I've been working nonstop on this beast. I rewrote 35 pages in one night, after working a full day. I've got 2 days left, and I'm so close I can see the end. It's so beautiful, I'm crying. And I've done so much in just over a week.
It's at the same level as the others, but the scale is smaller and the characters are so much better. I can visibly see the difference in quality between the characters in both. That was the big problem I had in the last couple scripts. I still have to send it to the readers, but I think this may be the reason this script has been such a problem from day 1.
I brainstormed ideas at work for weeks, and I came up with six pages worth of good shit. Then I lost the papers and couldn't for the life of me find them. I ended up writing it by memory in a single frenzied manic night. My fingers typed for five straight hours, no pauses, breaks, or anything. And I got all of the good stuff. The rest was trashed. I found the sheets and looked at them and found that I actually got the lion's share of it.
And then, when I looked for Shogun, to enter it into this contest, I couldn't find my latest draft. Rather than rewriting it, I opted to gun it on this script. Well, I found the latest draft of Shogun, and I'm going to enter it as well, but this is my fucking flagship. It's absolutely gorgeous, and all of the beats are so tightly connected.
The tattoo may have been the best thing I've ever gotten. Nearly three years later, it's gotten me far. I am a lion. HEAR ME ROAR.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Busting my ass.
I am DYING, folks. I have 18 days to get Attila polished and done before the contest. It's without a doubt my best and strongest contender. For some reason my samurai flick didn't have a saved version of my most recent edit, which is fucking weird. I was DAMN SURE I did it (I remember specific changes I made), but I have nothing to show for it. It may be on my old laptop, but part of me is certain this is the better choice. Attila has better characters, a weaving plot, several twists, and more skullduggery than I've ever put in any single script.
This is my flagship. But I have 18 FUCKING DAYS. This thing was rough-draft-finished four days ago. I usually take a couple months to write these. I mean, I took a lot of time to craft the plot, but this is a rush job. Thank whoever needs to be thanked that it's the holidays, or I'd never find the time.
So I'm going hard. Every spare hour. I give myself one hour alotted each day for myself. All of the rest of it is work or writing. But I'm confident. Shogun was a collective 6, and had no guidelines. It was just me having fun. This is me having fun with characters and using guidelines. I've watched what prior winners have had made, and this is at least on par. I'm kind of excited, because I'm hyperfocusing and I suddenly have a ton of edits to make. Not tough ones either. I'm not stripping or resetting this thing. Just changing things.
The alternative to this is to wait a year, and suffer another year of this going-nowhere crap. If the bus is driving by, I'm going to grab on and slip inside like the liquid metal man. Because I've been doing this obsessively for nearly three years. Saturn is returning, children, I have learned my lesson, and I won't trip at the finish line again. Not this time.
This is my flagship. But I have 18 FUCKING DAYS. This thing was rough-draft-finished four days ago. I usually take a couple months to write these. I mean, I took a lot of time to craft the plot, but this is a rush job. Thank whoever needs to be thanked that it's the holidays, or I'd never find the time.
So I'm going hard. Every spare hour. I give myself one hour alotted each day for myself. All of the rest of it is work or writing. But I'm confident. Shogun was a collective 6, and had no guidelines. It was just me having fun. This is me having fun with characters and using guidelines. I've watched what prior winners have had made, and this is at least on par. I'm kind of excited, because I'm hyperfocusing and I suddenly have a ton of edits to make. Not tough ones either. I'm not stripping or resetting this thing. Just changing things.
The alternative to this is to wait a year, and suffer another year of this going-nowhere crap. If the bus is driving by, I'm going to grab on and slip inside like the liquid metal man. Because I've been doing this obsessively for nearly three years. Saturn is returning, children, I have learned my lesson, and I won't trip at the finish line again. Not this time.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
How I found screenwriting.
I realize that the last post was confusing toward the end, so this is the part where I clarify. EXPOSITION TIME.
