Fonny is in jail because he was falsely accused by a Puerto Rican woman, Mrs. Rogers, of raping her. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK Written by Barry Jenkins Adapted from the novel by James Baldwin February 3, 2014 Jewerl Keats Ross CAA SILENT R MANAGEMENT 424-288-2000 323-852-6830. Ernestine: “Unbow your head, sister.”. One option is the use of one of the most hated plot devices: voiceover.Â, The clip of Jenkins earlier showed how hard it was to take an internal book and create an external screenplay. Subscribe to receive the free PDF! If Beale Street Could Talk is told from the point-of-view of Tish Rivers, a 19-year-old from Harlem. If Beale Street Could Talk Based on the novel by James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk, is the story of Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover's innocence while carrying their first born child to term. His strategy was different and braver than any I have ever taken, actually writing the screenplay before he approached Baldwin's estate. Indeed “Moonlight” went on to win Best Picture at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes, and Jenkins, along with playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Listen as Tish and Fonny first make love, the sound of the rain blends with cellos and the rumbling of the subway train. Based on the book by James Baldwin. He published his novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” in 1974, and it was his first work to focus on a Black couple’s love story – as well as the only one to be narrated by a woman. Stephan James is on his way to the A-list with sublime turns in "Homecoming" and "If Beale Street Could Talk." For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ). “Once you find yourself in another civilization,” he notes, “you’re forced to examine your own.” In a sense, Baldwin’s travels brought him even closer to the social concerns of contemporary America. Much of Jenkins' time was spent finding tangible actions that would help be evocative of the emotions on the page. But then he couldn’t get another feature off the ground for the next six years. After the assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, Baldwin returned to St. Paul de Vence, France, where he worked on a book about the disillusionment of the times, “If Beale Street Could Talk” (1974). If Beale Street Could Talk, which was published in 1974 and follows a young black couple whose lives are torn apart by a false criminal accusation, is a harbinger of Baldwin’s late style. The couple’s as well as the family’s love that envelops around them is the unifying force that binds them together against the bigotry toward African Americans in 70s Harlem. Don’t panic now. When There Will Be Blood burst into cinemas it was a tour-de-force of acting, directing, cinematography, and musical scores.Â, Let's dig for that screenwriting oil. Most recently, Jenkins directed an episode of the Netflix Original Series “Dear White People.” Upcoming projects include an adaptation of National Book Award winner Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” for television, which he will pen and direct. Instead, Jenkins was able to make them feel united and really get into the minds of the characters by using voiceover.Â, How do you get feelings off the page and onto the screen? About Writer and Director Barry Jenkins Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues", named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The oldest of nine children, he grew up in poverty, developing a troubled relationship with his strict, religious stepfather. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Jenkins is a curator at the Telluride Film Festival and a United States Artists Smith Fellow. The passion and depth with which he described the struggles of black Americans were unlike anything that had been written. On August 29, 2017, Stephan James was set to star. James Baldwin — the grandson of a slave — was born in Harlem in 1924. He also turned to teaching as a new way of connecting with the young. We finally hit on this idea that the first act need not flow the same way the second act does...There’s a really hard delineation between the storytelling style between them. (2018) Written by Barry Jenkins and James Baldwin. A perfectbound book looking like a … Written by: Barry Jenkins (Screenplay), James Baldwin (Novel) Script Synopsis: After her fiance is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant African-American woman sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence. “Moonlight became the first locomotive out of the station,” says Jenkins…The $1.5 million film would go on to make Oscar history when it won best picture in 2017…After the critical acclaim and the Oscar wins (he also shared best-adapted screenplay honors with McCraney), it would seem that Jenkins could take on any project, at any budget, that he’d want to pursue. Ernestine: “Unbow your head, sister.”, Screenplay by Barry Jenkins. If Beale Street Could Talk. If Beale Street Could Talk appeals to young adult readers because the two figures at the center of the novel’s conflict are themselves young adults. When Barry Jenkins took off to Europe in the summer of 2013, he wrote two screenplays: one for “Moonlight,” an adaptation of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s semiautobiographical book about a young African-American gay man struggling with his identity, and the other for “If Beale Street Could Talk,” based on James Baldwin’s delicate love story about a pregnant woman whose boyfriend is falsely accused of rape and imprisoned. “Part of wanting to make a film immediately and not to spend time between films was just out of PTSD from my first experience,” says Jenkins. Available to stream on Hulu and to rent on YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Microsoft, iTunes, Redbox, Apple TV and DIRECTV. If Beale Street Could Talk essays are academic essays for citation. The art direction is impeccable. