He's Baaaack!

From my pals at Video Business:


New Concorde has a total of about 150 unreleased titles in its 450-title library.Although the company could "in the very near future" add newly produced releases such as ones currently being done for the Sci Fi Channel, for now it's focusing on its trove of unreleased existing fare, Moreno said. >

150 movies that are unreleased is a lot of product. This is a very tricky time and Corman as to be very careful as to how he does this. Indie distributors are having a tough time right now competing for shelf space with the blockbuster studio titles.

But it is good to see the guy who gave us all the exploitation classics back in the saddle.

Wonder if they'll need any scripts?

Back to Basics

Someone emailed me the other day and said, "Aren't you basically giving us the stuff that all of the other books, seminars, and conferences do when it comes to writing?"

To that I have to say a resounding," YES!"

I'm also showing you what I do, because that's what has worked for me thus far. Judging by the number of email pitches that I get, scripts I read, and verbal crap that gets shoved in my ears...
You guys and gals aren't listening to me, or to the executives or to anyone else with real experience in the industry. You are too busy thinking you're going to take Ho-wood by storm instead of learning how to have a career in a very tough industry.

Big difference between the two.

The best, most honest piece of advice I can give you is this:

If you can't hook me in one sentence, you're NOT going to hook me with 95 pages. Start small. Go from there. Simplicity is harder to craft than it looks. Those that can do it have a shot at being real storytellers...

In other words:Get back to basics.

So go on. What are you waiting for?

Make Your D2DVD Script a Movie

Here's my top ten ways to move your D2DVD script to the top of the heap...

-- Come up with a great concept and be able to pitch it in one 30 word or less sentence. Be clear, concise and show conflict. Make it something so cool and original (and yet universally understood) that everyone who hears it says, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

--Come up with a great title that identifies and promotes the key concept of the movie. I've already written about this so look it up...

--Take the cliché’ and twist, twist, twist it until you get all the juice your movie needs. If you’ve seen the scene before in another movie, don’t you think your audience has as well?

--Write a script that can be produced. If it can’t be produced it won’t be, no matter how great the story. That means:

No longer than 90 pages
No more than 4 locations, one of which takes 45 pages of script
No more than 8 people in the cast (leads and supporting)
No more than 20 extras who can be reused / disguised
No CGI if you can help it. Think of simple, effective, in-camera FX

--Enter late and leave early for every scene. Don’t tell us that you’re off to go kill someone, just cut to the kill. This philosophy gives your scenes energy and speed. You only have 90 pages, so why not pack it with story instead of drawn out scenes? Time is your enemy. Time creates boredom. So move, move, move…

-- Use every visual trick at your disposal like dissolves, time cuts, jump cuts, inter-cutting, angles and lighting. All this starts with the script. Come up with cool, new (low budget) ways to give each scene color, movement, vitality and perspective. Otherwise, why bother?

-- That said, don’t identify each and every shot. This will piss off your director. Lead him in the direction you want him to go, but don’t hold a gun to his head and force him there. Let him think he thought of it. If he/she is any good, they’ll pick up on your lead and add to it.

-- Don’t fall into the dialogue trap. Actors don’t need dialogue to act. Dialogue requires more rehearsal and more coverage. Don’t let a character say something when he can show us that very same thing and make it cool. It also saves on sound mixing.

-- Dialogue is never real. Don’t think that it is. When characters do say something it better be good, powerful (or subtle), clever or really funny. Dialogue should reveal character not push the plot forward. Write it. Rewrite it. Hold a rehearsal and see how awful it really is and rewrite it a couple of more times. Cut it down to the bone.

-- Be professional. Use proper script formatting software–either Scriptware, Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter. Go through and use spell check. Then go through by hand and double check. Have it read by someone else for mistakes. Don’t think that just because it’s low budget, that the rules of form and grammar don’t apply. They do – even more so than bigger films because everyone really depends on the script being ready quickly so they can do their jobs. If the script is hard to understand or so filled with mistakes – it will get tossed.

If your script breaks any of the above then you better be financing it yourself, because it won't get made.

And isn't that the point of a script in the first place?

Trailer Park Trash Talk

From time to time I will post links to trailers of stuff that I think is cool. This qualifies in spades.

