Grant Awarded by Women In Film and Television

Hello dear ones,

Please forgive my absence. I've had a myriad of diversions occur, one of which is the passing of my father. We have been adjusting to the new normal, so thank you for your patience.

Last night was a wonderful celebration, an event put on by Nashville's Women In Film and Television at Skyway Studios. It was a huge success and you could tell hard work paid off.

I was awarded their annual Finishing Grant!

The grant is awarded to a woman who has produced or directed a film in Tennessee. Lucky for me, I wrote, directed, AND produced my film in Tennessee and it's also SAG AFTRA.  The name of  the short film is STOLEN and stars Buffi Holland, Todd Vance, and Carla Christina Contreras. The film follows the psychological breakdown of both parents as they await news of their abducted daughter. This film is truly my baby, as I am taking my sweet time in making sure it's as perfect as possible. When it's complete, I will submit it to Sundance and Cannes and any other festival I can.

But only when it's ready.

So, let me publicly thank Women In Film and Television for the grant. Thank you so much for believing in me and in my project. It's not an honor that I take lightly. I am truly grateful, and the monies bestowed will be used on the coloring and the sound design. Anything left over will go to the festival fees. Thank you for helping make me make movies that matter.

I must take a moment to continue my thanks, because I never would have gotten this grant if it wasn't for my team.

I must thank my actors. Without you, STOLEN would not be a viable project to consider pushing for festivals. You are effortlessly magical, each one of you, and I'm eternally grateful you agreed to be on the project.

Buffi: Your performance brings those who watch it to tears every time. Proud isn't an adequate word I can use to describe my feelings about your work. I hope this catapults you into bigger and better things. You deserve it!

Todd: A big toast of thanks to you, my friend. Not only for our set, but your incredible performance. You captured the essence of your character and then some. I'm so grateful you agreed to be a part of my little film. It's better because you did! I hope this opens more doors for you.

Carla Christina:  If it wasn't for you, we never would have gotten SAG AFTRA status! Thank you for being such a consummate professional, and friend. You make it so easy to direct. Your insight into characters and organic performance is what makes me love what I do. Effortless acting, effortless directing.

To my DP: Thank you so much, Bengy del Villar, for your insight and honesty in all you do. I can implicitly trust you, and that, my friend is golden.

To my AD: Emily Steele Van Brocklin you are a joy to work with. With all the hats you wear, it's no surprise that we gel together so well. Thank you for helping create something we will be proud of.

To my crew: Nothing could have been done without you, and I don't forget such things. As this film progresses, it's my prayer that it will be something you will be able to brag about, that you worked on the set of STOLEN, and that more work will flow your way.

Prepare Yourself

Making a film look easy, doesn't it? Effortless, even?  You think to yourself, "Oh, I have a story. I just need a camera and some actors."

And then you try to make it.

Your actors aren't real actors, probably your friends, right? And they flake out on your and don't make it on days your shooting... suddenly you realize you have to get the same scene from different angles... how will you ever actually show an explosion? When you finally get to look at your scenes, holy crud monkeys. The sound sucks.

And so it goes.

Am I saying NOT to try? Absolutely not! I think if you have a story inside you, you need to set it free.

If you want to make a film that will really capture attention, mark my words: surround yourself with people smarter than yourself.

You're only as good as your team. And if your team consists of a best friend who runs down the batteries videoing girls on the beach instead of your intense monologue in the Sahara, well, he shouldn't be part of the team.

Start small.

By small, I mean a short film. It's a lot easier to navigate, fail, rebuild and refilm a short film than it is a feature.

Learn to write a script. My GOD PLEASE LEARN HOW TO WRITE A SCRIPT. I can't tell you how many times I've had people give me their works of art and it's not formatted correctly, or slug lines are naked, or it's in the wrong font.  Read Blake Snyder's book SAVE THE CAT and William Akers book: YOU'RE SCREENPLAY SUCKS! for help.  Both of them are gold. Oh if people would read them more.

Find a local film group in your area. Today, the internet makes everything so much easier.  You can find Meetups or local colleges with film schools.

Listen.

LISTEN to your team. I've worked with outstanding people with a wealth of knowledge, but the director wouldn't listen to them. So, what could have been a kick ass movie became a ho hum sleeper.

Movie making is a tedious task. It takes a lot of preparation. And by a lot, I mean months of planning before you even have your first shots. But it's in these months where you iron out all the bumps.  It's in the prep that you get to know your team, too, and how they flow.  Who's the weakest link.  Who is the worker bee.  Who's the one with the connections.  Where the problems are.

If you can troubleshoot BEFORE you shoot, it makes all the difference in the world. Your shoot goes a lot smoother, and before long, you look like you know what you're doing. :)

So please. For your sake, and the sake of your crew and actors: prepare.

Everyone will thank you. And pretty soon, you'll be making the walk down that red carpet.

Work For What You Want!!

The movie industry is a monster.

It will eat you up, spit you out, and never look back.  So, to get what you want, you have to fight for it.  The best example I can give you at the moment is this story:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110118/WILLIAMSON0702/101180302/Take-a-Bow-Budding-actress-eager-to-work-for-her-ride-to-stardom

This little girl has a once in a chance opportunity and do you think she's relying on anyone else to get her to Tinsel Town?  No! She has totally taken life by the horns and is captain of her own destiny.  (I can say this with my pride in my font because this little girl happens to be my daughter!)

Our family has obstacles, whose doesn't?  But for my daughter, Keagan, the word NO is not an option.  She believes. She fights. She wills.  She overcomes. 

