Counterpoint

What's more important in an orchestral performance: the sound or the silence? How about in a screenplay? I've spent more than two decades conducting professional orchestras. And something I've learned along the way is that silence can be as expressive as the music itself. Think about the possibilities… The pin-drop silence before the first note. The abrupt silence after a ferocious orchestral climax. The tension created by a perfectly timed rest. The silence at the en

One of the strangest things about conducting is that you never actually make a sound. You can hear the performance you want in your head with absolute clarity. But unless 90 other people understand what you’re hearing, it exists only in your head. Screenwriting turns out to be much the same. A great advantage of being a writer is imagination. We see the scene, not just the words. The room. The light. The hesitation before a character answers. The look across the table

In the world of classical music, a natural conflict arises among conductors: the tension between playing what’s on the page and creating what the artist believes to be a more original or more dramatic performance. A faster tempo.More exaggerated phrasing.A more extreme climax.Something no one else has found. That instinct isn’t wrong. In fact, it’s essential. Great conductors have flair, personality, and a distinctive point of view. They make choices that can completely

One of the things I’ve been thinking about as I continue to work on my pilot script for FIREBIRDS - - now a quarterfinalist in the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest - - is the relationship between a strength and a flaw. The most interesting character flaws aren’t always weaknesses. Sometimes they’re strengths pushed too far. Michael, the conductor and co-lead of FIREBIRDS, is fiercely principled. He believes in the art and the work. He believes in the people making

I've spent more than 20 years conducting professional orchestras. So, when a conductor appears in a movie or television show, I watch differently. The good news: Hollywood loves conductors. The bad news: it often gets us wrong. Here are five things that happen on screen far more often than they happen on the podium: 1. The Conductor is the Most Powerful Person in the Room. Not necessarily. Walk onto the podium in front of a professional orchestra, particularly as a guest

I’ve spent more than 20 years working in the performing arts. As a result, I watch films and television set in this world a little differently. Without naming names, here are 5 things Hollywood routinely gets wrong: 1. The conductor is a tyrant. Screen conductors are almost always written as sociopaths or saints. In reality, the job is closer to a CEO who also acts as a therapist, fundraiser, and diplomat - - and whose contract can be non-renewed by the board on any given Tue

Musicians know when you have it, and when you don't. I spent more than two decades standing in front of professional orchestras. Whiplash gets that exactly right. You can glare. You can intimidate. You can humiliate someone in front of their colleagues. For a while, tyranny can look remarkably like authority. But it isn't. That's why I believe most of the critics - - and viewers -- watched the wrong movie when they saw Damien Chazelle's Whiplash. Terence Fletcher, the terrify

A bad conductor keeps time like a metronome. A bad screenwriter writes like one. Twenty years on the podium taught me that rhythm is never just pulse. The pulse is a framework. What gives the music life is what happens against that framework: acceleration, hesitation, interruption, silence, contrast. Screenwriting works the same way. Here are four lessons from the podium about rhythm on the page. COUNTERPOINT: STOP PLAYING PING-PONG Bad dialogue often settles into

I've spent more than two decades on the podium, so when I watch a film about musicians, I watch it differently. I notice the hands. I notice whether the conducting could survive an actual rehearsal. I notice whether the people on screen understand that being a musician is not a job description, but rather, an identity. By that standard, Radu Mihăileanu's LE CONCERT (2009) should fail. The conducting is faked, and not particularly well. The soloist's playing is also faked, unc

He practices on a briefcase. No keys, no sound, no instrument. Just a flat surface across his lap and Beethoven moving under his fingers while the world goes by outside the window. It looks absurd. But pianists do it in hotel rooms, in green rooms, in the back seats of Ubers. That's the opening of THE COMPETITION, and it told me that the filmmakers had talked to someone who did this for a living. Joel Oliansky's 1980 film follows six pianists into the final round of an intern

I've spent more than two decades as a professional orchestral conductor. So when a film is built around one of the most famous conductors of all time, I watch it differently. I notice the hands. The rehearsal language. The relationship between the conductor and the orchestra. The physicality on the podium. But most importantly, I watch to see if the filmmakers understand that conducting is not merely something a conductor does. For many conductors - and I’d even say most of t

I've spent over two decades conducting major orchestras and ballet companies. So when BLACK SWAN came out, I watched it the way I watch anything set in my world: waiting to see what only insiders can see. What struck me most was not only the film’s authentic portrayal of the ballet world, but also how skillfully it uses that world to build one of the most effective genre pieces of its era. Spoiler Alert: This review gets into how the film works and why it works so well. If yo

There are times when a logline knows more than you do. I spent several months writing a pilot I absolutely loved. It was a slow-burn romance set in the high-stakes world of ballet and classical music. The feedback I received on the script was strong: genuine voice, great cinematics, and authentic world-building. That feedback came from mentors and colleagues I trust completely. And yet, when presented with the logline, those same people were unmoved. We tried several ve

In the 1984 film, AMADEUS, one of the most famous lines is delivered by Emperor Joseph II to Mozart: “Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few, and it will be perfect." In the classical music world, "too many notes" can, in fact, be a real problem. And it isn't about virtuosity, as you might expect. It’s often about style over substance. Or overdramatization. Or indulgence. But whatever the cause, t

This is the first in a series exploring my favorite films and shows set in the world of the performing arts, exploring what they got right, and what they reveal about the world I'm building stories in. I've spent over two decades conducting major orchestras and ballet companies. So when Mozart in the Jungle premiered, I watched it the way an attorney watches Suits or The Good Wife: hoping it wouldn't embarrass or demean the profession. In addition to creating colorful cha

“This is the Opera Europa. Here, you can be misunderstood in six different languages.” Mild spoiler or two ahead... Very few films have attempted what MEETING VENUS did in 1991: stage an operatic production with a full orchestra, chorus, ballet company, three different unions, and a multinational cast. I've spent over two decades conducting major orchestras and ballet companies. So, watching a film that’s not just set within that world, but one that’s specifically about

What can a career conducting orchestras teach you about screenwriting? Turns out, a lot. For many writers, "show, don't tell" is heard so often that it’s lost its meaning. But my 20 years as a professional conductor forced a nuanced understanding of the phrase on me. On the podium, "showing" is a multi-dimensional language ranging from physical gestures to the effective use of silence. Failure to speak that language can result in losing the room. Trust me, cold, blank s

I've spent over two decades conducting major orchestras and ballet companies. So, when TÁR was released, I watched it expecting to see a film about classical music. But TÁR isn’t only that. While the world-building is extraordinary, at its core, TÁR is a film about power and abuse, with classical music as the pressure cooker. Significant spoilers ahead. This one digs into how some of the film’s strongest scenes actually work. So if you haven’t seen TÁR yet, you may want to