Shining Happy People (009)

I was watching THE SHINING this afternoon in a desperate search for inspiration. I thought that one of the greatest psychological thriller / horror films of all time would certainly get my creative juices flowing and help me battle through my own PT script. I was marking down the key events and the precise minute in which each event occurred when I had a frightening realization: I was relating to Jack Torrence.

I’ve seen this film at least twice before and it normally scares the bejesus out of me. However, this afternoon I was scared to a whole new level. I found myself viewing THE SHINING, not as a horror film, but as a simple and accurate character study of a writer struggling to finish his work. You see, the past week has been a disaster for my PT script. At some point I realized that I couldn’t go forward without a proper outline, but I refused to admit it. The result was nine-hour workdays that involved staring at my computer screen, staring at my cereal bowl, and staring out the window (much like Jack Torrence in minute 46 -- probably the first indication that Jack is on the verge of mental collapse).


I’m still stuck on page 43 of my script and all the work I’ve put in over the last two weeks might as well add up to “All work and no play makes WriterGuy a dull boy.” Cabin Fever has struck in my two-bedroom apartment. I’ve grown completely unreasonable. Making the bed, washing the dishes, changing out of my pajamas, going outside… these all seem like preposterous ideas. I’m singularly focused on finishing this script, yet day after day passes without any inkling of substance transcribed and I find myself falling into madness. Did my dog just say something?

Desperation is setting in. My money is gone. I’ve just received my credit card bill and I don’t have the money in my account to pay for it. I should probably call and let my parents know so they don’t find out by reading this blog. I suppose I have two options. Option 1: I can ask for a loan. Option 2: I can get a job. Getting a fulltime job will certainly destroy my writing schedule. If I do get a job, it sure as hell isn’t going to be at the Overlook Hotel.

Entertainment Lawyer (008)

My manager has advised that I have an entertainment lawyer at the ready just in case our sitcom magically gets on the fast track. Do you happen to know a lawyer that you would highly recommend? My manager has a recommendation, as does the young producer, so I'm only looking for a "no, you need to use my guy, he (or she) is amazing" style recommendation.

I don't know very many lawyers or much about what they do, so I don't really know what to tell you I am looking for in a lawyer. Everything I know about lawyers, I learned from watching movies. If I had a choice, I would prefer a lawyer from a 1940s film. Think of the skillful, dedicated, and witty characters in ADAM'S RIB. They would do the job and also be great pals. I could also go for a lawyer from the 1960s. Gregory Peck's saintly Atticus Finch comes to mind. I know I don't want a lawyer from the '80s or '90s. They are mostly rude, drink a lot, have loose sexual morals, and use too much hair product.

I hope this helps you give me a good recommendation. Thank you in advance.

State of the Script (007)

"State of the Script" is a progress or setback update involving any of the completed scripts that I am trying to sell. The scripts are constantly being submitted places, but I am only posting what I consider to be developments (positive and/or negative).

State of the Animated Family Comedy Feature:

(+) Pitched my script to a creative executive at a major animation studio.
(-) Major animation studio passed two days later, citing similarities to works in their pipeline.

(-) Manager submitted my treatment to another major animation studio. Head of animation division read treatment, had meeting about it, and eventually passed. No specific reason was cited.

State of Sitcom Pilot #1:

(+) A studio that I was previously unaware of has shown interest. I don't know the details, but a meeting has been set up for the end of the week.

Writing Process Q&A (006)

Last week a fellow blogger commented on my writing schedule, asking some excellent questions about my writing process. I’d like to use this entry to answer those questions to the best of my ability and as honestly as possible.

Question
Is this how you went about writing your previous scripts?

Answer
Every script I have written has been slightly different. The first feature script that I was really proud of was written in a screenwriting course with a workshop. Since then, I’ve attempted to duplicate those writing conditions in order to repeat the results. The writing process I used for that first solid feature looked something like this:

I started with the idea and turned it into a logline. A good logline has built-in conflict and gives a concrete idea of the beginning, middle and end. If I have a good logline, then I move forward with a bit a confidence, knowing that I should be able to find a good script.