A movie that is part live action anime, part video game, and has one of the most interesting production designs I've seen in awhile.

D2DVD companies take note: Acquire this movie!

Ladies and Gents, I give you CASSHERN.

http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/casshern_large.html

Who Watches the Watchmen pt. 3

Another great article from Chud.com re: this movie and this director.

Here's the link: http://www.chud.com/

And again, I'll be blogging later about how this philosophy compares to the D2DVD philosophy of directing.

Stay tuned

I am a Shadowman!

Well, I received my copy of TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN: THE MODERN BABYLON in the mail today and I have to say that I am quite pleased…

No, that’s not quite right. Surprised?
No, that doesn’t say it either.

Let me put it to you this way: I walked around the house with a boner for about an hour, and no Viagra was involved.

That’s because I am now an author.

It says so right there, beside the story’s title. Wow!
Me. Author. Wow!

Note to self: get the business cards changed. You’re an author.

I still can’t afford a house in California. I’m still losing my hair (at least on my head, my back is doing just fine). I’m still getting older.
But damnit, I’m an author.

Note to screenwriters: this is an entirely different feeling than when you sell a script. Entirely more dramatic. Entirely more personal. Entirely different paycheck.

But I would wish this feeling on everyone at least once. It’s that good.

And I have the generosity and the sheer insanity of Randy and Jean Marc Lofficier to thank for how this pulp writer, excuse me, pulp author feels. They brought me into the fold and turned me loose to do whatever I wanted. Just enough rope as always, and I couldn’t be more delighted. I am sure that will grow as I read the other stories in this anthology and marvel at the authors’ brilliance. I’m just glad to be invited to the party. I’m having a damn good time.

So rush right out and pick up a copy. It’s on Amazon or you can order it directly from the publisher, Black Coat Press [see link to your right].

Here’s how Randy & Jean-Marc described my story…

“ Bill Cunningham’s approach to Tales of the Shadowmen was to find one of the most obscure characters in French pulp fiction, the short-lived Fascinax (only 22 issues were ever published), and make it entirely his own. In Bill’s story, the gentle world of pulp battles between Hero and Villain is replaced by a more gruesome, modern reality…”

In other words, I deconstructed the bitch.

Enjoy.

Dimension, where art thou?

From the pages of Video Business:

http://www.videobusiness.com/article.asp?articleID=10068&catType=NEWS

An article on what the Weinsteins are going to do post- split with Disney. Who gets what in this divorce? Of particular interest is the slate of D2DVD titles waitng to be released from the Dimension side of the former company...

I don't think that Disney will let them get away with taking any of the library, but I also can't imagine Disney releasing these kind of D2DVDs: Two HELLRAISER movies , THE CROW:SALVATION, the Third DRACULA movie in the series or anything else Dimension produced. Not to forget the Project Greenlight pic - FEAST.

Hmmm...

Who Watches the Watchmen? Pt. 2

Taken from the great folks at CHUD.com is the second interview with Paul Greengrass director of the upcoming WATCHMEN.

See it at http://chud.com/interviews/1985

Good insight into the thought processes of a STUDIO director on a project. Later, I'll let you know what goes through the thought process of a D2DVD director.

The thoughts are remarkably similar, and strikingly different.

Say tuned

3D to save Theatrical?

Copied from Aint It Cool News (and edited for space)
Go to the link to read the full article.

Hey folks,

Harry here in Austin to address all this hubbub about 3D filmmaking. Well - where to begin? Ok - I'll start here. Film is dying. And frankly, we're the reason. The internet. I love the internet, I've sunk untold thousands into AICN out of my inheritance, my book deal - I've written articles for foreign publications just to keep the lights on here at AICN, and I love all of you.

Gee that's great Harry, we love you too. But please don't hug us...ever.

However, online piracy is a very bitter reality. Having said that... this isn't the first threat to film. Radio pulled people out of theaters, the industry reacted with sound. At that time, sound scared filmmakers to death. I know it's hard to believe, but there was a great deal of resistance to it, the theaters had to get expensive equipment. It completely changed how movies were made. But soon there was no going back.

