Why I keep blogging

I keep posting here every single day because of emails like this:

Dear Scott,

A couple of years ago, more specifically, March 18th, 2011, I wrote to you and asked for advice on how to visualize the inner world of a character.

This was during a time when I wrote my first original feature film screenplay, which now, finally, has become a finished movie, Tommy, premiering in March this year.

[Go here for a feature on the movie in Twitch magazine.]

It took four years and endless rewrites, but now it goes up as one of this year’s major movies in Sweden and will also be distributed internationally.

I wanted to tell you this because I more or less learned how to write a solid screenplay by reading your blog, deeply and thoroughly. It has been of immense value. I could cite post after post, but honestly it’s the entirety that has taken me all the way through. The respect for craftsmanship which you admonish, the insights in how longstanding professional work and think, your demand for accuracy, links to literature, scripts, other sites’ film news, etc. — along with your mantra “watch movies, read scripts, write pages” — has been my university. (Thank God for the Internet!)

I have since sold another screenplay, am writing on several new projects, been signed to one of Sweden’s foremost agent agencies and landed a full time career as a screenwriter — much because of your work. Really. So to you from me: A big warm thank you! It has truly meant the world. Keep it up! Scott Myers is the man!

(And of course, I used some of your advice to visualize the inner world of Estelle Svensson in Tommy.)

Sincerely
Anton Hagwall

Here is the trailer for Tommy:

Background on the movie:

A week before Christmas, Estelle lands at Arlanda Airport. A year earlier, she had left Stockholm on the run with her husband Tommy and their daughter, after Tommy had taken part in one of the biggest robberies ever in the history of Swedish crime.

Estelle seeks out Tommy’s former cronies and claims that Tommy is on his way home. And he wants his share of the take. Word spreads like wildfire through Stockholm’s underworld. If Tommy returns, the city will explode. And if he doesn’t … something even worse might happen. TOMMY is the story of the woman behind the man behind the headlines. A modern myth about when the Queen returned and the city burned.About two sisters, two mothers, three daughters and their men.

The film stars Moa Gammel as Estelle, alongside actors Ola Rapace (Skyfall), Ewa Fröling (Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alxander), and also marks the feature film debut of internationally acclaimed singer -songwriter Lykke li.

Tarik Saleh directs, teaming up again with his Metropia producer Kristina Åberg. Original screenplay by Anton Hagwall.

Tommy opens in theatres nationwide March 14, 2014.

After I heard the great news from Anton, I emailed him back. Here is his response:

I truly believe that your work is of great importance outside of the U.S. In Sweden (and pretty much in the rest of Europe), the myth of the auteur, the romantic idea about the nature gifted genius, is still strong. And in the wake of this, the idea that you can ‘learn’ how to write by studying the craft is still a bit taboo, even in the writing schools, and is mistakenly mixed up with the fear of making formulaic films.

The director, Tarik Saleh, and I have known each other since we were kids stealing spray cans to bomb the Stockholm subways. We grew up in the city’s northern suburbs, which is the Swedish equivalent of dilapidated inner city areas. We’ve both experienced some real, eh, shit, and certainly have things to tell. But we would never manage to convey it in a deep, artistically mature form without studying the craft of storytelling.

We wanted to make something “true” — and precisely out of that, we realized we had to tell the story in a conventional way. With all the turning points, (The Hero’s Journey came to heavy use), careful analysis of scenes, character motivations, techniques to remove exposition, giving the dialogue subtext and so on. But, on that account, the film we made is in no way a cynically calculated mass product. On the contrary, I hope. I wrote the script in a sincere effort to make it work as a classically, well-written blueprint for a movie. From an American viewpoint it’s probably still “European”, more of a 70s piece, in its perhaps slower pace, and maybe existentialist tone. (Our American agent said: ‘It’s a great story . But I dont know if we make these kind of “Shrader-istic” films anymore.’) Hehe.

Anyway, I learned a lot by reading your blog carefully. And I think other aspiring writers on this side of the pond should do the same. To me, it worked like a gateway into the world of contemporary storytelling. Go Into The Story is no doubt the premiere website on screenwriting in the world. A unique knowledge bank.

Tommy looks like a well-crafted and gripping criminal thriller, so I look forward to seeing it. More than that, however, I am thrilled that a young writer like Anton, plying his trade in another continent, has found inspiration and guidance on the Internet, helping him to achieve success.

Diverse voices. Passionate voices. Creative voices. The world needs more and better storytellers.

At the end of the day, that is what Go Into The Story is about.

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