From bylines to frontlines, writer and director Matt Tyrnauer’s stories have always pushed the limits. After his significant time spent writing for Vanity Fair, Tyrnauer evolved his career to produce and direct many documentary films. These films include Valentino: The Last Emperor, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, and Studio 54. His new doc Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid, explores political strategist and juggernaut James Carville during his early days in his hometown of Carville, Louisiana.
For his Treat, Tyrnauer recounts some key early influences on his career in filmmaking. Before landing his job at VF, his father gave him a copy of the grammar classic Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White. Later, one-time executive literary editor of Vanity Fair, Wayne Lawson, helped Tyrnauer pare down his overly descriptive writing. Tyrnauer credits this influence for becoming a filmmaker.
More: Director Matt Tyrnauer on Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (The Business, 2018)
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When I was a kid, my father gave me a copy of [William] Strunk and [E. B.] White's Elements of Style. It's how to write, basically. The mantra in the book is to omit unnecessary words. Then, when I was at Vanity Fair, I had an editor named Wayne Lawson — who is [still] going strong at 93 years young (I think) — and he taught me how to be a filmmaker.
You know, at that time you wrote 10,000-word pieces for Vanity Fair. I would have every little detail in there; I would embroider it like a Valentino dress. And it was absolutely this couture masterpiece where not one stitch … every sequin was on it that I could find. [But] Wayne would say, 'Take out all the adjectives and let the people tell the story themselves.'
Basically, what I ended up doing under his tutelage was writing 10,000-word cinéma verité films because they were observational, unembroidered things that were very similar to what the Maysles brothers were doing with Grey Gardens. And it became… Every time I wrote a piece, I just thought of Grey Gardens.
It was a cinéma verité paper cut, basically, which allowed me to make the transition into cinéma verité filmmaking, and that set me on my whole artistic course.