A reader of John August’s screenwriting blog asked him to comment on a David Mamet quote.  Both the quote and the post are found here. 

When writing a movie, I think writer’s are often out to create a script that “changes people’s lives forever.”  I guess this is either because they want an Oscar or they are just blinded by their own pretension.  It can go either way really. I agree with Mr. August that there are many profoundly inspiring movies, but I don’t think that’s necessarily because the writer started out with that goal in mind.

I think that it is very easy to forget about the story we want to tell.  We spend so much time toiling over the bureaucracy of structure, ¹ the turmoil of the craft and the creation of the subtle, yet well-honed message that we forget about making a good story.  I vote that here and now is the perfect oppurtunity to knock down the walls of pretension and just let ourselves be swept away by the utter enjoyment of being completely entertained by story.

I’m not saying that all movies have to become fluff or lack substance (or subtext).  SciFi movies are known for being  commentary on our actual society, but you don’t feel like there’s propaganda being hammered into your skull for two hours straight. It’s just that, without story there is no film.  Period.

Story is good.

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Sigh.  And that title, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason I will never be Tina Fey.  I had a perfect oppurtunity to come up with a intelligent and witty title for this worship-inspired post, and yet, I failed. 

I’ll admit, I didn’t like Tina Fey when she did Weekend Update, but I will say now, this was no fault of her own.  It was Jimmy Fallon’s.  I hated him (though I pretended to like him because I had a crush on the Priest’s daughter, who would lick the floor he walked on) and by an unfair judgment, I didn’t like her.  By mere association. I’ve seen the error of my ways.  Who doesn’t love Mean Girls?  However, I would guess it would be 30 Rock that sealed the deal for me.  At this point, I would like to note, she merely rose to someone I admired. ¹  

Yet, the more I think of it, the more I want to elevate her to Idol Status.  She’s so smart and funny, and I’m talking actually funny, here.  Her humor is intelligent and clever, something that I really admire.  She doesn’t aim to attract the lowest common denominator.  You’re either with her, or you’re not.  In a world of the Craptastic Spoofs, I admire this.  She’s relatively young, and she has already been the head writer of SNL (the first female one, to boot) and has moved on to her own (highly successful and hilarious) series  – that she created — not to mention penning and starring in various movies.  Then of course, she did that Sarah Palin thing, and who didn’t love that?  Even Palin did, I’m fairly sure, and that woman is an idiot.  Tina Fey is awesome.  And a tad on the hot side.

Tonight I toiled covering the Emmy’s, but why would I?  I could probably offer no insight, so instead, I thought I would pay tribute to someone cool in my books, who happened to also do very well in this year’s Emmy’s.

Tina Fey, keep doing what you’re doing — unless it’s online reading arbitrary blog posts about yourself, because I find that a bit disappointing – because I’m more than certain you are a hero to more young girlies like myself.

P.S. I would like to state that even though I adore Tina Fey, it really freaks me out how much of a different person she looks like when she removes her glasses.  Like, it actually freaks me out.  I just shuddered a bit there.

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I was flipping through a dieting pamphlet over ¹the weekend where it edcuated me on the fact that there are apparently two different kinds of “carbs.”  The first type – dubbed “paleocarbs” – are the carbohydrates we got when we were merely “hunters and gatherers.”  They have always existed and supposedly there is a certain purity about them, or something, so our systems could break them down easier.  The other kind, the “neocarb,” are the carbs that were “invented” when farming came about around 10,000 years ago.  And now they are the enemy.   According to people like Mr. Atkins  and the like, they are what turn us into blobs and stop us from shedding those unsightly pounds.

After that stimulating piece of reading, I moved onto American newspapers… which is just as invigorating. There I notice that we have a new buzzword popping up every three words in campaign coverage.  Last week it was “lipstick,” this week it appears to be “neocon” (derived from “neoconservative”).   From what I gather, the conservatives of the past, the paleocons if you will, were the guys who believe believe in lowering taxes by reducing the size/influence of the federal government and by cutting back on unnecessary spending, in theory anyway.  The “neocons,” who started milling about somewhere in the Great Depression, have evolved into the guys who like to give tax-cuts to the people who don’t really need them and create “preventative wars.” ²  These guys are the carbs that eventually lead to heart attacks.

Hm, and here I was thinking that a carb is just a carb.

