originality

Lo, the cowboy ponders his fate

Maximum Z adventure, confidence, creativity, Django Unchained, ideas, originality, outlines, productivity, Rossio & Elliott, screenwriting, script, story, Tarantino, The Lone Ranger, westerns, writing
Guns + horses + good story = winning combo

Ah, air travel. When it works in your favor, it’s a very pleasant experience.

When it doesn’t…well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I had a pen, some paper, an outline to work on and an abundant supply of spare time.

I worked my way through the first act of my western-adventure, making changes and setting up setups where applicable. I still like how this is coming together. All that work fine-tuning the previous script is really paying off for this one.

But there’s one thing still nagging at me. Some significantly high-profile westerns are headed our way: Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED at Christmas, Verbinski/Rossio/Elliot’s THE LONE RANGER next summer and Chan Wook-Park’s THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLEBORGE sometime next year (in theory). All very different takes on the genre, and no reason why none of them won’t be successful.

So while I plug away at my story, the angst that plagues every writer kicks in: is it still worth the time and effort to do it?

In the end, there’s only one definitive answer:  Of course it is.

This is a story I’m very enthusiastic and passionate about, so to not write it would simply be a big mistake. It’s got familiar elements but based on an original idea to make it fresh and exciting.

And if those three films are successful, that could potentially create a demand for more scripts of that nature.

Which is where mine comes in.

All the more reason to hunker down, dive in and make sure this thing is done right.

Inner movie geek to the rescue!

Maximum Z creativity, ideas, movies, originality, plot, screenwriting, story, writing
What can we expect when we see YOUR movie?

No doubt you’ve heard “write what you know”. But how often do you hear “write what you love,” or “write something you would want to see”?

If you have a favorite genre, try writing something in that style. Put your own spin on whatever it is you have a strong appreciation for.  I’m not at the same level as STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or THE LORD OF THE RINGS, but that didn’t stop me from devising my own thrilling rollercoaster ride of an adventure. Hence DREAMSHIP.

“Familiar, yet different” is another mantra. Use well-known examples as a model or guideline for your story, but figure out how to make it different. You don’t want somebody to read your script and think “blatant ripoff”. What would make  it completely your own?

The more appreciation you have for a style or genre, the more it will show on the page. You want your work to capture the mood or essence of what it is you liked about it in the first place. Reach inside and use it to enhance your story.

Chances are you could easily fall into that trap of writing something very cliched, so while you’re still in the planning stage, take a step back and think “What would be a more interesting way to do this? What would I as a moviegoer NOT be expecting? What have I NOT seen before?”

The great thing about writing something like this is that you already know what works and what doesn’t. And even better, you have can fun with it. Because if it’s not fun, then why are you doing it in the first place?

Follow that bad guy!

Maximum Z antagonist, creativity, Movie of the Moment, originality, plot, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting, story, writing
Villains should be just as interesting as heroes; maybe even more so

It’s been a real process working my way through the end of the current project’s Act Two. I know what comes before it, and how Act Three plays out; it’s all that stuff in the middle that’s throwing me.

So while that occupies part of my attention, I also need to build up the antagonist’s story line.  Right now, he’s pretty absent from most of the story, which is not good. I came up with some stuff early on, but it was too silly, so out it went.

I thought about watching/studying something to get a better sense of how to approach this, but I’m not sure what would be comparable.  Basically, the protagonist is actively pursuing the antagonist, who doesn’t know it and is going on about his usual bad guy business until the protagonist catches up to them.  My first thought was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but any other suggestions would be welcome.

Developing that storyline will also mean cutting back on protagonist scenes.  At first this was a negative, but eventually became a necessary positive.  The last thing I want to do is drag this out.

-Movie of the Moment – BATTLESHIP. Wow. Somebody was actually paid to write this? Shouldn’t they have done a couple of rewrites before production began? This reeked of amateur. Cliched characters straight off a checklist. Bad guys with ambiguous intentions. Unoriginal dialogue. Predictable to the nth degree. Major overuse of rock music to ’emphasize’ the mood of a scene.

Imagine a second-rate 80s action flick spruced up with 21st-century special effects.

What’s even worse is that this is NOT the last movie based on a board game. Apparently we can look forward to catching RISK, MONOPOLY and CANDYLAND at the local cinema sometime soon.

And the studios wonder why they’re losing money.