The screenwriter and director Tony Grisoni might be best known for his collaboration with Terry Gilliam on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but his discussion at exposures ranged from his writing process to making short films, the practicalities of directing, and his views of the film industry.
 
Tony talked about the nature of his collaboration with Terry Gilliam, describing it not as hard work but “hard play”, saying that Gilliam “distrusts it if it feels like homework.” The screenplay for Fear and Loathing was a deliberate attempt not to write anything new, drawing dialogue from the novel itself as well as from Hunter S Thompson’s other works. Tony described the Vegas of the film as a dark magnet in the vein of Dante, the protagonist Raoul Duke’s attempts to escape repeatedly drawing him back into an increasingly hellish city.
 
In response to a question about his career, Tony argued that he rejects the idea of a conscious career plan within the film industry. He compared filmmaking to rock and roll, saying that he and his peers were simply “trying to play forever”. After going to film school, Tony got his first job as a runner in the early 1970s, working on BBC-produced films. This led to directing and producing short films, before eventually becoming a screenwriter. Refreshingly, throughout the evening Tony talked about how much fun the film industry is, saying that this is down to the people involved; film people “are like circus people”. Filmmaking has a social, collaborative nature, with the director as the focal point for everything and everyone involved. Tony said that he sees filmmaking as a strange combination of extremely practical decisions and the intangible magic that it can create.
 
Discussing his old fear of public speaking, Tony shared an anecdote about how Terry Gilliam had helped him overcome his fear; “it’s because you think you’ve got something important to say,” Gilliam had told him. Once you realise that you actually don’t have anything important to say, Tony suggested, you’ll be fine.
 
Talking about his writing process, Tony said that the best place to start is in not knowing, and writing should follow the journey of finding out. You have to be able to play and to pretend, and you need to be able to visualise the finished film, complete with cuts, music, lighting, and everything else that goes into creating a scene. You must always stay true to your characters, and let them take you on the story; don’t try to impose anything external. Tony suggested that the first draft should always be written fast; make notes as you go along, so that you’ll have something to go back to when you’ve finished. Similarly, you should end every day of writing while you still have something to do tomorrow.
 
Returning to one of the themes that had run throughout the evening, Tony stressed the collaborative nature of film; after all, you can’t make a film by yourself. Going to film school is a strong foundation, in part because it’s all about surrounding yourself with other people who are doing the same things as you, and building the network of people you’ll collaborate with throughout your career. Over the course of the discussion, Tony gave an inspiring account of filmmaking as exhilarating, fluid, collaborative, and, perhaps above all, fun.

And fellow digital rerporter Dan Shannon manged to grab a quick few words with Tony after the event....

Laura Swift - words and photo
Digital Reporter

Dan Shannon - audio
Digital Reporter