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I sent these bad boys to the Nickelodeon Comedy Shorts Program. The art was rushed and looked like a five year old did it, but was otherwise acceptable. These are fun characters. The blue goat is called Merlin Dairyheart and the llama on the right is called Curt St. Way.
It’s been a long time coming, but at last the store for Lamington is up and running. I’m excited because now people have a place to buy the official greeting cards online, and they can pick up stickers, buttons and mugs, too. Check it out and tell everybody.
First shot of the characters together. More soon.
I ate a bunch of unhealthy food, met some folks in the film industry, drank too much free beer and saw some movies. Did I mention the unhealthy food? It will take months to recover. That was my SXSW.
So what about the movies? It was an eclectic bunch. That’s the best part about festivals, the selections are so new no one has heard of most of them, so you have to take a chance on what you see. Missed a couple of things due to timing, but here’s what I did see.
The ultrasecret Joss Whedon/Drew Goddard horror that sat on MGM’s shelf for two years. It’s mind-bogglingly fantastic. Knowing too much will ruin the experience – take my advice, go in cold and be prepared for awesomeness. If you weren’t feeling generous you could say it’s too silly (which it is), but I had so much fun with it I refuse to complain. Is it better than all other horror movies? No. It IS all other horror movies.
Willem Defoe hunting a thought-to-be extinct Tasmanian Tiger in the redneck backwaters of Tasmanian. This was a muddle. The central idea is pretty strong, but the writers added complexity with the introduction of some eco warriors, violent loggers, shadowy corporations, drug-addled mothers, hippy kids and a big conspiracy. Which all serves to dilute the point of the story, which was… I’m not sure. Not recommended.
Not a huge fan of Jonah Hill or Channing Tatum, but they killed it. It’s so well put together, it reminds me of THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, where the characters are feel real and there’s some heart/truth there. Surprisingly good.
I’m a big fan of the original [REC], never saw the sequel, but was interested in the premise for this one. It’s set during a big wedding, so the found footage aspect makes a lot of sense, as well as the drama of such an important day and having a family of loved ones in peril. What I was not expecting was that they ditched the found footage conceit a quarter of the way though (in a rather nice way), so it becomes a straight up horror movie. It was bonkers, really over the top with ideas and situations and gore. Way goofier than I thought it would be, most of the scares and kills are played for laughs.
Great documentary about an inner city school in Brooklyn with a killer chess team. It shows the huge impact of the recession on after school programs that are so important in the US. I have to say, these kids were amazing. They are smart as hell, funny and tireless in trying to get things done. One kid, Pobo, is nothing short of a legend and he’s only like twelve. I loved it.
Another documentary. This one played to the Austin crowd because it focused on the city’s garbage collectors and one white lady’s attempt to get them to put on a public performance art piece. Obviously, they didn’t want to do it because it sounds stupid (and it was) but she convinces them anyway. It was kind of weak, apart from a couple of genuine characters, the thrust of the doc was contrived. These events would not have happened unless the filmmakers hadn’t invaded that world and made these people do things outside of their comfort zone, so it kind of rings false. But like I said, the local crowd ate it up. One person even said it was Oscar-worthy and made them proud to be a human, so what do I know?
This is my first time at SXSW. I’m here for the Film part of the festival, which seems like the red-headed stepchild of the bunch. The Interactive portion seems to have swallowed everything up and I now have a Pavlovian reaction whenever I see someone wearing an orange lanyard. I brace myself for a chat about UX and HTML5 frameworks or something.
Anyway, it’s been good so far. Saw CABIN IN THE WOODS and THE HUNTER, caught a bunch of panels and have been going to the Mentor Sessions, where you get to sit down one-on-one with some industry professionals. I’ve met a producer and an art director and I’m lined up to meet another producer and a writer. These are the best things about the conference so far.
And the worst thing? The weather. Holy shit. The heavens opened for three whole days. Try standing in that for an hour.
