No Excuses: Part 23,472

For those of you like me who have been enmeshed in writing and actually, ya know,  producing material - this bit of news may have passed you by:

The Screenplay Database is up and running and they are uploading more and more scripts all the time.

Huge resource for the writer-types out there who would do well to use as much as possible. You and I can't get better until we know what the standards are when it comes to screenplays.  You can't be a good writer without being a good reader - they go hand in hand. So get to reading...

I am currently stacked with scripts thanks to my good buddy Stefan over at Forces of Geek.  He has loaded me down with some pulpy scribblings that will take me awhile to wade through, but wade through it I must because:

When it comes to pulp, the juice is worth the squeeze.

NY Tyrant Guide to NOT Being a Terrible Writer in 2010

Can be found here.  Some of these gems include:

Don’t conceive of your “central” characters by defining them with a mental or physical “condition.
If you’re going to tell me about your Mom, do it from your dad’s point of view. I want to know what she’s like in the sack.
Don’t connect with me. Don’t try to pretend I’m not there.
Don’t try to be funny. You are or you aren’t. Or the sentence is or isn’t.
You are neither David Lynch nor Captain Beefheart. You might be Cher.
Cry more, but don’t tell anybody either. This is the way crying is like rap.
I used to say you can’t write about serial killers, but they work sometimes, if they are described in the way one would a washcloth or a doll.
Remember your asshole is a tunnel.
If you’ve ever read Bukowski, please stop.
Please, God, no characters who are musicians. There is nothing worse than trying to describe music, or how someone plays it. Leave music to douchebags.
Stop writing about rich literary boys in college. I hated you people when I was in college and I still hate you. Your frat took a shit on my porch.
If you’ve ever told someone they are “misreading” a philosopher, eat a cock.
You are not Andy Warhol.
You probably don’t really listen to black metal.
Can I reiterate the one about not writing about musicians?

All of which inspires me to write 'How NOT to be a Crappy Indie Filmmaker in 2010..."

2010 Writing Advice from The Asylum

Recently the founders of the film production and distribution company The Asylum were interviewed for Wired magazine discussing how they have been successful with their "mockbuster strategy."

From the article:

Using cheap digital technology and even cheaper talent, the Asylum can turn around such requests in as little as four months (the Sherlock shoot — one of the Asylum’s longest — was 14 days). And though the majority of its films are sci-fi or horror, the company has lately expanded into biblical-disaster movies (The Apocalypse), teen-sex romps (18-Year-Old Virgin), and even family fare (Sunday School Musical). It’s a new kind of B movie: low risk and made to order. “I said, ‘Make me a T&A movie in 3-D,’ and they did that with Sex Pot,” says Keith Leopard, director of content acquisitions at Blockbuster. “They’re constantly delivering good little filler products for our customers.”

And for writers wishing to understand what it takes to craft one of these movies:

The Asylum simply strips away all of the lofty ambitions found in a big-budget spectacle and boils down the hot-selling concept to its essence. If the movie is about robots, you get robots. If it promises dinosaurs, you get dinosaurs. “We don’t skimp on the genre,” Latt says. “When I talk to writers, I say, ‘OK, take a three-act structure. Write your first act, your second act, your third act — let’s develop it. Let’s get it good. Now take the first and the second act and throw them away. I only want to make act three. Because that’s when the drama happens.”

The result is a popcorn movie without pretensions — or hackneyed moralizing — which many genre fans appreciate. “I will go on record to say Transmorphers is better than Transformers 2,” says Kevin DeBolt, a 36-year-old Asylum fan from Chicago. “At least with Transmorphers, you know what you’re getting into when you start watching. “

Of course, nailing the timing — not to mention making money — is greatly helped by the fact that the Asylum consults with its distributors, who carefully study the market and have a good idea of what will rent six months down the road. “There’s nothing wrong with people who have a passion project — their black-and-white coming-of-age film,” Bales says. “But it’s hard for films like that to find an audience. We’ve listened to our buyers. And when they say, ‘We need this,’ we take it seriously.”

Read the whole article. I look forward to discussing it with you.

Be in a Frenzy...

Jill Golick reminds us that Script Frenzy has started...

If you need and excuse to bang out a first draft this is it. Structured in a similar manner to NaNoWriMo (sp?) it aims to get as many people as possible over the hump of writing the first draft of a script.

So go sign up... and write.

Perfection is Overrated...

So yesterday I completed my first draft of FLY BY NIGHT and sent it off to the producer, sat back, relaxed and got some sleep.

