movies

The reverse-engineering approach

Maximum Z District 9, Let Me In, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, Netflix, outlines, screenwriting

I’m not calling it writer’s block, because I have a general idea of what I want to put on the page.  Problem is, I need to come up with something I like AND that works for the story.  There are blanks that need to be filled in and the challenge is finding them.

I’m thinking of starting at the end of Act 2 and figuring out what happened before that.  How did Lucy & Co get to where they are?  Since I know what happens in Act 3, I can try to piece together the events leading up to it.  Or at least try to.

Time to break out the idea list again and see what my brain can come up with.  That seems to always trigger something.  Hope it can do it again.

Movie of the Moment: a 2-for-1 day!

While my computer was being stubborn again earlier today, DISTRICT 9 was playing.  I saw it on the tail end of its theatre run about a year and a half ago.  What a great movie.  An intelligent original alternate take on a sci-fi staple.  See it if you haven’t already.

I remembered parts of it, but what was pleasantly surprising was the filmed footage portion of the beginning.  I didn’t realize these were taking place after the main portion of the story.  It was also great to see how the stakes kept getting raised in each scene, and for the most part, how every scene led into the one following it.

I really hope they don’t make a sequel.  It doesn’t need one.

The second movie is LET ME IN, the US remake of the Swedish vampire flick LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.  K and I liked the latter and we’re still working on the former, but so far it’s not too bad. It’s hard to not keep going back to the original while watching this.

Some of the scenes are a little slow, but it’s that kind of movie. And because I know what’s going to happen, that heart-quickening sense of anticipation isn’t as strong as during the original.

Put both on your Netflix queue, but watch the Swedish one first.  With subtitles.  It’s better that way.

Like my dad always says: persevere!

Maximum Z Lucy Steele, movies, Oscars, outlines, screenwriting

I didn’t get to do a lot on LUCY today, but what I was able to do got me to the equivalent of page 75.  Which is really encouraging.

The remaining quarter of Act Two and the whole of Act Three still loom, and they’re looming large.  Humongous, even.  But this has been a few-steps-at-a-time process, and will continue to be so.

Even better, not only did I find a place for the character I created a few weeks ago, but I figured out how to incorporate him into the villain’s subplot AND use him in a way that it helps move Lucy’s storyline forward as well.

It looks like there may be a few kinks here and there to straighten out, but everything’s starting to tie together.  Which is what I’ve been working towards since Day One.

-I didn’t get to see it myself, but a genuine Academy Award was at V’s school today.  INCEPTION won for Best Sound Mixing, and one of the three winners has a daughter in the other 2nd grade class.  V said the Oscar was about 2 feet tall and heavy.  The mom who brought it in said it’s already falling apart, which I find hilarious.

Like just about every other screenwriter out there, I like to daydream about winning Best Original Screenplay someday.

Don’t laugh.  It could happen.

Ha! Breakthrough!

Maximum Z Lucy Steele, movies, outlines, plot, screenwriting, Star Wars, story

You’d be amazed at how creatively inspiring folding laundry can be.

Sounds crazy, I know, but I was working on the outline, got stuck once again on how to have Lucy track down the bad guy, and I didn’t really want to sit and stare at the screen, hoping for some kind of answer.

So I stood up, stretched and realized I had a ton of laundry on the nearby drying rack to take care of.  The folding of shirts begins.  The whole time, I’m thinking “what could she do?  I know HOW I want her to get there, but what’s the set-up?”

Fold, fold, fold.

Previous attempts at a solution had proven futile.  And I was almost done with the shirts.

She has to find this guy.  It’s the spine of the story.

Last week I had rewritten the beginning, which suddenly offered a story point which would tie in very nicely with what led up to Lucy’s current predicament.

Wow.

That was the spark I needed.  I knew what I wanted, typed out the basis of the idea, then folded the last of the shirts.

But I had to be sure this worked.  A quick jaunt to the DVD player to check how similar another well-known sequence might be.  Answer: a little, but nobody’s going to claim I ripped it off.

