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!!!!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
2011: A Call To Arms!
Ahhhh… My first post of the new year.
What will 2011 bring?
More writing, more ideas.
I read over the weekend that this summer will be known as the SUMMER OF SEQUELS. Movies that will fill slots on movie marquees for 2011:
Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Harry Potter (I’ve lost count on these)
The Hangover 2
Mission Impossible 4
Final Destination 5
Cars 2
Scream 4
Transformers 3
Spy Kids 4
Kung Fu Panda 2
Fast Five (the latest segment in the Fast and the Furious franchise)
Some of these may be good, and some may be a colossal failure, but one thing jumps out at me just from looking at this list.
Hollywood needs originality. A new story. A new idea. Next summer we’ll have another Superman, Spiderman and Batman movie.
There are plenty of great writers out there, you included!
Let’s all sit down, write a kickin’ story and show Hollywood how to make money off of a story that’s fresh, new, and innovative instead of beating dead horses until they’re well, more dead. Did you know they are making another installment in the SHREK series? Yep! Now it’s just about Puss ‘N’ Boots.
THE MATRIX took Hollywood by storm. New, thought provoking and it broke boundaries. I adore this movie. Even though the trilogy is over and done with, I still watch and am amazed at it. What inventive minds to create such a story!!
I’m sick and tired of paying $10 to see a sequel that 1.) Either never should have been made or 2.) Should have been a made for TV movie. Granted, these sequels have better budgets than made for TV movies!
Where are the writers? Where are the great ideas? YOU have them! I have them!
So, let’s sit down and write it out… let’s make time to get those rewrites done and share our scripts! We have great ideas!
Anything is better than a life dominated by sequels, isn’t it?
In conclusion, my first blog of the year is a call to arms. For all great writers to create that script of their dreams. For in the months ahead to bombard Hollywood with new ideas and not take no for an answer.
So, write, write, write! It's in your hands!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Make It Tough!
I was going through some past dated blogs by other screenwriters the other day and found this one from Will Akers blog called (like his book) Your Screenplay Sucks! This is so true. Read on wonderful reader!
Make It Tough For ‘Em!
March 9, 2010
Never GIVE your characters anything.
Make them earn it. Make them fight for EVERYTHING. Every single little thing… if it’s easy for them to get, then the story is boring.
Go through your script and list everything your hero gets. The boy’s phone number. The key to the hotel room. The location of the hidden safe. The cure for cancer. Whatev. Anything they get, look at it, and see if you can make it more difficult for them to get…
Make them earn everything. Make them sweat to get it.
If your hero just gets stuff cause he’s cute, then we don’t feel he deserves it. Just like Robert Redford, when he was auditioning for the lead in THE GRADUATE. The director asked him what it was like not to score with a girl… and Redford said, “What do you mean?” Redford never had to worry about a girl telling him “No.” so he didn’t get the part. Nichols cast a guy who would have to earn Katharine Ross, and we believed his story.
Look at every single event in your story and see if your hero has to struggle to get what you give him (or her!). If it’s easy, you’ve got a weak moment… and you can fix it!
Words of wisdom from Will Akers. I suggest you heed his advice! :)
Make It Tough For ‘Em!
March 9, 2010
Never GIVE your characters anything.
Make them earn it. Make them fight for EVERYTHING. Every single little thing… if it’s easy for them to get, then the story is boring.
Go through your script and list everything your hero gets. The boy’s phone number. The key to the hotel room. The location of the hidden safe. The cure for cancer. Whatev. Anything they get, look at it, and see if you can make it more difficult for them to get…
Make them earn everything. Make them sweat to get it.
If your hero just gets stuff cause he’s cute, then we don’t feel he deserves it. Just like Robert Redford, when he was auditioning for the lead in THE GRADUATE. The director asked him what it was like not to score with a girl… and Redford said, “What do you mean?” Redford never had to worry about a girl telling him “No.” so he didn’t get the part. Nichols cast a guy who would have to earn Katharine Ross, and we believed his story.
Look at every single event in your story and see if your hero has to struggle to get what you give him (or her!). If it’s easy, you’ve got a weak moment… and you can fix it!
Words of wisdom from Will Akers. I suggest you heed his advice! :)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Last Word
One of the best things I've learned as a screenwriter is to put the most important word at the END of sentence.