And it's funny because there were several folks around me who said "Huzzah" and so forth and that's great and all (and we really love them for it)...

But let's be honest for a moment.

A first draft is just priming the pump for what will be the real job. As they all say, "Writing isn't the problem, its the rewriting that's the bitch."

But so many folks have problems just getting that first draft out of their system. Their level of expectation for a first draft is soooooo high that they either get bogged down in the writing process and grind to a halt never completing that first draft - or- they never begin it in the first place. They have this insane idea it has to be perfect from the starting gate.

Poppycock.

Part of the reason you do a first draft is to get all of your bad ideas, bad dialogue, bad character choices and... crap out of your system and onto the page. There in the light of day, in harsh Black & White are all your bad decisions (along with a healthy dose of good ones) staring you in the face.

The good news is now that you can see them - and see how an early bad decision affects the rest of the script - you can deal with them. You can fix the structure by moving a few things around in their "proper order." You can rethink your dialogue and your characters perspective and your world.

Now that you see them - they are fixable.

And what's really fun is that there are now options you can see too: Traps you can lay. Surprises you can spring on your audience. New directions. Layering.

You can't see those options if you don't get that idea / treatment / first draft out on the page. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to get done... it needs to be fixable.

and the more you just do it and get it out of your system -- the more you write, then rewrite -- then the better you get at all stages of the game.

Who Else in This Burg Just Completed a Feature Film Script?

Yeah baby!

What?!

That many...?

Bastards...

MARVELous Writers Wanted

From Nikki Finke:

"Marvel Studios has started a writers program. The goal is to put more than half a dozen film writers on staff, give them an office, and "work them like horses!," one of my sources says. I've confirmed this smart move. (Makes you realize how backwards Warner Bros is by comparison on their DC Comics film development.) No Marvel comic book writers are allowed to apply for the program."


Further details in the article.

Terms of the deal and so forth are what they are.

H/T to Shawna.

A Modest Proposal Indeed

Anne Thompson's Variety blog has a guest piece by former 25 year agent Nancy Nigrosh, who in Swiftian fashion takes the Hollywood writing/development process to task in what she calls her "parting shot."

"Why is it so ingrained in Hollywood that one person alone cannot write a producible screenplay?

The Writer's Guild Of America's 2007-8 strike was supposed to be about a bigger piece of the pie for the future distribution of a writer's produced work… the pie in the digital sky.

But the real truth is that the actual day –to- day script development process based on writer elimination has created the real strife. Historically this practice has led to the cyclical bloodletting every time the guild’s contract with the buyer /employer gang known as the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, expires. If something doesn't fundamentally change, there will be more strikes in the future, as each contract expires, creating a negative cycle of meltdown Hollywood and its doting mama, California, can ill afford."

The rest can be found here.

Thanks, Nancy. I agree with everything you say, and I'm sorry that your piece here is your swan song from the industry. While I don't want to turn my back on "Hollywood", I am devoting more time to building my own entertainment house and reaching my readers/viewers directly.

I won't be rewritten, unless I decide otherwise.

(and in the near future I am developing a way for us to collaborate)

From the Mailbag:

Now that I've finished my draft of the Knightmare script and await wonderfully pithy comments from Gregg, ripping my internals out onto the floor, I want to answer an email from Chris who had some beginner questions that beg a mad pulp answer:

I came across your blog when the guidelines for Sci-Fi Channel Movie writing came out. I think I followed a link via Boing Boing. At any rate, I have a tremendous desire to be a working screenwriter but have never been able to figure out a way to actually get material in front of anyone actually involved in the industry.

That's cool that the essential information on what cable channels like Scifi are looking for is getting out there. So many beginners are in the dark about what sort of material networks and producers want, and in what format.

There are several ways to open the Hollywood doors:

1. Contests get scripts read by people in the industry. Enter the biggies like Nicholl, SXSW and elsewhere. Alex Epstein has a FAQ section on his blog where he answers these types of questions. Tell him I sent ya.

2. Produce your work yourself and post it online. Not for the faint of heart or those with no tolerance for pain, but it is a way.

3. I assume (assumptions being what they are) that your material is ripe for the "indie/genre/D2DVD" marketplace. This is the same market that intersects with the comic book market. Why not take your script and create a comic out of it? You always want to show complete work - not just scripts which are essentially works in progress.

4. Write a killer intro letter and email it around to all the production companies, and see what response you get.

5. Go to networking events - Screenwriting Expo, Scriptwriter's Showcase, SXSW, Comic Con, and dozens of film festivals and markets all around the country.

