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“12 Things I Learned at Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School”

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Indiewire contributor Marie-Françoise Theodore attended “film school” with famed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Invincible) and came away with 12 pieces of wisdom.

In late August in a nondescript hotel banquet room in a nondescript section of Los Angeles, I gathered, along with about 50 other people from far-flung places around the world, to hear one man speak at the Rogue Film School. Who else but Werner Herzog could bring such a diverse group of strangers together? We came from the UK, Argentina, Canada, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Russia, Iceland and Louisiana after applying to and being accepted into his fifth “Rogue Film School.”

Werner Herzog

“The Rogue Film School is not for the faint-hearted. It is for those who have travelled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs or as wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lock picking or forging shooting permits in countries not favoring their projects. In short: for those who have a sense of poetry. For those who are pilgrims. For those who can tell a story to four year old children and hold their attention. For those who have a fire burning within. For those who have a dream.” — Werner Herzog

Here are the 12 things Theodore learned in the four day weekend workshop:

1. READ. READ. READ. READ. READ.
2. Write Quickly.
3. Get Paid.
4. Don’t Be Afraid of Failure.
5. Dive Deep.
6. Defend Your Vision.
7. Educate Yourself in the Business.
8. Keep Track of the Money.
9. “If you don’t have a deal in two days, you won’t have a deal in two years” – Werner Herzog
10. Create Your Own Truth.
11. Travel on Foot.
12. Do it.

I’m sure the one we will all gravitate to is Get Paid, but the others can help us get to the point where we land a paying gig. Here are a couple of excerpts from the article:

1. READ. READ. READ. READ. READ.

And then READ SOME MORE. Compulsive reader that I am, it was music to my ears when Werner commanded us to “Read. Read. Read. Read.” He had put us to work weeks before the seminar with a slew of books on the reading list that included poetry, Hemingway and nonfiction that was delicious to behold (The Warren Report was surprisingly engrossing). READ LITERATURE. READ POETRY. Not books on making films or scriptwriting. Throw out formulas, where on page 7 this has to happen and on page 10 the protagonist has to say that, let go of Aristotle (“Aristotle is not that good for screenplays”) and get fucking rid of that cat and tell the STORY. Don’t know how to tell a story? READ A BOOK. Read in different languages from different periods. This confirmed my personal decision made long ago to extend my reading beyond the Eurocentric and to learn to speak Haitian Kréyòl.

2. Write Quickly.

“It takes me 5 days to write a screenplay,” said Werner. “If you’re spending more than two weeks on it something’s wrong.” Rats, not so happy about this one. So that screenplay I’ve been working on for…uh, YEARS… that’s not normal? I was curious about his writing habits and yeah, I was the one asking all those questions about Werner’s ability to write so quickly, a skill that I hoped to emulate. He was bluntly honest in saying, sorry, he couldn’t help me and that I would have to figure it out for myself. He said that he doesn’t sit down to write until the story comes full blown into his mind and is bursting to come out. He essentially dictates what is in his head. But he realized that what worked for him wouldn’t necessarily work for anybody else. Plus he didn’t want little Werner’s running around. Really? Then he took pity on what I am assuming was my dejected face, relented and gave me a secret that I now share with you (shhh…come closer): four or five days before he begins writing, to warm up, he only reads poetry.

5 days? Two weeks? I could live with this approach with one proviso: I have broken the story in prep and have an extensive treatment or outline.

You can read the rest of the Indiewire article here.

Which one of the 12 resonates most with you?


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