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin is a an angry and sometimes brutal love story set in the Bronx, New York. The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. It’s a little sad, therefore, that IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK doesn’t embrace the skill of its own creators – a dovetailing of the direction, cinematography, music, and script – to its fullest degree. For educational purposes only. This spectacularly lyrical and lush follow up to “Moonlight” – is at times painful but leaves you inebriated with the optimistic pronunciation that love can get you through the most difficult of times. Directed by Barry Jenkins. 119 minutes, Writer and Director Barry Jenkins on Bringing “If Beale Street Could Talk” to the Screen The score by Nicholas Britell is poignant – featuring cellos that underscore the love of Fonny and Tish as well as the injustice that surrounds them. It feels like an organic conversation that suddenly explodes.” While firm about keeping the film’s 1970s setting, Jenkins hopes that the film’s portrayal of institutionalised racism (Fonny is set up on a false rape charge by a racist cop played by Ed Skrein) has a contemporary relevance for audiences. “[It was challenging] for a guy like me who, in his two previous films, had shot maybe two scenes with more than two people. The camera hovers birdlike above our lovers as they descend the stairs in a park. “I didn’t want to be held to the success or failure of “Moonlight,” and so even before the movie came out, I decided I wanted to make this film next,” says Jenkins, who adds that there were offers for other interesting projects, but “I had to make this film first to complete the cycle of the two films.”, So when Jenkins reached out to the Baldwin estate, known for denying requests to adapt the late author’s work, he simply sent along a DVD copy of his first film, 2008’s “Medicine for Melancholy” (the love story, made for $15,000, follows 24 hours in the lives of a young black couple in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco), along with the script he’d written for “Beale Street.” The estate approved the adaptation, and Jenkins began reworking the script while at the same time going through the awards circuit with “Moonlight.” In retrospect, Jenkins says making “Moonlight” first gave him the extra time he needed to get the script right for “Beale Street.” “I think the first draft of the adaptation was maybe faithful in the extreme. Barry Jenkins is an evocative cinematic poet. His script allowed him to show his devotion to the material as well as the care he would take to get it to the big screen.Â, But Baldwin's book is highly emotional and internal. I have news for you, no one cares. Bad writing advice is all over. Tish knows that Fonny is innocent, and is mindful that his good friend Daniel Carty has only recently been freed after an unjust incarceration and the scars of his experience are unbearable. The first act is procedural, going back and forth between the past and present with Tish and Fonny. Barry Jenkins was born and raised in Miami, Florida and graduated from Florida State University with a BFA in film. On July 10, 2017, it was announced that Barry Jenkins would direct an adaptation of the James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk. The film took the award for Best Picture at the 2016 Academy Awards and Golden Globes, and Jenkins received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, among many others. The trick for me, even with such tight quarters and such little time, was allowing the actors to have the space to play, to let the scene breathe and to explore and have fun. The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Fonny (Alonzo Hunt) or refer to Fonny (Alonzo Hunt). This, too, was a bestseller: so incendiary that it put Baldwin on the cover of TIME Magazine. But it turns out he’d already been quietly moving “Beale Street” forward before “Moonlight” had won a single trophy. Then I was really moved by how romantic it is on one hand, and then how biting it is on the other.”, So, he had to set out securing the rights. Read 6 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. While Fonny’s mother and sisters condemn the relationship and the birth of a baby to an unmarried couple, Tish has the steadfast support of her father and her sister Ernestine. Based on the book by James Baldwin Though not instantly recognized as such, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” has long been considered an American classic. Though at times criticized for his pacifist stance, Baldwin remained an important figure in that struggle throughout the 1960s. More determined to clear Fonny’s name is Tish’s fierce mother Sharon (Regina King in her Academy Award-winning performance), willing to to put herself at risk on the couple’s behalf – even if it means