The Coen Brothers LIKE this! ;-)

Lucy Hay talks here about how rules actually kill your writing. Most interesting is what she says about characterization and how many films have no character arc.

I completely agree about there being no rules but I don't agree with what Schrader says about everything now being allowed in filmmaking. I can't count the number of times that I've started watching an indie or low-budget film and stopped not ten minutes later because of the non-directing: blurs, flares, arbitrary framing, indicepherable close-ups - nothing makes sense and it definitely impairs the viewing enjoyment. I understand that we live in an exciting technological age in which a movie can be made with an iPhone. And that's great - I mean, why not use every means at our disposal to create and get it out there? But it's not an excuse to not learn the basic language of film.

Phil, I'd say the Coens are firmly entrenched in the post-modern tradition in that they know the rules, even appreciate them, before subverting them. The new generation to which Schrader refers is even more 'post-modern' than the Coens, the rules becoming something of a distant memory. But yes, the Coens would approve, I think, of the freedom and creativity present in the work of some of these contemporary filmmakers.

Thanks, Jon, for those links. I've known Lucy via social media for years. She is a valuable member of the online screenwriting universe and these 2 articles are worth reading.

Concur, Marija. It's one thing to study films of the past and determine - as part of one's vision - to cut against that grain. But no recognition of those rules can lead to crappy filmmaking.