Harry this MIGHT be a good argument if it weren't utter crap. Records had more to do with sound on film than radio ever did... Didn't the Jazz Singer star a popular singer whose records sold like hotcakes at the time? Radio became the medium by which companies sold records - people heard it then bought it. Originally, they thought radio was going to kill record sales - but it skyrocketed them through the roof.

This is exactly what is happening today with the internet. People are downloading one song then buying the album. The record companies got hit because, unlike the DVD companies they kept prices overinflated.

There is a Harvard Business school study that was profiled on 20/20 that postulates and has correlated data that says for all the downloads etc... record companies are really only losing the cost of one album for every ten thousand sold.

Then there was television. Suddenly with visual entertainment in homes, audiences dropped off. The industry responded with many of their films coming in color. Television went that route too, then we got CINEMASCOPE. Theaters had to change the shape of their screens... hell, in many cases new theaters were built just for the format. Around this time, 3D came in too. However, the dual projectors was often times seen as too expensive to implement - so the RED & BLUE cheapo route came about - and it gave 3D a bad name....

Cinemascope, Cinerama, etc...didn't do dick for reviving theatrical business when it was hit in the fifties. A little company called A.I.P. has been credited by the National Alliance of Theater Owners (NATO) with single-handedly reviving theaters in the fifties with its films.

Bottom line: If studios want to make money at theaters then they need to make it worth it. Ten bucks a head is a lot of money. They also need to head piracy off at the pass by enforcing existing legislation and creating discs that can't be copied.

3D is cool. I have a friend and his company is doing 3D projects. Great.

But the saviour of theatrical and DVD? That's a bit much to put on the shoulders of a system that hasn't that great of a track record with consumers.

Let's let the system evolve, and become economically viable.

Again, read the full article.

Let's Talk Pulp Fiction

No - not the movie by QT. I'm talking about the fast, lurid fiction printed on cheap paper between colorful covers that promised so much.

But when everyone thinks of pulp they think of hard-boiled gangsters with guns blazing and all that crap. That's not all that pulp fiction was about...

Pulp encompassed all genres - from sci-fi to romance, from western to wall street - and did so in a style and method that went on for quite awhile fulfilling America's need for escape.

Escape. Entertainment. That's important.

Packing as much entertainment into it as possible.

Now I've said this before in different forums, but if you look at the D2DVD films of today, they are our "pulp fiction". Fast, lurid, manufactured very quickly and cheaply and sandwiched in a case with a cover that promises so much...

D2DVD isn't "B-Movies" (which don't exist anymore - when's the last time you went to a double feature?) - it's pulp.

I couldn't be happier about that. Why?

That means that I get to write and produce westerns, sci-fi, fantasy, romance...

(Hey! I can be romantic. What?! NO exploding heads? What are you - nuts?! How can you have a romance without an exploding head?)

...horror, action, mystery, adventure -- the whole spectrum of genres. I am not limited.

(Just as long as I do it within the budget and can pack as much entertainment into it as possible. Enough so that the viewer feels he got his money's worth)

Do other screenwriters get that amount of freedom in the studio system? Maybe...but the argument could be made against it.

I like freedom.


Stay tuned.

The Resume

Current projects:

I recently wrote the original radio adventure The Knightmare: The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight for Decoder Ring Theatre.

Chapter One. Chapter Two.

The Fans of the Knightmare Facebook Page.

The character and his world are being developed into a web serial project recapturing the spirit and energy of the classic movie serials reimagined for a new generation. In addition, the radio scripts are being collected into a limited edition scriptbook with liner notes" and a few extras on the origins of the Master of Fear.

Original "pulp novels" featuring the character in a format replicating the classic pulp magazine experience are being developed. More info on the character is here.

Pandora Machine has optioned and is developing my original scifi screenplay FLY BY NIGHT.

Under my own Pulp 2.0 Press label I will be publishing author/filmmaker Donald F. Glut's classic horror adventure paperback series THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN for Kindle and print-on-demand.

