to
even though you did
do much of the talking.
- Keith
Character.
Character is everything.
Fortunately, not in life,
but in storytelling.
Make sure that your characters
drive the plot
and not the other way around.
- Keith
When it comes to writing,
there are no rules, you know?
Except be true to the story you're telling.
Just make it your own unique voice.
- Keith
Keith: Well, I enjoyed your pages, Sara,
but, why is it subtitled
when the film is in English?
Sara: To demonstrate the vast gulf
between what we say
and what we mean.
No ones ever than that before.
Keith: Don't let her go.
Jim: I'm trying not to.
What's the secret?
...
Keith: I don't know.
My only thought
is that you be yourself.
Jim: No, it's not gonna work.
Keith: No, you're absolutely right.
But in an ideal world,
that's what you hope for, isn't it?
That you find someone
you can be yourself with, you know?
Some smart, funny woman
full of fire and honesty,
who looks great dancing barefoot
and can obviously
see straight through you.
Jim: Why barefoot?
Keith: I enjoy feet.
Because you think
that he feels about you
the way you feel about you?
- Holly
Holly: "As long as you are alive,
you can forgive and be forgiven.
Once you're dead,
it gets significantly harder."
That's from Paradise Misplaced.
My favorite movie.
One of them anyway. Top five.
Definitely top 10.
Keith: I'm very worried about your taste.
Holly: Top 20.
You know, it all fades.
It all turns to dust.
It's very hard to know why any of you
would want to do this in the first place,
because you will be rewritten,
discarded, fired, forgotten.
That's if you're lucky enough
to work in the first place.
So don't be under any illusion that this
will bring you immortality. Or happiness.
Perhaps it's better not to even try.
- Keith
Try not. Do or do not.
There is no try.
- Billy
In a movie that I wrote
many years ago...
An 11-year-old girl finds herself
an angel in Heaven, and
she's understandably bereaved.
Missing her family and her friends
and all the life she'll never have.
But an older angel tells her that 11
is actually a wonderful age to be in Heaven.
Because at 11, everything you
love and hate really stays true
while mortal life is a long, losing
struggle not to compromise those feelings.
I think that's a bit the case with writing.
It's our 11-year-old selves saying,
"yes, that's funny", or
"no, that's stupid".
- Keith
Mary: As Miss Austen said...
"Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know,
because there is no hope for a cure."
Keith: Did she say that? That's quite clever.
Mary: Mansfield Park.
The key to good teaching, Mr. Michaels
is the willingness
to always learn something new.
Keith: I will remember that.
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