I recently gave some thought as to what it takes to break into the industry. When looking at those that have recently hit it big, whether writing or directing, they seem to fall into only two genres: horror and comedy.
I know there are a lot of new indie directors that make poignent masterpieces that illicit deep thought and question the moral compass of the everyman, but very few of those are true breakout hits (though there are some). So, statistically speaking, the surest bet would be to go with the aforementioned horror or comedy.
Two problems spring to mind though within each of these genres; modern horror was gone from scary to torture porn or remakes of Japanese movie and comedy has moved into BIG ACTOR DOING FUNNY JOB (with notable exceptions). I like going off in my own direction when it comes to writing and that may pose so problems, most of all being the commerciality of the script. If you want to do your original, daring work you have to be established first, so in order to do so, should one sacrifice a little originality for commercialism?
I don't know the answer, which is why I'm writing out this blog and not working on a script. Most people are going to say "go with your gut instinct, write the script you want to write, be original and daring!" and as much as I like doing that, it's what I did with the soon to be retitled "Vengeance" after all, is that really the course of action that's going to get me my in? A solid script is a solid script but the hardest thing is to get a studio to take a chance on an unknown without something that has a built in audience. A psychological thriller may not be the way to go, so I've been looking at, once again, horror or comedy.
A low budget horror movie has been a huge jumping point for a lot of writer/directors: John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and Eli Roth. They got their script and directed their own movie, which ultimately is what I'd like to do, but I wouldn't mind selling my screenplays either. Horror movies have established audiences. If it falls into the horror category, a certain amount of people will go regardless of what critics say. If I were to write a horror movie that could be filmed cheaply, would that help my chances of breaking into the film industry? Possibly, but should it be original? Derivative? What do people want to see... it's a lot of guesswork. Ultimately I could try raising money myself and write a movie that could be filmed cheap enough, without taking away from the feel, and just doing it myself and screening it at festivals. A possibility, if I knew some people with money.
A comedy is very hit or miss. Scary is scary but funny is subjective. I have kind of a dry humor, with a lot of observational, situational and societal humor. In short, I don't do slapstick. Once in awhile maybe, but overall I go for the dialogue laughs so the view has to pay semi-attention to what's going on. The question is should I balance the slapstick with the dialogue, stick to what I prefer, or go for straight slapstick (Slapstick to me is not just bodily humor but one liner after one liner after one liner. Like a Will Ferrell movie). Society as a whole today seems to prefer this sort of thing, escapism perhaps, than a Clerks type of movie.
Still, I have one horror script and two comedies that I'm working on at the moment (not at the same time) and I'm trying to figure out which one to focus on the most. I'm leaning towards horror in the off chance I might be able to make the movie myself and go down that route. Still, I really enjoy the comedies and may develop those and take my own advice and balance out the dialogue with some throwaway silliness. I'll keep at it regardless. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
What's in a Name?
Brian, one of the writers of "Whale Farts" came across my blog (presumably by typing "Whale Farts" into Google) and left a few comments regarding "Why Whale Farts?" and the answer, in short, was "buzz."
The title needs to draw the reader in, in his own words, "...believe me, we wrestled with it for ages. In the end, we threw out the banal, expected, commercial titles and opted for one that we thought would at least make a potential reader wonder, "Hmm, I wonder what the heck this is about." Gotta say, seems to have worked." I will say it worked on me. I picked his title at random from a field of about 300 in the Scriptapalooza semi-finals (quarter finals?) and decided to extrapolate my own story from it.
Even so, in my previous entry Brian backpedaled a little saying, "Don't throw in the towel. I think the lesson is that it's the material, not the title that matters." Which I would agree with (even though he still hasn't revealed what "Whale Farts" is about) but what about the initial hurdle of getting the reader interested in what lies beyond the cover page? That's where a razzle-dazzle title will come into play. Then again Brian has left me with one small nugget of wisdom, "Of maybe the lesson is that 'fart' equals big bucks. I'm still not sure yet." And to that I have to agree. Fart appeals to the lowest common denominator, and looking at the majority out there, that's who you need to impress.
Let's look at the title of the script I've been entering, "Vengeance." Perhaps that's a little too high-brow for some people. Maybe they don't know what the word means? I can scale it back and re-title the script, "Revenge" ... but vengeance means violent revenge, more specifically infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person. It's exactly what my story is about. I could title it "The Revenge" and just go with a word that everyone knows what it means, but to me it's just not powerful enough. Revenge is to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong. Kind of run of the mill... people seek revenge for a stolen pen. Vengeance is an entirely different league or revenge. It's Revenge plus. That's a good title, "Revenge Plus" ... or I could change a few scenes to a wedding reception and call it "Revenge Plus One" or even a restaurant, "Revenge: Part of Three" since that would also encompass the three characters the story focuses most on.