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ACT I

Math class is boring as hell.  There are only 10 different numbers that you can put together in various combinations, but there are 26 letters that you can assemble to make much more interesting ones.  You fall asleep in History class because, frankly, the stories in your head are a lot more interesting then the one you’re reading about in a textbook.  Something deep inside of you tells you that you are destined for something else, but common sense says “shut the hell up.”   So, after scratching a many idea onto diner napkins, a few people that hold a certain amount of sway in your book say “Hey, you can write!”  To which you reply with a grunt of some sort, nah, but then for some reason you find yourself enrolled in a Screenwriting course of some fashion.

The man lecturing you is a burly man, with mucho body hair, and has a down to earth yet holier than thou aura about him.  You feel the need to both reject every thing he says to you while simultaneously soaking it up.  He prattles on about the elusive “Three Act Structure.”  This is something you must know if you are to ever write a successful screenplay and as he continues on about innercaves and midpoints and elixirs, you think obviously, this does not apply to me, for I am a natural talent not bound by silly mortal rules.

Then you find yourself stuck on page thirty two.  So fine, you pick up a book on screenwriting and once again this three act structure dealio comes up.  It’s worded slightly different, but you aren’t fooled, you’re a cunning one you are, and it’s most certainly another theory on the the Three Act Structure and to be perfectly honest, it makes no more sense to you than when your writing guru was trying to explain it to you a week ago. Being the persistant hero that you are, you continue reading various books and watching “Hero Journey” movie examples like Star Wars and The Matrix.

Just before you are about to give up and go back to your old ways of writing in circles, this structure stuff clicks.  You’re not sure why, but it does.  You suddenly understand what that Vogler guy mean by “elixir” and what “Saving the Cat” is all about.  You can’t explain it, but now you have all this power floating around in your head, and you are going to use it for good.

ACT II

For all your hard work, you finally get to coast.  Planning out stories has never been easier.  You know where the story starts and where it has to end up.  It’s awesome.  It’s like a weight has been lifted off of you.  As you flex your muscles, you are able to see the Hero’s Journey in every movie you watch. ¹  You can now construct and deconstruct at the same time!  Life was never better and you start to think wow, I’m really going to make it as a screenwriter.

Then one day, this three acts thing hit you like a ton of bricks and you can’t get out from underneath it.  You start to ask why did you bring this curse upon yourself?  You start to long for the days where you could just write a script — or at least watch a movie — without having to think about what step you’re at.  You have an awesome first act written but for some reason you can’t figure out how to set up Act II so that you can go into the innermost of the innermost caves. ²What will be the sword?  What will be the ultimate Elixir? You don’t know, and honestly, you have no idea how caves and boons have to do with your romance comedy.  

You go back to your burly lecturer and ask him to solve your problems.  Well, he can’t.  Only you can.  He says you must learn and then you must forget.  What the…  He’s cryptic and annoying.  So you take your stack of paper and go back to your laptop.

But you plow through. Then the next three attempts at story you’ve hand in are rigid and formulaic.  Just like you expected.

What is a screenwriter to do?  You win some, and you lose some.  You may be able to write a text book satisfactory story but you seem to have lost all sense of originality.

So you say, screw you three act structure! You betrayed me with your false promises and now I’m going back to how I was.  But you can’t. Something is missing.  You try to write but there’s always a sense of longing that you can’t get past.  And the montage music just won’t shut up.

But then a glimmer of hope…

Act III

You pick up one of the screenwriting books that you have been using as a table leveler for the last several weeks.  It brings back good memories of discipline and structure.  You smile to yourself as you flip through the pages.  And realize, Three Act Structure is not the enemy, neither is the Hero’s Journey.

As it turns out you had the message all wrong. Three Act Structure is a only a tool.  When examining a draft (or writing one) you look at it and think hm, something is missing and that’s where the Structure is comes in.  Allow me to explain.  It dawns on you that in the middle of your script, there needs to be a change of some sort.  A big kick in the nuts.  Otherwise what are you building too?  You always want your story to be taking new and unexpected turns, and halfway through seems to be a good a place as any.  So what’s the best middle of your story?  Take a step back.  Look at your story as a whole.  Where is the story most likely to end up?  Take your cue from there, because as Michael Hauge asked in his Screenplay Mastery seminar, “How do you know if you’re halfway done with a marathon if you don’t even know where the finish line is?”

