And Now For Something (not so) Completely Different!

The nominees for the 2006 DVD Exclusive Awards from the DVD Academy:

Overall DVD, New Movie
The Aviator (Warner)
Crash (Lionsgate)
The Incredibles (Disney)
Ray (Universal)
Sideways (Fox)

Overall DVD, Classic Film
Bambi Special Edition (Disney)
Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition (Universal)
King Kong: Two-Disc Special Edition (Warner)
Raging Bull Two-Disc Collector's Edition (MGM/Sony)
The Wizard of Oz Three-Disc Special Edition (Warner)

Overall DVD, TV Program
Chappelle's Show: Season Two--Uncensored (Paramount)
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004 (Comedy Central/Paramount)
Lost: The Complete First Season (Disney)
Seinfeld: Season Four (Sony)
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (Fox)

Overall DVD, Music Program
Eagles: Farewell 1 Tour--Live From Melbourne (WEA)
Festival! (Eagle Rock)
Paul McCartney in Red Square (A&E)
The Pretenders Greatest Hits (Rhino)
Smile: The DVD (Rhino)

Overall PSP
Crash (Lionsgate)
Lost: The Complete First Season (Disney)
Oldboy (Tartan)
Sin City (Disney)
Robots (Fox)

Audio Commentary (new for DVD)
Martin Scorsese; The Aviator (Warner)
Brad Bird and John Walker; The Incredibles (Disney)
Ray Harryhausen, Ken Ralston, Merian C. Cooper, Ernest Shoedsack, Ruth Rose, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong; King Kong: Two-Disc Special Edition (Warner)
Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker; Raging Bull Two-Disc Collector's Edition (MGM/Sony)
Cast and crew; The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (Fox)

Behind-the-Scenes Program (new for DVD)
"Inside Walt's Story Meetings," director/producer TBA; Bambi Special Edition (Disney)
"Making of The Incredibles," director/producer TBA; The Incredibles (Disney)
"The Making of Jaws," producer Laurent Bouzereau; Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition (Universal)
"RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World," producers Peter Jackson and Michael Pellerin; King Kong: Two-Disc Special Edition (Warner)
"Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz," director/producer TBA; The Wizard of Oz Three-Disc Special Edition (Warner)

Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and Bloopers
Chappelle's Show: Season Two--Uncensored (Paramount)
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004 (Comedy Central/Paramount)
The Incredibles (Disney)
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (Fox)
Sin City Recut & Extended Edition (Disney)

Games and Interactivities
"Forest Adventure Game," credit TBA; Bambi Special Edition (Disney)
"Inner Demons Comic," credit TBA; Batman Begins: Deluxe Edition (Warner)
"Search for the Golden Ticket," credit TBA; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Two-Disc Deluxe Edition (Warner)
"Where's Pleakley?"/"Jumba's Experiment Profiler," credit TBA; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
"Invent-a-Bot," credit TBA; Robots (Fox)

Menu Design
Bambi Special Edition, credit TBA (Disney)
The Incredibles, credit TBA (Disney)
Raging Bull Two-Disc Collector's Edition, credit TBA (MGM/Sony)
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season, credit TBA (Fox)
Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, credit TBA (Fox)

New Movie Scenes (finished--edited into movie or stand-alone)
"Tankman Begins," credit TBA; Batman Begins: Deluxe Edition (Warner)
"Jack-Jack Attack," credit TBA; The Incredibles (Disney)
"The Lost Spider Pit Sequence," producers Peter Jackson and Michael Pellerin; King Kong: Two-Disc Special Edition (Warner)
"The Origin of Stitch: Secret File," credit TBA; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
"Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty," credit TBA; Robots (Fox)

Original Music Video
"Band Camp Girls: The Music Video," credit TBA; American Pie Presents Band Camp--Unrated (Universal)
"Hope Has Wings," performed by Brie Larson, director/producer TBA; Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus With 3D (Lionsgate)
"Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride," performed by Jump5, director/producer TBA; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
"I Like to Move It, Move It," credit TBA; Madagascar (DreamWorks/Universal)
"Who Am I?," performed by Tiffany Evans, director/producer TBA; Tarzan II (Disney)