traveling to Puerto Rico on an almost impossible mission. Many responded to the harsh tone of “If Beale Street Could Talk” with accusations of bitterness – but even though Baldwin had encapsulated much of the anger of the times in his book, he always remained a constant advocate for universal love and brotherhood. That effect makes the tale ripple into the present – into our current condition. ... and he found a basement where he could work on his wood and he was at our house more than he was at his.” 11 INT. The novel came out towards the end of the Black Arts Movement which started in 1965 and through art and activism delivered a message of Black pride. From the opening scene, it’s evident you’re dealing with lyricism. Is this proper screenplay format? In only a few films (including his Academy Award Best Picture winner “Moonlight”) Jenkins has coalesced into a very distinctive voice: his repeated shooting of actors looking straight into the camera – creating an intimacy and connection with the audience. It goes back to the prescience of Baldwin. He’s also writing a script for a coming of age drama based on the life of the first American Female Olympic boxing champ Clarissa “T-Rex” Shields. Making Moonlight gave us time to find a script.” There was a sense of urgency for Jenkins to make his next film, in part because of his experience with “Medicine for Melancholy,” which was seen as a strong debut in 2008, earning the helmer a Spirit Award for best first feature and solidifying his status as a filmmaker to watch. Does If Beale Street Could Talk make you angry? When this book was published, some black leaders and activists said that author James Baldwin was … As you can see, the voiceover is done in the action lines, in italics. As a child, he cast about for a way to escape his circumstances. “It’s really a difficult thing to get back into.” So no matter what happened with “Moonlight,” Jenkins was not going to slow down again. I didn’t know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use.” By the time he was fourteen, Baldwin was spending much of his time in libraries and had found his passion for writing. While script formatting can be strict, the one thing you need to know is that as long as your script translates your message, the way you do it is less important. He also has a way of eliciting great lived-in performances from his actors. Download Screenplays for 2018's Biggest Award Winners, Barry Jenkins Filmmaking Advice: Look Inward and Take Risks, Download the 'Devil Wears Prada' Script and Learn About Character. At the time, Jenkins had the rights to neither book, but the plan was to make “Beale Street” first. 5. Videographers Are Buying This Popular Camera, and It's Now $500 Off! “Can you imagine being a chef and you don’t cook for six years?” says Jenkins. It's based on the book by James Baldwin.Â, If you're unfamiliar with the book, this is what Joyce Carol Oates said in her review for The New Yorker back in 1974:Â, "'If Beale Street Could Talk' is a moving, painful story. Screenplay by Barry Jenkins. Essays for If Beale Street Could Talk. “We still qualify for the Spirit Awards [open to films costing less than $20m]!” he laughs. From “Go Tell It on the Mountain” to “The Evidence of Things Not Seen” (1985), James Baldwin created works of literary beauty and depth that will remain essential parts of the American canon. And the second is looser, jumping between characters, more poetic in tone.". Regina King won a Best Supporting Actress trophy for that film. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. (pbs.org). I f Beale Street Could Talk explores the difficulties and inequities faced by Black Americans. “[We] didn’t have an abundance of resources so we just prioritised certain things,” he says. by Sean Pratt | Aug 19, 2020 | Film Recommendations. The adaptation of James Baldwin's novel of the same name saw the director return to the Academy Awards in 2019 with a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It's 100+ pages on what you need to know to make beautiful, inexpensive movies using a DSLR. But you know what they say about best-laid plans. In the early 1960s, overwhelmed by a sense of responsibility to the times, Baldwin returned to take part in the civil rights movement. I think when you watch the scene you don’t feel that challenge at all. Over the next ten years, Baldwin moved from Paris to New York to Istanbul, writing two books of essays, “Notes of a Native Son” (1955) and “Nobody Knows My Name” (1961), as well as two novels, “Giovanni’s Room” (1956) and “Another Country” (1962). They care that your message comes across. BASEMENT APARTMENT - DAY - MONTAGE 1 11 And the second is looser, jumping between characters, more poetic in tone. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK Written for the Screen and Directed by Barry Jenkins Based on the Book by James Baldwin. The film earned a total of eight Academy Award nominations, six Golden Globe nominations, ten Broadcast Critics Choice Awards nominations, and four BAFTA nominations, as well as Best Picture and Director at the Gotham Awards and Best International Film by the British Independent Film Awards. As he recalls, “I knew I was black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. And I had it in my head of having this young woman speaking these very potent, considered words.”, One thing I want to point out here is how the voiceover is formatted.