radio

Ain’t that a kick in the head

Maximum Z comic books, radio, Radioslot.com, screenwriting, webcomics, writing
Coming soon to a computer near you!

I apologize for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. I’ve been developing a big new project, and now I can finally talk about it.

I’m going to be hosting a weekly hour-long online radio show about writing and movies on Radioslot.com. It should launch in the next few weeks. Keep in mind this is NOT a podcast, which you can download and listen to anytime you want. This will have a designated live broadcast time, and possibly one to two rebroadcasts in the week until the next new show.

Since the show will be done live, there may be a chance for listeners to email questions/comments, which could be addressed live.  Tthe emphasis will be on writing and movies, but knowing me, there will probably also be the occasional dip into assorted other fields, such as comics and webcomics.  I’m also in the process of setting up some interviews.  I had a great guest for my audition show, and hope to bring him and his partner back.

Once everything is finalized, I’ll set up a link.  Despite my cool exterior appearance, I’m actually all aflutter.  Exciting times, indeed.

Suffice to say, my writing progress has taken somewhat of a hit during this time. Maybe about 7 or 8 pages, but I’m hoping to get a little more back on track soon.

-Movie of the Moment – CHRONICLE (2012). This was one of the first 2010 Black List scripts I read, and was looking forward to seeing it.  Putting my enjoyment of superhero flicks aside, this was quite well done.  It took a realistic approach to a fantasy subject, and didn’t short-change either side.

Parts of the script warranted a hard R rating, but those parts were toned down to make it PG-13, and I wonder if keeping it as originally written would have worked better. Case in point – the spider scene  stayed the same, but the script has Andrew doing the same thing to his father in the hospital room. While that would have been pretty messy, but just dropping him seemed not as effective.  I also remember the final showdown (the original script is set in Portland, Oregon) as having more spectacle to it.

Don’t get me wrong. This was a lot of fun and definitely worth your time.

Oh yes, that’s much better

Maximum Z radio, screenwriting, writer's block
In recovery mode!

I can’t explain it.

Once again, I do the midday traffic shift and break through my writer’s block.  If I could write in there every day, there’d be no stopping me.  But I’ll take what I can get.  I’m scheduled to do it again Monday, so who knows what will come of it?

I’ve been stuck in the section just past the overall midpoint in terms of making my protagonist (which in this case would be Lucy herself) drive the action. While I liked what I had before, she was too passive and re-active, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to really make her the engine that drives the story.

Positive news – I took one scene from before, which in retrospect was pretty dull,  and turned it into a thrilling chase sequence that incorporates a minor character I thought I wouldn’t be able to use, ends with Lucy’s circumstances changed AND moves the plot and characters forward.

I love when this kind of thing happens.

Next up – Indians!  Or are they?  This IS a Western, y’know.

My work schedule gets a little more back to normal this week after Monday, so I’m really hoping to make some long-delayed progress on DREAMSHIP.  I’ll get this thing done yet.

Darn my sense of parental responsibility

Maximum Z 3-D, Kung Fu Panda, movies, parenting, radio

I can honestly say I have done practically NO writing in the past couple of days. Not because I didn’t want to, but just couldn’t.

I was busy being a good dad.

With school out and the budget tight, we opted to have V spend her first week of summer vacation at what we call Mom and Dad Camp. She went to K’s office on Tuesday, got dropped off at my office late yesterday morning, and has been with me since 4:15AM this morning.

Side note – I get up at 3:15AM in order to be at work by 4:30, including the bike ride.  V’s been coming in with me every once in a while since she was 3, which usually involves a ride from K or in a taxi.  She loves it because for 4 hours she can sit in the conference room and watch DVDs, or lately, play with her iTouch, and even better, has started reading.

But I digress.

I enjoy having quality father-daughter time, but that feeling of not working on a script always nags at me.  Then I realize she won’t always be this age, or willing to be seen in public with her dad, so I should treasure days like this while I can, and worry about the writing later.

Part of today’s agenda was going to see KUNG FU PANDA 2.  It was a little different from the first one; much more action-y.  Basically, the idea is ‘gunpowder comes to China’.  There’s also a nice b-story about Po needing to overcome his demons and find inner peace.

V seemed to enjoy it, especially the more slapstick-y parts, and I liked the subplot about Po trying to find his roots.  Fortunately, there was only one time she asked about a joke; I didn’t have time to explain anyway.

Since last year’s LAST AIRBENDER debacle, I’ve tried to steer us clear from seeing films in 3-D.  It doesn’t seem necessary.  There were some scenes in KFP2 that appeared designed specifically for it, but seeing it in 2-D didn’t take anything away from it.

V heads out of town next week with K’s sister, so I’m already planning to catch THOR (if it’s still around), and K is still on the fence about SUPER 8.  X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and GREEN LANTERN are also possibilities.

My inner movie geek loves the summer.

My work is cut out for me

Maximum Z analysis, Black List, characters, espionage, Miyazaki, outlines, plot, radio, screenwriting, story, The 13th Man, thrillers, WWII

Due to heavy rainfall on Christmas Day, this poor little Jewish traffic reporter was swamped with work (no pun intended) on Saturday, so I got absolutely nothing done on the outline.