---------------------------------------------

Screenwriter:
-- Scarecrow for York Entertainment (with Jason White and Emmanuel Itier)
-- Scarecrow Slayer (sole story by credit)
-- 2006 Video Hall of Fame Awards (Hosted by Alex Trebek)
-- 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards (Hosted by Aisha Tyler)
-- 2004 Video Hall of Fame Awards (Hosted by Maria Mennounos)
-- Piranha Park for Kinetic Filmworks
-- The Sound for Velvet Steamroller



Pulp Writer:

--Cadavres Exquis, published in Black Coat Press’s anthology Tales of the Shadowmen: The Modern Babylon

-- Trauma published in Tales of the Shadowmen: Gentlemen of the Night
-- Next! published in Tales of the Shadowmen: Danse Macabre
-- Fool me Once published in Tales of the Shadowmen: Lords of Terror
-- A Head for This Sort of Thing published in issue 3 of Astonishing Adventures.

Get your own - Open publication

Copywriting and Press:

Post Modern Digital, Ken Roberts Productions, The Los Angeles Times' The Envelope.com, Chocolate Shirt. Firebrain Inc. (for clients including Bandwagon Graphics, Injen Technologies, Toyo Tires, Peace Arch Entertainment, York Entertainment and Cinevolve Studios)

-- So You Want to be a Pulp Screenwriter published in Scr(i)pt Magazine, Vol. 12 # 6

Spec screenplays:--Wolfsbane (with Jeff Miller)
--The Knightmare (Being redeveloped as a web serial)
--The Skull
--Patchwork
--Girls with Guns (with James Felix McKenney)

Production:
-- Associate producer on .Com For Murder Starring Nastassja Kinski, Nicollette Sheridan, Roger Daltry and Huey Lewis.
-- Executive in Charge of Production on Scarecrow
-- Producer of The Gore Gore Gore-Met with Herschell Gordon Lewis (In development)
-- Producer of Stainless with Herschell Gordon Lewis (In development)

-- Crew member of: Ripe, An Occasional Hell, Freakshow, Paradise Falls, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Hellblock 13, Jets and Dead Inn as well as dozens of commercials, industrials and television

Marketing and Sales:
-- Created the concepts and pre-sale campaigns for a line of low budget motion picture productions Dr. Chopper, Corpses, Big Bad Boogeyman, Mister Stixx, Cold Caller and The Torturer for York Entertainment.

-- Five years’ experience with Omega Entertainment selling their library of titles worldwide.
-- Responsible for the design, planning and implementation of over 60 DVD marketing campaigns.
--Obtained and negotiated the sale of Sex Machine to Anthem Pictures for DVD release.

Speaker:

--The American Black Film Festival in Miami
--The Diversity in Film Conference in Washington
--The Black Filmmakers Showcase in Hollywood
-- 2006 Scriptwriter’s Showcase sponsored by Scr(i)pt magazine and Final Draft.

DVD:
Coordinated the authoring of over 75 DVD and DVD sets for a variety of clients including:
York Entertainment, First Look Media, Ardustry Entertainment, Ventura / Studioworks, Genius Products, Stephen J. Cannell and Screen Media.
Other:
A recognized authority and speaker on low budget media production and marketing. Affectionately referred to as "The Mad Pulp Bastard," Cunningham applies the principles of the classic pulp fiction publishing industry to film writing and production, seeking to inspire and galvanize mediamakers to action.

He is currently writing a book collecting three years worth of observations from his blog on the changing dynamics of media production and marketing.

All Hail the Hedgehog!

My friend, writer-producer Peter Soby Jr. (TAIL STING, CARNIVAL OF SOULS) has just released another piece of D2DVD brilliance.

Yes, I'm talking about: BEING RON JEREMY.

From Peter himself, here's the scoop:

"A movie I produced called "Being Ron Jeremy" was officially released on DVD in stores across America yesterday, Tuesday March 15th! It probably goes without saying, but the movie is a parody of “Being John Malkovich” with a porn star twist.

The movie also features Andy Dick in the Charlie Sheen role (what’s wrong with that sentence??!) There’s lot’s of fun extras. For those of you in LA, Ron and cast members along with the filmmakers (including myself), will be at an in store appearance this Saturday, March 19th at the Tower Sunset Video store from 3 – 5 pm! Come on by!"

Peter

Here's a link:

http://www.beingronjeremy.com/upcoming.html

Go down to your local videostore and buy this DVD. Get yourself a piece of "The Hedgehog" ladies and gents before its too late!

Who Watches The Watchmen? I do! I do!

