It was a pretty tough call for me.  On one hand, I’m in no position in my career to be turning down a credit, especially on a feature film.  I have nothing against the film and I wish it success, but it was a small, fairly new company trying to get a low budget comedy up and running.  The likelihood of it turning much profit was slim.  (Maybe it wasn’t, maybe it will go one to rake in oodles.)  Unfortunately, the other hand is that I need to pay rent now, this month, and I can’t take weeks/months of unpaid time because I have enough trouble paying the bills and my credit card off as it is.

It would have been nice to have a credit on that film.  I have a fairly anemic resume at the moment and another feature film could have helped me a lot in getting my next (paid) gig.

So this is what it means to be an adult then; making decisions based on being able to eat opposed to “pursuing a dream.”

Hopefully, next time this sort of thing comes up I will have the cash saved away that I will be able to take the time off, but unfortunately now, my car insurance needs me.

I’ll give it credit, it actually wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.   I can definitely see why people enjoy it.  The average girl gets the adonis forever-young boyfriend.  We get to feel like it is happening to us, or something similar.

The first half of the book was  a decent read.  I have seen the movie (though it was certainly not my favorite of the year) and the first ten chapters or so are a blow by blow of movie, but with more character/relationship development.  The movie had a tendancy to have things occur with very little explanation, if you ask me. It was nice to see that the book could explain most of the decision it made, opposed to leaving the audience guessing. I almost even bought the sparkle part.  (You know the part– that major criticism of the series where the vampires aren’t killed in sunlight so much as they twinkle, like diamonds.)  I’ll give Meyer the benefit of the doubt.  She needed a reason to have the vamps walking around in the day without them going up into smoke.  Something to do with their skin is a logical angle to take, however I can’t help but think that maybe she missed the mark a bit.  Anyway, I digress.

After the heroine Bella and Edward decide that they like each other, they proceed to have the same three conversations for the rest of the book.  They love each other, but he might eat her, he should leave, no he should stay.  Not to mention, for a good five chapters we get nothing but conversations about Edwards backstory.  It was like Meyer thought “oh, we’re half way through the book, when things really should start to move forward– I know, I’ll give eighty pages of exposition!”  That did get almost unbearable.  

I soldiered on and finished though, and I’ll say it’s not the worst book I have ever read in my life, which is something every author wants to hear.  Honestly I think the problem  mostly was that I am not the target audience.  There were hints of cleverness and forethought peppered into the inevitable cliches that I did enjoy, but high school love is not something I’m into.  I don’t know about anyone else, but two teens walking around declaring that they will love each other for all eternity just makes my eyes roll back so hard I can see my brain.

I guess it didn’t hurt that the movie was already out and I knew that I was allowed to imagine RPattz as the leading man.  Despite that he’s a bit squinty for my tastes, he really seems to stir the ladies, which is the whole point of the Edward character’s existance.  I think.

Overall, I don’t understand the phenomenon of the book.  But, I guess that’s what makes it phenomenon, ay? However, the outcome could have been a lot worse.  I see myself completing the series, just to see how it turns out. Since the series is written for the average high school cheerleader, I think that it won’t take me long to get through them.  I’m lucky that the books already exist, because I don’t think I would have to patience and followthrough to wait for the next installment to be published.  Team RPattz for the win.

A side note.  I also just finished  The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs.  It was an entirely delightful read about a man who decides he is going to take everything in the bible literally for a year.  One can imagine the hijinks that ensue.  His poor wife… I know that you would never know by the proportion of my comments of this book to the former, but if you have to choose a book to pick up, pick up this one.

Yes, folks, you remember that depressing play about the angsty Scandanavian and his ill-fated family?  There is now a sequel, thanks to the outer dregs high school drama teacher, Dana Marschz.

Okay, so not really.  It’s a movie, but not the actual sequel to the famous Shakespeare tragedy.  Marschz, as portrayed by Steve Coogan, is a failed actor turned high school drama teacher, who lives to aspire to inspire hoodlums into loving drama — and fails horribly.  In order to save the schools drama program, Marschz decides to write and produce an original play, the musical sequel to Hamlet that will right the sad wrongs of the original work.

To be honest, I liked the movie more in theory than in practice.  The trailer looks absolutely hilarious and after all the controversy of “will it or won’t it be released”  I was expecting much more.  Granted, it did have it’s moments, and there were times that I did make out-loud chuckling sounds in the general direction of the TV screen.  I think it’s main problem was that it was pulling into too many directions at once, leaving random stand-alone gags, opposed to fulfilling, paid off humor.  Much like the main character, it was trying just a little to hard.

