Damn It, Mamet

I liked The Unit. It was Boys Own stuff you could watch because there was always a chance that David Mamet had written it. A memo from Mamet to the writers of The Unit has been found recently and it is well worth reading, as it is Screenwriting for Beginners but excellently expressed (except for the all caps thing and some dodgy proofreading).

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.