Soderbergh the GM? | Gameplaywright

Steven Soderbergh talking to Roger Ebert about The Girlfriend Experience:

“I’d give them a basic goal for the scene, like ‘don’t let him sell you a package of workout sessions,’ and turn them loose. I’d say 95 percent of the film is made up of first or second takes. They were controlled improvisations where the actors were encouraged to speak freely about themselves and as themselves.”

There’s often an element of roleplaying on both parts of the escort transaction. (They tell me.) In this film, Soderbergh has reduced the role-playing of the actors and, in so doing, moved closer to an improvisational game or indie-style roleplaying game. The actors are playing just a few degrees away from themselves in scenes that involve professionals playing the roles of people who play roles for a living. It’s so wonderfully meta — I can’t wait to see this thing.

1 Comment

Jeff Tidball on May 26, 2009 at 1:45 pm

This was the most interesting bit of the piece, for me:

Although Soderbergh has made films closely tied to plots […] he said he’s getting “a bit tired of traditional setups and payoffs when it comes to storytelling in movies. That doesn’t mean I think we should dispense with narrative, but I’m more interested in how something feels than how it’s constructed.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads GPW that I have a tendency to fetishize, almost, the well-constructed story. So I wonder what he means by that. Is he tired of the stupid hollywood development game, where pin-headed people give notes that drag your story down to the lowest common denominator (his word “traditional” makes me thing it might be that)?

I do think that the feeling is what the well-constructed story shoots for. It’s important not to lose sight of that.

Jeff Tidball on May 26, 2009 at 1:45 pm

This was the most interesting bit of the piece, for me:

Although Soderbergh has made films closely tied to plots […] he said he’s getting “a bit tired of traditional setups and payoffs when it comes to storytelling in movies. That doesn’t mean I think we should dispense with narrative, but I’m more interested in how something feels than how it’s constructed.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads GPW that I have a tendency to fetishize, almost, the well-constructed story. So I wonder what he means by that. Is he tired of the stupid hollywood development game, where pin-headed people give notes that drag your story down to the lowest common denominator (his word “traditional” makes me thing it might be that)?

I do think that the feeling is what the well-constructed story shoots for. It’s important not to lose sight of that.