DVD PREMIERE MOVIES

Overall Movie, Animated DVD Premiere
Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus With 3D (Lionsgate)
Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (Fox)
Kronk's New Groove (Disney)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Tarzan II (Disney)

Overall Movie, Live-Action DVD Premiere
11:14 (New Line/Warner)
The Sandlot 2 (Fox)
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Paramount)
Havoc (New Line/Warner)
The Snow Walker (First Look)

Actor (in a DVD premiere movie)
Henry Thomas, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Ving Rhames, Animal (DEJ/First Look)
Ving Rhames, Back in the Day (First Look)
Barry Pepper, The Snow Walker (First Look)
Paul Hogan, Strange Bedfellows (Screen Media/Universal)

Actress (in a DVD premiere movie)
Hilary Swank, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Pam Grier, Back in the Day (First Look)
Anne Hathaway, Havoc (New Line/Warner)
Samantha Burton, The Sandlot 2 (Fox)
Annabella Piugattuk, The Snow Walker (First Look)

Supporting Actor (in a DVD Premiere movie)
Eugene Levy, American Pie Presents Band Camp--Unrated (Universal)
Terrence Howard, Animal (DEJ/First Look)
James Earl Jones, The Sandlot 2 (Fox)
James Cromwell, The Snow Walker (First Look)
Pete Postlethwaite, Strange Bedfellows (Screen Media/Universal)

Supporting Actress (in a DVD premiere movie)
Barbara Hershey, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Tia Carrere, Back in the Day (First Look)
Bijou Phillips, Havoc (New Line/Warner)
Kiersten Warren, The Snow Walker (First Look)
Monica Maughan, Strange Bedfellows (Screen Media/Universal)

Animated Character Performance (voice and animation in a DVD premiere movie)
Stewie Griffin, voice: Seth MacFarlane, animator TBA; Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (Fox)
Kronk, voice Patrick Warburton, animator TBA; Kronk's New Groove (Disney)
Yzma, voice Eartha Kitt, animator TBA; Kronk's New Groove (Disney)
Lilo, voice: Dakota Fanning; animators: Kevin Peaty and Ritsuko Notani; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Zugor, voice: George Carlin, animator: Bernard Derriman; Tarzan II (Disney)

Director (of a DVD premiere movie)
Pete Michels and Peter Shin; Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (Fox)
Michael LaBash and Tony Leondis; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Martin Scorsese; No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Paramount)
Charles Martin Smith; The Snow Walker (First Look)
Brian Smith; Tarzan II (Disney)

Screenplay (for a DVD premiere movie)
Greg Marcks; 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Alex Borstein, Steve Callaghan, Gary Janetti and Chris Sheridan; Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (Fox)
Tony Leondis, Michael LaBash, Alexa Junge and Eddie Guzelian; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Charles Martin Smith; The Snow Walker (First Look)
Jim Kammerud, Brian Smith, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White; Tarzan II (Disney)

Original Score (in a DVD premiere movie)
Clint Mansell, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Mark Watters, Kronk's New Groove (Disney)
Joel McNeely, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Mark Mancina and Dave Metzger; Tarzan II (Disney)
Mychael Danna and Paul Intson; The Snow Walker (First Look)

Original Song (in a DVD premiere movie)
"Always," performed by Mark Keal'i Ho'omalu, Dennis Kamakahi, David Kamakahi, Hayley Westenra and Johnson Enos; lyrics by Alexa Junge; music by Jeanine Tesori; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
"Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride" end credit version, performed by Jump5; written by Alan Silvestri and Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu; Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
"Leaving Home (Find My Way)," written/performed by Phil Collins; Tarzan II (Disney)
"Who Am I?" end credit version, written by Phil Collins, performed by Tiffany Evans, produced and arranged by Matthew Gerrard; Tarzan II (Disney)
"Who Am I?," written/performed by Phil Collins; Tarzan II (Disney)