OK, let’s talk about scripts. I mean, if you want to write them, you have to read them. Science fact. I’ve been working hard at my day job, so I have to fit in reading on the subway ride there and back. Basically the most uncomfortable environment known to man or farm animal. A New York City subway car in rush hour is the nadir of civilization and people don’t even give you enough room to hold a Kindle DX, but I persevere because I want to win an Oscar.
The spec script everyone’s been talking about for the last few weeks. Uncovered and championed by Carson Reeves at Scriptshadow, it received major attention and now writer Tyler Marceca is signed to WME. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
The script is fantastic. It’s purposeful and muscular, every scene has a dramatic element to it and the opening ten pages make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The story is basically a version of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, but it’s so well told it’s never anything less than riveting. (This goes back to what I was saying last week about execution.)
A couple of nitpicks are that it’s a little overwritten, a twist shows itself way too early and it doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the opening scenes. But they really are nitpicks. This script has already inspired me a great deal. Congratulations to Tyler, the talented swine.
Pretty solid sci-fi spec by Morgan Jurgenson and David Daniels about a famous author (who’s also a huge nerd) getting caught up in an intergalactic war exactly like the one he writes about in his books.
The tone is really flimsy, and the characters are a bit stock for my liking. They’re ‘playing’ with ‘genre conventions’. There’s a grizzled cop and his partner, an annoying wimpy sci-fi fan, a hot girl from space and some ugly space heavies. It plays out exactly how you imagine – it’s like MEN IN BLACK/GALAXY QUEST/ROUNDTABLE. Like I said, solid, but not inspired.
Epic original sci-fi by Josh Friedman. This is a weird one. It seems like it’s adapted from a set of revered novels, but it’s all original. It’s about a man who is ostracised from his people on a city floating in space, left to live the life of a wandering something. I forget what. He must help a woman who will lead the ship to a new planet and start a new life for the millions of inhabitants. So basically, the plot of WALL-E.
Very well written, he’s got an awesome voice (though I’m not a fan of the asides to the reader), and it’s densely plotted and sharply realized. The one thing that confused me was near the end, a long scene involving a tightrope walk and grappling hooks attached to the sky of the city (the sky is made of fabric). It’s not bad, it’s just a really odd moment – he lives in a city that has giant anti-gravity drives and yet there’s no such thing as a jetpack and he’s jumping around like Cirque du Soleil. Still, it’s commendable madness to write this on spec and expect it to get made, but it’s so ambitious I see why it sold.
The Oscars this year were pretty grim. The show is looking tired, Billy Crystal had cobwebs on him and there was a huge glitch with the sound. Not fun. I don’t know why an industry built on entertaining audiences can’t put on a show for one evening, but I’m sure there’s a very good reason. I mean, you have Muppets at your disposal – use them.
I know the Academy can’t control the winners, but there was some crazy shit going on this year. They completely snubbed THE TREE OF LIFE, which is an ambitious and rewarding piece of art/dinosaur footage that should be celebrated. So too should RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – with a monkey that looked so much like a monkey I couldn’t tell it wasn’t a monkey. Flawless. MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL lived up to it’s name because the majority of voters don’t believe it exists. Same goes for SUBMARINE, ATTACK THE BLOCK and DRIVE, which were all exceptional, but completely forgotten about in favour of THE ARTIST, which in a few years will look like to stupidest choice for best picture since CRASH.
So I’m metaphorically joining Sacha Baron-Cohen by dumping Bisquik on to Ryan Seacrest (except in my version it’s hot burning oil), and I say boo to the Oscars in 2012. It was like a circus act crossed with a wake.
Concept is your one stellar idea. You hang an entire story around it. It carries your title, characters and plot all the way to awesomeville and back again. Hollywood prizes high concepts above all else, they’re pretty much the currency they trade in and people’s careers have been made (and sustained) on them. So there’s a lot of emphasis, and rightly so.
