My father passed away last weekend. One of the fondest memories I have of him is recounted in this post from March 2016, and is still relevant today.
Enjoy.
Something just a little different and of a somewhat personal nature today.
In the summer of 1982, I went to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
With my dad.
At a night-time show (probably the 7:30 one).
As a thunderstorm raged outside (typical south Jersey summer weather conditions).
It was a great night.
All of these elements combined to make what was one of the most memorable times I’ve ever had at the movies. What made it that way? I can’t say specifically, but it just was.
It’s still something I will truly never forget. If I ever get to meet Nicholas Meyer, I’ll make a point of telling him that.
Maybe someday a dad and his son or daughter will go to see a movie I wrote, and that child will experience the same sensation I did: the creation of a memory they cherish for the rest of their life.
(Whether or not they tell me about it in their adult years is beside the point, but I wouldn’t object.)
What writer wouldn’t want to have their work be the basis for something like that?
And now I’m a dad who enjoys going to the movies with my child. Could history repeat itself and we see a movie, and we have a great time, and it’s something she’ll remember for the rest of her life?
So far, it hasn’t happened yet (as far as I know).
“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while others were building bridges or going on medical careers. Then I realized that entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. I feel if you’re able to entertain, you’re doing a good thing.”
That’s a quote from Stan Lee that has been ringing true a little more often for me lately.
When another writer asks me “What do you write?” or “What do you like to write?”, my go-to answer is “fun, popcorn adventures.”
Serious dramas, character studies, and examination of the human condition just aren’t my thing. If I can give you 100ish minutes of pure escapism, I’m a happy guy.
“Write something you would want to watch” I always tell newer writers. I go to the movies to have fun and enjoy myself, so that’s what I like to write.
I’m a member of an online writing group, and I always felt very self-conscious when I’d submit pages. Other members were PAGE and Nicholl-winning writers, and I’ve got an animated story about a young witch, her talking cat, and the state of New Jersey. Who wouldn’t feel a bit silly about that when other scripts are about dysfunctional families and dissolving marriages?
Interesting side note to that: some readers had a tough time adjusting to the fact that it was an animated story, while others marveled at how fun and creative it was.
I think it was going to Austin that helped me turn the corner on how I viewed the overall picture.
When you get together with a whole lot of other writers, discussing your script is an automatic part of the equation. I was quite proud of how my script had turned out – both as a script and for the competition, and wanted to convey that pride while talking about it. So I did. When somebody would say “What’s your script about?”, I’d smile and tell them without a moment’s hesitation.
It’s safe to say just about every reaction was a positive one. Each person thought it sounded great, plus a few “I’d like to read that”.
My current project is a rewrite of the sci-fi adventure. Similar kind of situation. Scientists. Monsters. Diabolical plots. Typical me kind of stuff. It’s still very rough, but you can see my enthusiasm for it on the page. Why not take it and run with it, head held high, so to speak?
I submitted the first ten pages to the online writing group, pitching it exactly how I wanted to, including the apt descriptor “This is a fun, silly romp.” I wanted the other members to know what kind of story they should be expecting. Hopefully some of them keep that in mind. It’ll be interesting to see what the reactions are.
Like Stan Lee says in his quote, I used to downplay what my scripts were about because I thought people might look down their noses at that sort of thing. But after seeing how others have reacted to my scripts and what I like to write, I realize that a lot of the time people want to hear that sort of thing. They want to be entertained.
There’s just as much of a demand for fun popcorn escapism as there is for serious drama.
I can appreciate the latter, but am much better suited for writing the former.
And in keeping with the spirit of the post – Excelsior!
There’s something appealing about clearing all that clutter away
One of my biggest and constant issues when I engage in a rewrite is HOW MUCH ACTUALLY GETS REWRITTEN?
As much as I love the previous draft, my ability to simply discard that which has come before always gets a solid and thorough workout. I usually start out thinking “I only need to change these few items”, which naturally quickly changes to “Keep this, this, and this, and get rid of everything else.”.
The more I work on the overhaul of the pulpy sci-fi spec, that latter thought is becoming more and more prevalent. Just a handful of parts are being kept, while others fall somewhere in the range between “totally discarded” to “hold onto that for later”.
I went into this knowing it wouldn’t be a light project, which it most definitely hasn’t. It’s very safe to say it’s rapidly become a major operation, both in the medical and organizational senses of the word.
And as far as I can tell, significantly for the better all around.
The more I work on this, the more it becomes noticeably different from its predecessor. This is probably an appropriate place to say that even with all of the changes, the key story elements and plot points have remained the same. As was my intention.
Quality notes from my circle of trusted colleagues have played a major factor throughout the whole process. Many enjoyed the story, and each person had valid comments that raised some important questions and comments: could the hero’s backstory be more original and less cliched? What if the antagonist’s motivation also involved _____? And the always popular “You do realize that’s not scientifically accurate, right?”.
(Full disclosure on that last one – yep. I did. But it works within the context of the story, and this definitely isn’t the kind of story to be nitpicky about.)