Checkout the excellent first interview of director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) about his upcoming adaptation of WATCHMEN.

http://chud.com/interviews/1914

I am anxious, trepidatious and following this one closely.

Stay tuned...

Pulpin' along...

Have written fifteen pages of THE SKULL since saturday. Good pace that will only get faster as I approach typing FADE OUT.

Pulp writers get paid when the word is on the page and in the producer's hand. Ideally, you should have a first draft of a 90-pager in about two weeks.

Remember, in the D2DVD world, speed doesn't kill. Having your internal editor on while writing a first draft does. Turn him/her off and just expand what you wrote in your outline. Don't think about it - feel it and write it.

What? No outline?

Write that down. Post on creating an outline for D2DVD features.

Stay tuned

Entitled to Write

How do I use a title to my advantage?


The D2DVD world is hard. There is never enough money, time or resources to do a job properly because a schedule has to be met. The distributor has a release slot to fill or they have to take something to one of the markets to try and pre-sell the picture. The point is the D2DVD writer has to be the guy who helps set the right tone for the piece at the get-go. That’s where titles come into play.

I say, help set the tone, because often the tone is set within the marketing and sales departments. In the D2DVD world, they set up the art and the title before the picture is written and shot. This is the very same, very successful method that A.I.P. used in the fifties.

In this case however, Sales and Marketing are talking to the major video chains (BB, Hollywood, Movie Gallery, etc…) every day about their wants and needs. The chains say, “We need a new horror movie for month X.” Everyone scrambles to put something together or move something already brainstormed forward in the production schedule. Otherwise, Acquisitions may have to go out and find that type of movie from an independent producer. So, in this scenario, Pistolera gets pushed back and Alienated gets moved forward.

(Oh, and by the way, those titles are mine – don’t swipe ‘em or I’ll be on your doorstep with sharp implements and precise knowledge of how to inflict the most pain).


So, you the writer are brought in to realize the vision of the marketing department. It’s your job to meet and exceed their expectations concerning the title and artwork. They’ve generally done their work and have really brainstormed a great title and art. They turn that over to you to come up with a story to tie it together.

When you have a great title, it immediately gives you ideas that you can work into the story (within the budget of course). Bill Martell , the guru of action screenwriters (with 17 produced movies to his credit and a huge resource to writers of all types) says they are “idea generators.” It’s true – great titles lend themselves to more great ideas.

Alienated indicates a story where someone was human, but now he’s an alien. He was made into an alien and is now separate from the rest of us.

Pistolera indicates it’s the story of a woman with a gun going after the bad guys, or maybe she’s a “bad girl” on the run. Those ideas generate more questions and ideas and if you answer those – you have your story.

A good title also keeps you on track when you’re writing (which is good because you don’t have time to screw around – they want it good, and on Tuesday because they’re shooting on Thursday). If any story element comes up that doesn’t relate back to the title and/or the concept – get rid of it. It will only drag you down and steal your energy. It will also get cut. You’re writing for the 90 page mark. No more and no less. Anything that “pads” the script should be sniffed out and excised like a tumor.


But what if you’re writing a spec? What does a great title do for you there? Well, besides what I’ve said already, a great title is good publicity for your script. People who hear a great title instantly “get it” as soon as you tell them. And if it’s cool enough they’re going to repeat it to their colleagues. They’ll want to see your script when it’s finished, because they think if the script is half as clever as the title then it could be really great.

Let’s go the opposite way with this discussion – what if you have a great concept, but no title? Don’t let that stop you. Just take up a different thought pattern:
Parents don’t always name their children until they’re born. So, when your script is “born” then name it what it needs to be named.

I’m spec’ing something I’ve temporarily named The Skull. It’s about a supernatural superhero, who goes after the bad guys who killed him. I’ve taken to calling it by this name because that’s what the bad guys call the main character. The title is simple and straightforward, and not clever, but it fits the character.

He’s had his face entirely burned off leaving a bone white skull and eyeballs as his face. Think The Crimson Ghost or Ghost Rider (minus the flames). He’s also modeled after those wonderful Italian fumetti characters Killing and Kriminal. This bone white skull emerging from the shadows haunts me.

Another reason he’s “The Skull” is that he can’t remember who he is – his skull isn’t functioning properly. So, in order to find out who he is, he has to take out the criminal empire that killed him.