Examples of excellent concepts are things like LIAR LIAR (a lawyer can’t lie), TRADING PLACES (rich guy and poor guy swap lives) and FINAL DESTINATION (death comes back for people he missed). Boom, you’ve got the movie in your head in one second. A thousand possibilities immediately spring to mind. Half your work is done for you – your concept is a series of ‘What If?’ questions and all you need to do is answer them. A good concept can even sell a bad script, because studios know they can fix the details later as long as the magic is there at the beginning. But here’s the thing… I think the details ARE the concept, or at the very least, they’re how you present it to the world. And presentation is everything.
Take a concept and look at two executions of it. Let’s say it’s the idea of entering a world inside the human mind. On the one hand you’ve got INCEPTION and on the other you’ve got THE LAWNMOWER MAN. Pretty big difference.
Think about BACK TO THE FUTURE. That is a prime example of perfect execution. You name it, they nailed it. I like to think about the million other directions it could have taken. I remember seeing the film for the first time as a kid with my Dad. I was bouncing down the street afterwards, and I asked my Dad if he liked it. He did, although he was surprised they had a time machine but only went back thirty years. He thought they were going to visit Ancient Rome or somewhere, all these places throughout history (he would have made a shitty screenwriter). Now, with the concept they had (guy invents time machine, kid accidentally uses it), they had that option – but they restrained themselves and it was a great choice. Hell, the time machine itself was originally a fridge. Doc Brown was originally called Professor Brown, and he had a chimpanzee called Shemp. Eric Stoltz was Marty McFly. God have mercy on us all.
The point is, having an idea is one thing. Inspiration hits us all the time. But the execution of that idea is everything. What you chose to focus on, what you chose to leave out, how you take something that exists and give it a twist – this is just as important as the concept itself, maybe more so.
What I learned: This is where I’m at with a sci-fi thriller I’m writing. The concept has a lot to do with time travel, so I’m facing world of infinite possibilities and choices. It’s the easiest thing to overload a project with ‘cool shit’, but that’s a mistake. Do what best serves your concept and edit all the other stuff out. Take what you DO have and make it the best, most exciting version possible. That way you’ll be writing the next BACK TO THE FUTURE and not the next FREEJACK.
First Paramount update their logo, now Universal. Madness. It’s very blue and shiny, which is exactly what I think people from 1912 would expect from us a hundred years in the future.
John August is taking some heat on his blog for a rather frivolous post about how to write a script. People are getting all bent out of shape that he didn’t help out a ‘noob’ with the ‘basics’ (even though he has two sites and a podcast dedicated to that). Anyway, if this so-called screenwriter won’t come down from his ivory tower long enough to help out, then I’ll just have to pick up the slack. My credentials? I’ve been reviewed Scriptshadow! Can John August boast the same? I think not.
Here’s the incendiary message in full. I’ll break it down line by line:
Dear John August,
or whomever will read this,
That’s me. Hello.
I have a few questions, I have come up with a great idea for a movie and I am wondering how to get the idea out there.
Congratulations on your great idea. Getting it out there isn’t as easy. The right person (in Hollywood) has to hear about it. They also need to have lots of money, lots of power, like you as a person and be in a good mood when the hear it. So, persistence is absolutely the key. And being super cool.
I want to write a script for the movie. I can vision it so perfectly in my mind. How much do I need to type up?
All of it. Do not write less than 90 pages or more than 110 pages. This is important. Some poor bastard has to read it at the end of a long day, so try for under 100.
How can I get it copyrighted?
You can do it online at the Library of Congress or the WGA. But don’t worry too much about this. Just by writing it, you’re the author, so it’s yours. No one will steal it.
Where do I go from there?
You have two choices, either rewrite your first script, or start your second script.
My idea is to send it straight to the movie companies but is that the best choice? I need some info on it.
