A WRITER’S VOICE: BIRDMAN – Writing a Screenplay is Like Writing a Poem
Jacob Krueger discusses how Alejandro González Iñárritu’s choice to simultaneously break and follow cinematic “rules” in ‘Birdman’ epitomized the poetic potential of filmmaking.
Founder of Jacob Krueger Studio, Jacob has worked with writers, from Academy and Tony Award Winners, to young writers picking up the pen for the first time. His own writing includes The Matthew Shepard Story, for which he won the Writers Guild of America Paul Selvin Award and was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Screenplay. To learn more about his Screenwriting Workshops, Online Classes, and International Retreats please visit WriteYourScreenplay.com.
Birdman did not begin with a high-profile director saying, “let’s figure out a cool gimmick that nobody has ever done before.” Birdman began with an observation by writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu. His observation was that life doesn’t happen in cuts. Life doesn’t feel like cuts.
Instead, he wanted to make a movie that felt more like life. He wanted to make a movie that felt cyclical, that felt like it didn’t have clear borders because our lives and our memories don’t have clear borders.
In this podcast, I'll discuss how Iñárritu's choice to simultaneously break and follow cinematic "rules" epitomized the poetic potential of filmmaking.
Listen to the full podcast below. And check out some of my other writing resources.
Click the picture to hear the podcast or click here.
- More articles by Jacob Krueger
- Notes from the Margins: The Difference Between a Hook and a Gimmick
- Meet the Reader: The (Real) Rules of Screenwriting
Get more career and writing advice in Jacob's webinars!
The founder of Jacob Krueger Studio, Jacob has worked with all kinds of writers, from Academy and Tony Award Winners, to young writers picking up the pen for the first time. His writing includes The Matthew Shepard Story, for which he won the Writers Guild of America Paul Selvin Award and was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Screenplay. To follow Jacob’s blog or learn more about his Screenwriting Workshops, Online Classes, and International Retreats please visit WriteYourScreenplay.com.
