cinephiliabeyond: “ Face To Face is a BBC television series originally broadcast between 1959 and 1962, created and produced by Hugh Burnett, which ran for 35 episodes. The insightful and often probing style of the interviewer, former politician John...
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cinephiliabeyond:

Face To Face  is a BBC television series originally broadcast between 1959 and 1962, created and produced by Hugh Burnett, which ran for 35 episodes. The insightful and often probing style of the interviewer, former politician John Freeman, separated it from other programmes of the time. The series was revived in 1989 with Jeremy Isaacs as the interviewer. This version ran until 1998. Isaacs’ conversation with David Mamet took place in February 1998. It stands as one of the most comprehensive and forthcoming of Mamet’s discussions about his life in the theater.

Also, recommended viewing: David Mamet: The Playwright Directs  is a short television documentary produced in 1976 where Mamet tries to convey his rehearsal methods for a play. He uses two early short plays as examples, Dark Pony  and Reunion. Mamet is such a no-nonsense individual who never minces words with his cast, that it’s fascinating to see him direct his actors in a fast-paced, hectic manner like a character out of one of his own plays. The end result is a lesson in how Mamet directs his actors and the importance of giving his characters a motivation and how that affects their actions in the drama.

Your chances of making a living or making a better living are increased by writing something that you would want to write badly enough that you would actually go out and raise the money to direct it. You’re much better to do that because otherwise you’re just going to waste twenty years waiting for the good will of your inferiors. If you really, really want to make a film—go film it for God’s sake, go steal a camera and get it done rather than trying to interest some second-class mind to help make your script a little bit worse. —David Mamet on directing

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