I could also go the silly route as "Whale Farts" has done. I could call it "Junkies in Lust" or maybe "Killing Sam." Both of these sound intriguing, there's a specific topic that comes up, it makes you wonder, "what kind of junkies? "how are they going to kill him" and more importantly, "Why?"
I could also just go really silly and call it "Cock Goblin" and somehow incorporate a rooster or maybe a penis into the script. Maybe both, no? The goblin part really has nothing to do with anything but it sounds funny.
All in all though, Shawn from Nuke It From Orbit went the extra mile and helped me out. I must say, a little tweaking to a back story here, a line there and the title could have real meaning. It screams out bad 50's B-horror/sci-fi movie (mainly because he told me it did) and I think in all honesty, I'll pick a contest and random and enter it with this title. What's thirty dollars compared to seeing this:
Finalists
"Sam and the Junkies in Lust VS. The Cockgoblin of Ft. Bledsoe!" by Michael
The title needs to draw the reader in, in his own words, "...believe me, we wrestled with it for ages. In the end, we threw out the banal, expected, commercial titles and opted for one that we thought would at least make a potential reader wonder, "Hmm, I wonder what the heck this is about." Gotta say, seems to have worked." I will say it worked on me. I picked his title at random from a field of about 300 in the Scriptapalooza semi-finals (quarter finals?) and decided to extrapolate my own story from it.
Even so, in my previous entry Brian backpedaled a little saying, "Don't throw in the towel. I think the lesson is that it's the material, not the title that matters." Which I would agree with (even though he still hasn't revealed what "Whale Farts" is about) but what about the initial hurdle of getting the reader interested in what lies beyond the cover page? That's where a razzle-dazzle title will come into play. Then again Brian has left me with one small nugget of wisdom, "Of maybe the lesson is that 'fart' equals big bucks. I'm still not sure yet." And to that I have to agree. Fart appeals to the lowest common denominator, and looking at the majority out there, that's who you need to impress.
Let's look at the title of the script I've been entering, "Vengeance." Perhaps that's a little too high-brow for some people. Maybe they don't know what the word means? I can scale it back and re-title the script, "Revenge" ... but vengeance means violent revenge, more specifically infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person. It's exactly what my story is about. I could title it "The Revenge" and just go with a word that everyone knows what it means, but to me it's just not powerful enough. Revenge is to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong. Kind of run of the mill... people seek revenge for a stolen pen. Vengeance is an entirely different league or revenge. It's Revenge plus. That's a good title, "Revenge Plus" ... or I could change a few scenes to a wedding reception and call it "Revenge Plus One" or even a restaurant, "Revenge: Part of Three" since that would also encompass the three characters the story focuses most on.
I could also go the silly route as "Whale Farts" has done. I could call it "Junkies in Lust" or maybe "Killing Sam." Both of these sound intriguing, there's a specific topic that comes up, it makes you wonder, "what kind of junkies? "how are they going to kill him" and more importantly, "Why?"
I could also just go really silly and call it "Cock Goblin" and somehow incorporate a rooster or maybe a penis into the script. Maybe both, no? The goblin part really has nothing to do with anything but it sounds funny.
All in all though, Shawn from Nuke It From Orbit went the extra mile and helped me out. I must say, a little tweaking to a back story here, a line there and the title could have real meaning. It screams out bad 50's B-horror/sci-fi movie (mainly because he told me it did) and I think in all honesty, I'll pick a contest and random and enter it with this title. What's thirty dollars compared to seeing this:
Finalists
"Sam and the Junkies in Lust VS. The Cockgoblin of Ft. Bledsoe!" by Michael
Monday, August 20, 2007
Still Truckin' Along... with Whale Farts?
After a few weeks of focusing on writing and getting back into a good groove I've been making some decent progress on several stories. Nothing is finished yet so I'll still be pushing "Vengeance" on the unsuspecting masses for now.
In one of the comments on a previous post someone named Chris (I'd link but everytime I click I get an error message) mentioned DoneDealPro and I thought it wise to check it out. The site looks pretty good, going over the latest Hollywood business happenings, what sort of script studios are looking for, and if they're even looking. The price is pretty cheap so I think I may sign up for a subscription and see if I can get my name out there a little more.