I have read many of the "how to" books, to no avail. Yes, surely that is a great surprise. Everything I come across basically suggests you have to know someone. Well, that's a rather grim situation for one who knows no one in the industry. I'm not asking you to take a look at anything; I'm not as naive as that.

So what you need to do is go out and meet people: Shake hands, talk on Screenwriter forums, go to festivals and make yourself (but especially your work) known.

What I was s hoping is that you might be able to give me some advice.

I'm just looking to get started. I don't have any illusions about writing something and selling it for hundreds of thousands or any such nonsense. I'm not trying to make an artistic statement. I just want to get a start.

Your goal is always to entertain. If you do that, then you are halfway there.

Do any of the prodcos you list look at unsolicited material? Is there anyway to actually get work without an agent, or, moreover, anyway to actually get an agent to look at anything?
.
Bill Martell has worked steadily in the industry for many years sans agent. I go out and pitch for work or just generate my own work. I try to go out and meet people in person, and I work the social networking elements of sites like Ning and Facebook.

I'm marketing a novel to agents right now, publishing agents actually read query letter. My understanding is that film agents do not. I have come up with nothing but dead ends.
If you could give me any glimmer of input as to where I might look for better information or relate your own advice, I would be most grateful.

<<<<<<<<<<< Start by going through the links in my sidebar. There are various forums attached to those links. Look through the subject threads. By doing the research yourself you learn where to look for leads. You learn who the players are...and then you can find out who produces your kind of material.

The fact is that the indie market fluctuates - a lot. Because many of these companies are small they are very responsive to hot trends and are always looking for the next thing to break. That means companies that were producing "family flicks" one year, may be doing "torture porn" the next. You have to stay on top of it by using the power of the web.

It's today's "cost of doing business."

Paul Dini Breakfasty Goodness...

Paul Dini breaks down the template for the modern animated theatrical feature at his blog King of Breakfast.

Sarcasm aside, understanding that this is what the animated feature has devolved into allows you the opportunity to play with the parts a bit and reassemble it into a story that "... seems familiar, but in a new way..." (to use Exec-speak).

(Hat tip to Heidi and rockin' illustration by Darwyn Cooke)

"Drive!" He said...

DRIVE, FIREFLY, BUFFY and ANGEL scribe and all around media mensch TIM MINEAR will be our guest in a special podisode of the GEEKERATI PODCAST this friday evening at 7pm PST. The subject of our discussion?

Fans4writers.com and how the fans have come out to support the WGA writer's strike.

.

Have a question for Tim? Have an issue you want to see covered ? Then post your questions in the comments and we'll try to cover it. Can't guarantee anything, as our time will be limited, but we'll be putting the show outline together and we want your input.

The Times Are A - Changin'

If you haven't heard already there is a pending Writer's Strike here in Los Angeles. That means that for the most part, those writers who belong to the WGA will soon be manning the picket lines, and spending the rest of their time working on spec scripts and other writing work.

I was reading Kay this morning and "Anonymous" commented on what other sorts of work he/she should be pursuing...

And here's where the axe falls on some writers' necks.

See, there's ton of work out there that's available if you are entrepreneurial enough to pursue it. No one is going to hand you a contract for a first novel. No one is going to say, "Come write a graphic novel. Here's a check." You aren't going to be flooded with people saying, "You're a tv writer so you can write for me while the strike is on."

That is unless you already have experience in these fields. (Hello Messrs. Whedon, Straczynski, Grillo-Marxuach, Vaughn).

But all is not lost. There are opportunities out there, but you'll have to set them up yourself. Be your own producer or publisher, your own marketing director, your own cameraman, director, art director and publicist.

The great thing is that the tools are already available. Free blogs. Free photo archives. Free editing software. Free publishing services. Free merchandising and marketing.

You could do this, and create an online novel series.

Or just create the novel.

You could create a web serial.

You could create a podcast.

And you can create all the merchandise for free.

You CAN do all this stuff, and the cool part is:

YOU OWN IT. YOU CONTROL IT.

I think this is the opportunity that many of the "lower earning" writer's in the union have been looking for - the opportunity to be their own boss. To own the store. To quit just being an employee. To quit having to take a stupid note because your job's at risk.

And that's when the studios are going to be afraid. That's when they are going to understand that the rules are changing and they HAVE to change with it. They are going to have to understand and look at this with new eyes...

As will all the writers.

Times are changing. Wear a cup.

