Brittany Low
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Brittany Low
@bklow_
Just singin' in the rain


Train Dreams is a finalist for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year. This is a conversation with Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar who wrote and directed the film together. It's based on a short novella by Denis Johnson, so we talked about how to adapt a novel for the big screen, bring the geography of a place to life, why screenwriters should avoid dialogue, and why Clint follows the mantra of "pay attention, pay attention, pay attention." Timestamps: 0:00 Building a reference bank 5:10 Learning from other films 8:32 Their mission as filmmakers 13:14 Adapting a book for film 20:19 Bringing a place to life 30:22 Editing a screenplay 45:46 How filmmakers think 56:02 "Avoid dialogue" 1:09:13 The key to a good soundtrack 1:12:12 Some rules for screenwriting If you don't want to watch the full episode on Twitter, check out the first reply tweet where I've linked to it on YouTube / Apple / Spotify. Enjoy!