Cinematography (in a DVD premiere movie)
Shane Hurlbut, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Kramer Morgenthau, Havoc (New Line/Warner)
credit TBA, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Paramount)
David Pelletier, The Sandlot 2 (Fox)
David Connell, Jon Joffin and Paul Sarossy, The Snow Walker (First Look)

Editing (in a DVD premiere movie)
Dan Lebental and Richard Nord, 11:14 (New Line/Warner)
Philip Malamuth and Arthur D. Noda, Kronk's New Groove (Disney)
William J. Caparella, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
David Tedeschi, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Paramount)
John Royer, Tarzan II (Disney)

Visual Effects (in a DVD premiere movie)
Marvin Petilla, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Disney)
Marvin Petilla, Tarzan II (Disney)
Jamison Goei, Dracula III: Legacy (Miramax/Disney)
credit TBA, The Snow Walker (First Look)
credit TBA, Mulan II (Disney)

For more information on The DVD Academy and the DVD Exclusive awards then go here.

Those Pesky Academy Thingies...

Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, And Good Luck
Munich

Best Director
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller - Capote
Paul Haggis - Crash
George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck
Steven Spielberg - Munich

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk The Line
David Strathairn - Good Night, And Good Luck

Best Actress
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt - A History Of Violence

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Junebug
Catherine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Screenplay
Crash
Good Night, And Good Luck
Match Point
The Squid And The Whale
Syriana

Best Adapted Screenplay
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
The Constant Gardener
A History Of Violence
Munich

Best Animated Film
Howl’s Moving Castle
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit

Best Foreign Film
Don’t Tell (Italy)
Merry Christmas (France)
Sophie Scholl (Germany)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Paradise Now (Palestinian Authority)

Coming Distractions

I just received my e-copy of Video Business and it informs me that February is going to be a good month for DVD.

First off, the long awaited 1st season of Doctor Who is streeting February 14th. This 13 episode set features Christopher Eccleston and the delish Billie Piper as The Doctor and Rose. Also included are many behind-the-scenes features. What is bad about the set is the $99.00 price tag. Hmmm...




The week after (February 21st) are the DVD debuts of Ultimate Avengers and Domino. UA is the first in a series of DVD premiere animated movies featuring Marvel Comics' characters, and is based on the UA comic by Mark Millar.



Domino is the Keira Knightly and Tony Scott collaboration about the life of model turned bounty hunter turned crack addict, Domino Harvey. Critics weren't kind, but damn -- it's Keira ya know? The movie also features Mickey Roarke who kicks ass. What's interesting about the extras is that they feature a commentary track taped from the production meetings where the team reworks the story and refines the scenes.

All You Red-Staters...

Listen. Up. I. Am. Only. Saying. This. Once.

Calvary is where Jesus died.

The cavalry is what comes charging over the hill to kill Indians.

Get. It. Right.

Twenty years and twenty three days ago...

It was January 6th, 1986. I think it was a Sunday night, but I can't recall. I've lost too many hair follicles since then, and there are some things you just sort of blot out of your mind.

I was in the Greyhound bus station in Aiken, SC and I was hugging my Mom and Dad goodbye to go off to boot camp at Lackland AFB in SanAntonio, TX. I was joining the United States Air Force. First, I had to go through processing at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, SC (about an hour or so away by bus), take the oath, take another medical exam and then board the plane to Texas.

Now the smart ones in the audience are saying, "Why didn't you remember this on the 6th, Bill?" Well, it just so happens that I turned around in my desk chair and looked at the wall and saw my certificate of appointment as a Sergeant, and it all came flooding back.

The world was different then, and I wasn't the guy you read on this blog. I was younger and naive and undisciplined and just beginning to put myself on the path that I'm on now. My mother still says that was the most scared she's ever seen me in her life. I wish I could say she's wrong, but that would be a lie. It probably is the most scared she's ever seen me.