Story structure isn’t a template, it’s a guide.  Use it as a tool to help you when you’re stuck or to get the ball rolling, but don’t rely on it solely to tell your story.  Ultimately your instinct is what’s going to make the best story possible, but there’s nothing wrong with asking for help along the way.

So there, you return to your world, having it changed forever… and hopefully for the better.

The End. Roll Credits.

If you are interested in learning a bit more about the Three Act Structure and/or The Hero’s Journey, there are so many talented people with their own takes on the idea(s).  Browse and see which one is most accessible to you.  And if you don’t like any of them 100%, that’s fine, do what I do, and mix and match.  ³

Joseph Campbell started it all with his book Hero with a Thousand Faces.  Though, when he wrote this, cinema wasn’t around yet, but it’s where most of the other story-tellers get their ideas from.

Chris Vogler took Cambell’s book an rand with it and adapted the Hero’s Journey in The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.

Syd Field has THE go-to book on screenwriting.  Screenplay is one of the first and still most widely used book on the craft.

Blake Campbell has an interesting and accessible take on the Hero’s Journey in his book Save the Cat (and followup book Save the Cat Goes to the Movies).  This book takes out a lot of pretension and puts the How-To book in Laymen’s terms, which I find helpful to newcomers.

These days good advice isn’t just limited to the dead tree variety.   John August and Alex Epstein both have incredibly helpful and informative blogs about screenwriting, most of which are inspired by reader’s personal questions.  Epstein has also written two books Crafty Screenwriting and Crafty TV Writing.

Last but not least, Michael Hauge is worth checking out if he is ever conducting a seminar near you.  He also has authored a couple books and has videos of his presentations available at his website.

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I’m tired of writers out there wanting to write their life stories. ¹

There are people out there who deserve books, people who do incredible things, hurdle through insurmountable odds, break down barriers… or at least attempt something mildy interesting.  People who spend six, seven, eight, twelve hours of their day in front of their word processors are not those people.  Not usually anyway.  I find that if someone is out doing something that’s worth writing a book over, being a writer is usually the farthest thing from their mind.

Fiction writers, including but not limited to, screenwriters and novelists, are usually fairly boring human beings.  I find that most of them are white, middle class, somewhere in the age of thirty and fifty who live fairly domesticated lives.  What would be so exciting in their lives worth sitting through an hour and a half of?  Or paying twenty bucks to read?

My biggest obstacle today was mowing the lawn.  It’s conflict was that I have Barbie’s Dream Mower and it chokes if it comes near grass.  I persisted on, and mowed that grass, fulfilling my ultimate goal.  My human flaw:  I didn’t edge and the grass around the edges are still bordering on knee height.  The ingredients were there, I had the challenge, the conflict, the antagonist, etcetera, but it would have made a lousy recipe.  A metaphorical rice cracker, if you will.

Now, I’m not saying these fairly-boring-lifed writers are not talented,  I’m just saying that maybe they should keep their life story (or a story “inspired by” their life) in their back pockets until they inadvertently cure cancer with Spell Check.

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Another site has been added to my links under “Interesting Not Blogs”.  TVtropes.org

It’s a website devoted to devices that we see on television (and film) especially in the character section listing things as the “Dawson Syndrome” or “Young Blond Republican Sex Kitten.”  Check it out.

I have added yet another blog to my ever-growing list of links.

The last couple of weeks I have been reading the blog of Alex Epstein and have thoroughly enjoying it.  Very smart guy and seems to give out fairly sound advice.

Hello readers.  I notice that it’s been a while since I wrote anything… anything at all.  So, to make up for it, today’s post is going to be about two entirely unrelated topics.  Basically, two days worth of blogging in one thrilling adventure…  Here we go.

The age old debate continues.  Superman, or Batman?

I have read more than one article/blog now saying big movie execs are worried about the future of a squeaky clean Superman in the dark realm of heroes such as Batman and Hellboy.  In a way, I guess I can understand the panic.  In a world of self-professed cynics we relish the the flawed hero, or even the anti-hero, which I guess is fairly interchangeable at this point. For Pete’s sake, even the Harry Potter movies fight for that dark and broody, angst filled atmosphere… and they’re based on children’s books. (Go back and read the first four novels… Not broody or cynical.  Children’s books.)  You know what, that’s fine.  Largely those movies work and for various reasons, and are hugely popular, but just because a couple movies work one way, doesn’t mean they all have to.

