Commencement 2007 Remarks

Howard A. Rodman, Chair, Division of Writing for Screen & Television

"I’d like to welcome the 2007 graduating class of the Writing Division.  I salute you as you leave behind the years of education, and enter the years of-- Ramen.  And welcome, too, honored guests, parents, relatives, friends, staff, administration, and faculty of the School of Cinematic Arts.

Some say that the cinematic arts began on December 28, 1895, the Lumieres’ first public cinematograph projection.  Others would talk about Marey’s photo gun, Muybridge’s horses, or even Balinese shadow puppets.

But I think the first cinematic art was the dream—and the first screenplay was written when someone tried to describe, in words, what they saw with their eyes closed.  A screenplay is a map to a world that does not yet exist.

A screenplay is a dream.  But in dreams, as Delmore Schwartz would say, begin responsibilities. 

We’ve taught you the forms and formats in which you will work: the what. We’ve taught you the craft: the how. We’ve taught you about the industry: the where. What you have to teach yourself: the why. 

You have to ask yourself: Does this film, this television pilot, this webisode, this mobisode, this brand extension, this risk aversion, this multi-platform happy meal, this sequel to a sequel to a sequel-- Does it really need to exist?

You have to ask yourself: Am I advancing the world’s wisdom, or my own career? 

You have to ask yourself: Does the dream I chose to share reach the viewer’s heart?  Open her eyes?  Teach him that the world is far more terrifying, far more complex, far more wondrous, far more beautiful, achingly stunningly beautiful, than is typically sold to us?

Dreaming is a solitary activity.  Making dreams, writing dreams, is social.  Hence, it has its own social contract.

The best discussion of that contract comes from a man who has been an inspiration to all of us, a mentor to some of us—the late and much

Rodman addresses the class of 2007.

lamented Sergio Leone.  He talks about the dream, the contract, about his love for our movies, and our nation.  And this is how he put it:

'In my childhood, America was like a religion. Then, real-life Americans abruptly entered my life - in jeeps - and upset all my dreams. I admired the Americans on the screen a lot – their style, their way of speaking, and their way of wearing hats.  But after a while I began to realize that America is really the property of the world. America was something dreamed by philosophers, vagabonds and the wretched of the earth long before it was discovered by Spanish ships and populated by colonies of the world.  The Americans have only rented it -- temporarily.  If their movies don't work, if the mythical level is lowered, if they don't behave well--  Then the contract can always be withheld. We can evict them.  Or discover another America.'

I’d like to introduce to you now a crew of extraordinary explorers, our last best hope if we’re ever to find our way to another America: the 2007 graduating class of the Writing Division of the School of Cinematic Arts."