So, I went to college for eight years, and switched schools twice, as the second one I went to was going to destroy me. They compounded lies upon lies, and effectively wanted me to pay up or fuck off. So I did what I could, and ended up flunking out of a university, because I couldn't learn a language in one-hour intervals four times a week. Still confuses me how knowing French would help me better understand bone pathologies, but fuck me, right? So, I had 100,000+ tied up in student loans, nothing to show for it, and I was a thousand miles from home.
Naturally, I took up drugs. Because when you're down, may as well go out, amirite? In any case, I was a junkie for a couple years, and I really enjoyed it. I had girlfriends, I had friends, I had fun, I was invited to parties. I had a life, ostensibly! Then the people around me started having shitstorms. My brother (the good kid in the family) had issues with his dog, and it looked like he'd have to put his puppy down. A friend of mine that I had a huge crush on was looking at a similar thing for her cat. And I was still painfully single, drowning in debt, and had serious life problems. Drugs are bad, mkay?
I was hanging out in a buddy's basement one night, toking up, and he mentioned Celt, a free scriptwriting software. None of us had any interest in such things, and even he didn't know why he said it, but the words stuck with me more than any of our conversation.
I was drunk (no drugs, just booze at this point) and I was mad because my life can burn, that's okay. But not the lives of everyone else. So I went to this Episcopal church with big red doors and sat at the base of their big stone cross at 3 AM and went off. If there was anyone running this shit, they needed to account for their actions. Mind you, I was a big member of the secular student alliance, and had been an atheist for a decade. So I didn't really think anyone was listening. I just... went nuts, and tore into whoev er would be a god of this place. Non-denominational fury. God, Allah, Cthulhu, Captain Planet. If they were in charge, I hated them. It ended with me offering to make a sacrifice if these issues were fixed. Bonus points if they were fixed in the correct ways (the dog gets re-homed, and the cat thing was over quickly). I tossed out that if they could set me up with the girl, it would be a big thing.
They did, kind of. The dog thing was fixed two days later, so I buried a d10 I liked in the church garden. The cat lived and didn't need to be put down, so I buried my last septum ring. Just the one left to go, right? One night at work, I stepped out and had a smoke. Looked up at this cluster of three stars and asked whoever was listening if I should ask out the girl with the boyfriend. I was half-way done with the last word and saw a shooting star. That looks like a sign to me, but I couldn't work out if it was a yes or no. I kept talking to her in the mornings after work.
Later at work, after the clients were sleeping, I went on the work computer and dicked around, like I did every night. I looked up Joss Whedon, and found his net worth. It said he was only a screenwriter. He's worth enough to buy an island and put a supervillain lair on it, BTW. But it struck me that if I wrote a script and sold it, I'd be debt-free. And his credentials were good, but some of them were kind of lame. And he still got paid a shitload. But I had no idea where to start. Step one was a mystery.
The next day I went out to the wilderness and hiked way out. I cut wood and made a fire. Cooked lunch over the fire and spoke aloud to the thing that may have shown me the star. I explained that the sign was a bit ambiguous and I needed a firm yes or no. If I found a bone, it was a no. If I found a deer, it was a yes. I had never found a deer here, but I knew they were around. I also studied paleontology, so spotting bones is a thing my brain is attuned to. I walked back to my car after a while and went out of my way any time I thought I found one, but it was always just sticks. I got a hundred feet from my car and was dead convinced that the whole thing was a coincidence. I said it out loud, and again, as I said the last word, I heard a SNAP, turned, and saw a deer standing not twenty feet from me. It knew I was there before I saw it. It had to have, as I was not quiet.
The next day, I asked her over to ask her out, and I did. She politely declined, as she had a boyfriend. I respect that (now). But at the time, I went off, like a child, and effectively burned that bridge. So now I had no one to talk to in the mornings after work. A little voice in the back of my mind asked "What about that screenwriting thing?" I google-searched "How to write a movie script" and spent the next week absorbing everything I could about it. At first the basics, then I tried my hand at writing. I wrote a godawful script I'll leave chained in the basement until I die and society forgets it ever existed in the first place. But it was proof that I could do it.