With so much of the previous draft being torn down and tossed away, the rebuilding process has been slow, but steadily productive. It’ll most likely take longer than expected, but I’d rather spend the time now figuring things out than find out later that they don’t work and have to go back and do it all over again.
One of the most encouraging comments from the notes was “Words to sum up the script – Big. Fun. Action.”
That’s been my mantra for this whole process; just amped up a bit.
Bigger. Funner. Actioner.
Even though “actioner” is technically a noun, in this scenario, I’ll assume you get the gist of what it’s implying.
One of several contributors to my horror-comedy education
Been splitting my time the past few days between doing notes for scripts for notes and working on the outline for the horror-comedy. This post will focus on the latter.
I’ve never really been a big horror fan. Especially the ones that push plot aside and put an emphasis on gore as the writer goes through a laundry list of devising ways of killing people. Just not something I want to read or see.
So why would I even consider writing one? Well, I came up with the idea and thought it would be fun to write. Works for me. And I want to make sure that when somebody reads this script, they can tell without a doubt that I wrote it.
Mine incorporates variations on elements of this particular sub-genre, or maybe “certain/expected aspects” is a stronger way to put it, so as I work out the core story-centric details, I find myself continuously dipping into previously untapped creative reservoirs of a somewhat…darker tone to emphasize the horror parts.
And my gosh, is it fun. Pretty much in a “mad scientist rubbing his hands together” kind of way. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel, but, as always, striving to offer up something new and original. This time it just happens to involve adding corn syrup, red food coloring, and raw chicken parts to the prospective special effects budget.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
All the fun stuff aside, the first and foremost objective is to make sure the story works, or at least as much as it can for this kind of story. Without that, the rest of it will all be for naught. Once that’s more or less in place, I can really go to town as I seek out opportunities of where a joke would work – especially one that works within the context of the scene. I love those.
Then a little more fine-tuning, and probably a rewrite or two, and voila! A finished script.
That’s the plan, anyway.
Each day I try to get a little bit more done, and the rewriting and tweaking has already begun; to the point that it’s noticeably different than when I started on it a few weeks ago. But the core concept remains the same, which is good. It’s all coming together.
I never really pictured myself writing in this genre, but as has usually been the case for me, once I came up with the idea, I felt compelled to follow through on it and make it an actual thing.
With the added benefit of being able to use movies of a very similar nature as research, references, and guidelines, I suspect getting the outline and subsequent first draft done might not take as long as I think.
This has been a most interesting week. Based on some quality notes, I wrapped up a polish of the dramedy spec (which is now in the process of getting notes). Feedback so far has been encouraging, which is nice.
So now the focus can shift back to developing the two new stories. With most of my recently-completed projects having been worked on for extended periods of time, it’s been a while since I was really starting out from the very beginning.
I’d totally forgotten how much I enjoyed the process of putting a story together. I know what the core concept for each one is, and now it’s all about finding the best and most entertaining way to tell them.
At times it feels like my mind is going in a thousand directions at once, so I’m constantly writing stuff down. A scene or sequence idea here, a line of dialogue there, plot twists, character development, turning the scene on its head; pretty much the whole kit and kaboodle.
Main storylines have been established, with the expected constant fine-tuning and adjusting, and as I work my way forward, the subplots are making themselves known.
Entirely new worlds (or maybe “settings” might be appropriate, since each story is on the smaller side) are being created, populated with unique and hopefully somewhat original characters.
While one of the stories is based on an old script, there’s a constant discarding of a lot of the original content and trying new approaches. Not necessarily “throw it all at the wall and see what sticks”, but kinda/sorta along those lines.
For the other, this is dipping my toes into a genre I enjoy, but wouldn’t call myself a major fan, so doing what I can to avoid tropes and cliches (of which there are apparently many). If that proves more challenging than anticipated, will do what I can to least go for the unexpected.
Added bonus – watching movies of that genre and style to get a better feel for both.
Sometimes I’ll read a writer’s account about what a chore it is for them to develop a story, or how much they loathe this part of the process. I don’t see it that way. Organizing the story and putting it all together is a key part of screenwriting. Too many times when reading a spec, you can tell when the writer didn’t put in the effort to get all the details of the story right before they started on pages.
I recently asked my online screenwriting newwork their thoughts on outlining versus a “seat of your pants” approach. The responses were overwhelmingly in favor of outlining. Granted, there are some writers who prefer the latter, but I’m not one of them. I’m a firm believer in having a rock-solid outline before starting to write the actual script.
But that’s what works for me. Others may feel differently regarding their own process. No matter how you achieve the end result, as long as you’re happy with it, then more power to you.
The whole creative process in developing a story is a beast unto itself, but I think all the long-term work I’ve done for other scripts is really paying off for these two. For now, it’s still a big and unwieldy mess, occasionally feeling very unorganized and all-over-the-place, but a little bit of work every day will gradually pay off. When all is said and done, I’ll have two new scripts.
Maximum Z 