THAT is where the punch is!
For instance:
I had written a line of dialogue where a naughty merc stated: "I'd kill my mother for that kind of money."
Rewritten it became: "For that kind of money, I'd kill my mother."
See? It shocks you... the brain works to put the sentence together and the last word is the final piece of the puzzle.
One of the best examples I have ever seen was written by Louis L'Amour. (My nod to Will Akers for the quote.) Tell me what YOU think about it.
“I just pointed my rifle at him … and let him have the big one right through the third button on his shirt. If he ever figured to sew that particular button on again he was going to have to scrape it off his backbone.”
THAT is where the punch is!
For instance:
I had written a line of dialogue where a naughty merc stated: "I'd kill my mother for that kind of money."
Rewritten it became: "For that kind of money, I'd kill my mother."
See? It shocks you... the brain works to put the sentence together and the last word is the final piece of the puzzle.
One of the best examples I have ever seen was written by Louis L'Amour. (My nod to Will Akers for the quote.) Tell me what YOU think about it.
“I just pointed my rifle at him … and let him have the big one right through the third button on his shirt. If he ever figured to sew that particular button on again he was going to have to scrape it off his backbone.”
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Make Some Short Films!!!
If you are a screenwriter, then you should be filming some short films.
Will Akers told me to start filming short films after I had completed his exciting and always entertaining screenwriting class. He told me it would make me a better writer to understand what a camera can or can't do, and what a director will have to put up with some of the crazy shots I saw in my head.
I heeded his magnificent wisdom and here I sit. A blogger, screenwriter and director of another short film that we will be filming in one week. I have a full crew, a full cast, and a full plate. I'm learning more in one semester than I have in my life. Besides writing, of course. :)
Something that will help as well... HELPING out a crew member on someone else's film. That will teach you a lot too.
A while back I blogged on MUSICA CAMPESINA, a movie I worked on with Chilean director Alberto Fuguet. I started off as a P.A. and then got promoted to Line Producer. How? I just did what everyone else didn't. I got noticed and have gotten street credit that I'm a hard worker. Not to mention that the film has been submitted to Sundance and should it get in will be AWESOME to have producer credit on my resume!
See the trailer here:
MUSICA CAMPESINA TRAILER
You don't have to stay in one arena if you're a writer. Get out there! Meet folks! Just in my short time on campus, I've met and worked with people who are now in LA. So, they are CONTACTS that I have now. Contacts that I can send a script to. Contacts that, should I ever move to the coast, could help me get jobs. Contacts who can help me make independent films of scripts that I wrote.
How could I have met them if I stayed inside writing ALL the time and never made a movie?
Are you afraid of what people will think? Don't be. YOU are the artist. The writer. The director. It's YOUR dream.
Are you going to let someone else determine if you reach it or not???
Not me.
Will Akers told me to start filming short films after I had completed his exciting and always entertaining screenwriting class. He told me it would make me a better writer to understand what a camera can or can't do, and what a director will have to put up with some of the crazy shots I saw in my head.
I heeded his magnificent wisdom and here I sit. A blogger, screenwriter and director of another short film that we will be filming in one week. I have a full crew, a full cast, and a full plate. I'm learning more in one semester than I have in my life. Besides writing, of course. :)
Something that will help as well... HELPING out a crew member on someone else's film. That will teach you a lot too.
A while back I blogged on MUSICA CAMPESINA, a movie I worked on with Chilean director Alberto Fuguet. I started off as a P.A. and then got promoted to Line Producer. How? I just did what everyone else didn't. I got noticed and have gotten street credit that I'm a hard worker. Not to mention that the film has been submitted to Sundance and should it get in will be AWESOME to have producer credit on my resume!
See the trailer here:
MUSICA CAMPESINA TRAILER
You don't have to stay in one arena if you're a writer. Get out there! Meet folks! Just in my short time on campus, I've met and worked with people who are now in LA. So, they are CONTACTS that I have now. Contacts that I can send a script to. Contacts that, should I ever move to the coast, could help me get jobs. Contacts who can help me make independent films of scripts that I wrote.
How could I have met them if I stayed inside writing ALL the time and never made a movie?
Are you afraid of what people will think? Don't be. YOU are the artist. The writer. The director. It's YOUR dream.