That was two and half years ago. I've been writing nearly every day since, with few exceptions. I'm on my 10th script now. The people who write the books say they typically find success around 12, but I'm prepared to go to 20, because I like my stories. I like having stories in my head that I can pull out at any point. I like having a hobby that's free that does more than destroy myself. If they buy my scripts, perfect. If not, life will go on.
The little voice that first suggested it is back, telling me that it wouldn't have said it if it didn't think I could do it. If it's a deity, then I, a once-avowed atheist, believe in it 100%. If it's madness, then let me never go sane.
So, I went to college for eight years, and switched schools twice, as the second one I went to was going to destroy me. They compounded lies upon lies, and effectively wanted me to pay up or fuck off. So I did what I could, and ended up flunking out of a university, because I couldn't learn a language in one-hour intervals four times a week. Still confuses me how knowing French would help me better understand bone pathologies, but fuck me, right? So, I had 100,000+ tied up in student loans, nothing to show for it, and I was a thousand miles from home.
Naturally, I took up drugs. Because when you're down, may as well go out, amirite? In any case, I was a junkie for a couple years, and I really enjoyed it. I had girlfriends, I had friends, I had fun, I was invited to parties. I had a life, ostensibly! Then the people around me started having shitstorms. My brother (the good kid in the family) had issues with his dog, and it looked like he'd have to put his puppy down. A friend of mine that I had a huge crush on was looking at a similar thing for her cat. And I was still painfully single, drowning in debt, and had serious life problems. Drugs are bad, mkay?
I was hanging out in a buddy's basement one night, toking up, and he mentioned Celt, a free scriptwriting software. None of us had any interest in such things, and even he didn't know why he said it, but the words stuck with me more than any of our conversation.
I was drunk (no drugs, just booze at this point) and I was mad because my life can burn, that's okay. But not the lives of everyone else. So I went to this Episcopal church with big red doors and sat at the base of their big stone cross at 3 AM and went off. If there was anyone running this shit, they needed to account for their actions. Mind you, I was a big member of the secular student alliance, and had been an atheist for a decade. So I didn't really think anyone was listening. I just... went nuts, and tore into whoev er would be a god of this place. Non-denominational fury. God, Allah, Cthulhu, Captain Planet. If they were in charge, I hated them. It ended with me offering to make a sacrifice if these issues were fixed. Bonus points if they were fixed in the correct ways (the dog gets re-homed, and the cat thing was over quickly). I tossed out that if they could set me up with the girl, it would be a big thing.
They did, kind of. The dog thing was fixed two days later, so I buried a d10 I liked in the church garden. The cat lived and didn't need to be put down, so I buried my last septum ring. Just the one left to go, right? One night at work, I stepped out and had a smoke. Looked up at this cluster of three stars and asked whoever was listening if I should ask out the girl with the boyfriend. I was half-way done with the last word and saw a shooting star. That looks like a sign to me, but I couldn't work out if it was a yes or no. I kept talking to her in the mornings after work.
Later at work, after the clients were sleeping, I went on the work computer and dicked around, like I did every night. I looked up Joss Whedon, and found his net worth. It said he was only a screenwriter. He's worth enough to buy an island and put a supervillain lair on it, BTW. But it struck me that if I wrote a script and sold it, I'd be debt-free. And his credentials were good, but some of them were kind of lame. And he still got paid a shitload. But I had no idea where to start. Step one was a mystery.
The next day I went out to the wilderness and hiked way out. I cut wood and made a fire. Cooked lunch over the fire and spoke aloud to the thing that may have shown me the star. I explained that the sign was a bit ambiguous and I needed a firm yes or no. If I found a bone, it was a no. If I found a deer, it was a yes. I had never found a deer here, but I knew they were around. I also studied paleontology, so spotting bones is a thing my brain is attuned to. I walked back to my car after a while and went out of my way any time I thought I found one, but it was always just sticks. I got a hundred feet from my car and was dead convinced that the whole thing was a coincidence. I said it out loud, and again, as I said the last word, I heard a SNAP, turned, and saw a deer standing not twenty feet from me. It knew I was there before I saw it. It had to have, as I was not quiet.