I had the answer I wanted.  I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t thought of it before.  It was perfect.  A little readjusting in some scenes beforehand, a burst of creativity in the handful of scenes following, including a reminder about her love interest, and there I was at page 45.

Oh so nice.

Tomorrow: the slog towards the Point of No Return continues!

Movie of the Moment: We DVR’d the last 3 CLONE WARS on Cartoon Network (something about a Dark Side trilogy, based on V’s description) and since tonight’s homework is done early, we may crash on the couch and watch all three (excluding commercials, of course).

Yessir, that girl is growin’ up right!

Coolness

Maximum Z analysis, Filmsack.com, I Blame Ninjas, movies, Netflix, screenwriting, story

Today was pretty busy around the house, so I didn’t get any work done on the LUCY outline.  Drat.

But I said I’d read through Patrick Sweeney’s GHOST TRAIN again, and I did.

I sent him some comments, but the gist of the whole thing was that I was really impressed with it.  I’m a sucker for a good western, and this comes really close.  It’s a great premise (outlaw’s son goes after limitless riches on a train carrying the condemned to hell).  The writing is vivid, colorful and really holds your attention.  This would make a kickass movie.

However.

I did have some questions about some parts of the story.  Some things weren’t exactly clear, hence my need for a second read.  I would read something, and it would stick in my mind as I tried to figure out if that’s what it was supposed to be read.

Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoyed it a lot, but it helps when I can fully grasp the rules of the world a script is portraying.  Makes it easier to follow the story.

When Patrick sent me the script, he said he was open to another draft.  Hopefully my questions will result in answers that clear up some of these problems.

Movie of the Moment:  FRIGHT NIGHT, based on the Filmsack podcast. It was okay.  Interesting to see how this was one of the earlier flicks to cash in on the vampire craze.  Roddy McDowall really helps elevate the material.  I know they’re remaking it with former Doctor Who David Tennant in that role, but this time as a Vegas magician instead of a TV host.

(BTW – Filmsack is free on iTunes and oh-so-worth-it.)

Highly doubtful I’ll see that in the theatre, but definitely out it into the Netflix queue.

Tomorrow:  back to work on LUCY!

Cowboys and soldiers are MY kind of crap

Maximum Z anime, I Blame Ninjas, Miyazaki, movies, Netflix, Veronica, westerns, WWII

Through some miracle unbeknownst to me, my Adobe reader at work was up and running, so I was able to read through Patrick Sweeney’s GHOST TRAIN.  Due to time constraints, I got halfway through, then finished it at home.  I want to read it again because I’ve got some questions that a second read may answer.  Comments will be posted Monday.

In the meantime…

K is out of town for the week, so while it may mean the usual readjusting of child care and a slightly different menu (my dishes tend to run simpler when it’s just me and V), it also means I tear through the stuff I put on Netflix I know she won’t watch.

Which usually means westerns, WWII flicks and cheesy recent releases.  Not so much of the first two categories this week, but some of the stuff I’ll be watching over the next few days includes: GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (which looks really, really stupid, but I can’t help myself), THE LOSERS (mixed reviews), and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (I read the book, but don’t have any desire to see the upcoming American remake).

I regret not being able to do much with LUCY this weekend, but this whole parenting thing is quite time-consuming.

Speaking of which, V got HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON for Hanukkah.  She loved it when we saw it in the theatres, but I think I’m more interested in watching it again than she is.  Which is okay.

She’s really into Miyazaki films lately.  HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE.  She wants to see MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO.  Tonight’s feature is CASTLE IN THE SKY.  I saw it when she was really little, but don’t mind having it in the house again.

I don’t know which is more fun to watch.  The movies or her reaction to watching them.

Someday she may even want to watch STEAMBOY, which is just wicked cool.  It was made by Katsuhiro Otomo, the same guy who did AKIRA.  While AKIRA is cool to look at, the story just gets too confusing.  At least for me.

What’s playing at your place?