Superman has always been a much lighter hero, right up to the bright blue spandex.  He is the squeaky clean, super human, bringer of hope.  To change that for box office purposes would completely change who that entire character is.  Where Batman sees the flaws and warts of humanity,  Superman sees the strength and good-will of it.  What’s wrong with that?  In today’s world, where bombs are being dropped on various countries by various enemies, children are shooting their peers, and politicians play bloody knuckle boxing with tax-payers, why can’t we go to a movie to see someone actually be able to save the world, just because he wants to?

Superman is an idealist.  He does not seek revenge or have too many inner-demons to battle, and though he may not represent the ever-popular downfalls of humanity, he does represent the hope that we have all seem to have forgotten these days.  He doesn’t need to be the same as Batman to succeed.  He’s Superman for Heaven’s sake.  Use what you have on the table in front of you, don’t go stealing off of other people’s tables.  With the USA being ripped apart by this year’s election over issues that there seems to be no Right or Wrong answers for, and when the people are doing nothing but screaming for a savior,  ¹ why not just give them one?  Superman does not play in the grey areas, he’s so Black and White, so good vs evil and he wins everytime.  Don’t underestimate people’s need for that.

Superman and Batman are different heroes, that’s why there’s two of them.  Let Superman stay Superman.  Batman gets to come into his own being Batman.  So, let Superman come into his own by being Superman.

That being that, onto Topic #2, and I wouldn’t mind someone swooping in and saving the day.

Today I will finish Draft Two of one of my screenplays  – that is, if I will get off the internet and finish it’s last sequence.  It’s a decent draft, much better than the first, but it is still facing a lot issues, a lot of which I created for it with the premise.  Six redheaded women are forced to stay under the same roof after the death of the patriarch.   Adding to the claustrophobia, two of the women are former wives of the man while the other four of the offspring of the respective unions.  The fact that the action takes place under one roof where little happens in terms of plot stimulus, the women are forced to continually rehash their past with one another.  Anyone who has taken Screenwriting 101, or even has just SEEN a movie, knows that the last thing that any audience wants to sit through is a bunch of people sitting around talking about the past… except, for some reason, in The Big Chill, that was a huge success. ²  I am completely stuck on how to bring about keeping the story in the present as well as bringing a bit more action³ to it.  So yeah, that’s where I am with that.

I feel as though until I can work out some of the big flaws, as well as a title⁴, it would be pointless to pursue another draft.  And to be honest, I don’t think I could do that right now.  It has worn me out, and I need a break.  So where do I go from here?   I have a few options,  I suppose:

1. I have another screenplay that I have draft 1 already out there for.  It needs a lot of plot work, as well, in order for another draft to be attempted.  It’s difficult but not impossible.  I like this project, it’s a bit lighter in tone and not quite as soapy  – though I never intended my Redheads project to fall under the “soapy” category, for the record.
2. I also have a TV Show that I am trying to develop.  If I had to choose, this would probably be my “passion project.”  It’s something that I have been swirling around with for a few years now.  I’ve written scraps that could eventually wind up as a bible and a draft of the pilot episode.  Both need considerable work before they have the ZAP and PUNCH that I think is completely achievable with the idea and that’s fine.  I can work with that.  It’s my favorite idea so far, but honestly, probably the one that’s least likely to get me any work at the moment.
3. This last week or so I have been itching to get started on this new idea that’s been brewing in my head.  It’s the idea that the more I think about the project I’m working on, the more I think about starting this idea. It is called Finding Geraldine and it is to be a feature film.  I have deliberately suppressed working on it because I would get swallowed by it and never finish Redheads. I’d love to start now, but I fear taking on yet another project would just cause me to neglect my existing ones and they would never get any further.
4. Hopefully next year, I will be applying for the ABC Disney Writer’s Fellowship. Hopefully.  It is an intensive (and very competitive) program where they throw you into the TV writing business and help you hone some skills with on the job training.  It is how many TV writers in L.A. get their start.  In the application you must submit a TV Spec episode (essentially a glorified Fan Fic ep) of a series in production.  This will probably take me months to do because of all the research  – which I promise involves slightly more than just watching the series over and over — and planning involved.  I have a little less than year to get this underway.

So there you have it.  How do I spend my days now?

And also I would much appreciate your advice on how I can get out of the house in the process.  I’m tired of being here all day alone with my body image.