The next day, I asked her over to ask her out, and I did. She politely declined, as she had a boyfriend. I respect that (now). But at the time, I went off, like a child, and effectively burned that bridge. So now I had no one to talk to in the mornings after work. A little voice in the back of my mind asked "What about that screenwriting thing?" I google-searched "How to write a movie script" and spent the next week absorbing everything I could about it. At first the basics, then I tried my hand at writing. I wrote a godawful script I'll leave chained in the basement until I die and society forgets it ever existed in the first place. But it was proof that I could do it.
That was two and half years ago. I've been writing nearly every day since, with few exceptions. I'm on my 10th script now. The people who write the books say they typically find success around 12, but I'm prepared to go to 20, because I like my stories. I like having stories in my head that I can pull out at any point. I like having a hobby that's free that does more than destroy myself. If they buy my scripts, perfect. If not, life will go on.
The little voice that first suggested it is back, telling me that it wouldn't have said it if it didn't think I could do it. If it's a deity, then I, a once-avowed atheist, believe in it 100%. If it's madness, then let me never go sane.
Close of a bad year.
I'm thankful for very little this year. The only truly good thing that happened, at least as far as I can see now (because who knows, things may change down the road) has been that I kept writing. I got fired, moved back with the folks, had my best scripts torn to shreds, was single the whole year, got a job I dislike with a horrible woman who can only be described as villain-fodder, and and had my car, computer, and two xboxen crap out on me. Hell, my online dating profile is even disappointing. So, see ya later, 2015. You were a thing.
This year looks better though. I found my consistent writing weakness and I'm hitting these next two with renewed vigor, specifically aiming to patch up my weak spots, like Smaug slipping armor over his missing scale. Meaning that, once these are done, people should be able to see these and think "This guy is a motherfucking dragon. Let's give him a mound of gold to sleep in!" But in all honesty, dragons are cliche, and 2016 feels good. At least the whiffs I get on the wind are promising.
I'm working on a pair of promising scripts that more-or-less fall in with what the readers told me they wanted. I have new people I can hang out with, and am considering moving to a nearby city. I have a new fighting helmet that should be coming any day now. And it looks like I'll be done with this script's rough draft tonight yet. There's booze in the garage and I just made a new Skyrim character based on my cat.
Strangely, I have this little reassuring voice too, telling me "It's all going to work, just keep going. Keep going until it's done. Trust me, this thing'll happen. I wouldn't lie to you." So either my subconscious has a budding alter-ego that's super positive, it's the thing (I'm hesitant to say deity, because I have no idea what it is.) that told me to do this initially, or I'm programmed to self-motivate. Who fucking knows.
This year looks better though. I found my consistent writing weakness and I'm hitting these next two with renewed vigor, specifically aiming to patch up my weak spots, like Smaug slipping armor over his missing scale. Meaning that, once these are done, people should be able to see these and think "This guy is a motherfucking dragon. Let's give him a mound of gold to sleep in!" But in all honesty, dragons are cliche, and 2016 feels good. At least the whiffs I get on the wind are promising.
I'm working on a pair of promising scripts that more-or-less fall in with what the readers told me they wanted. I have new people I can hang out with, and am considering moving to a nearby city. I have a new fighting helmet that should be coming any day now. And it looks like I'll be done with this script's rough draft tonight yet. There's booze in the garage and I just made a new Skyrim character based on my cat.
Strangely, I have this little reassuring voice too, telling me "It's all going to work, just keep going. Keep going until it's done. Trust me, this thing'll happen. I wouldn't lie to you." So either my subconscious has a budding alter-ego that's super positive, it's the thing (I'm hesitant to say deity, because I have no idea what it is.) that told me to do this initially, or I'm programmed to self-motivate. Who fucking knows.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Long-Ass Update
Okay, some things that I'll try to keep brief.
I did the Blacklist with my other scripts, but ultimately what I found out is that my pacing and action are on-point, but I need to tone down the set pieces, as everyone says they'd be absurdly expensive. Also, they say my characters are flimsy. That can be fixed, and I'm in the process of making the characters for my next two babies beautiful. That aside though, I got a 7 and 5 on Shogun and a 6 and 4 on Anabasis. (Though I think the 4 is undeserved, as he said it was comparable to Troy and 300, which each grossed half a billion dollars.)