You mean like the Majors? Unfortunately, they won’t be available as they are very busy. They won’t read your script for a number of reasons. Firstly, it opens them up to getting sued if they make a film even remotely like yours. Secondly, there’s just too much material out there. They use agents, producers and actors as a kind of filter for what’s good – before it gets to the Studios, someone, somewhere has thought highly of that project. Thirdly, they have a very large pool of established professionals that they can draw upon for projects. A better scenario is to use what contacts you have in the entertainment industry and ask them to read your script. If they like it, they might in turn pass it on to someone they know who can help you, and so on. Lastly, you can submit it blindly to a couple of management/production companies. This is like farting in the wind, but you never know, if it’s strong enough, someone might smell it.
If something could be set up how long would it take and how fast would this screenplay/script need to be written.
What, you haven’t written the script yet? This is all backwards. You have to write the script first, otherwise no one will be able to judge if the story is strong enough to invest millions of dollars in making it. You can’t just show up with a piece of paper. I wish you could, I have at least 175 great ideas for movies. But ideas are easy, what people love and what studios pay big bucks for is the execution of that idea.
If you are lucky enough for something to be set up, be patient. It will likely take about three years before the movie is released.
As for how fast a script needs to be written, it varies. For spec scripts, expect to have your first draft done in about 8 weeks, then give it as long as it takes to do the rewrite. Heck, spend a year and make it perfect. You’ll learn a ton. If you’re a professional who’s writing on assignment, I think you get less time, like six weeks for a first draft. I can’t remember. Check John August site for the exact info– oh wait, scratch that.
I am looking forward to a response.
You’re welcome. And hey, don’t be discouraged. Writing a script is a lot of work, it’s a thousand decisions and a hundred problems that all have to be solved, but it’s the most creatively rewarding and satisfying thing there is. Good luck with it.
I sent these bad boys to the Nickelodeon Comedy Shorts Program. The art was rushed and looked like a five year old did it, but was otherwise acceptable. These are fun characters. The blue goat is called Merlin Dairyheart and the llama on the right is called Curt St. Way.
It’s been a long time coming, but at last the store for Lamington is up and running. I’m excited because now people have a place to buy the official greeting cards online, and they can pick up stickers, buttons and mugs, too. Check it out and tell everybody.
First shot of the characters together. More soon.
I ate a bunch of unhealthy food, met some folks in the film industry, drank too much free beer and saw some movies. Did I mention the unhealthy food? It will take months to recover. That was my SXSW. So what about the movies? It was an eclectic bunch. That’s the best part about festivals,…
This is my first time at SXSW. I’m here for the Film part of the festival, which seems like the red-headed stepchild of the bunch. The Interactive portion seems to have swallowed everything up and I now have a Pavlovian reaction whenever I see someone wearing an orange lanyard. I brace myself for a chat…
OK, let’s talk about scripts. I mean, if you want to write them, you have to read them. Science fact. I’ve been working hard at my day job, so I have to fit in reading on the subway ride there and back. Basically the most uncomfortable environment known to man or farm animal. A New…
The Oscars this year were pretty grim. The show is looking tired, Billy Crystal had cobwebs on him and there was a huge glitch with the sound. Not fun. I don’t know why an industry built on entertaining audiences can’t put on a show for one evening, but I’m sure there’s a very good reason.…
Concept is your one stellar idea. You hang an entire story around it. It carries your title, characters and plot all the way to awesomeville and back again. Hollywood prizes high concepts above all else, they’re pretty much the currency they trade in and people’s careers have been made (and sustained) on them. So there’s…
First Paramount update their logo, now Universal. Madness. It’s very blue and shiny, which is exactly what I think people from 1912 would expect from us a hundred years in the future.
John August is taking some heat on his blog for a rather frivolous post about how to write a script. People are getting all bent out of shape that he didn’t help out a ‘noob’ with the ‘basics’ (even though he has two sites and a podcast dedicated to that). Anyway, if this so-called screenwriter won’t come down from his ivory…