There's a a lot of things I learned while I was in the military - discipline, attention to detail, comradery, teamwork, focus, pride in doing a job well - all things that have helped me in writing and filmmaking. It was good for me, because let's face the facts - I wasn't setting the world on fire in anything. At that point in my life I didn't even know how to strike the match. At least the military life gave me the skills to handle anything that was thrown at me.

Like this time:

Back in '95, I was an electrician on an indie film called Ripe, and it was raining and cold. We'd been working for about 16 hours and my feet hurt, and my arms ached from hauling cable and setting lamps. Just when I thought I couldn't go any further, when I was going to collapse any second, I remembered the times in the Air Force refueling planes, and I thought to myself, "Well, at least no one's shooting at us."

Then I got another soda and went back to work, smiling.

So whatever this is that I write here on this blog, part of it was born on January 6th, 1986.

Be Still My Beating Heart!

There is some justice in this world...

She was an icon to millions of men in the fifties and sixties. Then she disappeared, only to be resurrected by the pencils and imagination of comic book artist extrordinaire, Dave Stevens...

Now, she has her own biopic, told from the sharp eye and wit of Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you --
- the reason your girlfriend dyed her hair black...
- the reason for the resurgence of the torpedo bra and bustier...
- the reason why your boyfriend said "Bettie" when he was in bed with you the other night...

Miss Bettie Page! (trailer in Q-time)

For Those Who Think They Can't make It In Hollywood:

Unbelieveably, a goldfish can kill a gorilla. However, it does require a substantial element of surprise --- George Carlin

I am a Gentleman!

After a long day of email and phone pitching and making a nuisance of myself, it was so wonderful to go out to the mailbox and actually receive something that wasn't a bill.

In this case it was my copy of Tales of the Shadowmen: Gentlemen of the Night. This is the second volume in the series and what a wonderful piece of literature it is too! I poured over the volume and flipped the pages to find my little contribution there in black & white. You could have told me I was just diagnosed with testicular cancer and I wouldn't have heard you...


I know you want to rush right over to Amazon and pick up your very own copy...

Go ahead and pick up Volume I while you're at it.

Sound as a Pound Pt. 2

So here it is Kids, 3:42 am in Los Angeles, and I had to wake up and do something. I'm telling you that it's stress related. Lots of stuff going on here at the Secret Mountain HQ.

Anyway -- it gives me a chance to get back to telling you about the treatment for The Sound.

When last I left you, I had just negotiated myself into a corner by having to sell Velvet Steamroller on my take of the movie by writing a treatment based on the previous drafts of the script. Make no mistake about it - a treatment or synopsis or pitch is a sales document. You are selling them the movie, not the story. They have to see the movie you want to write in their heads.

So when I received the script, I read it and set it down for awhile (like a day). Then I went back and made notes on the script of what I liked and didn't like and more importantly why:

There were several characters who - while I liked them as characters - weren't doing much. So, I gave them something to do.

There were several attacks/attributes of the creature which didn't make sense, so I eliminated them and came up with a set of rules the creature would live (and kill) by.

I eliminated as much fat from the script as possible - dialogue, scenes, character bits - that didn't tell the story.

I knew VS liked the structure and yes, it was okay. It would make a good template.

What I was left with was the clay with which to mold a new treatment - a quick treatment that told the movie, not just the story. This was my pitch and it had to be short and sweet and in line with what these guys wanted to make - a scary, science based creature that comes out of nowhere and "getsya"!

This was a document that they could pick apart and mull over and I could do nothing to defend myself so it had to be bulletproof. Everyone would be able to tell if I hadn't done my homework.

Now inherently siutations like this come down to problem-solving. If you ask the right questions you get the right answers. I saw the problems that the folks over at VS had with the script, so if I solved those problems I was a hero, right?