The whole thing was a bit of a dick-kick, and I got a bit mopey for a week. Then I remembered that I came as far as I did in only two years, and I NEED actor-bait to get these bitches sold. So my goal for the next year is to master characters. So far, I think my current projects are better. Voice seems to come naturally for them, and they're a bit more...idiosyncratic. Certainly more memorable.
I'm also experimenting with rough-draft pacing. At one point I'd do one scene a day, which was insanely slow. Then I did two a day, and it worked, but was still slow. Now I write the whole thing out on Office, print it, and convert a page a day, so at 20 pages, I'm done with the rough draft in just under three weeks.
Also, the reason I was gone for so long was because my prior laptop gave up the ghost and my fans stopped working. It'd get overheated and straight die. So I got a new one and I'm loving it. It's an Envy. The only thing I dislike is the lack of disk drive and Microsoft Office. That's like selling a car with all the bells and whistles, but no stereo or wheels. Greedy fucks.
Also, I did the online dating thing and I have a date tomorrow with a lovely lady that I hung out with last week. Part of my is all "NO, you don't want to settle down," and another part of me is all "It's dinner, not a wedding ring." So, who fucking knows.
Well, that wasn't long at all. Hardly a disappointing thing though.
I did the Blacklist with my other scripts, but ultimately what I found out is that my pacing and action are on-point, but I need to tone down the set pieces, as everyone says they'd be absurdly expensive. Also, they say my characters are flimsy. That can be fixed, and I'm in the process of making the characters for my next two babies beautiful. That aside though, I got a 7 and 5 on Shogun and a 6 and 4 on Anabasis. (Though I think the 4 is undeserved, as he said it was comparable to Troy and 300, which each grossed half a billion dollars.)
The whole thing was a bit of a dick-kick, and I got a bit mopey for a week. Then I remembered that I came as far as I did in only two years, and I NEED actor-bait to get these bitches sold. So my goal for the next year is to master characters. So far, I think my current projects are better. Voice seems to come naturally for them, and they're a bit more...idiosyncratic. Certainly more memorable.
I'm also experimenting with rough-draft pacing. At one point I'd do one scene a day, which was insanely slow. Then I did two a day, and it worked, but was still slow. Now I write the whole thing out on Office, print it, and convert a page a day, so at 20 pages, I'm done with the rough draft in just under three weeks.
Also, the reason I was gone for so long was because my prior laptop gave up the ghost and my fans stopped working. It'd get overheated and straight die. So I got a new one and I'm loving it. It's an Envy. The only thing I dislike is the lack of disk drive and Microsoft Office. That's like selling a car with all the bells and whistles, but no stereo or wheels. Greedy fucks.
Also, I did the online dating thing and I have a date tomorrow with a lovely lady that I hung out with last week. Part of my is all "NO, you don't want to settle down," and another part of me is all "It's dinner, not a wedding ring." So, who fucking knows.
Well, that wasn't long at all. Hardly a disappointing thing though.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Marketing Report
Still waiting to hear back from the reader for Anabasis, and it's been 10 days. They said they'd get it back to me after 7, so I'm getting concerned. Maybe they're showing it to someone who might be interested. Maybe they're overworked and forgot. It could be either, or anything in between. I am not a patient man.
Also, Shogun's been getting some attention The reader said it was "wonderfully violent" and that Hollywood readers would love it. That it read well, and that the plot and characters were well done. So that's a thing. And at midnight an "industry professional" downloaded it. I have high hopes for it, as I think it's a worthy script, and has potential. Not the best ever, but with the right director, actors, and music, I think it has the potential to give a wonderful gift to our children. A gift of a Ferrari. I don't pretend to be the best, but I put months into that one, and the plot was carefully crafted.
Either way, at this point, it seems like both of my good ones MIGHT be getting attention. I have just enough information to hope for the best.