Hitting the Reflex Point

On June 6th, 1944 the Allied forces (The United States, Britain, Canada, Free French forces, etc...) hit the beaches in Normandy, and in one of the bloodiest battles over inches of sandy ground confronting high cliffs, the tide of the war turned. (Military) Historians call this a "reflex point" - a point in history, a conflict (War) or nexus of thought (The Renaissance) and action where everything turns in a new direction. D-Day was just such a day in our planet's history. Suddenly the Germans and Japanese (shocked by such a massive campaign launched by the "sleeping giant") were on the defensive. The Allies were truly taking the battle to the enemy...

And now just such a reflex point is being "hit" -- though on an entirely new battlefront.

(The Doctor gets out his little hammer, feels around and whack! "Hollywood" springs its leg out in an entirely new direction)

You can read about it here, and here.

What this means:

1. A viable business model is being put in place for Hollywood to get onto the web. More jobs. More opportunities.

2. All you Canadian creatives out there who are outraged about the CTF and the CRTC?
(see here, here and here...oh yeah and here)

Time to tell your broadcasters and your commitees and panels and investigative bodies to go to hell. YOU DON'T NEED THEM. There is an infrastructure being built that has financing, star power, capability of reaching a much wider audience, and potentially yield far greater benefits than the MBA signed by the guilds.

I am reminded of the story when William Shatner, another Canadian, who made a deal with Priceline.com for stock in exchange for his representing the company in its brilliant ad campaigns. People chastised him for lowering his fees to near nothing, but he laughed all the way to the bank. His stock went to the moon.

3. Oh, and it means that if you have the talent and the gumption you can join the battle and do-it-yourself. You don't have to be an employee - you can own the company.

4. Bear Stearns is predicting that most of the web content will be advertiser supported. There is nothing holding you back from approaching an advertiser to fund your show.

5. The Guilds and Unions have to catch up and negotiate rates for employing its members realizing: a) this is a new business model. It isn't exactly television. It isn't exactly movies. It is the web. b) momentum is going to start slow then pick up...

6. You don't have to live in Los Angeles. If you want to you can do a lot of this stuff from wherever you have a broadband connection (virtually everywhere).

7. This isn't going to be for the faint of heart.

There's going to be a few stumbling blocks - integrating all the media applications for a program, the planning, the new roles being created, redefined and yes, lost. We are all going to have to think and act differently.

"The Battle" isn't over, but damn if we haven't hit the beach and turned the tide.

Too Legit To Quit

So we started working in the new offices today, and its been a whirlwind of dusting, moving things "just so" and making this new place "home."

It gives one a sense of legitimacy to tell someone "drop by the office," which for me used to mean the "home office." I still use the home office as do many of you, but I'm certain there's someone in the grand pulp masses out there saying, "Wow. I need to get an office."

What you're really saying is, "I need to become legit."

Legitimacy doesn't come from having an office, it comes from having work written and produced or published. It comes from your showing up to meetings on time and ready to get to work. It comes from going the extra mile to meet and greet people who are at the same level as you are and above. Especially above. It comes from reading the trades and learning how the business works and how you fit. It comes from being ready for your "big break" when it comes.

That's legitimate.

And you can do that from your kitchen table at home. Trust me. That's where SCARECROW was re-written. That's where SCARECROW: SLAYER took form, and those stories for TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN. THE SKULL. THE SOUND. P****** P***. WOLFSBANE. PATCHWORK (the first script I ever wrote, which was written during my day job at a local gym).

And dozens of other ideas, scripts, treatments, designs, drawings and numerous blog posts.

I put off trying to find office space for the longest time because it's expensive, time consuming and it can often be one more thing to worry about. I didn't want to be that guy who overextends himself into something he can't back up. You see it every day here in Los Angeles: some little production company gets office space in an expensive Beverly Hills, West Hollywood or Santa Monica address; announces a bunch of projects... and nothing happens. No deals. No scripts. Not even a piece of key art.

So if you're looking to legitimize your effort, sit your butt in the chair and write. Anywhere.
(Except at the coffee shop because damn -- sorry Bill Martell -- ain't that the cliche'?)

Your (manu)script is your business card. Your badge of legitimacy. Invest in it first. Get something produced then build on that. Be legit before it costs you a monthly rent...

Sincerely,

Your Mad Pulp Bastard

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble...

I thought it was high time we had another Q&A session here at DISContent. Think of it as bar talk without the beer, unless you bring your own.