I’m also working in lots of Latino masked wrestling and Dios de la Muertos (sp?) mythology because the “Day of the Dead” icon is a skeleton with a grinning skull. All these story elements came from the title. I’m sure I’ll come up with more ideas and hooks for the story.

But imagine what you could do if you had a poster and a title. You could turn this in on Tuesday …


The Skull is © 2005 by Bill Cunningham

What's it called, Kid?

What’s in a title anyway?

In the good old days of the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s AIP (American International Pictures) was the king of exploitation films. They made millions of dollars on the idea that their pictures were unlike anything you had seen before – bigger, bolder, and brassier. According to their CEO, Samuel Z. Arkoff, what made AIP the best in the business were their titles and artwork.

NOT the movies themselves.

In fact, theater owners one time told them to just ” put sprocket holes in the posters and run those. We can’t use the movies.” Titles like: I Was A Teenage Werewolf, The Fast and the Furious and The Wild Angels.

Lurid. Exploitation. Pulp. [Gawd, I love that term]

Let’s face facts: you the filmmaker may know how to produce a great film with no star power that delivers on the thrills, chills, and drama that audiences love. It’s shot well, lit correctly, edited crisply, and has a sound mix that makes your ears bleed. It’s the greatest exploitation masterpiece filmed inside a frat house ever (except for that time when your girlfriend found your video camera and had a few too many – I want copies).

More power to you - hallelujah! All hail the great filmmaker. Oh, and by the way?

You’re screwed.

Right out of the gate, you are so hamstrung you will cripple up like an arthritic old gelding and crumble into the dust. Off to the glue factory with you! Your film will never be seen or will be relegated to the “whatever happened to?” $1.99 bin at Amoeba or Blockbuster. If you’re a writer (who isn’t these days?) your script is going to be tossed in the “low priority/slush” pile at a production office. Your query is going to be deleted out of that Creative Executive’s email.

Why? Because you don’t know how to sell a film and you don’t understand how D2DVD films are sold. Until you know that little fact, your film is going to be caught in that quagmire of never-seen, never-distributed, epics that sit at the bottom of every film school graduate’s closet, gathering dust. Your script is going to go unread. Your career is never going to get off the ground.

I’m rambling, I know, but go with it because I'm telling you stuff you NEED to know. I know how to sell a film, and I know how films are sold. I’ve written, produced, dvd-produced, marketed and publicized over 50 now. Maybe more – I’m not counting box sets.

Movies that, for good or bad, got distribution and were on the shelves at a video store near you. I’ve made people very happy when they saw the finished product (yes, it’s a product), and I’ve made them angry when I’ve changed something like the title. I always tell the angry ones, “Would you rather have YOUR title on the DVD, or would you rather it sold more units?”

Hmmm…

Fact: In the D2DVD world, titles and artwork are everything. Period.

Retailers depend on the selling power of the distributors’ titles to help them stay afloat every month. If it doesn’t look good or sound intriguing then it doesn’t get bought. Period.

Distributors send out “sell sheets” every month announcing the titles they are selling. Those pictures and titles are the only thing that the retailers go by when placing their orders. They request screeners occasionally, but the studios aren’t sending a lot of those out anymore. They don’t need to, because what really sells a DVD…is really just a picture and some words.

That’s what sells your masterpiece (It can also pre-sell your masterpiece, but that’s a discussion for another time). It’s not your film. It’s sometimes your stars (if you have the budget to get them). But it’s always the title and the artwork.

Think about that.

It’s a pretty scary concept that a film’s longevity depends almost solely on its marketing, but it’s also quite liberating, because this is something that a filmmaker can control at the outset. If you understand it, you can use it to your advantage when it comes time to find a distributor. You can develop the exact plan to communicate what your film is about. To hook your audience immediately, and get them reeled in.

And get this – it costs you nothing!

Let’s skip artwork for now. It’s a big subject that will take many posts. Let’s talk about the thing that you as the writer / filmmaker can do to enhance the salability of your project. Lets talk titles.

Have you ever heard of – Living in Paradise? Dead Dog Blues? How about Confederate Saber?

Of course you haven’t. That’s because they were released as other, better titles that actually sold the movie they made. Take a look below at the titles and loglines. Which one sold the logline better?