So that was going to be the format of the treatment - I was going to answer their questions as the story progressed on the page. That way, I kept the structure they liked and answered all of their questions as to why it wasn't working, and more importantly how it could work better.

I showed them the movie they wanted to make. I invested myself and became the story's authority figure.

I started at the beginning of the movie and showed them how to consolidate the scene with another so as to show character and move the action along more quickly.

I followed the structure the other writers created and sped it up or slowed it down or twisted it into something new. The original writers gave me a lot of good clay to work with.

I showed them opportunities they missed and what it meant.

I gave them a conclusion that they weren't expecting.

(All in a very well-spaced 4 pages)

But, you're asking, "Bill, what if this is an original spec script that I'm pitching?"

I'll answer that in Pt. 3

Is It Me?

Cynthia Turner's email update arrived in my box this morning and lo and behold there's the new slate of projects that the Sci-Fi Channel is developing. I take one look at this and wretch.

Taken: Nine Lives represents another collaboration with Steven Spielberg for this 20-hour miniseries, currently set for 2007. It's the story of what happens after you die, and how people deal with death.

Guys - this is the Sci-Fi Channel, not the Medium-Supernatural Channel. We want science fiction, fantasy and horror - not quasi religious claptrap.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? is from Nash Entertainment and comic book creator Stan Lee, A 60m reality series that will challenge its 11 participants to create a superhero over the course of six episodes, under the direction and guidance of Lee. The winner's design/character will become a new comic book created by Stan Lee.

This could be fun. This could also be a trainwreck with nuclear waste on board.

Medium at Large is from Krasnow Prods and FreemantleMedia N.A., and stars psychic Char Margolis in her own 6-episode, 30m reality series where she will do impromptu readings on the street, home visits, and helping viewers hone their own psychic abilities.

No matter how thin you slice it - it's still baloney. Let's have a show where magicians and scientists debunk this crap so we can drive a stake into the heart of James Von Prague and his ilk. It's okay to see this stuff in a dramatic context - but it's not real!

The Gift is from producers Tony Krantz and Victoria Holt, and is a 6-episode reality series that dives into the world of psychic phenomena. Eight participants who have some perhaps undeveloped psychic abilities, will go thru a so-called boot came for intuitives. There they will either be systematically eliminated as they compete with one another psychic-ly, with just one remaining as the true Gifted one in the group.

Let's get a bunch of idiots together in the same house and convince them they have psychic abilities so we can make fun of them. Oh, and they're not "gifted" they're "special". That's why they get to ride the short school bus.

The Bridge from Hazy Mills Prods is a scripted series in which a group of cynical, flawed souls are trapped in purgatory and must affect positive changes on the living in order to earn their way out.

Dead Eye for the Live Guy? "Affect positive changes" - You going to redecorate the living room?

The Butterfly Effect, based on the 2004 film, is from NBC Universal Studio, FilmEngine and Benderspink, and is about a man who can go back in time and thereby effect the future.

Finally, something that has some dramatic teeth to it. There's potential in this premise. Please, please, please, no Ashton.

Warehouse 13 comes from producer/writer Ronald Moore. Warehouse 13 is where federal employees are banished when they tick off their higher-ups. There they are sentenced to spending their days cataloging thousands of artifacts, relics and oddities, tho they soon learn each relic has its own story and often its tied to the supernatural. NBC Universal Television is producing.

Wow! An anthology? Is this too much to hope for? (probably)
--But --
It's from the guy who gave us Carnivale and the new Battlestar Galactica. I'm on board for three episodes to see what's up.

SCI FI Investigates (working title), is a real-life X-Files, exploring the mysterious, wondrous and unexplained. Capitalizing on the experience and resources of NBC News Productions, the series and its team of investigators will seek to uncover new evidence by using the latest forensic technology to reveal new perspectives on world-renowned mysteries.

NBC News - a division of the company that doesn't have enough to do in the real world and loses money for us every year - is now being tasked with getting us ratings, even if it is only on the Sci-Fi Channel.

