{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Write On: 'The Performance' Co-Writer Josh Salzberg","description":"\u201cFugler (Robert Carlyle) was a character that I really connected with from the beginning. I know it sounds a little strange that the Nazi was my way into this, but it really was that idea of, \u2018How can we get inside his head and make sure that he\u2019s a fully fleshed out person that way?\u2019\u201d says Josh Salzberg about trying to make his villain, a Nazi named Damien Fugler, a three-dimensional character. Josh Salzberg wrote the screenplay for The Performance with co-writer\/director Shira Piven. In this episode, Salzberg talks about the challenges of adapting a short story by playwright Arthur Miller that\u2019s about a Jewish-American tap dancer (Jeremy Piven), who\u2019s willing to compromise his own core values to find fame and fortune in Nazi Germany.  \u201cThe idea of all [the characters] is that they\u2019re all performing on some level. They all have another life. And that\u2019s true to show business, that we all have sides of ourselves that we\u2019re not sure we want everybody to see or that it\u2019s okay for everybody to see. And then in Berlin in the \u201830s, there\u2019s all these different communities that were impacted \u2013 not just the Jews in Germany,\u201d he says.  Salzberg also talks about his background as a film editor, how it helped him transition to screenwriting, and the challenges of writing morally compromised characters like his protagonist, Harold.  \u201cI think embracing the mistakes that they make, embracing those flaws and leaning into that is important. Sometimes we can care about our characters to the point where we want them to be likable, which is a note we always get, but we\u2019ve got to be okay with the mistakes \u2013 and the consequences for those mistakes. And that was a lesson that Shira and I kept learning as we were developing the script,\u201d he says.  To hear more about Salzberg\u2019s writing process, listen to the podcast. Please note: this episode contains discussions regarding racism and anti-semitism.  ","author_name":"Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.finaldraft.com","html":"