Living in Paradise = Bling Bling

A young rapper goes undercover at a rogue hip-hop label and uncovers a murder-for-profit scheme.

Dead Dog Blues = Grave Matters

An unbalanced woman kills her husband and buries him in a shallow grave only to have to deal with her own guilty conscience and a determined cop during the investigation.

Confederate Saber = Wicked Games

An interracial ménage a trois ends in murder and a young woman discovers the one you love could be the one you can’t trust.

Would you rent a movie called Confederate Saber? No, but you would rent something called Wicked Games that features a sexy threesome on the cover and a hint of murder in the air wouldn’t you?

And that’s the difference between making a movie, and making a sellable movie.

Bling Bling was actually written up in the USA Today as being in the top ten of video movie rentals that week. According to Billboard it beat Scooby-Doo! Trust me on this – Bling Bling was made for the amount of money they paid for a day’s craft service on Scooby - if that. No names, gritty style with lots of cheap handheld shots. Poor sound. Bad acting.

Great title. Great artwork. Period.

The really great thing about this is – the audience can’t really tell the difference between a D2DVD and a really big title when it’s on the shelf. The playing field is even. If you can hook them with the title – hint at the action, romance, intrigue, adventure, scares, thrills to come within that DVD case – then you have a winner.

Combine that with great art and you have a blockbuster.

Next time, I’ll tell you the process I go through as a pulp writer when it comes to titles, and how a good title can help you write, and how a bad one (or no title) shouldn’t stop you.


Stay tuned…

Ringing endorsement

Wow!

John Rogers'excellent site just linked to mine and he gave me a hearty endorsement. If you don't know who John is, then you haven't been watching movies lately have you?

Thanks John! Now I really have to work at this thing to deliver the kind of Disc/ontent you guys deserve. No rest for this pulp writer.

More coffee, please.

And as John puts it, I write/produce/market those movies. Yeah, those movies that make hundreds of millions a year for the distributors (notice I didn't say producers). Lurid titles and artwork that somehow stick in your brain so that you have to have it when you go to your local BB or Mom & Pop videostore.

Yes, please fill it to the top.

So filmmakers, writers and/or would-be movie moguls think about this for next time:

What's so important about a title anyway?

Yes, cream and sugar too. I have a lot of work to do.

Stay tuned

Stick a fork in me!

Done.

A great feeling Done. Accomplished. Achieved.

I'm talking of course, about the creature feature I just finished for the boys at Kinetic Filmworks. It's a fun piece that I still can't tell you the title of yet, because they haven't cleared it. I'll spill the guts when I can.

So, what's next? The superhero feature that I'm writing on spec, but that I have some DVD interest in.

I've also been taking some pitch meetings for projects I have an option on. Some interest, but not enough yet to pay the rent.

Also doing a lot of PR work lately - articles for clients, story pitches (which is a lot easier in the journalism world than the movie world). Lots of quick emails and the story gets placed in several venues really quickly - a response within a week's time. It takes months to get a yes or no from those movie or live event folks.

Also, have to spend some time looking for a new apartment...maybe I should move that to the top of the list.

Never a dull moment for the pulp screenwriter/producer, eh?

Just the way I like it.

Next time: I'm gonna revive the pulps - my way!

Misfire

Hit a button twice or something....

Doctor Who?

From Warren Ellis' [BAD SIGNAL] newsletter:

Word is that Sci-Fi Channel declined to acquire this
new DOCTOR WHO series. And I can see why.
It's too damned English. As Rich Johnston said to
me tonight, it's your actual English family sci-fi
show. There's no way it'd fit on Sci-Fi. I imagine, to
be honest, it's going to bypass much of the American
audience, and possibly even the gap between my
generation and my daughter's generation.


Must we Americans always "Americanize" everything? [and lest I forget, the Japanese are equal offenders]. The idea that all of our TV must have American accents is absurd. Many great shows on cable are hits.

I grew up watching Doctor Who on PBS - this was before real cable - and I think it's a damn shame that Sci-Fi Channel doesn't recognize that genre fans want to see this stuff. If I were the BBC, I would rake in the money with a handsome DVD set with lots of behind-the-scenes material, especially commentaries. This is a character that has a rich history (in the UK and here in the states) and the idea that someone out there in the heartland isn't going to know who "The Doctor" is in the upcoming generation is kind of sickening.