I look at this slate and wonder - "What are you guys thinking?" In an era where Doctor Who goes untouched on American shores all you offer up as an alternative is crap like this (with two exceptions)? Do you know who your audience is anymore?

*** Edit -- No sooner do I rant about Sci-Fi NOT picking up the good Doctor, this comes to light.

Make DVDs Better

So there's a discussion over on Buzzscope about how do we make comics better? There was even a similar discussion over on the Kung Fu Monkey moderated by Boom Studios' Ross Ritchie.

I thought it might be interesting to turn the scope inward and discuss what we need to do to make DVDs better. I'm not talking about content. I'm talking about the formatting, packaging, distribution, pricing, etc...those things that we as consumers have a degree of control over. We are never going to be able to control content other than our own (and we don't want to), but we can make suggestions about the rest of it.

My first thought?

Get rid of these inferior discs that are released 3 months after a movie closes at the theater. If you're going to release a disc then a) make it the full boat one time out -- or -- b) allow us a coupon in the first disc released so we can get the definitive version for half price.

Examples that come to mind immediately are the Sin City discs. The one disc release cost $19.99, and then the two disc and book edition came out 4 months later for $35.00.

This sort of pricing and scheduling is going to get worse as HD discs and players hit the scene.

So what else besides coupons can we do to make DVDs better?

Sound as a Pound Pt. 1

Last time I promised you a post on how I used a treatment and outline to get a job. Here it is at 6:19 am thursday morning, and I guess I have nothing better to do than get up, rub the sleep from my eyes and make good on that promise.

Damn, it's tough being the mad, pulp bastard sometimes...

Anyway, the project I'm going to talk about is The Sound. I've mentioned it before -- it's a project I was brought in to rewrite for Velvet Steamroller (2001 Maniacs, God on the Mic). It's a new type of creature-feature, so I don't want to give away too much in terms of plot. Suffice to say it's got a lot of exploding, disingtegrating, melting and bursting body parts -- my kind of romantic comedy.

How I got the job is fairly typical at this lower budgeted end of the industry. It is a combination of a lot of things that have been belabored by people far better than I:

1. I had a library of work they could read and evaluate.
2. I knew two people at the company, and they liked my work.
3. I knew what I was talking about, and could sell them on the story I wanted to write.

(This last part is where the treatment comes in - but first, I'm going to make coffee. Be right back.)

7:11 am --

Okay, not so much right back, but back nonetheless...

So, back in April I was making my usual round of calls to all the usual suspects trying to drum up work for myself. That's how boring it really is - calling all of your contacts every month. Actually, I can't call it boring because it gives us all a great opportunity to gossip about the industry and tell each other what's going on in our lives. Let's say it's routine.

So I called Steve Bulzoni in Chicago to chat for a bit. Steve is one of the principals over at Velvet Steamroller and he and I used to work together at York Entertainment. He's got about 20 years of experience in the Home Entertainment business and he's one of the few good guys. Probably because he lives in Illinois and not Los Angeles.

Steve and I are working to put together a few projects for VS to fund -- projects I'm attached to as a producer, and projects I've written. We have a lot of business together, and we talk and email a lot.

Steve: So, I have this problem.
Me: What did your doctor say?
Steve: No, no. Not that kind of problem. You know this project we have, The Sound?
(drop of blood hits the water.... theme from Jaws rises)
Me: Tell me about it...
Kid Genius Inside Me: What's that I smell? The rent being paid?
(Da dum...da dum...)
Steve: We have this script, and we love the concept. Everyone we pitch it to immediately gets it and likes it...
Me: But?
Kid Genius: Tell him to send us the script! Close the deal!!!!!!
Me: Ssssh!
Steve: Huh?
Me: Nothing. Go ahead.
Steve: Well the script isn't "there" yet. You know what I mean?
(da dum...da dum...da dum...)

(Note: When they say the script isn't there yet, it means " There's something wrong with it, but we've been dealing with it for so long we can't see what that something is...")

