Month: November 2010

Slow, steady and all that

Maximum Z birthday, comic books, movies, outlines, plot, screenwriting, story, Uncategorized

No post yesterday because I was completely spent.  Wiped.  Totally pooped.  There wasn’t much to write about anyway, since I didn’t get to do any writing.

Today, which also happens to be my birthday, saw a little progress on LUCY.

I tightened up the first 10 pages, and am now moving on into that 10-17 range.  I have to keep reminding myself that everything is still in the ‘putting together’ phase, and not to stress out about it.

It’s easy to forget that this is one of the harder parts of the whole process.  Almost a ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ method.  Seeing what works and what doesn’t.

Most of all, I can’t get discouraged.  That would be too easy, but it’s also not an option.

Movie of the Moment:  I finished THE LOVELY BONES earlier today. I watched it over the course of three days.  At 2:10, it probably could have been about 20 minutes shorter and still worked.

I liked the concept, but there was a little too much ‘Hey, check this out’ in terms of what was going on with the dead girl in the afterlife.  Also a lot of expository narration and odd metaphoric images.

I didn’t read the book, so can’t compare them.  The subplot about the mother running away didn’t really seem to accomplish much, and it’s a shame they wasted Susan Sarandon in such a comedic way.  I do recall Stanley Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and I guess that works.  His character is really creepy, but I don’t know if it warrants a nomination.

SUPERMAN is on Encore, and Glenn Ford just died. How can you not get choked up at that?  But in the scene where Clark tells his mom he’s leaving, Phylis Thaxter’s makeup looks awful and unrealistic.

That being said, this really is an outstanding template for what a comic book movie should be like.  Too bad Bryan Singer blew it with SUPERMAN RETURNS.  Man, that was boring.

Little by little

Maximum Z Netflix, outlines, plot, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting, westerns

School was back in session today, which let me get back to work on LUCY.

The first act is slowly coming together, emphasis on ‘slowly’.

My problem seems to be trying to fit scenes into the standard form.  And that might not work for this.

I’m concerned I’m throwing too much action at the viewer, rather than setting everything up so it can be paid off later.  Take RAIDERS, for example.  The opening sequence shows Indy in his element and all his expertise (and quite well, I might add).  Then we go to the college to show him in another element, followed by the expository scene where he (and we) learn about the Ark from the G-men.

Maybe part of my problem is I feel married to my original plot points and am trying to shoehorn everything in to make it fit, rather than be willing to bend a little and try to flesh out the story.

And I don’t have to do that.  For now, the plot points are guidelines and NOT written in stone. While I like the way the story is developing, it really feels like it needs more set-up and less “hey, check this out!”

It seems a bit daunting right now, but I bet the more I work on it, it’ll come together a little easier.  At least, I hope that’s what’ll happen.

Movie of the Moment: I don’t remember how it popped into my Netflix queue, but there’s this British pseudo-holiday miniseries called HOGFATHER from author Terry Pratchett.  It’s kind of an alternate universe where the Santa-like Hogfather is missing (possibly dead?), and Death takes over the job, while an aspiring assassin tries to off the aforementioned Hogfather.  It’s a mash-up of Dickens, fairy tales, Monty Python and Hitchcock.  It’s better than I expected.

I started watching it by myself, but V was intrigued and sat down about 20 minutes in.  She was quite mesmerized and we watched the rest of part 1 together.  We’ll see how it goes for part 2 tomorrow.

Urgh

Maximum Z blog, outlines, screenwriting, Veronica

K left the country today, and with California short of money, V had no school, which meant she was home.  All day.

She did her reading homework, we played Monopoly Junior, we watched some TV (including the Giants winning the World Series – yay!), but what it also meant was I didn’t get any writing done.

And I don’t like that part.  The Dad part I love.  Not writing, I don’t.

But I get the rest of the week, so that should work out okay.

-Movie of the Moment: Season 1 of MODERN FAMILY. Very funny.  I can see why it won the Emmy for Best Comedy.

-I just realized.  This is November, which means I’ve been doing a fairly passable job of keeping this thing going for almost 4 months.  While it was hard in the beginning, I actually look forward to it now.

Next up – more readers!  Somehow.