We all need that tenacity in life, no matter if you're a screenwriter, a gaffer, a pediatrician or an electrician! 

Do you have a story?  Write it!  Take criticism constructively!  Make notes, changes and whatever it takes to get your work read! And then... like my little girl....

DON'T GIVE UP!!!!

Adaptation... A Moment In Time

When working on an adaptation, you will have to prepare yourselves that the story will change.


It’s inevitable.

Remember the story of Pinnochio? Jiminy Cricket and all that real boy stuff? Well, in the true story, Pinnochio KILLS the cricket! And on purpose, too! It wasn’t during a cheerful musical moment. Now ask yourself why Walt Disney didn’t put that in his now classic animated movie?

I’m currently writing and rewriting an adaptation from a short story with some students. It’s the longest short story I’ve heard of, and has several stories within the story. How can we get all of that into ten pages for a ten minute short?

We can’t.

We must ADAPT.

We read the story and saw that the main strain, the main truth through the story was that our hero was a habitual liar. Bam! Now our story is about a habitual liar. From here, we pick our favorite scenes and push the story forward. We lose the fact that the hero has an uncle with Down’s Syndrome. Did it move the story forward? No. Cut it. Did it matter that her false boyfriend went to Dartmouth? No. Cut it.

An adaptation is different than a creation of a script. It’s like you have a puzzle box full random of pieces. Some of them fit and some don’t and it’s up to you to figure it all out to make a picture people can see.

And when adapting a SHORT film (as we are):

It’s all about a moment.

Once you find the truth of the story, focus on the one moment that moves you. That’s all you have time to show. One moment.

And that is a FAR cry from an entire story, isn’t it?

FIRST DATE: UPDATE

Hello Readers!

I'm not to the breaking point of exhaustion yet, but I fear I'm headed in that direction. FIRST DATE is clipping along at a nice speed, even though I had to reshoot over an hours worth of film yesterday.

"Why would you reshoot, Screenwriter Chic?" I hear you ask.

Well, because we set up so fast no one caught that the bedspread in a shot was turned over. And yes, it was quite noticeable? How could I have missed that? Lack of sleep? Because the actor had the giggles and I was just trying to pull a performance out of him that didn't include bursting into laughter? Perhaps...

Could I have left it? Yeah, but if I slack on the little stuff, I'll want to slack on the big stuff.

We had a great time, however, and the Lunns were ever so gracious to allow us to film in their home. They were wonderful. Their two dogs, Diesel and Romeo were superb. Diesel was shy but Romeo is in a few shots. He's a big sweetie.

My children have taken it upon themselves to take along OUR camcorder to make themselves a documentary about the filming of FIRST DATE. Hilarious. I can say right now that I do NOT appreciate the paparazzi. Especially when I'm on the toilet!

And since this blog is about getting my work into Hollywood, I will give you an update. My action script, RUNNING WILDE is in Tinsel Town, hopefully getting read. It's been there for a week now. I am forcing myself to 1. not go crazy with anticipation and 2. call, email, tweet, or write him. I'll keep you updated! 

Keep me in your thoughts, prayers, mantras, chants, whatever!

Sean reviews a shot of his mad acting skills.

Later!

Update On FIRST DATE & life in general. It's Good.

Swinging by to let you, my faithful followers, that I am doing well!

As you know, I’m shooting another short film that I’ve written, this time NOT in a twenty four hour period on severe lack of sleep. I think I’ve determined that I’m a time Nazi. I finished three days of shooting in ONE day, which gives me TONS of room for reshoots if I don’t like what I see in the editing suite.

Yes, once again, my kiddos are my guinea pigs, but they are doing quite nicely and giving authentic performances. Plus, they are having fun. Isn’t that what it’s all about? They enjoy helping me on my projects. I enjoy the family time. For me, it’s a win win situation. I’ll keep you updated!

On another note, during my one day of shooting, I took a four hour break to attend the Nashville Screenwriter’s Conference (thanks to my friend Jill and her phone call reminding me)! I am SO glad that I did!

I heard some great words of wisdom from Jeff Lowell (Hotel for Dogs, show runner for Spin City): “In television, you should write so you can be doing the dishes and HEAR everything and know EXACTLY what’s going on. In movies, you should be able to be on a plane, not purchase the earphones and SEE it and know exactly what’s going on.”

That is SO true! I’ve never thought of it that way, but now, I’ll never forget.

The highlight for me, however, was getting to finally meet Derek Haas. Remember him? He wrote WANTED, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 2, 3:10 TO YUMA, to name a few. (He also wrote CATCH THAT KID which my youngest loves). For those of you who don’t know the story, my screenwriting class had a conference call with him last fall. From there, I found him on Facebook and we became friends. We banter back and forth and I teased him about coming to Nashville and told him that I’d bring him a cupcake. His response was that it had to be cinnamon, his favorite spice. That was six months ago.

So there I am, sitting with Jill, watching the end of a panel. Everyone leaves and there is Derek in the back of the room chatting with someone. He heads to the main chair and I call to him, introduce myself which receives a hearty reaction and I offer him the cupcakes. He gleefully takes them and is floored to discover that they’re cinnamon. I beam with pride at my accomplishment. I’ve made his day. Everyone around me (other than Jill) scoffs, believing this to be a putrid attempt at bribery.

I don’t care.

I’ve met someone whose writing I esteem highly, whom I consider a "real" friend now. We’ll continue to banter on Facebook.

And, when all is said and done, whose name do YOU think he remembered from the conference?

Marti, Derek, & Jill