Also, Shogun's been getting some attention The reader said it was "wonderfully violent" and that Hollywood readers would love it. That it read well, and that the plot and characters were well done. So that's a thing. And at midnight an "industry professional" downloaded it. I have high hopes for it, as I think it's a worthy script, and has potential. Not the best ever, but with the right director, actors, and music, I think it has the potential to give a wonderful gift to our children. A gift of a Ferrari. I don't pretend to be the best, but I put months into that one, and the plot was carefully crafted.
Either way, at this point, it seems like both of my good ones MIGHT be getting attention. I have just enough information to hope for the best.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Captain's Log. Stardate: no clue.
They're up on the Black List. Already got the reads on the two I ordered going. No response yet. Fingers crossed and everything. They're my best two, in my opinion Turncloak is pretty good, and I set it up for a trilogy, so if it's a hit, it'll hits solid money. I didn't try to make it seem like one. It's a solid standalone, if it's not too big. Personally, I just feel like act 2 could use...different events. I can't think of them, but I definitely feel like a couple of the sequences could be diced up and split among the others. That would leave openings for other sequences. Maybe knowing there'll be wiggle room for alterations is a positive thing. I could do it. Make it better.
Also, watching Exodus. I like the ideas, not the execution. Christian Bale is good as Moses. Unfortunately, he's the only character. I mean, sure he has a wife and son, for a total of 3 scenes, and he has a mother for like, two half-scenes. But Ramses isn't a character so much as a plot device. Everything's cool until he decides to chop off some random woman's arm. "You're my buddy's mom? IMMA LOP OFF YER HAND, RAWR!" The beginning of this movie is fucking confusing.
But more grievous is Ramses' mother, who exists for like two scenes. And Aaron and no-pain-guy and old-guy, who all kind of act as random Hebrews. Just poor characterization. The events were epic as hell. They really brought the wrath of CGI god down on everyone. But the viceroy was just a corrupt guy who wasn't fond of Hebrews. Probably because he hated his job, and his job was to make Hebrews do things. I mean, not a good person, but not far enough over to through him over the moral event horizon. Ramses just seems to do whatever the story needs him to do, with not a lot brought to the character, other than their relatedness, and a kid who dies. They made him sympathetic, which I liked. They don't always need to be monsters, but there was no definitive "bad" guy in this story. Maybe God. Not a good moral for a religious flick.
In any case, I keep telling myself that this movie sold. And I really swung for the fences on these. I won't even show the first five scripts I wrote. They're not good enough to be shown. Even though the coverage I got for Space Zombies said it was going to be good with more work, I'm not terribly into it. Maybe later, if I get a career going.
Also, watching Exodus. I like the ideas, not the execution. Christian Bale is good as Moses. Unfortunately, he's the only character. I mean, sure he has a wife and son, for a total of 3 scenes, and he has a mother for like, two half-scenes. But Ramses isn't a character so much as a plot device. Everything's cool until he decides to chop off some random woman's arm. "You're my buddy's mom? IMMA LOP OFF YER HAND, RAWR!" The beginning of this movie is fucking confusing.
But more grievous is Ramses' mother, who exists for like two scenes. And Aaron and no-pain-guy and old-guy, who all kind of act as random Hebrews. Just poor characterization. The events were epic as hell. They really brought the wrath of CGI god down on everyone. But the viceroy was just a corrupt guy who wasn't fond of Hebrews. Probably because he hated his job, and his job was to make Hebrews do things. I mean, not a good person, but not far enough over to through him over the moral event horizon. Ramses just seems to do whatever the story needs him to do, with not a lot brought to the character, other than their relatedness, and a kid who dies. They made him sympathetic, which I liked. They don't always need to be monsters, but there was no definitive "bad" guy in this story. Maybe God. Not a good moral for a religious flick.
In any case, I keep telling myself that this movie sold. And I really swung for the fences on these. I won't even show the first five scripts I wrote. They're not good enough to be shown. Even though the coverage I got for Space Zombies said it was going to be good with more work, I'm not terribly into it. Maybe later, if I get a career going.
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