Â, Look, we've gone over the idea that there are no screenwriting rules. Caroline Waxler: Today, we welcome Barry Jenkins, writer and director of If Beale Street Could Talk, a film adaption of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel. Her narrative – just like memory – is not linear. It's Basically the Difference Between 1978 Superman and 2013 Superman, Denis Villeneuve Shares His Best Directing Advice. The lack of dialogue/script for this movie is what makes it drag out. Pretty much everything is a build if it’s not an exterior. His scenes in slow motion. His fifth novel, is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. About Author James Baldwin After working for a short while with the railroad, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village, where he worked for a number of years as a freelance writer, working primarily on book reviews. Get your FREE copy of the eBook called "astonishingly detailed and useful" by Filmmaker Magazine! Directed by Barry Jenkins. Barry Jenkins burst onto the scene with his adaptation of the play Moonlight. His follow up, If Beale Street Could Talk, is another romance that challenges us to see why love is so important, and how resilience can carry you. After a whirlwind experience on 'Moonlight,' costume designer Caroline Eselin reteamed with Barry Jenkins on 'If Beale Street Could Talk.' Barry Jenkins was given a copy of Beale Street by a friend and the novel immediately grabbed him. Trust in it all the way,” says Sharon – the mother of Tish – one of the lovers at the center of “If Beale Street Could Talk” – the transfixing and timeless romance based on the classic novel by James Baldwin and adapted and directed by the Academy Award winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins. “One of the earliest decisions we made was to allow the film to be set in the time period [of the novel],” he says. James Baldwin – the American writer and activist and one of the most important authors of the last century – explored the racial and sexual divide in our country. Case in point, check out this page from the If Beale Street Could Talk screenplay. “I know what I want to do next, I’m doing it. by Craig Tomashoff The minds behind original and adapted screenplays for films such as 'The Favourite,' 'Vice,' 'First Reformed,' 'If Beale Street Could Talk… “Every Black person in America was born on Beale Street, born in the Black neighborhood of some American city, whether in Jackson Mississippi, or in Harlem,” are Baldwin’s words that open the film. Eager to move on, Baldwin knew that if he left the pulpit he must also leave home, so at eighteen he took a job working for the New Jersey railroad. In an interview with IndieWire, Jenkins talks about what drew him to the work:Â, “I was really excited about two things: One, before I read it, I didn’t realize it was basically like James Baldwin writing a thriller, which I thought was cool. “Trying to strike this balance between making [the social commentary about racism] clear but still preserving the sophistication that Baldwin put in the text. “Remember love is what brought you here. This book was published in 1974. “Being on set, it was clear to me how delicate it was,” he continues. As the lights came up last fall at the advance screening of “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the film’s director and screenwriter Barry Jenkins spotted a familiar face in the Atlantic Station movie theater — University of Georgia English and African-American Studies professor Ed Pavlic. If Beale Street Could Talk and “The Man Child” both play a vital role in Baldwin’s narratives surrounding gender, sexuality, gender expression, and race. While Mr. Baldwin’s books have been adapted for television and overseas, his vivid and essential representations of African-American life had not been done by an American filmmaker prior to this movie. During the last ten years of his life, he produced a number of important works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. As Jenkins puts it, "The cinema is not agreeable with interiority.". ... lives and motives of real people instead of fictional characters on a script … The If Beale Street Could Talk lesson plan contains a variety of teaching materials that cater to all learning styles. Jenkins also directed the Academy Award nominated film “If Beale Street Could Talk.” He was named one of TIME magazine’s “Most Influential People” of 2017 and Fast Company’s “Most Creative People” of 2017. Does 'The Snyder Cut' Prove Auteur Theory? Holding hands they are in a bond that compliments and defines one another. And, indeed, after speaking to Screen International, the film has garnered three Spirit nominations for best feature, best director and best supporting female for Regina King. If Beale Street Could Talk found similar success. 4. It was adapted as a film of the same name, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, and it garnered an Academy Award for Best … Kaleidoscopically, we will find out that she’s pregnant – and that Fonny is in jail – wrongly arrested for a crime he did not commit. Tish is 19 and pregnant - her partner Fonny is a couple of years older and in prison, falsely accused of rape. Jenkins was also awarded the NYFCC and NBR Best Director Award, Best Director by LAFCA, a DGA Best Director nomination, and the WGA Award for Best Original Screenplay. As long as you get the big stuff standard, you can take liberties with the small stuff.