motivation

2-4-6-8! C’mon gang, let’s motivate!

Maximum Z motivation, Movie of the Moment, screenwriting, scriptshadow, writer's block
Everybody deserves their own cheering section

Some days the words just won’t come, no matter how much you want them to.

I’ve read lots of accounts where some established screenwriter talks about how they have to sit down and write, even if they don’t feel like it.  But they’re getting paid to write.  Most of us are not.

But what if you want to, like really, really, aching to get it done, but you can’t put words on the page?  Or you’ve been stuck at a particular point, and still can’t figure out how to move forward?

How do you get past this dreadful feeling?  It ain’t easy.  It also doesn’t help much to read high-quality scripts. Those are the competition, and my stuff has to be equally as good, if not better than them.  Somedays it’s hard to think my scripts will be that good.  But I take a look at my earlier work, and see some definite progress.  Maybe I have a shot after all.

I also remind myself that I like doing this.  It’s fun.  If it got too work-like, then I would dread sitting and facing the empty white screen.  But it’s not, and I don’t.  This is what I was meant to do.

Things are a little hectic around here, so my dedicated time to write has been severely limited. But I’m working on fixing that, or at least, arranging to be able to write.

Once I do, conditions will improve, blocks will be torn down and pages of oh-so-impressive work will flow forth. See?  The creativity is already starting.

I feel better already.

-Movie of the Moment – MARS NEEDS MOMS (2011). Mars kidnaps Earth moms to extract their child-rearing abilities. Boy accidentally comes along, sets out to rescue her. Neat idea, but poorly executed. Overall, kind of dull.  Clever use of motion capture technology, a la POLAR EXPRESS, but too many parts just dragged along.

It was obvious that Joan Cusack was the mom, but I didn’t realize it was Seth Green as the boy (with a younger actor providing the voice).  Apparently this had the 12th-worst opening in US history. I can see why.  This was also based on a Berke Breathed book (creator of BLOOM COUNTY), which I haven’t read.  Feels like when they take a short source material and try to stretch it into a feature film, the material always suffers.

-Sorry to report that ScriptShadow did not choose my Zombie Western for the Halloween week Amateur Friday script. Can’t that I’m too surprised. I wrote that about 8 years ago, so the writing’s probably a little weak. No complaints, though. Maybe they’ll use the Jewish Cook, Chinese Restaurant script in the future.

Feel free to write in and tell him so.

Just a little break

Maximum Z Mark Evanier, motivation, screenwriting

Ever have one of those days where you want to sit down and be a creative dynamo, but just can’t muster the energy?

That’s how I felt yesterday. I was done with work, the weekend right there in front of me, but the drive to do some work on the rewrite just wasn’t there.

I’m sure if I were a working screenwriter, I would have forced myself to work. But after a long week and a day of running around, I just ran out of gas.

Fortunately, it was a short-lived feeling and I’m raring to dive in this coming week. Doing the midday traffic shift will also help.

-Movie of the Moment: THE PROJECTIONIST, recommended by Mark Evanier. A clever film from 1971 starring Chuck McCann as a projectionist in a Times Square theatre prone to imagining a fantasy life in silent black and white, partly composed of a huge assortment of older film clips, including CASABLANCA, GUNGA DIN and some FLASH GORDON. Again, all of these without sound.

According to the pre-showing interview on TCM, the director got all of these clips without any hassle over the rights because he knew just about everybody at most of the studios, so he could pick and choose what he needed from his pals. Nice.

There isn’t really much of a plot for the present-day stuff; mostly him working (including Rodney Dangerfield in his film debut as the grouchy theatre manager and the villain in the fantasy segments), and walking around NYC. Actually, watching him navigate the crowds, cafes and shops is a little sad. McCann comes across as lonely but never pathetic.

The fantasy sequences are where it really comes alive, revolving around the quest to recover a secret death ray formula, a scientist and his beautiful daughter, and numerous fights featuring 3 Stooges-like sound effects.

I suspect this would appeal more to film aficionados than your average filmgoer. I enjoyed it, especially McCann’s dead-on impressions, but don’t feel the need to see it again.