Kid Genius: Tell him, idiot!
Me: Yeah, I know what you mean, Steve. Want me to take a look at it?
Kid Genius: Yes! Finally!
Steve: Could you? We really need to get this one back on track...

(Note: Back on track is a good position for any writer to inherit. They know something's wrong, but they want to "fix" it quickly and move ahead into financing & production. It's almost a "You can do no harm" type of deal.) *

Steve: What do you think you could do it for?

(Translation: We don't have a lot of development money. In fact, we've probably had five too many beers at lunch and only now remembered this project needs to get going.)

Me: How about x?
Kid Genius: Too low! Too low!
Steve: No, but how about y+1? This will be real quick. Half of y up front.
Me: Send me the script.
(da dum..da dum..da dum..da dum..da dum..da dum...)

Steve: But I'll have to run this past the others.
Kid Genius: The dreaded "Others" -- aargh!
(da damn! Theme music screeches to a halt.)

Me: Tell you what - you send me the script. I'll give you my notes and what I would do to rewrite the script - my pitch. You like it, then you give me the go-ahead and the check and we're off and running. You don't like my pitch then that's that. No harm. No foul.
Kid Genius: Good save.
Steve: Sound's good. Let me work it from my end.
Kid Genius: It needs to be quick.
Steve: Who said that?

So let's recap:

1. They knew my work.
2. I had somebody on the inside championing my work.
3. All I had to do was dazzle them with my brilliance and write a treatment that rocked.

Aw crap! How the hell was I going to do that?

End Pt. 1 -- I'm going for coffee down in the lab then getting to work. I'll post this later.

* And let me make this perfectly clear. The writers before me did a lot of good work. No one here is "dissing" their effort or talent. They saw things in the concept I didn't see at first. I saw things they didn't see. As a matter of fact, the Director and the Creative Executive did a polish after me. It's all part of the process.

Meme Bounce Back

Scott the Reader bounced back this ditty after he was gang-memed by the Scribosphere:

What's your favorite line(s) from one of your screenplays?

From The Knightmare:

"Don't be afraid"

"Easy for you to say. You're not looking at a guy with a Hot Topic fetish and fangs."

Ya Got Me...

I got tagged by John Carlucci with this infectious meme thingy started by Fun Joel.
Here goes...

What was your earliest film-related memory?

I was very young and my folks took me to the drive-in (in my pajamas no less) to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I fell asleep in the back seat, but distinctly remember the evil Queen turning into an old witch. Disney knew what children feared.

Name two favorite lines from movies:

"See if you can guess what I am now." (Splat!) "I'm a zit. Get it?" -- Animal House
"I's Alive! It's Alive!" -- Frankenstein

Jobs you'd do if you could not work in the "biz"

-- Flip Houses
-- Own a comic book shop
-- Own a gym


Name four jobs you actually have held outside the industry:

-- worked for Foot Locker
-- was a trainer in a gym
-- delivered chicken wings
-- refueled the F-117A stealth fighter

Three book authors I like:

Ben Bova
Tom Clancy
Robert Asprin (I would especially like to see his Phule's Company books adapted into a series for Sci-Fi)

Name two movies you would like to remake or properties you'd like to adapt:

1. The Tomorrow People - more real than the X-Men, and twice as fun. Imagine the implications of a new race of psionic humans inheriting the planet. Much in the same way we inherited the earth from the neanderthal.

2. The Starlost - If you think Battlestar Galactica in enmeshed in politics and strife, you haven't seen my version of this little known Canadian sci-fi series created by Harlan Ellison. It's hell being trapped on a giant worldship that is due to crash into a sun in five years.

Name one screenwriter you think is underrated:

Sam Fuller - he is an unknown to the "younger generation" (ignorant whelps)


Three people I'm tagging to answer this meme next:

Scott the reader

Kid Sis

Denis McGrath

Less Writing, Better Work

So I'm back from four days of reading, note-taking and critical examination of several of the projects I'm working on this year. It's always a good idea to be super-critical of your own work, and it's a good practice to put work aside for awhile and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. That's part of what this time has been about - editing the work, shaking out the flaws and in some cases reinventing the ideas to make them better. My treatments are now awash in red ink (which is a good thing).