Sunday was sunny and much quieter, so I was able to do a little bit.

My plan was to keep moving forward today while doing afternoon drive (check it out! I’m on NPR! Well, the local affiliate anyway).  But I also felt bad about having downloaded those script from the Black List and not read any, so I checked out THE 13th MAN, a WW2-era thriller about an Army comic book nerd who helps crack a case regarding Nazi agents on American soil.  All music to my ears.

Wow.  This thing is just amazing.  Incredibly well-written.  A genuine page-turner.  Phenomenal story-telling.  My only two gripes: keeping track of some of the G-men characters, and a clever plot twist at the end.  While I did like the twist, and realize it does help hold the rest of the story together, would it all work if that whole subplot didn’t exist?  Maybe.  But I’m not the writer, so I can’t really say.

I’d give it a definite 9 out of 10.  Maybe 9.5.  I only hope the other 10 scripts I’ve got lined up are as entertaining.

One of the things screenwriters always hear is to not just write your own script, but read others.  It’s one thing to read the script for a film that’s been made, or an old favorite.  But reading an unproduced script that is actually circulating around Hollywood, or maybe won some competition(s) really helps open your eyes and shows you what works, while also showing how you could improve your own.

A common occurrence in THE 13TH MAN is that the hero not only repeatedly finds himself in a conflict, that conflict keeps building, and then builds some more, and then even more.  It keeps getting worse, and he has to keep changing how he tackles the problem.  He doesn’t always come out on top, because that would be boring.  But each conflict he survives helps lead into the next one, or maybe has the big payoff thirty, fifty or seventy-five pages later.

I’d love to know how long it took Enio Rigolin from start to finish.  It only got 9 mentions on The Black List, which is a shame.  Then again, I really like this sort of thing, so I’m biased.

Hopefully I’ll be able to support this argument after reading a few more of the Black List scripts, but if Hollywood made more smart, well-written films out of these scripts, the industry would be so much better off.  Treat your audience like intelligent adults!  You’d be surprised how rewarding it can be.  Once they get a taste of it, they’ll want more.  At least I would.

One last thing.  If I were in charge of casting for THE 13TH MAN, the first name crossed off my list for the lead would be Shia LaBeouf.  He may look like the ideal nerdy soldier, but I still have issues with him as the son of Indiana Jones.

Besides, they should have used Frank Darabont’s script for that one in the first place, but that’s another post.

Movie of the Moment: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE. My first exposure to Miyazaki from way back, and now it’s part of our family library. Utterly charming and just plain fun to watch for grown-ups and kids; the American cast does a good job, but sometimes the original Japanese with subtitles is equally enjoyable.  Most important: V loves it, which is quite reassuring.

My suggestion: If the European element appeals to you, I highly suggest STEAMBOY, Otomo’s underrated follow-up to AKIRA.

Just…a little bit…more!

Maximum Z adventure, characters, loglines, outlines, radio, story, writing group

As I’ve stated before, one of the great things about where I work is that sometimes there’s so much downtime between reports, I get to work on non-radio stuff.

Especially scripts.  I don’t know why, but more often than not, I’m more productive in the studio than on my couch or at the desk in the home office.  Crazy.

Since the past two days were holidays, I worked the 5am-noon shift.  Amazingly, there isn’t a whole lot of traffic during the morning of major holidays, which means I had a lot of time to work with.

Which is what I did.  Oh boy, did I.

I was able to bring my laptop in yesterday, with the intent of getting something done with LUCY.  I like how the first act is developing, but it feels like it’s >this< close to being where I want to be.

Earlier in the week, I had worked on inserting the sidekick angle. So far, not too bad.  Still need to work on that opening sequence though.

But I was able to expand a bit on the first ten pages, fleshing out Lucy and the sidekick a bit more.  Based on suggestions from the writing group, I slightly altered what happens at page 10, and was able to edit out some extraneous scenes between that and page 17 (or at least what’s supposed to be there).

The rest of the first act also came together.  While I like the way it’s going, I worry that the sidekick doesn’t have enough to do.  But everything is still in the early development stage, so there’s still lots of time to fix this and that.

My goal today was to try and venture forth into Act Two (which I have a good idea how it’s going to start out), but there were two things bothering me:

-what happens if Lucy fails?  It has to be something really big.  Something majorly important. I have a few ideas, but nothing that really says “this is it!”

-While I have a connection between Lucy and the main antagonist (thanks again, writing group!), I need something in there so logical to allow/enable Lucy to go after him, that there’s no doubt that’s what she needs to do.  This is quite an obstacle, but I bet I’ll come up with something sooner than I think.  I’ve done it before.

In the meantime, I may start working out the next sequence or two, just to see if I can make things connect smoothly.

Besides, I’m doing the midday shift two days this coming week, so you just know I’ll get results.

-Going against my better judgment, I entered the logline contest again, this time with an entry I’ve never tried before.  I have my doubts, but you never know.

Right after I did that, I looked at my logline for LUCY and realized it’s just okay.  It doesn’t grab you.  That’s something else I’ll work on this week.  I want it to be so kickass you can’t help but think “that sounds so AWESOME!”

So for now, the toil and drudgery continues…