[If I were writing a script that needed research, I would research here. For instance, for the Psychological Thriller (PT) script, I read three books about the subject I am writing about. I jotted down notes and just sat around thinking about the world I would be writing about for a long period of time. Actually, I was busy working on other projects at the same time, so this process lasted for a couple of years].

Snowplowing came next. Snowplowing is basically just writing out everything you think should happen in the story from beginning to end. Then, you try to do that again a day or two later and see how similar the two snowplows are. Repeat as many times as necessary. The idea being that the really important things, the heart of the story, will force itself to the forefront.

Next, I made character bios for the protagonist, antagonist, and a couple other secondary characters. Within the character bios I wrote some dialog to get a feel of the way the characters speak.

I then took the major beats from that snowplow and plugged them into a script timeline. I played around with this for a while, making sure that the arc and the ups and downs of the script were sufficient. (More on the timeline later).

From the timeline, I wrote out a couple pages that summarize the beginning, middle, and end of the film. This is a called a “two-minute movie.” From the “two-minute,” I made a more detailed step outline of the entire story. For me, this was each and every general scene heading, followed by the scene written out in prose. No dialog is included in this part.

I was taught to do a beat sheet before this step outline. A beat sheet is simply every single thing that happens in the film from beginning to end. Each beat is only a few words or one line. I found myself skipping this step and going right to the more detailed step outline.

From the step outline, I started writing the script.

I have since made an attempt at some type of detailed writing schedule for every project I work on. It has been extremely difficult to discipline myself without a workshop holding me accountable each week. All I know is, the more I outline and prep, the easier the script is to write and the better the script will be.


Question
Do you plan to go back and reread (and edit?) what you've already written while you're adding more or do you plan to just get the full page count before you do any editing?

Answer
I don’t plan to go back and edit before I’ve finished the rough draft, but sometimes I can’t help it. There’s no way around it really. When I have a tight outline, it isn’t as necessary, but I still make minor adjustments as I go. When I don’t have a tight outline, as I’m learning now with this PT script, things get very difficult. I’m desperately trying to power through the rough draft, but it is impossible. I just realized that I didn’t need to introduce a particular character until twenty pages after I introduced him. Knowing this is driving me crazy and I feel compelled to go change it now before I continue. Then again (because my outline is so flimsy), I will probably just change my mind and waste more time changing it back.

Question
Do you know what point in the story you should be at by certain pages, or are you just going to figure it out as you go?

Answer
Yes and No. When I start a project I use a timeline that I adopted from some of my writing professors. I set out with the intention of having all my major story points fall comfortably into this timeline. In some instances, that includes actual page numbers lining up. More often, I start by following the timeline and wind up improvising on it. I use the page numbers as rough guidelines. The most important thing is to actually hit the major beats of the story. The beats are like tent poles that hold up the story and give it shape. It is a lot easier to pitch the tent when you have these tent poles in place.

The following timeline should give you an idea of how I plot the major beats in my screenplay.


Page 1 - Opening Hook
In the first couple pages (preferable the very first page) I want to pull the audience into the film while setting up the genre and the tone.

Back Story
Only if needed. This information may not be needed until later.

First 10 Pages
In the first ten pages I want to set up the world of the film and learn what the protagonist values. These values could and probably should change.

Also in first ten pages:
What does the protagonist fear and what is his flaw?
What is at stake? The stakes should be life and death for the protagonist.
What is the goal? The protagonist should be willing to go great lengths for this goal.

And:
Establish a Central Question that can be resolved in climax.
Example: “Will E.T. find his way home?” At the climax we get a yes or no answer.


Page 17
Essential set-up. Should be clear what the movie is about.

Page 30 - First Act Break
At page 30 you hit a reversal, a crisis. Positive becomes negative. Fears come to the surface. Now there are new rules, new teams, and a new world. Sometimes characters cross over to the new world but now they have a new job. Some schools of thought say that first act should break earlier, around page 17. For me, it differs from script to script.

Page 45
There should be an indication of the love story. Could be man/woman, father/son, best friends, or boy/dog.

