Reading scripts and feeling like a real film student

I started to read today the script of Being John Malkovich. This will be the second script of Charlie Kaufman that I read, after Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I love the way Charlie Kaufman writes, and I don't at all talk about the way the films come out. I talk about his actual writing, just the way each word means so much.

I know that in screenwriting it has to work that way, because of the way words work on the mind. You want people to have a certain picture in their head, so you must work very carefully with the words you use. I think this is a very strong issue when you write in a language that is not your mother tongue. Like when I write in English. I must feel the word, have all the conotations of it. Each word is a living instrument that helps me create a clear coherent picture.

I always think of it when using the verb "walk". Almost never does a characters simply "walk". It plods, it strolls, it wanders. It only walks away. My teacher, Esti Namdar, and of cours thousands of other scriptwriting teachers and guids, always emphasise the importance of the script's mood and feel. The textures. Sometimes those appear in the details (the way characters look and talk, for example two kids wearing school uniform) and sometimes in the large picture (the weather, time of day, location, for example a new futuristic school building made out of glass).

I hope reading the script will not disturb me in developin my own script - I have some problems and I hope to sort it out soon. But getting to know my characters and their world is a real adventure, and I enjoy it a lot. Soon they'll start talking to me, I hope...