Month: June 2013

That’s me – the human flying buttress

Maximum Z Comedy Film Nerds, encouragement, ideas, Movie of the Moment, originality, screenwriting, script, Star Trek, story, storytelling, writing
Just offering what little support I can
Just offering whatever support I can

When another writer follows me on Twitter, I’ll send a thank-you DM when applicable and ask how their latest project is coming along. The responses are usually pretty enthusiastic, and it’s great to see such a wide spectrum of material and how each person’s path is developing.

(What writer doesn’t like to talk about their work? I’m no exception either.)

Or maybe they’ve hit a bump in the road. “I’m stuck in Act Two,” “This rewrite’s killing me!” or “I’ve been dragging my feet on getting this draft done.”  Happens to all of us.

Based on how they’re doing, I’ll usually write something like “That’s awesome!” or “Hang in there!”, followed by the ubiquitous “Best of/Good luck!”

And I actually mean it.

Honest.

So it was a little surprising when I got this response during a recent DM chat – “You have a special gift of encouragement. WHO does that these days?”

Really? Nice, supportive people are now considered a rarity?

I’m not an idiot. This is a savage business a lot of us are trying to break into. It’s extremely competitive, and the odds are definitely not in our favor.  It’s extremely easy to get disenhearted and want to throw in the towel after receiving that 97th rejection letter.

A few words of support are never the wrong thing to say, even if it’s something as simple as “Good luck.” That may be just the extra push you need to get yourself to keep going, start again, or what have you.  If you’re lucky, you have loved ones, friends and trusted colleagues who support your efforts, regardless of how long it takes.

And consider me part of that group as well.

-Movie of the Moment – STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013). Nice to look at, but is it really asking too much for an original story and characters – again? I didn’t like the Leonard Nimoy/Spock part of the 2009 movie, and was disappointed at the way this one played out.

For a funnier, NSFW spoiler-filled review, click here.

It bothers me that Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof have become the go-to guys for pop culture sci-fi flicks. Yes, they’ve got talent (to a certain extent), but their work just feels like something’s missing. Maybe too much relying on flashy spectacle and not enough smart storytelling?  The effects should enhance the story, not the other way around.

As much as I enjoy a good fanboy film, I’ll take a solid story over gee-whiz special effects every time.  I suspect a lot of people also feel this way, or at least hope they do.

Trust your audience to be able to follow along; they’ll appreciate it.

Pedal to the metal

Maximum Z adventure, loglines, manager, representation, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, script, story, structure, subplot, synopsis, writing
It may be kmph, but it's still fast
It may be kmph, but it’s still fast

Nice to be back. Didja miss me?

Y’know, visiting three major metropolitan areas in a week (four if you count the one where I started and ended AKA home) can really tire a guy out.

So while I work on readjusting to my native time zone, I’m also working on getting some writing-related affairs in order.

-Due to a last-minute family medical emergency, my manager had to cancel our face-to-face meeting. Bummer. And his assistant was up to his eyeballs in reducing his steadily-growing workload, so he couldn’t meet either. Double bummer.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining: I got emails from both the next day about the rewrite. Overall: great job, nice scene changes and choices, very solid structure.

Up next – a “high-octane” logline and synopsis. Although I’ve always had problems with the latter, I really like the sound of that particular adjective.

“High-octane.”  Sounds fast, powerful and strong.

This is a fast-moving script with lots of swashbuckling action, so that’s the mood my 1-2 sentence description and 1-pager should convey.

The logline and synopsis are your best chances to really showcase what your story’s about, but letting the genre do the heavy lifting. Comedy – play up the jokes. Thriller – keep us in suspense. Horror – scare us.

In my case – adventure – both logline and synopsis should give you an idea of what kind of rollercoaster ride you’re in for.

I’ve written before about what a solid logline should include, but just in case: hero with a flaw, villain with a goal, the conflict between the two, and what’s at stake.

The synopsis has always given me trouble. It’s easy to get lost trying to accurately describe the story. You want to include all the cool stuff, but you can’t.  As a result, here’s a tip I’ve found very, very helpful: focus on the main character and their storyline. Don’t worry about the subplots and supporting characters.

Although it comes from publishing, this may be a huge help for those also struggling with the synopsis.

You’d think after tackling a 100+-page script, writing the same story in one page would be easy. But it isn’t.

But it is doable. Like for a script or any kind of writing, you just have to work at it.

Dispatches from the road

Maximum Z feedback, goals, loglines, manager, movies, representation, rewrite, screenwriting, script, Tracking Board, travel, writing , , , ,
Who doesn't love finding one in their actual mailbox?
Nothing like finding one in your mailbox

Visiting my folks this week, so not much time for writing. That being said, there are a few items worth mentioning…

-The Tracking Board Launchpad top 10 finalists were named earlier this week, and I was not one of them. It was a little disappointing to not see my name on the new list, but I can still claim to be one of the semifinalists, which is at least something.

The logline to DREAMSHIP is now officially posted as part of the contest update, so now it’s a wait-and-see situation regarding being contacted by potential reps. Which leads me to…

-Having an actual face-to-face meeting with my manager today, so I’ve been working on questions to ask and topics to discuss. Looking forward to hearing feedback on the latest (and hopefully final) rewrite.

This is a great chance for both of us to further explore what we’re both hoping to achieve, and what we can do to get there. Should be interesting.

-Your thoughts on summer movies so far? Hoping to see STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS this week, and looking forward to MAN OF STEEL next week. IRON MAN 3 was fun. No interest whatsoever in HANGOVER 3 or AFTER EARTH.

As much as I enjoy a lot of these fanboy films, it would be nice to see more original stuff (the forthcoming PACIFIC RIM, for example). Sequels, remakes and reboots can only carry you so far.

-The fine folks at United were generous enough to let us use the DirectTV for free on the flight here, so got to see WRECK-IT RALPH again. Still fun. Wish they’d do that all the time.