This Friday, I will open up the blog to questions that you've been dying to ask:

Writing (Screen, short story, articles, marketing copy/taglines, PR)
DVD
Pulp Filmmaking
Movie Marketing and Design
Distribution / Representing movies
New Media
Los Angeles
The future of entertainment
TV Shows
Other stuff I like.

I am an equal opportunity advice-giver and venom-spewer, and what I don't know I can find out quickly. This is your chance to find out what goes on in my rapidly-aging yet still child-like cranium. We can shoot the shit, we can gossip, we can workshop and we can speculate.

Anything in this topic range is fair game.

You have a logline and title you want to test?
You want to know the possible outlets for your "Zombie love affair in drag" epic?
You want to know why so many movies fail?
You want to know the future of DVD?

Then go for it.

Starting Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8AM PST (11AM East coast) until 8PM PST I will -- answer all your questions, consult with you, and give you the straight poop. All the lessons I've learned from the trenches are yours to mull over. Hell, for drama's sake I will debate (notice I didn't say argue) with you. No harm, no foul. Nothing personal about it at all.

I warn you now that you may not like my answers, but thems the breaks.

For you lurkers out there, and from my stats I see there are quite a few of you, this is your opportunity to get involved, to contribute and to make yourself known.

I will see you Friday...

Weekend Update pt. 24,563

Work has been hellish these past few weeks as I now have deadlines for marketing campaigns on 4 new movies starring: Julie Warner, Sebastian Spence, Haylie Duff, Lou Diamond Phillips, James Van der Beek and Ving Rhames (Yes, I am a C-list name-dropper). On top of that I'm art directing / repositioning a bunch of catalog titles for the upcoming HK Film Mart.

I'm working on a short...details to follow after it's done.

I've had some progress rewriting The Skull (again!). What do you think of a retitle:
The Man Called Death or They Call Him Death ? Or even They Call Me Deth (misspelling intentional)?

(Edit: I think it will be They Call Me Death, which has a Voice Over/Film Noir quality to it that I'm looking for...)

I've been writing up a ton of one or two page pitch docs to narrow down what I really want to write for some spec tv pilots I have planned. Mostly for stuff that fits into the mini-series or event programming category, but a couple of long term series templates too. I've never written for television before and I feel the need to stretch my muscles. My portfolio of material is a little lean right now too, so it's all good. One of the pitches has the word Suicide in the title and will never make mainstream television or even cable for that matter. Too bloody. Too violent. Too...transgressive (Act two features someone beaten to death with their own severed limb). Oh, and it's a comedy...

Is there something wrong with me that I want to write that one the most?

Artwork is proceeding on Sex Machine with the new release date being May. I've told the art staff at the distributor to take a clue from Grindhouse and impress the hell out of me. (I am a harsh taskmaster when it comes to key art). I'm slowly arranging a campaign for my second pulp title to roll out this year (a comedy that would make Ed Wood proud).

And on top of all that (and more I'm not even mentioning!), an interesting 4GM opportunity came my way the other day during a meeting, and I'm trying to make it work (meaning Mr. Bill has to get paid).

Now if only I had a personal life.

What Makes Yankee TV Tick?

Lee Goldberg (DIAGNOSIS MURDER, MONK, SHE WOLF OF LONDON, COBRA, MARTIAL LAW) does it again. This time with a great post about the differences between American television and the competition overseas. Lee was invited by television producers and studios from Europe to come over and hold seminars on the American Writer's Room and American Production Methodology. He's traveled to Germany and Stockholm speaking with the best these countries have to offer (including these guys).

In Lee's own words:

I've been surprised to learn that often American television shows do better than the locally-produced programs, despite the language and cultural differences. Production values play a part, of course, but I believe the success is due to the power of franchise in American television shows. Our series tend to have concepts so distinct that they are clear whether the characters are speaking French, German, or Swahili. Look at CSI, MONK, LAW & ORDER, HOUSE...the concepts and characters are so strong, you can immediately grasp what the shows are about regardless of where you come from.

I also think American shows do so well because of the four act structure, something that's missing from virtually all European TV shows. The four-act structure creates a narrative drive that's simply missing from most European shows that I've seen. All you need to do is spend ten minutes watching a German or Swedish cop show and the difference is clear.

And it probably also has something to do with the reliable consistency of U.S. shows...regardless of the series, viewers know that they are going to get the same show every week, only different. You know what you are going to get from CSI...the stories may change, but it's essentially the same show week after week, year after year.

---------

1. Clear concept - "the franchise."

2. 4 act structure to provide narrative drive.

3. Brand identity.