westerns

Grab ’em early and don’t let go

Maximum Z Indiana Jones, Lucy Steele, Men In Black, outlines, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting, story, train, westerns, writing
And this is just the beginning…

I printed out a months-old version of the LUCY outline yesterday as part of the plan to launch a massive rewrite to incorporate some recent ideas. As I was looking it over, it dawned on me – the opening sequence just ain’t strong enough.

The way it’s written now, it would last about 3 pages, which really isn’t enough. The opening sets the tone and mood of the whole story. If I can’t hold your interest here, then you’re not going to want to work your way through another 100+ pages.

Think of the opening sequence in RAIDERS. It runs about 10 minutes, and does a phenomenal job of establishing the character of Indiana Jones.  I need to do the same thing.

This is where that ‘having fun while you write’ thing comes into play. And I get to do it with trains in the Old West.

Throw in a bottle of RC Cola and some Moon Pies and it’s an ideal writing session.

-Movie of the Moment – MEN IN BLACK III. Fun, clever and a definite improvement over the previous sequel. Setups and payoffs were obvious from the get-go. Josh Brolin did a great job as a young Tommy Lee Jones.  If this opens the door to a MIB IV, they should go the FANTASTIC VOYAGE/INNERSPACE route and do microscopic or nano-technology-based aliens. You heard it here first, folks!

This also confirmed for me once again that Smith needs to stop playing it safe and really try something new. Wasn’t he Tarantino’s first choice for the lead in DJANGO UNCHAINED? But he’s got a good thing going that brings in big bucks, so I don’t see that ever happening.

Been down this road before

Maximum Z Movie of the Moment, outlines, rewrite, screenwriting, True Grit, westerns
Seeking out the right road to a workable outline

It’s been a busy past couple of days, including lots of work on that other thing I’ll reveal next week, as well as more work on the rewrite.

Good news on the latter – hit the end of Act Two today.  Looking at the previous draft, Act Three needs to be severely streamlined. Way too much going on.  I don’t think it’ll be too hard.

I’ve been making a point of trying to make sure everything ties together. Seems to be working so far.

*side note – didn’t get to the movies at all this week, due to all the above-mentioned work.  Still hoping to catch X-MEN, SUPER 8 and GREEN LANTERN in theatres before it’s too late.*

I don’t know how much I’ll get done over the next week, since we’ll be visiting K’s family back East (as well as reclaiming custody of the two-weeks-absent Ms V).  I always bring my notes and notebook in an attempt to work on the plane.  Sometimes it’s productive.  Hoping that’s the case this time.

As long as I have an outline I’m happy with by the time we return.

Movie of the Moment – TRUE GRIT. I knew there was another Best Picture nominee I wanted to see.  This was it.  And it should have won. Hands down.

I loved it, despite being a sucker for a quality Western.  Phenomenal writing by the Coen Brothers. Excellent acting by all three leads, especially Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld.  I saw the John Wayne version years ago.  This is just so much better.  Easily re-watchable.

Twice as much

Maximum Z laurel & hardy, Movie of the Moment, rewrite, screenwriting, westerns, WWII
I think I'll go....that way

O happy day.

I got to the end of the 3rd quarter of Act Two today, and it’s about twice as long as it was before. For now, that’s good.  It may be edited down when I start doing pages, but I don’t mind.

I wasn’t aiming to do as much, but I’d rather have more to work with than not enough.

I’m workin’ hard at keeping the excitement level up and the pace fast. So far, so good.  Looks like my notebook will get a good workout en route to seeing K’s family next week.  It would be nice to have a solid outline ready to go in the near future.

-Movie of the Moment – Another threesome.  ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, which I was kind of disappointed with.  It moved SO SLOW!  Lots of shots that just went on forever.  2 hours, 45 minutes; could have been at least 30 minutes shorter.  A clever story though, and a great turn by Henry Fonda as the bad guy.  I wonder if this was one of the first Westerns to portray the dirty realism that was the Old West.  Overall, I like Eastwood’s Man With No Name series better.

SONS OF THE DESERT. I’ve never been a big fan of Laurel and Hardy, but I can appreciate them. In the end, I like the Stooges and Marx Brothers better. So shoot me.  This is supposed to be one of their best. I found it…okay.

THE STORY OF G.I. JOE.  Story of a unit in WWII Italy, with Burgess Meredith as famed war journalist Ernie Pyle. Pretty routine, but otherwise nothing special. I guess after you’ve seen SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and other modern WWII films, everything from mid-20th-century seems sanitized.

The end is that much closer now

Maximum Z French, Jeunet, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, outlines, screenwriting, westerns

Yet another milestone has been reached: I got to the end of Act 2. And I like how it ended. Stakes are raised. Subplots are beginning to tie together. Outcomes are in doubt. Thrilling stuff indeed.

Surprisingly, I’m not as concerned about Act 3. I know how the thing is going to end. A lot of elements I originally thought of are still in play. I’m fairly certain I can keep things edge-of-your-seat exciting and still wrap it all up in a satisfying manner. The brainstorming and outlining has begun. My self-imposed Wondercon deadline has been set, and I’ll do my best to make it. If not, I can take comfort in knowing that the end if somewhat near.

Movie of the Moment: Another two-fer.

We finished watching Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s MICMACS (still no idea what it means), an utterly charming French film about the takedown of two arms manufacturers. There’s a definite sense of whimsy throughout that it could be considered almost fantasy-like.

It’s a shame more American films don’t take this kind of approach, but I think Terry Gilliam may come closest.

-On a whim, I pulled out a copy of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN that K got me years ago. Good God, this movie is 51 YEARS OLD!

I love THE SEVEN SAMURAI and am so grateful Hollywood got its version right. It may not be possible to watch this and not feel extra manly. A double-feature of this and THE GREAT ESCAPE would be dripping with testosterone.

As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for a good western and this definitely falls into that category.

Exhiliration & frustration

Maximum Z Black List, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Last Son of Isaac Lemay, Lucy Steele, outlines, screenwriting, westerns, Wondercon

Definite progress today.  Still not to the end of Act 2, but the gap is closing.

I like what I came up with, but am already trying to figure out whether it’s the perfect fit.  For now, it works and will help me move ahead.

One particular scene starting getting too silly and seemed very out of place, so I scrapped it and started again.  The benefit being I now know what NOT to use.

I may actually have semi-normal hours tomorrow, so I can work on it a little longer than I have been.  I’m really hoping to be done with the whole outline by the end of the month, or at least before Wondercon, which is also rapidly approaching.

I also plan on reviewing the Black List script THE LAST SON OF ISSAC LEMAY, a gritty Western. Lots of blood and gunfire seem to be the two main focuses.

Movie of the Moment: MICMACS, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also did AMELIE and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Off to a very whimsical and entertaining start, but that means cutting this short since I have to pay attention to the subtitles.