Page 50
Start the sequence to midpoint. From beginning of story the protagonist has been reactive. Things are going great for the protagonist. On page 50 the antagonist ruins everything and the protagonist must rally the troops and rise to the midpoint.

Page 60 - Midpoint.
Protagonist seizes control of his or her own destiny. Goes from reactive to active and from want to need. Goes forth with knowledge. The protagonist knows the power of the antagonist but chooses to go forth anyhow.

Page 60+
Immediately after the protagonist tries to move forward, the antagonist rains down hard, with full force. The antagonist is not at bay here.

Page 75 - Big Pit
False achievement of goal, then things are shaken up. Whatever the protagonist fears comes very close to happening.

Page 90 - Big Gloom
Things have been going good again. Protagonist is back on top then the antagonist comes back in and things are as bad as ever. Just when it can’t get worse, it does. The protagonist is in the most pain possible. Everything dear to that person is gone.

Epiphany
Somewhere between the big gloom and the climax, there must be an epiphany. Why he is really there, etc.

Climax
The climax.

Resolution
Could be one page or fifteen pages. I prefer when films end when the story is over. I like short third acts.


That's the timeline. It isn't a science. It is just a guideline that I start with. I think it is debatable whether or not the second act ends after the big gloom, or if it ends after the climax. I also don’t think it matters as long as you hit the major beats.

Sometimes a story magically falls into place along that timeline. Sometimes I have to force it. Sometimes I knowingly shoot myself in the foot and makes things difficult. In my PT script, I’m making things very difficult. I’ve decided that my protagonist should become my antagonist around the big gloom, when he kills the antagonist. How does that fit into my trusted timeline? I have no idea.

I brainstormed the PT script forever but I still couldn’t find a way to make it fit into a neat little structure. Still, I loved the concept and really believed that there could be something great in it. Eventually, I said, “screw it.” For the first time, I’m going into the rough draft not knowing all the answers. I’m putting my faith in the rewrite process. I’m on page 35 today and I detest each and every page that I have written. The only good news is that I finally know what my protagonist looks like. He looks like Joseph Gordon Levitt.

Writing Schedule (005)

I made a decision. I am going to write the psychological thriller for my next assignment. I have decided to do this because I already have a rough treatment for the project. I am going to attempt to make the jump from this rough treatment to a rough draft at a clip of three pages per workday. I’ve actually already started and I’m moving along at a decent pace. My treatment is not as fleshed out as I would like, so I expect there to be a lengthy rewrite process after I finish the rough draft.

Psychological Thriller (PT) Writing Schedule:

July 17th .......... Page 30
July 24th ......... Page 45
July 31st .......... Page 60
August 7th .......... Page 75
August 14th .......... Page 90
August 21st .......... Complete Rough Draft
September 11th .......... Complete First Draft
September 23rd .......... Complete Second Draft


If I find that I continue to move along at a good pace, I will try to work on my romantic comedy outline simultaneously. I have never committed to working on two projects at the same time, but it would be beneficial if I want to reach my more long term writing goals. If I follow this schedule, I would hope to have a “showable” draft of the PT script by the autumnal equinox (9/23). Then I could spend the entire fall working on the RomCom (ok, I think I hate that term).


Long Term Writing Schedule:

September 23rd 2009 .......... Psychological Thriller
December 25th 2009 .......... Romantic Comedy
March 21st 2010 .......... Another Script TBD
Spring 2010 .......... Outline Lebanon Script
Summer 2010 .......... Write Lebanon Script
Summer 2011 .......... Direct Lebanon Film
Fall 2012 .......... “Make it” in the film business

Writing in Coffee Shops (004)

A coffee shop is the ideal place for me to get some writing done while still maintaining an acceptable level of sanity. I get out of the house, I sit in a comfortable chair, and I make intermittent eye contact with attractive strangers. On a good day, I spend the entire afternoon at an outdoor cafe. I wear tight jeans and a v-neck t-shirt. I sip an endless latte and jot down brilliant musings in my moleskin notebook (the kind that Hemingway used). As the sun sets I pack up my belongings, say “cheerio” to my fellow coffee shop loiterers, and walk home pleased with my hard day’s work.