Are we that insular that we can't accept an accent, a look or a theme? Gawd, I hope not.

BBC - go direct to DVD and tell Sci-Fi to shove it.

Tapping the Vein

The following is from Entertainment Weekly:


The Un-Oscars

The DVD Exclusive Awards are the Un-Oscars -- Jennifer Tilly and Mark Hamill were the big dogs at the February awards show

by Gregory Kirschling

Even movies that go straight to DVD deserve some love — and the DVD Exclusive Awards (held Feb. 8 in L.A.) make sure they get it. ''My friend e-mailed me and he said, 'Congratulations, you're nominated for your movie Relative Evil,' and I was like, 'Relative Evil, what's that?''' said Jennifer Tilly on the DVDX red carpet. ''I looked it up on the Internet, and I deduced from Jonathan Tucker and David Strathairn being in it that it was Ball in the House, a movie I made five years ago.''

If, as some posit, DVDs are the future of the movies, could this celebration of straight-to-DVD cinema be the future of the awards show? Probably not, but at least the DVDX's are ''the way the Academy Awards used to be — when it was at a lovely hotel ballroom and it was just among friends,'' insists Family Ties' Michael Gross, a Best Actor nominee for Tremors 4. Indeed, the chicken was warm, the venue was freezing, and the glitches were really blessings in disguise: Hilary Duff won a special ''Triple Threat'' award, but — honest to God — they forgot to give it to her before she left.

''I'm enamored with the DVD format because I think you can make quirky niche movies, like what B movies were in the '30s and '40s,'' says the evening's big dog, Mark Hamill, whose Comic Book: The Movie beat Tremors 4, Species III, Bring It On Again, and Relative Evil for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie. And Tilly was the belle of the ball after her Best Actress acceptance speech. ''I'm really hoping,'' she said, ''that this award will translate into many more straight-to-DVD roles for Ms. Tilly.''

--------------

This is the awards show I wrote for DVD Exclusive magazine. Great job for the money. Two weeks of no sleep, coffee for breakfast/lunch/dinner, and tons of email back and forth to all those involved.

But what Hamill says above is true. You can do a lot with D2DVD movies. More than they are doing now. The good thing writing D2DVD movies (and the awards show after) is that if you write it - it gets made. Not a lot of money involved, but you get to see your work onscreen - fast. That suits this pulp writer just fine. I don't have the attention span necessary to stay on one project for a year. I think it would be boring, and ultimately drain the creative vein dry.

Until next time, this "Nomad" says...

Stay tuned.

Writer at Large

Finishing up the polish on a new creature feature I'm forbidden to speak of as yet. Fun and a bit of a lark for me. But, as always the low-budget rules apply:

- 95 pages or less
- several main characters and some extras
- static SFX (CGI) and multitudes of blood
- nudity, the cheapest special effect
- one primary location (60 pages worth)with three others (10 pages each)
- appealing to a young crowd (like the one that watches the O.C.)

I'm going to have to sit down one of thes days and rework a low budget idea
to break all of these rules. Smash them completely and still have a pulpy good horror movie (not film, movie - no pretensions here).

In other news:

My short story "Cadavre Exquis" (Exquisite Corpse)is in the new anthology from Black Coat Press's TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN: THE MODERN BABYLON. The books are edited by Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier who have many credits in TV and comics and have just moved back to France. Look at www.blackcoatpress.com for more details. They are geat people who are reviving the grand pulp traditions of Europe with a whole new slew of writers and artists.

My story deals with the pulp character, Fascinax, who is sort of Daredevil combined with Dr. Strange and Sherlock Holmes. He has extraordinary senses which he uses to fight crime, although he is trained as a healer. He was the only character that no one else was touching, so I thought I would take the underdog position and see what I could do. If I screwed up - oh well! If I gave the character some life outside his pulp roots - my job is done. We shall see.

Also have some interest from an outfit in financing a werewolf movie I wrote awhile back. Need to attach talent to the project to get the ball rolling again. More phone calls to agents (of the devil) and managers (of chaos).

Stay tuned...