Hollywood

My take on the Black List

Maximum Z Black List, Hollywood

The Black List was released today.  That’s a list of the hottest unproduced screenplays floating around Hollywood; ironically, a lot of them are in the process of being produced.

The more a script is mentioned, the higher it’s ranked.  This year’s leader, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS, got 49 mentions.  I think JUNO was a high-ranking script a few years ago. (The script may have been popular, but I still say the movie sucked)

A friend downloaded EVERY SCRIPT from this year’s list and asked if I wanted the whole thing.  I had to look at the list first.  It’s 42MB, so not all of it.  I decided to cherry-pick which ones looked interesting to me.  Basically, all you’re working with is the title, the logline and the writer’s name.

I narrowed it down to 11, including GANGSTER SQUAD, about the LAPD vs the Mafia in the 40s, THE 13th man, where a WWII-era codebreaker discovers a secret code being sent through comic books, and ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, which is based on the book.

What was very interesting while reading the descriptions of each script was the range of subjects.  Honestly, some of them sound just flat-out boring.  Haven’t we seen enough stories about aging hitmen, criminals out for one last score, women who will do anything to get their Mr Right, zombies, and other tired cliches?  However, a refreshing counter-argument to that last one is BOY SCOUTS VS ZOMBIES.

What a shame Hollywood is so afraid of originality (and writers who are good at it).

Writers are constantly being told to be original and come up with something new.  Then when they do and achieve success with it, it’s changed so drastically that everything that was cool and unique about it has been removed.  And then the moviegoing public complains about the same old dreck.

One of my guidelines for my scripts is “write something I would want to see.”  If the concept works, then the next step is making sure the story works.  That’s key.  If it doesn’t, then it’s a lost cause. It’s easy to make a bad movie from a good script (happens all the time), but you can’t make a good movie from the bad script.

While it would be nice to make it to the list, it’s more important to me the story works.

THEN they can heap praise and shitloads of money upon me.

Nice

Maximum Z adventure, Cat Ballou, characters, Hollywood, movies, plot, screenwriting, script doctor eric, story, treatment, Uncategorized, westerns, writing group

Do you remember the very last Calvin and Hobbes?  I don’t have it handy, but it talks about all the possibilities that await you/us out there.  How metaphoric.

That’s how LUCY is starting to shape up.  The more I think about what I could do with this, the more positive it feels.  To quote Steve Allen, this could be the start of something big.

No, really.

The writing group came over last night.  If we were able to stay a little more focused, we’d get a lot more done.  But I digress.

There were only five of us, and everybody ‘checks in,’ which means they give a little update as to where they are with their material.  A status update, I guess.

So when it came to me, I explained how I was abandoning BABY LIKES JAZZ because of my inability to write comedy, then explained how I came up with LUCY STEELE.

It got a positive, enthusiastic response.  Which was awesome.  They liked the concept, the story (such as it was) and the potential.  All of which I am also excited about.

I started compiling a list of everything that could possibly be connected with this story, including whatever I could think of regarding westerns, trains, post-Civil War America, and so on.  Not surprisingly, the list keeps getting longer.  Although I don’t plan to use everything, a lot of it could factor in somehow.

I feel like I’m on the cusp of having a plot-point outline done; still needs some fine-tuning.  Once that’s ready, I’m hoping a lot of it falls into place.

I’ve also been trying to figure out supporting cast, but I really want to have fun with this, so I may let my imagination run wild on this.  For some reason, the idea of a medicine show huckster-type character popped in and won’t go away.  That could work.

And a bounty hunter.  And a handsome authority-type figure (US marshal/cavalryman/etc).  Still working on those.

I’m also reminded of how much I enjoyed CAT BALLOU, which is also one of K’s favorites.  An often-overlooked western-comedy with the surprisingly-funny Lee Marvin and a catchy theme song.  I think I’ll have to watch that again to get a better sense of a female protagonist up against tremendous odds.

Once I get started, I suspect writing this may be as fun as DREAMSHIP was.

Not to get ahead of myself, but maybe this could be THE ONE that does it for me.  And that would TOTALLY AWESOME.

Of course, I have to write the damn thing first.  Well, one step at a time.

-Once again, I did not win the logline contest.  Ugh.  I’m seriously considering giving up entering.  Or at least giving it one or two more tries, THEN giving up.

Decisions, decisions

Maximum Z Bollywood, contracts, Hollywood, screenwriting, treatment, writing gigs

I finally got the contract for the Bollywood script.

But now I’m not so sure.

See, when I first applied, I said I’d be happy with a ‘Written By’ credit.  And that’s what I’m being offered.  No pay.  No points.  No percentage of the gross.  Some words on a screen.

Have I truly screwed myself over?  Seems like it.

Just about everybody I’ve spoken with says things like ‘if you’re not getting paid, then you’re a producer,’ and ‘sounds like another scam preying on unsuspecting, naive, willing writers’.  I’m inclined to think both are accurate.

Granted, the person did say this was a low-budget film.  AND they appear to be based out of Martinez; not exactly a filmmaking hub.

There’s also this ‘stipulation’ that the story HAS to be 2 hours/120 pages long.  What if it doesn’t work out that way?  Do I get penalized for bringing it in at 104?  I’m under the impression a standard Bollywood-type film is 2 hours long.  Does it have to be?  Exactly?

Another red flag was the condition that apparently discussing the film with ANYBODY outside of the production (or at least this person) could bring down a $10,000 fine on yours truly.  Is this standard H’wood practice?

I haven’t signed anything.  Part of me says ‘walk away’.  Another part says ‘work on your negotiating skills’.  A very small part says ‘sign it and crank it out in 3 weeks.  What’s the worst that could happen?’  I’m not listening to that last one.

I’m considering sending the person a list of questions, like “Who’s funding this?” , “Is there a guarantee it’ll get made?”, “What happens if you don’t like it?  Do I have to do rewrites?”

I may have to send the contract to a former entertainment attorney I know and see what he says.  That would be helpful.

Almost forgot.  The story itself.

I won’t get into details here, but the contract had the story in one paragraph.  Overall, it was okay.  Nothing spectacular, but HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GET A 2-HOUR MOVIE OUT OF ONE DINKY PARAGRAPH???

I wrote back, saying that wasn’t enough to go on.  The response was “I’m working on a 10-page treatment and will get it to you as soon as I can.”  Shouldn’t that have been there in the first place?  Or at least sent beforehand?

From the very beginning, I said I needed to see as much of the story as possible to get an idea of how to put it together.  And this is what I get?  Give me a break.

I’m sure this is probably par for the course in terms of how it works in the big time, but if you’re trying to put together a movie yourself, I would imagine you don’t want to piss off the writer.

I think my biggest decision is if I think going through all of this is worth it.  On one hand, there’s my chance to show I can write a script quickly.  It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be done.

There’s the chance this thing may actually get made, although I still have doubts.  What if it never gets made?  Also a sad reality of the industry.

But what if it does?  In what way would this impact me getting into the Writers Guild?  I think it has to be a studio film for automatic admission, so maybe this would be worth points towards reaching that.  I’ll have to research that.

Having an actual film credit would also make me stand out more when applying for other gigs, especially regarding query letters and trying to get representation.  That would be awesome.

I’m not even going to get into the issue of having somebody else rewrite it.  The less said, the better.

I think for now I’ll wait, not signing anything and seeing what happens.

While all the while, I’ll be working on my own stuff.  Which is really how it should be.