Nothing in the above paragraph is true (except the v-neck part).

I’m at a coffee shop right now. I hate it here. Why? First of all, I don’t drink coffee, so there’s that. Also, I’m a lousy multi-tasker. I can’t concentrate on writing AND drinking a beverage. As a result, I choose to concentrate on drinking whatever drink I just ordered. If I choose to concentrate on writing then my drink will get cold. Today I ordered an overpriced chai latte (sometimes I get an overpriced hot chocolate). I’m stressing about how much that drink just cost me. The same scenario plays out every time. I finish the beverage in about five to ten minutes. I then get paranoid about sitting in a coffee shop without a beverage. Is the barista watching me? Does she think I’m hanging around too long, poaching her wireless Internet? Caving under the pressure, I get a second beverage or I just pack up and go home. If I get the second beverage, I’m far too stressed about wasting money on drinks to get any good writing done.

Parking and going to the bathroom are always an issue. I most likely parked in a one-hour only parking zone and I’ll have to move my car. If I leave the coffee shop to move my car, do I have to pay for another drink when I return? What if someone takes my seat while I’m moving my car? I can’t leave my laptop in the coffee shop unless I have someone with me. Of course, if I have someone with me, I just talk to that person and don’t get any writing done. I can ask the dude next to me to watch my computer, but how do I know that I can trust him? If I wanted to make a quick buck, I would travel from town to town and hang out at coffee shops until someone asked me to watch their laptop.

I’m going to the library.

Backstory (003)

I never meant to become a writer. I meant to become a professional basketball player. My back up plan was to become a teacher and basketball coach. High School taught me a lot of things, but it mostly taught me that I wasn’t going to be a professional basketball player. For the most part, I did not enjoy high school, so going back to that environment to teach and coach quickly became out of the question.

I dealt with high school blues by escaping through film. When I was young my mother prepared me for a love of film by showing my brothers and me classic films, mostly Cary Grant screwball comedies or musicals like Singin’ In The Rain and The Court Jester. In High School it was Monty Python, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. I identified with these films, but mostly with the authors voice. Something about them made me feel comfortable, safe, and confident in a happy ending.

When my senior theology class was assigned biographies, the teacher told us we could execute our project in any form we wanted. My subject was Albert Einstein and I chose to make a film about him. I wrote the script and my best friend played Albert. It was a comedic biopic where I told the story of Albert Einstein’s life in about five minutes. The end credits rolled and I took the VHS out of machine. My classmates just shook their heads like I was an asshole for wasting five minutes of their lives. It didn’t matter. I was hooked. I caught the filmmaking bug and later applied to colleges with respected film programs.

I studied filmmaking in Boston. The program was strong in film theory but weak in film production. I edited my first five short films on a Steinbeck. Editing one film on a flatbed makes sense, but five (in the 2000’s) is absurd. College exposed me to some amazing films and filmmakers. Bergman, Tarkovsky, Godard, Kurosawa – they all played a positive role in redefining the way I looked at film. College also introduced me to some young filmmakers who quickly became and remain some of my best friends. These friends helped me write and direct my senior film, an absurd comedy about a band of misfits that come together to save the banana from going extinct. The film was a relative success as far as silly student films go but wasn’t about to find its way into Cannes or Sundance.

I graduated from college and moved to Los Angeles not having much clue how the business side of the film business works. (Actually, I’m still confused). That didn’t stop me from starting a production company with seven of my closest college friends. We had a clever name, “F8 Pictures”, so I figured we’d be all set. I don’t remember exactly what our plan was, but I think our goal had something to do with opening our own studio, having arms in LA, NY, Boston and Sydney, ruling the film business, starting a new Hollywood in the suburbs of Boston and ending world hunger. I dissolved the company within the year. Apparently you need to pay small business taxes or something like that.

In Los Angeles I started working on films as a production assistant. Some small independents, some big budget Hollywood fair. This gave me conversation starters when my family interrogated me about life in Hollywood, but it left me creatively unfulfilled. I didn’t have the money to make another short film so I decided to concentrate on writing. When self-motivation wasn’t enough, I enrolled in a highly respected screenwriting program in Los Angeles. The program helped refine my skills as a screenwriter. I wrote one coming of age story (it wasn’t very good) and one family comedy (which I’m shopping around).

