There’s an old saw that those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach. You can debate the truth or untruth of that, but it’s definitely not true of the celebrity-education online start-up, MasterClass.
The idea of the two-year-old company is to take masters of their craft — be it writing, filmmaking, cooking, athletics, photography, etc. — and have them record lectures and demonstrations of what they do best. Those lectures are organized into a series of short videos on different subjects relating to the topic. (Click here for a recent, in-depth piece on the company at The Verge.)
Some, but not all, of the classes include workshopping with actual students (I find that the least interesting part, but your results may vary). The site also offers downloadable workbooks and other materials, and a place for students to converse with each other. There’s a social-media element as well; and students have started their own Facebook groups. Having sat through writers’ groups, I avoid those, but again, that’s just me.
I’m currently on my third class — Steve Martin Teaches Comedy — having finished David Mamet on Dramatic Writing, and Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting. Both Sorkin and Martin contained workshops with students, but Mamet is just lectures.
Over my couple of decades as an entertainment journalist, covering primarily television, one of the greatest perks of the job was getting to ask people at the top of their profession how and why they did what they did.
I never interviewed Steve Martin (but I did get to talk to Robin Williams), and I’ve done more than one interview each with Sorkin and Mamet. You could read the articles afterward, but they would only ever be a slice of what we talked about.
While MasterClass doesn’t offer the interactivity of a one-on-one conversation, it does allow the instructors to muse at length about their personal history and experiences. For a writer like me, listening to Sorkin and Mamet gave me nuggets of practical wisdom that had an immediate effect on current projects.
For example, Mamet says that scenes have to answer three questions: What does the character want? What happens if the character doesn’t get it? Why now?
Let’s look at this scene from “The Untouchables,” written by Mamet. Treasure Agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) has failed and been humiliated in his first attempt to get Chicago mob boss Al Capone (Robert DeNiro). He’s gotten “help” from D.C., in the person of Agent Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), an accountant who wants to pursue Ness for tax evasion (yeah, that’s what eventually happened, but the despondent Ness doesn’t know that). He wanted help from hard-bitten Chicago cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery) but was rebuffed. Now, Malone has come to him.
What does Malone want?
To get Capone, but he must make Ness understand that it has to be done “The Chicago Way.”
What happens if he doesn’t get it?
He’ll probably give up on Ness and the whole affair.
Why now?
Ness has failed miserably and has no prospects of success. If he doesn’t listen to Malone right now, the fight against Capone will come to nothing.
Pretty high stakes, huh? That’s what makes for good dramatic writing. And as with anything, you can learn a lot once you have a grip on first principles and can detect an underlying structure or technique.
You can pay for individual classes at MasterClass, or buy a $180 all-access pass and watch as many as you like. And depending what job you’re in, your employer might even pony up for all or part of it.
My primary interest is writing, so obviously I will get around to Shonda Rhimes on Writing for Television, but I plan to watch Annie Liebowitz on Photography, Werner Herzog on Filmmaking, Hans Zimmer on Film Scoring and, when they’re available, Martin Scorsese on Filmmaking, and Helen Mirren on Acting … and probably a few more.
Here are some teaser trailers:
The videos are brief, well-shot; the materials are useful; and it’s a lot more edifying than spending the same amount of time watching cat videos.
But, I wonder, if they did a MasterClass on cat videos, who’d teach it?
Image: Courtesy MasterClass
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