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Writer and filmmaker Pen Densham, 'explorer of the human condition'ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Published: June 7, 2011 Interviewing writer and filmmaker Pen Densham is a bit like trying to capture a particle of light in your hands. Densham’s thought processes are fluid, and his responses are so packed with information that they challenge the writer to cull the best parts. The dilemma is that all the parts are best, and his book Riding the Alligator is the same way. Rarely have I come across a book on writing that is so productive I’d recommend it to anyone who wanted to write anything. I found myself a few days ago recommending it to a songwriter who has no intention of ever writing a screenplay.
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 Pen Densham
The award-winning screenwriter whose projects include
films like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Backdraft has a bio that
would make a great script. A high school dropout, Densham rode an
alligator when he was only four. His father used a 35 mm movie camera to
film it to be used as a short feature in theaters. Although his dad
encouraged Densham to get a traditional job, the budding screenwriter
had a calling. In the introduction to Riding the Alligator, Densham
wrote, “[I] yearned to explore, to dream, and to count in some way.” He
shaped himself as an “explorer of the human condition.”
As
his career progressed, Densham worked with luminaries in entertainment
and media. He’s worked alongside Morgan Freeman, Kevin Costner and Jeff
Bridges and many other great talents. Densham said the late Marshall
McLuhan, media visionary and author of the iconic work Understanding
Media, “opened me to thinking much more broadly about resonances of
communication."
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Writers are often daunted by the
prospect of gaining a foothold in the world of film. If that’s the case
there’s another reason to read Densham’s book, which I believe is a
valuable addition to the canon of works on the discipline. Riding the
Alligator covers the gamut of tasks in screenwriting, from structuring a
story to selling your work.
The book provides creative
exercises Densham dubs “Inciting Words,” and he includes a list of roles
stars might want to play. From self-doubt to dealing with “Being in
Development,” Densham shares his experiences in finely written yet
eminently clear language.
There’s a "Gator Glossary"
with terms like "A##hole Proofing," defined by Densham as “Making
everything emphatically clear in your writing to ensure that you get
your most important points across to lazy readers.”
Even
good books on the writing process can be useful but a bit pedantic.
Riding the Alligator is certainly useful, but it is one of the most
non-pedantic books I’ve ever read on the craft. Densham even includes a
bad review of one of his films. Noting that movies receive good and bad
reviews, Densham advised, “As an artist, one must ignore both.”
Even
the book’s format is arranged in a very original manner, laid out with
the feel of a richly populated website. The content follows a
chronological blueprint for the screenwriting process. Densham follows
that with a section "Thoughts From Other Screenwriters," and the
contributors are heavyweights like Shane Black (Lethal Weapon), Eric
Roth (Forrest Gump), John Watson (Densham’s co-writer on Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves), Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) and others. Credits and
bionotes for each screenwriter are listed in a narrow column to the left
of each of these mini-essays.
The "Instant
Screenwriting Library" provides commentary on each book listed. That
section is followed by "Playful Ways to Approach Each Chapter and Open
Up Your Thinking." For me, the prompts in this section sparked ideas for
poems. By the time I got to The Gator Glossary, I’d begun to
entertain the idea of writing my own script, something that had never
occurred to me until I read Densham’s book.
Aside from
being an accomplished author, Densham is also an accomplished
conversationalist. Our interview seemed over in a flash, although much
was said and his time was given generously. The teen who dropped out of
high school in England now teaches at the University of Southern
California and he is also a visiting filmmaker at the Canadian Film
Centre in Toronto. It’s easy to imagine a room full of students of all
ages engaged in electrifying exchanges with this dynamic man whose
success seems to have rendered him quite human rather than full of the
frippery we sometimes find in celebrities. Densham comes across as a
warm and genuine person.
Densham believes writers should
write from the heart. “It’s the key to succeeding,” he said. “Evolution
created something that makes us feel spiritual—there’s this thing in
each of us that wants to succeed.” He also believes humans are
“basically moral.” And offering a chestnut espoused by many great
writers, Densham said, “The more you write, the better you get.”
Riding
the Alligator lays bare the experiences of an artist who heard a
calling as a young man and spurned orthodoxy to undertake a journey to
that calling. The book is a valuable resource for any writer, regardless
of genre, speaking to the heart of each of us who seek to be an
“explorer of the human condition.”
That’s positively Faulknerian, echoing that great writer’s notion of “the human heart in conflict with itself.” |
Related Sites and Articles
• Riding the Alligator - The official site for Pen Densham’s book
• Marshall McLuhan - Comprehensive site about media visionary McLuhan
• The
breathless pace of technology… (Previous Web Savvy)
Do
you envision your name in lights but have no idea how to go about
getting there? In our next column, we talk with Marsha Friedman, author
of Celebritize Yourself.
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Florida journalist Kay B. Day has won awards for poetry, nonfiction and fiction. The author of two books, she has written for The Christian Science Monitor , United Press International, The Florida Times-Union and Sky News. To learn more about Kay Day, see www.kayday.com. To read Kay's other Web Savvy columns about writing for the Web, click here.
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