My family comedy got the young producer interested in my work. My latest project, the original sitcom that I wrote (based on the material of a standup comedienne), got the manager interested in my work.

I still play basketball twice a week.

... and for my next trick ? (002)

Though you never would have guessed it by reading my morose introductory blog, my manager thinks that I should be writing a comedy for my next project. She likes my “comedic voice” (it sounds something like James Earl Jones) and thinks she has the best shot at selling a comedy for me. The young producer agrees and adds that it should be a romantic comedy due to the success of recent romantic comedies at the box office. Also, there is a junior executive at a major studio that has shown interest in a particular “romcom” idea that I informally pitched him over a brunch at Jerry’s Famous.

My decision sounds easy, but there are a couple problems. First of all, I have issues with this romantic comedy that I pitched over brunch at Jerry’s Famous. Primarily, I don’t think there is anything funny about it. You see, the characters don’t have goals and there is no plot. Secondly, I haven’t even sold a script and I’m already worried about being typecast as a comedy writer. I don’t want to only write comedies. Granted, I’m in a much better mood when I write comedy, but I want to experiment working in other genres. For instance, I have a rough treatment for a psychological thriller that I want to turn into a script.

Third of all (thirdly?), I’d really prefer to write, direct and star in a film about the political turmoil in Lebanon and how it ties into the history of the middle east, especially the late 1970’s and early 80’s -- with a focus on religion, sports, and what it means to “be Lebanese.” I do feel that it would be beneficially to go to Lebanon before writing that film. I will put that one on hold… for now.

So, I must decide what to do next and commit to whatever that project is. I’m wasting far too much time weighing my options. Romantic Comedy or Psychological Thriller? How about a PsychRomThrillCom?

Opening Hook & Central Question

The next three years will be very important for this unemployed writer. I will either “make it” or admit that I have failed as a screenwriter in the film business. That gives me until age thirty. If I have not “made it” by age thirty, then I will pack it in and devote the following three years to a new business venture. By age thirty-three I should have enough success in that new business venture to buy a home and start a family. But this blog isn’t about that new business. This blog is about my writing career and how I can find a way to have one.

My definition of “making it” is a bit loose. Six years ago I defined “making it” in the film business as writing and directing a hit film that was either praised by critics or garnered an adoring cult following. Today I define “making it” as getting paid enough to write and/or direct so that I don’t need to take a second job to pay the bills. In three years I may decide that “making it” means something completely different, but for now I’m working with the getting paid definition.

The current state of my “writing career” is as follows: I have a literary manager working to sell my original scripts and find me writing jobs. I have a young producer attached to a couple of my projects, working to get them into the right hands. I am writing as often as I can. I work odd jobs whenever the opportunity arises in order to pay the rent. I am on unemployment.

I have completed the following:

1 Feature Length Animated Family Comedy
1 Spec script of a popular TV sitcom
1 Original sitcom pilot (co-written)
1 Original comedy feature (rewrite/co-written)
1 Original sitcom pilot (rewrite)

While we work to sell my screenplays and/or find me a writing job, I plan to continue to write scripts in order to increase my odds of “making it.”

I’ve started this blog for a couple of reasons. I am going to write those reason in the form of a list because I like lists and they make me feel productive:

Reason 1. I love writing, but writing also sucks. I’m hoping that this blog can help as a source of motivation. If I put my deadlines out there for the world (or at least a couple of friends) to see, then I might be driven to follow through on those deadlines.

Reason 2. If I’m having writers block on a certain screenplay, instead of surfing the web, I hope to write a blog entry to help jumpstart my brain and get me back in the flow of writing.

Reason 3. I hope that other writers might read the blog and either commiserate or offer helpful suggestions.

Reason 4. If I do fail, I want to have an account of my trials so that I can look back and remember that I did everything in my power to succeed. And hopefully, others can learn from my mistakes.

Check back now and again because I will post my writing schedule, writing frustrations, and also career advancement (or setback) updates.

Wish me luck.