Nothing like a gift from a nice Jewish boy on Christmas
This being Christmas Eve, the timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous.
I’m very grateful for my ever-growing legion of readers, and try to show my appreciation when I can. And today is no exception.
You know if I could, I’d give each and every one of you much success with whatever project or projects you’re working on. And a piece of pie, just to make this festive occasion that much more festive.
But since neither is actually doable, I hope you’ll enjoy a gift of a more hypothetical nature.
Don’t worry. Size, color and the usual details do not factor into this. It’s actually pretty simple.
Here’s how it works: You can have anything connected with the making of any movie ever made. Prop, costume, vehicle, director’s chair, animation cel, script.
Whatever you want, it’s yours with my compliments. Again, hypothetically.
What’s it going to be?
But remember – just one.
(And once you’ve made your decision, maybe reconsider the pie option)
A slightly altered holiday work schedule has resulted in more hours on the air, which is always nice, but less time cranking out pages, which isn’t.
So I make the most of the handful of minutes between reports with the always-reliable working on an outline. This time – the monster script.
Despite knowing the general playing-out of the story, there was something that wasn’t clicking. Most of the items on my mental checklist had been checked off.
Most. Not all. What was missing?
It took the constant back-and-forth between the opening sequences of the two previous outlines to make me realize what it was: I’d never fully established what happened before the story started.
Not knowing how everything came about was preventing me from moving forward. I had to create this world before I could write about it.
Think of the opening crawl in STAR WARS (“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, etc. etc…”). It establishes what we need to know. Without it, we’d be too busy trying to figure things out.
Using that as an example, I worked out my own version of the opening crawl. It won’t be in the actual script, but it’s a pretty solid foundation for setting things up – a better realization of how this world works, what the antagonist wants and how that can be accomplished, the challenges the protagonist faces, just to name a few.
The work on this is far from being over, but developing this really helped. Some important blanks have been filled in and I’ve got a firmer grasp of how the story works.
Time now to start the latest version of the outline and see how it goes.
-Regarding the recent release of this year’s Black List. There appear to be a handful that sound pretty good, but the rest don’t really do much for me.
No doubt they’re all extremely well-written (why else would they be on the list?), but a majority don’t have that “Read me!” vibe. It probably doesn’t help that the writers are not the ones providing the loglines. I suspect that would make quite a difference.
Last week, I had the good fortune of having a “getting to know you” lunch with a working writer I’d connected with via Done Deal Pro.
We discussed numerous things, almost of all which were about our writing. Hearing about another writer’s experiences never gets old, especially one that’s had some success.
As our time started to wrap up, he offered to read one of my scripts. “But,” he added, “don’t send me any big-budget tentpoles. There are six people who could actually make those happen, and I don’t know any of them. On the other hand, there are about three thousand who can work with a small, low-budget script, and I know a lot of them.”
As much as I wanted to send him one of those big-budget tentpoles, I decided it was better to go with an older one that would be considered small budget and only has a few locations. (Since it was an older script, I added that my skills have improved since then)
Another point he made was that there are a lot of writing assignments available (TV movies, small indie films, etc), and a small script could show you’ve got the chops to handle this kind of work. He admitted it may not be the most glamorous, but I totally understood when he talked about the thrill in seeing his name with a “Written By” credit on TV.
As much as I enjoy writing the stuff I do, just about all of it does fall into the big-budget tentpole category. I’m not an established writer, which makes it that much harder to move forward with it. Having a manager helps, but it’s still an uphill climb.
It’s smart to take this kind of realistic approach. You may love working on that effects-heavy epic extravaganza, but don’t count out the potential of that low-key dramedy you haven’t looked at in years. A little touch-up work may be all it needs.
It never hurts to have more scripts in your arsenal of material, and a smaller one may end up being the one that gets things started.
What? A new, original idea? We don’t know if our brains can take it!
“Don’t remake good movies. Remake bad movies and improve them.” – John Huston
As a writer and fan of original material, it’s quite disturbing how many remakes and reboots keep appearing or are announced, with no sign of it coming to an end.
Sadly, this is how the industry works, with most of the studios afraid to take a chance on something new and original, as opposed to something that’s already proven itself.
But apart from a few exceptions, how many of those trips back to the well have been successful? On top of that, there’s no avoiding a comparison to the original, with the remake usually found lacking.
Putting this in perspective – I’m a huge fan of the original ROBOCOP, which will have a remake released in February. I have no desire to see it because the trailer doesn’t make it look that interesting, and I don’t see the point in remaking it in the first place.
Counter to that, the forthcoming GODZILLA remake/reboot looks great because it appears to be a smart, new approach to the story, and definitely feels like a significant improvement over the one from 1998. I really hope it doesn’t fall victim to PACIFIC RIM syndrome – big build-up, followed by big letdown.
Now they’re announcing Ed Helms as Frank Drebin in a reboot of THE NAKED GUN. Have they no shame? Apparently not.
The movie-going public wants, no, craves new stories. Look at The Black List, or the latest batch of Nicholl finalists. This is high-quality stuff, people. Just about any one of them would make for a great film.
There’s a ton of fantastic original material out there, but all we can do as writers is keep writing and hope somebody believes in it enough to drum up the courage to do something with it.
Technically, it’s not winter yet, but you wouldn’t know it around here.
32 degrees in San Francisco? Amazing, but true. Not to mention harsh, bitter and just plain unpleasant.
At least it’s not snowing. Traffic is hellish enough around here when it rains. I can’t imagine what would happen if Bay Area motorists had to deal with snow. And don’t even get me started on what some of the larger hills would be like.
So with several layers in place and a large cup of coffee at my side, I’ll do my best to stay warm while recounting recent goings-on from my slice of the frozen tundra.
-Work on the mystery spec continues. Page output varies from day to day. Have to keep reminding myself it’s an early draft, so everything doesn’t have to be perfect this time around. The “this plot point happens on this page” concept is already out the window, but for now, it’s all about just getting it written. Fixes come later.
-Notes on the western spec from friends and trusted colleagues continue to pour in. A wide variety of comments to take into account for that inevitable rewrite.
Several people had the same comment/suggestion about a significant story point, which has made me seriously reconsider how it plays out. I’ve been foolishly stubborn about not wanting to change it, but taking everything into account, the alternative may actually be the best fit.
-Slowly working my way through Season One of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on Netflix Streaming. Worth the wait.
-Signed up for my fifth half-marathon of the year, taking place on Dec 28th. Which means I have to go outside and train. Safe to say that shorts will not be involved.
As much as I’d like to hit 1:50, I’ll be happy with anything under 1:55 and actually more concerned with not freezing my ass off.
Maximum Z 