Are you going to let someone else determine if you reach it or not???
Not me.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Use Your Gift!
Writing is a craft.
Some say a skill. I think that's a little obtuse. Skill means it can be learned. Craft means it can be felt and expressed. At least to me that is.
Writing is a gift.
Some of us have it, and some of us... don't.
I received a script yesterday from a very talented and I believe gifted writer. She asked me to peruse it and tell her what I thought. And I did.
I don't lie. What good am I to you if I don't tell you the truth about your writing?
Luckily, "Heinzy" is a great writer, with fresh ideas. Her script was easy to read and well thought out. She had a compelling and thought provoking story. And I loved it.
A couple of things were "off" like changing from present to past tenses (writers always have to be on their toes for that), and using the word IS.
If you see the word IS in your script (not during dialogue of course) then it is probably followed by a verb ending in ING, which makes your story have passive voice. Agents, producers, readers, etc., HATE passive voice. However, I personally, overlooked that for the sheer intelligence and brilliant story line she had woven.
So, way to go, Heinzy! You have a great talent, wonderful ideas, and I can't wait to see your stuff get made!
Now for the rest of you...
What are YOU doing to chase down your dreams?
Some say a skill. I think that's a little obtuse. Skill means it can be learned. Craft means it can be felt and expressed. At least to me that is.
Writing is a gift.
Some of us have it, and some of us... don't.
I received a script yesterday from a very talented and I believe gifted writer. She asked me to peruse it and tell her what I thought. And I did.
I don't lie. What good am I to you if I don't tell you the truth about your writing?
Luckily, "Heinzy" is a great writer, with fresh ideas. Her script was easy to read and well thought out. She had a compelling and thought provoking story. And I loved it.
A couple of things were "off" like changing from present to past tenses (writers always have to be on their toes for that), and using the word IS.
If you see the word IS in your script (not during dialogue of course) then it is probably followed by a verb ending in ING, which makes your story have passive voice. Agents, producers, readers, etc., HATE passive voice. However, I personally, overlooked that for the sheer intelligence and brilliant story line she had woven.
So, way to go, Heinzy! You have a great talent, wonderful ideas, and I can't wait to see your stuff get made!
Now for the rest of you...
What are YOU doing to chase down your dreams?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
ALIENS! UFO'S! OH MY!
I'm not sure if anyone has been following this on the news about the recent documented sightings of the UFO's that have been seen in the U.S., China, etc. All of the sightings are similar.
News report on recent sighting in El Paso, TX
Now, when it comes to this, I'm such a skeptic. I held out for YEARS about crop circles and wouldn't you know it, someone came forward and admitted they did it. And they showed how. I don't know if they were telling the truth. I'm just saying I'm a skeptic.
But with this, I'm a little enamoured. Not because of the possibility of life outside of Earth, or the possible answer to a Bible prophecy. And then there's that part of me, deep down that secretly hopes if they ARE aliens, they don't REALLY do anal probes.
I'm interested to see what movies come out of this.
You know it'll happen. Writers everywhere are watching these stories, talking with people in the area of the sightings, and making notes. And it'll hit theaters before 2012 to ensure we have mass panic and cult suicides.
So, while part of me is thinking this is an Orsen Welles' thing (it's rather profound to have it all over the world), part of me is thinking, "Man, who's gonna write the story first?"
Will it be you?
News report on recent sighting in El Paso, TX
Now, when it comes to this, I'm such a skeptic. I held out for YEARS about crop circles and wouldn't you know it, someone came forward and admitted they did it. And they showed how. I don't know if they were telling the truth. I'm just saying I'm a skeptic.
But with this, I'm a little enamoured. Not because of the possibility of life outside of Earth, or the possible answer to a Bible prophecy. And then there's that part of me, deep down that secretly hopes if they ARE aliens, they don't REALLY do anal probes.
I'm interested to see what movies come out of this.
You know it'll happen. Writers everywhere are watching these stories, talking with people in the area of the sightings, and making notes. And it'll hit theaters before 2012 to ensure we have mass panic and cult suicides.
So, while part of me is thinking this is an Orsen Welles' thing (it's rather profound to have it all over the world), part of me is thinking, "Man, who's gonna write the story first?"
Will it be you?
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