However, and this is a BIG however, I still recommend you to go see it.  After an hour and a half-funny, half-not, film, we finally get to see the stage production of Hamlet 2, complete with musical numbers.  The payoff of the last ten minutes is so utterly hilarious and enjoyable that it is worth watching the entire movie for.  I can’t say more than that, because I think you shouldn’t have any expectations of what you’re about to see.  However, I will leave you with this; Elizabeth Shue in nurse’s outfit and Sexy Sexy Jesus.

And scene.

Fandango describes it briefly, and not by doing it any favors, like this:

Writer/director John August ponders the metaphysical aspects of life and art in an episodic allegory that follows three artists as they embark on a soul searching journey of fate versus free will. When a troubled actor is placed under house arrest in “The Prisoner,” his imagination begins to run wild due to the fact that his spirited publicist and cynical neighbor provide his only link to the outside world. Later, after the planes of reality fold in on themselves during the production of a Project Greenlight-style show which documents the filming of a popular sitcom in “Reality Television,” “Knowing” follows a successful video game designer and his family as they become stranded in the middle of nowhere due to automotive issues. Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, and Melissa McCarthy star in a drama that peels back the layers of reality to ask whether or not mankind really has any control over his ultimate fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

 The movie is broken down into three completely different parts, requiring the three stars to play completely different roles.  This is where the movie surprised me.  I’m going to have to give props to Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy. ² Ryan Reynolds has become known for his comedic rom-coms and fluffy comedies and Mellissa McCarthy isn’t even on many people’s radars to be cast as a leading lady.   Both of these actors I have seen in various movies and television shows where I was never unimpressed by them but never really gave them a second thought afterwards either, however in this movie I was actively impressed by both of their acting chops.  

It wasn’t hard to get lost in their performances and forget that it’s the same people playing entirely different roles.  Ryan Reynolds goes from playing a shallow, dense, actor in the first part to giving a layered portrayal of a gay showrunner in the second part and then a completely different performance as a nurturing father in the third.  My words do it no justice, I promise.  There is no way that I can describe Ryan Reynolds change in inflection from character to character or how Melissa McCarthy is able to play herself in one segment without looking like a self-aware tool.    This of course has a lot to do with the script’s characterization and John August’s direction, but there was definitely a reason he cast the way he did.

Though the plot of the film is good, it might not be for everyone, however, it is not difficult to give a solid recommendation on performance alone.  Next time you’re in Blockbuster, rent The Nines.

And we got him.  Cue stunningly artistic shot of Obama-look-alike on the podium.

I can’t wait to see the sequel.

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.

_______

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.

_________

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.

Awesome!  We can cut back on paying all those divas and just let the computer can do the work!  I mean, people are lining up to see those Pixar movies, now imagine what the lines would look like if the people looked real!  Walt Disney himself proved that someone can relate to an onscreen character (of cute animal form) that was completely fabricated, so why would it be such a leap for an audience to buy a completely fabricated human being?  Just imagine, directors won’t have a limited pool of actors to choose from, their forty-seven-year-old, seven-foot-tall, half-Japanese, half-Native American, one-eyed ballet dancer can look exactly how they envisioned instead of having to settle for someone else that’s “close enough.”    Bald caps and greenscreen leg amputations are a way of the past.  With just a tweak here and a few clicks there, a director can get the exact performance that will be the key to making him/her (more) critically acclaimed.

And you know what?  I believe that they can do what they say they can.  I’ve seen some pretty awesome CGI before and it’s not a stretch to believe with a little time and money, computer geekage would triumph. But who’s going to voice these ingenious inventions? … Anyone?  That’s what I thought.  We are still going to have to pay (and direct) an actor of some form to deliver the lines.  Well, I guess that will be their next computer project then.

I guess the question that lends itself to be asked, is what will happen to the trash mags? And where will we be without Angelina or Paris’s latest gossip? And what will happen to the Oscars?¹   No one cares about a bunch of Directors and Writers standing around in rented tuxes — other than film geeks, anyway — we want to see pretty people in Gucci.

I have very little fear that actors will be replaced by computer look-alikes anytime in the near future, and if they did, what’s the worse that can happen?  The world continues to evolve.  It’s not like they’re the Artificial Intelligence Robots that will eventually turn on their masters and wipe out the human race.  And if it were to be a step in that direction, I think we could take them.  Celebrities are known to be pansies in person anyway.