I'm a little torn on whether I should wait till after I go through the development service or before... or to do both at the same time. I'm a little (a lot) strapped for cash this month with a flux of bills that seemed to come out of nowhere so I think I'll push back the development service until next month. Another few weeks of polishing up other things isn't exactly going to hurt.
On a side note, I just went to the Scriptapalooza website... and Whale Farts won. I'm not even kidding.
Dear readers, you are now witnessing a turning point in my screenwriting career. I will now and forever more never enter another contest unless I get such a strong recommendation that I can't possibly pass it up. Other than that... this is it. On a single title alone I can't possibly bring myself to give any contest anymore money. I don't care if Whale Farts is Citizen Kane meets Casablanca with a twist of Usual Suspects all wrapped up in a Forrest Gump sweetheart package. It's called Whale Farts.
Maybe I'll develop my own Whale Farts concepts from a few posts ago.
/sigh
In one of the comments on a previous post someone named Chris (I'd link but everytime I click I get an error message) mentioned DoneDealPro and I thought it wise to check it out. The site looks pretty good, going over the latest Hollywood business happenings, what sort of script studios are looking for, and if they're even looking. The price is pretty cheap so I think I may sign up for a subscription and see if I can get my name out there a little more.
I'm a little torn on whether I should wait till after I go through the development service or before... or to do both at the same time. I'm a little (a lot) strapped for cash this month with a flux of bills that seemed to come out of nowhere so I think I'll push back the development service until next month. Another few weeks of polishing up other things isn't exactly going to hurt.
On a side note, I just went to the Scriptapalooza website... and Whale Farts won. I'm not even kidding.
Dear readers, you are now witnessing a turning point in my screenwriting career. I will now and forever more never enter another contest unless I get such a strong recommendation that I can't possibly pass it up. Other than that... this is it. On a single title alone I can't possibly bring myself to give any contest anymore money. I don't care if Whale Farts is Citizen Kane meets Casablanca with a twist of Usual Suspects all wrapped up in a Forrest Gump sweetheart package. It's called Whale Farts.
Maybe I'll develop my own Whale Farts concepts from a few posts ago.
/sigh
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Bluecat Screenplay Feedback
After having completely written off the Bluecat Screenplay contest and going about other business I checked my e-mail last night and saw that they sent me feedback on my screenplay. I'll spare you guys the explanation of what they specifically liked in the script (as it would also ruin the story and ending, it IS a mystery) and skip right to the end. This is straight from a section of the analysis entitled "What I Think Needs Work":
"Nothing at all. This is a great story, it is written very well. The pacing, the plot, the characters, everything here works. I think you have a great shot of placing this script with a studio. Best of luck!"
So what's the problem with these contests exactly? Have I really gone down the "too commercial" route to win these contests? Maybe I should look into some studio contests. I know I'm not giving the "more of the same" type of story, I have a lot of unique elements and a fun approach to things, but come on, at least let me get to the finals!
Even so, I then scrolled up in the e-mail to see what else was mentioned in regards to the contest itself and I found this paragraph squeezed in the middle:
"I was very moved by the personal nature of the writing submitted this year. I love when writers tell us how about what they know about life, what they care about life, by making themselves truly vulnerable in their writing. When a writer creates from within, they love what they write, and in turn, so do we. BlueCat will always recognize and reward this brave writing."
Personal nature of the writing? Of course the writing is personal, I wrote it! The thing I have a problem with is "writers tell us how about what they know about life, what they care about life, by making themselves truly vulnerable in their writing." Grammar aside it sounds as though in order to win the Bluecat contest one must make a heartfelt drama that gets to the depths of human emotion. Naturally I'm going to write Steel Magnolias 2: Cry Harder and blow everyone else away next year. I create from within, I love what I write, so what if I write a murder mystery, it comes from the heart... and so help me god I'll kill you if you don't believe me!
Brave writing... how could writing be brave? It seems that the majority of personal stories out there all cover the fragility of human emotion, suffering as a result of the human condition: jealousy, hate, greed, love, lust, etc. Bravery in writing is kind of a misnomer... you're putting your characters through events and sure, you're supposed to get sucked in emotionally to the story but come on, it's my character suffering through cancer and then finding out they had sex with their biological sister that they didn't know was their sister because of adoption. Oh wait, that's bravery in the world of Funky Winkerbean.
