writing

A few bangs for your bucks

Maximum Z comedy, community, crowdfunding, determination, filmmaking, perseverance, persistence, producer, screenplay, screenwriting, script, short films, thriller, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The crowdfunding for my short film SHECKY continues. We’re closing in on 30%, and doing what I can to keep those numbers climbing.

Every dollar raised goes into the costs involved with making this film, and there are different amounts you can donate. Each tier has its own reward as a thank you for donating.

(and if the names seem a bit odd, just think “showbiz”. It’s part of the story)

$10 – Stage Door Johnny

Social media shoutout of your total awesomeness & onscreen thanks expressing my eternal gratitude

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$25 – What, And Give Up Show Biz?

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, and your name as “Member of the Chorus” on a Paradise Theater poster

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$50 – Road Company

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name & your vaudeville act on a Paradise poster

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$75 – Rising Star

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name & your act as headliner on a Paradise poster

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$100 – Presenting…

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name on the Paradise marquee, a pdf of the film’s poster, a copy of the script

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$250 – In The Spotlight

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, a video of Shecky telling you a joke, poster, script

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$500 – Stage Manager

Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, joke video, poster, script, digital copy of the film

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$1000 – Publicity Agent

everything above & onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Silver Circle” + 1 ticket to screening (if possible), full-service script notes

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$2500 – Mr./Ms. First Nighter

everything above, onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Gold Circle”, 2 tickets to screening, script notes, interviewed on The Creative Writing Life podcast

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$5000 – Box Office Smash

Everything & above, onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Diamond Circle”, 1 ticket to a screening at a film festival, script notes, podcast interview, short film consultation

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This is a project that’s been a long time coming, so I sincerely hope you’ll be willing to chip in to help make it happen.

Can’t go wrong with a little originality

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The crowdfunding effort for my short film has passed the 25% mark. On one level that is FANTASTIC, but there’s still that remaining 75% with about six weeks to go. That means my extensive efforts and outreach will continue.

It’s the only way to make this happen.

It’s great to have so many supporters step up. More than a few have commented on how much they love the concept, along with a handful who’ve asked to read the script – and liked that as well.

One of the recurring comments has been how this would be a great example of independent film. In all honesty, I never thought of it that way. I just wanted to write and make a short film that other people could enjoy. Mostly for the experience of doing it, but also for the satisfaction of having something I can show the world and say “I wrote that”.

But what it really comes down to – a bunch of creative types making a film based on an original idea.

Hopefully that’s what’ll happen. Fingers remain, as always, firmly crossed.

And please donate if you can at the link above. Thanks!

Drips & drabs, but no drudgery

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Some kind of bug/virus took me out of commission earlier this week, which slammed the brakes on everything – including the slow-but-steady progress developing the new spec. Apart from a persistent runny nose, I’ve for the most part recovered, and am slowly getting back into it. Slow definitely being the operative word.

I may be working at a snail’s pace, which is a bit frustrating, but it’s a snail that’s seeing results, which is good. Even with this like-molasses-in-January output, things continue to move forward. Getting a few scenes done today means a few more than I had yesterday. It might not seem it at the time, but all the little steps forward will gradually result in the completion of a long journey.

The most important thing is to GET IT WRITTEN. Outlines and first drafts ain’t pretty, but at least they’re a starting point.

It’s not just about putting all the puzzle pieces together, but figuring out what the puzzle is and all the potential components. Pages and pages of the project’s notebook are jam-packed with ideas and possibilities. There is absolutely no doubt this will continue to be one big mess, but oh what a beautiful mess it is (and will continue to be as it takes shape).

But despite all the frustration about timing and slow progress, I’m still having an absolute blast doing it. Having a solid polished script is great, but it’s the figuring things out and organizing all the ideas that has always given me an extra thrill. I do what I can to spin an entertaining yarn, and this time is no exception.

I’ve said it many times and it still rings true – you can see the writer’s love and enjoyment of the material in the material itself. That’s what I’m shooting for here – apart from just having a fun script. I want the reader to get just as caught up in the story and NEED to see what happens next. I try to have my scripts fall under the category of “I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it”.

Onward, runny nose and all.

Slow and steady and all that

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Quick update – no post last week because I was getting ready to run the Writing For Hollywood track as part of the San Francisco Writers Conference. Time got away from me what with all the planning and coordinating. Even though I was miffed about not posting, having a phenomenal day of panels with some savvy screenwriting & filmmaking pros was a nice consolation prize.

FYI – I’ll be doing this again for next year’s conference, so if you’re interested in attending, there’s a link on the homepage to find out more.

So with the conference out of the way, it’s back to work on a few projects.

-had a great meeting with the director of my short film. The crowdfunding should be launching in early/mid-March, with a projected shoot in early/mid-June. Doing what I can to make that happen. Watch this space for more details.

-had a pair of great Zoom calls with some writer chums to discuss my new spec idea. Both had some excellent suggestions. I’d been feeling stuck on the story – especially for Act Two – and it was quite helpful talking things out.

Once again I find myself writing ideas down and constantly thinking “How about THIS?” Right now it’s mostly a big jumble of ideas and concepts, but something is definitely starting to take shape. I’m not as stressed about it as I was. This is that part of the process that’s equal parts thrilling and frustrating, but the important thing is that it’s getting done.

And the more I work on it, the more hopeful and confident I get about it.

From the archives: FBD is a BFD

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This post from July 2024 is about when I was first starting on this new story idea. I’d put that one on hold to spend a lot of time polishing and rewriting another script, so work on this one has resumed. There has been some progress on figuring out the story, but a lot of what’s mentioned in here still rings true – especially the subject.

Enjoy.

Working on this new script idea is proving to be quite a challenge. It’s still in the very early development stages, so any and every idea is being written down for potential use. No doubt some will stay, some will be trashed, and some will be altered/revised/modified to varying degrees.

Adding to all of this is that a big part of the story is similar to parts of a very beloved and well-known film – so similar that it’s one of my comps – so I also need to come up with ideas so my story safely falls into the category of “Familiar, But Different” – FBD.

It’s my goal to have this story be reminiscent of that other one, but not so much that it feels like I’m totally ripping it off. I’ve read a lot of scripts that fall short of that, so doing what I can to avoid falling into that trap.

This film also has a lot of iconic scenes, so it’s even more important I put my own spin on the concept to really hammer home its FBD-ness. The absolute last thing I want is for somebody to read this and think “There’s nothing new here”.

A key part of this is breaking down the components of the original film – not just the story, plot and characters, but seeing what worked, how the various storylines and subplots were laid out AND how they were connected. I can then use all of that as a springboard to putting my story together, and then fine tune as necessary.

Challenging, but not impossible.

Great as it would be to have the final result ready now, finding a new way to tell this familiar story is part of what I enjoy about doing this. I like to call it “go for the hard turn”; Just when you think things are going to go a certain way, there’s a yank on the steering wheel and all of a sudden things are heading in a whole new direction that makes you want to keep going.

One thing I’m fairly certain will play a factor in putting this together is that I’m just enjoying working on it. I don’t think there’s anything like it out there, so there’s a certain thrill to exploring the unknown, so to speak. It’s a priority for me that when it’s totally done – no matter how long that takes – it makes a strong impression for both the story it’s telling and how it’s written.

Even though it’ll take a while for me to figure it out, I’m confident I can make it happen.