I’m going to commit a bit of heresy here and make the suggestion that if William Shakespeare was alive today he would have been a screenwriter.  Not just any kind of screenwriter but a genre screenwriter - a really good "B" movie screenwriter but nonetheless, he'd be writing "Die Hard" and "Terminator"  and "The Lookout" - those kinds of genre films.

When you think about Samuel Goldwyn’s famous quote: "We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax. " - you’ve got Old Bill.

How about  KING LEAR for example?

 Act I, Scene I - King Lear's palace 

Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND

KENT: I thought the king had more affected the Duke of 
Albany than Cornwall.

GLOUCESTER: It did always seem so to us: but now, in the 
division of the kingdom, it appears not which of 
the dukes he values most; for qualities [equalities] are so 
weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice 
of either's moiety.

KENT: Is not this your son, my lord?

GLOUCESTER 
His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have 
so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am 
brazed to it. 

KENT 
I cannot conceive you. 

GLOUCESTER 
Sir, this young fellow's mother could, whereupon 
she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son 
for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. 
Do you smell a fault? 

KENT 
I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it 
being so proper.

Soap opera anyone?  I mean, say what?  This is two noblemen, Gloucester and Kent, discussing the fact that King Lear is about to divide his kingdom. But - their conversation quickly changes, when Kent asks Gloucester to introduce his son. Gloucester introduces Edmund, explaining that Edmund is a bastard being raised away from home, but that he nevertheless loves his son dearly.

How about Hamlet?  Act I, Scene I - right off the top.

BERNARDO 
Last night of all,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one,--

Enter Ghost

MARCELLUS 
Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

BERNARDO 
In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

MARCELLUS 
Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

BERNARDO 
Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

HORATIO 
Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.

BERNARDO 
It would be spoke to.
 

Enter...Ghost?  Really?  "Paranormal Activity" had nothing on the Bard.

William Shakespeare wrote for people about people and places that his typical audience would never see.  He understood that what fascinates is what we can't experience directly.  He knew that he could be successful as a writer by delivering on dark secrets and mysterious goings-on.   Sound anything like say, "Layer Cake?"  Or perhaps "The Godfather?"

I mean, this is a guy who is considered a literary genius and really, all he was writing was...genre stuff.

Romeo and Juliet:

Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? 

Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? 

Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine. 

Juliet: I gave thee mine before thou didst request it! 

Romeo: Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.

Wow.  Kinda hot, kinda sticky.  Kinda "Grey's Anatomy."

Of course we understand that Shakespeare was using allegory in some cases.  But at the core, this guy was writing his ass off about base human emotions and motives.  Nothing all that deep there - ego, betrayal, jealousy and rage.

Sidebar: I remember seeing a Kenneth Branagh film a few years ago and it credited the material to William Shakespeare. I thought - that’ pretty cool - 500 years later and William is still getting an above-the-line credit. Now, that’s staying power.

A ghost who talks to his son, witches, kings failing and falling, a sex farce? Judd Apatow, J.J. Abrams, David Koepp, Ernest Lehman and every soap opera writer who ever lived...they all know what the Bard knew - because Shakespeare wrote material that engaged, involved, and entertained people. Old William wanted wham-o scenes; he knew how to make cats jump out of the shadows. Sex sells - who didn’t know that even back then?

Mark Twain said: “My books are water; those of the great genius is fine wine. Everybody drinks water.” Exactly.  
 

Who exactly decided that you couldn't be a genius and write stuff that appeals to Joe Plumber?  That's what Shakespeare did.  His allegory was thinly-veiled if at all.

I love Shakespeare for all the reasons most people mention - but think about this; he's using wham-o scenes, visual impact to tell a story and touching on the veryman's fobiles in even the highest reaches of society.  In some cases we could see his work as "Gossip Girl" Victorian-style.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t write or film or produce the best work we can. It’s just that we should never accept judgments about our work that diminish that work. Writing a script, making a movie - any movie - is damned hard and those of you here who have tried or done it know that.  "If it bleeds, it leads," is an old newspaper saying - The Bard of Avon got that - he really did.

We’re the shamen and witchy women around the fire, the Shakespeares, the Twains of our time. That a heavy responsibility - so - act right. Don’t embarrasse yourselves or us. 

To thine own self be true.  --William Shakespeare 

Be Inspired - And do great work.