In short, it seems that they want an emotional tour de force, not a murder mystery roller coaster tour de force. Still, it's studio material, I just need to find a way to get Vengeance in the hands of a studio! Now the script development service seems like a very promising avenue.
Also, here's what they said about the winner, "On that note, I want to congratulate again our winner, Ana Lily Amirpour, and her screenplay, THE STONES. Her script is so beautiful and important, and from what I've gathered in the week I've known her, Lily is quite a person."
Important? I think it's all coming into perspective, Gordy Hoffman wrote Love Liza a movie about Phillip Seymour Hoffman's wife (hey, they're brothers, what a small world!) killing herself and him delving into model airplanes, or.... model somethings and huffing gasoline fumes and then finding himself. Or killing himself too, I fell asleep before it ended. THAT'S the kind of importance he's looking for, I should have known.
As an aside, with a name like Ana Amirpour and a movie called THE STONES... it kind of reminded me of...
"Nothing at all. This is a great story, it is written very well. The pacing, the plot, the characters, everything here works. I think you have a great shot of placing this script with a studio. Best of luck!"
So what's the problem with these contests exactly? Have I really gone down the "too commercial" route to win these contests? Maybe I should look into some studio contests. I know I'm not giving the "more of the same" type of story, I have a lot of unique elements and a fun approach to things, but come on, at least let me get to the finals!
Even so, I then scrolled up in the e-mail to see what else was mentioned in regards to the contest itself and I found this paragraph squeezed in the middle:
"I was very moved by the personal nature of the writing submitted this year. I love when writers tell us how about what they know about life, what they care about life, by making themselves truly vulnerable in their writing. When a writer creates from within, they love what they write, and in turn, so do we. BlueCat will always recognize and reward this brave writing."
Personal nature of the writing? Of course the writing is personal, I wrote it! The thing I have a problem with is "writers tell us how about what they know about life, what they care about life, by making themselves truly vulnerable in their writing." Grammar aside it sounds as though in order to win the Bluecat contest one must make a heartfelt drama that gets to the depths of human emotion. Naturally I'm going to write Steel Magnolias 2: Cry Harder and blow everyone else away next year. I create from within, I love what I write, so what if I write a murder mystery, it comes from the heart... and so help me god I'll kill you if you don't believe me!
Brave writing... how could writing be brave? It seems that the majority of personal stories out there all cover the fragility of human emotion, suffering as a result of the human condition: jealousy, hate, greed, love, lust, etc. Bravery in writing is kind of a misnomer... you're putting your characters through events and sure, you're supposed to get sucked in emotionally to the story but come on, it's my character suffering through cancer and then finding out they had sex with their biological sister that they didn't know was their sister because of adoption. Oh wait, that's bravery in the world of Funky Winkerbean.
In short, it seems that they want an emotional tour de force, not a murder mystery roller coaster tour de force. Still, it's studio material, I just need to find a way to get Vengeance in the hands of a studio! Now the script development service seems like a very promising avenue.
Also, here's what they said about the winner, "On that note, I want to congratulate again our winner, Ana Lily Amirpour, and her screenplay, THE STONES. Her script is so beautiful and important, and from what I've gathered in the week I've known her, Lily is quite a person."
Important? I think it's all coming into perspective, Gordy Hoffman wrote Love Liza a movie about Phillip Seymour Hoffman's wife (hey, they're brothers, what a small world!) killing herself and him delving into model airplanes, or.... model somethings and huffing gasoline fumes and then finding himself. Or killing himself too, I fell asleep before it ended. THAT'S the kind of importance he's looking for, I should have known.
As an aside, with a name like Ana Amirpour and a movie called THE STONES... it kind of reminded me of...
"Drop them Dr. Jones! They will be found, you won't!"
...and that comes from within.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Scriptapalooza
According to an e-mail I received the other day, I've made it to the Quarterfinalist round of the Scriptapalooza competition. This being the second quarterfinal round I've made out of this past round of contests I'm not too sure I'll make it past this, but hey, it's nice to make it somewhere.
I'm still on schedule for sending my script to the development service as mentioned in a past post and I'm trying my best to keep up with my two hours every other night campaign. I know I may not sound particularly confident in regards to this contest, but I am up against scripts that blow mine away, just from the title alone. These are going straight to the top, those with such compelling titles as:
Whale Farts by Brian Price and Samuel W. Gailey
Now, call me crazy here, but what could this possible be about?* There are two roads this can go on and I shall explore them both, just for the benefit of... myself.