Most of what I worked on this past week were treatments. I say that because I know of people who simply write without an outline or treatment and pull out a first draft. Guess what? You can tell. Usually those scripts are meandering pieces of work with no central character nor story - just a bunch of scenes strung together.

In my experience it's always been better to write (then rewrite) an outline or treatment rather than just write a draft. Why?

1) It's easier.
2) It's faster.
3) It can double your output. This is especially true when rewriting.

That's why when I go into a rewrite, I rewrite the outline first. It's a forest for the trees thing. If you look at a treatment or outline you can quickly jot down an idea in the first act and pay it off in the third. I'm also not bogged down with detail, and new ideas can be easily integrated.

With a script it takes longer to flip through the pages, find the scene and make the note. With a script you also tend to NOT want to change things. Treatments and outlines are after all, documents (tools) that are transitory. Mark 'em up! Better to rework something small to take you in the right direction than just meander around writing draft after draft - wasting paper, time and energy. By working on treatments and outlines now before I write the first drafts, I save myself a lot of the heartache of "What do I do next?".

It all comes down to an organizational, disciplined mindset so that you don't get the dreaded "Writer's Block."

(Now lest you think I'm preaching here, let me say this: If I didn't do it this way I wouldn't get anything done. I have way too much A-D-D.)

Working on the treatments and outlines also lessens the pressure of writing a first draft. I know where I'm going with the story. I'm psyched about it because it exists as a whole thing- something I've accomplished. The beats are all there. I just have to follow that rhythm and jazz it up.

Now that I'm back at the secret mountain HQ, I can input all these changes I've made into the computer and reprint these treatments.
Then I can jump in and begin writing the actual script.
Then the next one...
Then the next one...

Next time, I'll tell you how writing an outline and treatment helped get me a job.

Addendum:
In case I wasn't clear (which happens more often than not) let me put it to you this way:
If it doesn't work in a simplified form, it won't work at the script stage. Therefore, if the logline doesn't work, the outline won't work, the treatment won't work and the script won't work. Start simply and build each step of the process properly. It saves time and effort and actually increases your good output.

Up, Up and Away!

I will be taking a hiatus for the rest of the week until Sunday. No phone, email or blog. I'm locking myself away in a conference room downtown and getting some work done. Pure isolation to write/develop/read a few projects to get them moving (hopefully forward).

Please take care of my blog while I'm gone. It needs to be fed and watered every day. Make sure it goes out twice a day to run around and relieve itself.

It likes to be scratched behind the ears.

See you Sunday.

I Can't Wait...

I remember when Christopher Reeve flew across the screen for the first time. That's why when I see images like this I know I'm going to see something pretty cool.

But really, wouldn't the image look a heck of a lot better like this?

(Yeah, I know. I am an old fart.)

Happy New Year!

Now get back to work...hangover and all. No, don't look at me like that.

No, I don't care if you're bleeding from your orifices all at once. That'll teach you to drink that stuff your "Uncle George" brought to the party. And don't expect me to mop up after you either! When I was a kid we had to walk ten miles in the snow to school, bleeding from our orifices - both ways! (The route not the bleeding). That's how we knew how to get home in a snowstorm - we just followed the trail. Then, when the spring thaw hit we had to go out and mop the sidewalks. You could see hundreds of kids mopping away.

What a sight, I tell you. That's a springtime!

Anyway, you should have known better. You remember the last party when he brought that stuff. He got so drunk he felt you up in the laundry room? Couldn't even grab the right things he was so blind! Ended up sucking on your big toe like it was a...well, that's our George.

You keep drinking that stuff you'll end. Up. Just. Like. Him. A watchamacallit...?

Oh yeah, President.