Â, Jenkins adeptly uses this script to show the difference between the VO and what we're reading that occurs in the present.Â, Tish's internal thoughts help bring Baldwin's novel to life and bring the internal external.Â, Paul Thomas Anderson has been one of the most talked about writer-directors since he came onto the scene with Hard Eight. Since then, his movies have been must-see theatrical experiences. If Beale Street Could Talk, screenplay by Barry Jenkins, adapted from the novel by James Baldwin Vice, written by Adam McKay Destroyer, written by Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi Mary Queen of Scots, screenplay by Beau Willimon, based on the book "Queen of … Both “Nobody Knows My Name” and “Another Country” became immediate bestsellers. He has shepherded two back to back Best Supporting-winning performances in the unforgettable work of Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” and in the aredent work of Regina King in “If Beale Street Could Talk.”. I want to have a career — I’m going to keep making things.” But because Moonlight became such a runaway success, Jenkins says his decision to quickly move into another project has had an unexpected result. The music is so redolent. Fonny wears a yellow shirt with a blue jean jacket, and she’s wearing a blue dress with a yellow coat. Author James Baldwin. James was really smart about what we needed to see for it to fly, and being shrewd about making the money work for the film.” For one pivotal scene…the production saved money by building her family’s snug flat inside a real-life brownstone house awaiting renovation. By 1987, when he died of stomach cancer at age 63, James Baldwin had become one of the most important and vocal advocates for equality. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve made this film so quickly after that film that it can’t help but exist in the shadow of the previous film.’” (hollywoodreporter.com). If Beale Street Could Talk. If Beale Street Could Talk Analysis. Instantly we understand we’re treading into allegory – this shot is the arc of their journey. Director: Barry Jenkins. If Beale Street Could Talk stars KiKi Layne, Stephan James, and Regina King. If Beale Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. In the first scene of the novel, Tish speaks to her lover, Fonny Hunt, who is in jail, and tells him she is pregnant. You don’t want to obfuscate the actual things you are saying.” (screendaily.com). A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit. It is so vividly human and so obviously based upon reality, that it strikes us as timeless--an art that has not the slightest need of esthetic tricks, and even less need of fashionable apocalyptic excesses. Showing all 64 company credits. 7:00 AM 2/11/2019. Directed by Barry Jenkins ", Sounds great, but also daunting in terms of an adaptation.Â, Today we're going to look at a few interesting items from the If Beale Street Could Talk screenplay and also chat about formatting and how there are no rules in screenwriting.Â, Have you ever just been floored by a book you read? “To me, there was more power by allowing that to happen but still saying, ‘These things are still happening today’. There’s a heightened sense of sensitivity and wisdom in his work that is genuinely exhilarating to watch. Traveling throughout the South, he began work on an explosive work about black identity and the state of racial struggle, “The Fire Next Time” (1963). I used the adverb kaleidoscopically above for his work is a twisting wave of visuals, colors and sound. ", This was a brave move because it could wind up making the acts feel like different movies. The racism Fonny and his friend Daniel experience in If Beale Street Could Talk has unfortunately been institutionalized and normalized, thanks in part to the practice of profiling, which emerged as an official custom during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a way for law enforcement officers to identify supposedly dangerous criminals. He caught the attention of the well-known novelist, Richard Wright – and though Baldwin had not yet finished a novel, Wright helped him secure a grant with which he could support himself as a writer. If Beale Street Could Talk Script. What's Tone? If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Company Credits. Jenkins told IndieWire: "We finally hit on this idea that the first act need not flow the same way the second act does...There’s a really hard delineation between the storytelling style between them. All Rights Reserved. Starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James,Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry and Regina King © 2021 NONETWORK, LLC. The modest budget meant Jenkins, his production designer Mark Friedberg and cinematographer James Laxton needed to be creative on set. and other terrible metaphors!Â. “The budget for Beale Street was larger than Moonlight — which cost around $1.5m — but not by much. Jenkin’s feature film debut was an independent romantic drama, “Medicine for Melancholy,” which was hailed as one of the best films of 2008 by The New York Times and received several Independent Spirit and Gotham Award nominations. If Beale Street Could Talk is Jenkins’ extraordinary followup to 2016’s Moonlight, which won the Writers Guild Award for original screenplay, and the Academy Award for best picture.
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