Whale Farts is a compelling look at the future of our nation. In a time when our fossil fuel reserves are at an all time low, and the instability in the middle east has lead to broader conflicts across the region and a halt to all exports. Global Warming fears have taken a frightening new twist as increased carbon emissions in the atmosphere have actually thickened the ozone layer, making it almost impossible for solar panels to function while still increasing temperatures to unbearable conditions, causing hurricanes to batter coastal cities year round. In the midst of this crisis, Dr. Gregory Handcrotch bucks the trend, and on a small fishing trawler with a surly crew of New England natives sets out to test his new invention, one that would surely change the course of human history... that which can harness the awesome power of a whale's fart.
Alright, interesting. The Sum of All Fears meets A Perfect Storm meets The Day After Tomorrow. I like it. Get Beck to do the soundtrack and we're there. Okay, let's try this again, only without any thought (yet I'm sure more money):
Whale Farts is the latest comedy creation from the director/producer/key grip that brought you Wedding Crashers and some other recent comedy comes the story of Petie, played by that chubby guy from Knocked Up, a marine biologist fresh out of grad school starting his first real job at Sea Fun Adventure Village. His first assignment? Training Patches, the baby humpback whale. With his friends Joel, that fat guy from Superbad and Larry, the older looking friend of the main guy from Boy Meets World he must try to get Patches ready for his opening performance in two weeks. There's only one problem though: Whale Farts. Nobody will come see a performance that smells like week old krill, so it's up to Petie to fix the problem, reaffirm his friendships through adversity, and win the heart of the pretty dolphin trainer Julie, played by one of the chicks from That 70's Show, possibly the older sister of Topher Grace's character.
There. Whale Farts.
If you're a producer and you'd like me to turn Whale Farts into a feature length screenplay, feel free to drop me a line. Of course this would be selling out my artistic integrity, but hey, I promise I'll do an indie flick for my second one, I promise.
*As an aside, though, I'm not trying to knock anyone else's work, I know people are sensitive out there, I'm just having some fun with a title.
I'm still on schedule for sending my script to the development service as mentioned in a past post and I'm trying my best to keep up with my two hours every other night campaign. I know I may not sound particularly confident in regards to this contest, but I am up against scripts that blow mine away, just from the title alone. These are going straight to the top, those with such compelling titles as:
Whale Farts by Brian Price and Samuel W. Gailey
Now, call me crazy here, but what could this possible be about?* There are two roads this can go on and I shall explore them both, just for the benefit of... myself.
Whale Farts is a compelling look at the future of our nation. In a time when our fossil fuel reserves are at an all time low, and the instability in the middle east has lead to broader conflicts across the region and a halt to all exports. Global Warming fears have taken a frightening new twist as increased carbon emissions in the atmosphere have actually thickened the ozone layer, making it almost impossible for solar panels to function while still increasing temperatures to unbearable conditions, causing hurricanes to batter coastal cities year round. In the midst of this crisis, Dr. Gregory Handcrotch bucks the trend, and on a small fishing trawler with a surly crew of New England natives sets out to test his new invention, one that would surely change the course of human history... that which can harness the awesome power of a whale's fart.
Alright, interesting. The Sum of All Fears meets A Perfect Storm meets The Day After Tomorrow. I like it. Get Beck to do the soundtrack and we're there. Okay, let's try this again, only without any thought (yet I'm sure more money):
Whale Farts is the latest comedy creation from the director/producer/key grip that brought you Wedding Crashers and some other recent comedy comes the story of Petie, played by that chubby guy from Knocked Up, a marine biologist fresh out of grad school starting his first real job at Sea Fun Adventure Village. His first assignment? Training Patches, the baby humpback whale. With his friends Joel, that fat guy from Superbad and Larry, the older looking friend of the main guy from Boy Meets World he must try to get Patches ready for his opening performance in two weeks. There's only one problem though: Whale Farts. Nobody will come see a performance that smells like week old krill, so it's up to Petie to fix the problem, reaffirm his friendships through adversity, and win the heart of the pretty dolphin trainer Julie, played by one of the chicks from That 70's Show, possibly the older sister of Topher Grace's character.
There. Whale Farts.
If you're a producer and you'd like me to turn Whale Farts into a feature length screenplay, feel free to drop me a line. Of course this would be selling out my artistic integrity, but hey, I promise I'll do an indie flick for my second one, I promise.
*As an aside, though, I'm not trying to knock anyone else's work, I know people are sensitive out there, I'm just having some fun with a title.
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