What now?

What now?
I don't think I have posted anything here for about a month. Bad blogger, bad!

As usual, I am deep in a little of this, a little of that, hoping some of it sticks, blooms, grows, does something productive etc. There have been so many projects that I have worked on and, yes, gotten paid for, that have not gone anywhere and it's tough because everything is out of my hands.

I get hired to write something, I get paid (some of the time anyway, even if it is less than minimum wage) and, naturally, I want to see it get produced. No, actually, it is not enough for me to get paid to write screenplays because a screenplay in and of itself is nothing but a pile of paper until someone turns it into a movie. A symphony is nothing but lines and dots on a piece of paper until musicians perform it. A blueprint is just a picture until contractors use it to make a building.

So, no matter what I am working on --- yes, I wrote a screenplay about a vegetarian who becomes a cannibal --- I give it my best shot, make it as good as possible because I want to satisfy the client, I want to get hired again and, yes, because I want to see the movie but once I deliver the script, I am usually out of the game. I am not a producer, I can't get a film made. Similarly, if a film of mine does get made, I am at the mercy of those who are making the film, hoping that they take care of my baby. Don't get me started on this element of cinematic childcare --- let's just say that I need to explore other options. For the record, the cannibal film was produced but without, so I am told, my script because, in the words of the director, my "dialogue was too good for the caliber of actors we can afford." Yes, I got screwed on that one.

So, as summer 2010 approaches, I eagerly anticipate, once again, the actual production of one of my screenplays. "The Scare" (their title, not mine), a psychological thriller that I did a major overhaul on, is supposed to be shooting this June in New York. "Painted", a family film that I was hired to write, is in pre-production according to the website, as of May 17th and expected to shoot in California during July and August.

Finally, word from L.A. is that, after being on the back-burner for a few months, "Aftermath" is moving up to the front-burner in anticipation of a fall shoot in L.A. and I can only hope that childcare does right by me this time.

After way too long, I am coming to realize that I shouldn't be such a baby about people screwing with my work, re-writing my screenplays in production etc, because so much of my work these days is re-writing other people's screenplays or taking their ideas for films and turning them into my idea of how to turn it into a screenplay.

So, as mentioned before, I am deep in it, reading screenplays for people, doing a major overhaul on one for a director who has people ready to hear his pitch, waiting for word from Mumbai about a project that is being pitched there right now, working on a treatment for an adaptation of a book that I can barely get through and reading screenplays for former students who both plan to shoot their films this summer.

The mail just arrived and in it was a rough copy of a new film by Benny Mathews, who wants my opinion. Years ago, I reviewed Benny's film "Santeria" for Home Media Entertainment Magazine, really liked it and he sent me a "fan" letter, thanking me for understanding his film so well. We have been friendly ever since and hope to collaborate on something one day.

(I also got a "fan" letter from "Shoot 'Em Up" director Michael Davis because I raved about his previous film "Monster Man", because I was the only reviewer who "got" the film and, on the strength of my review, he speculated that it would get a theatrical run in Europe, which would then pave the way for a bigger budget follow-up, which wound up being "Shoot 'Em Up.")

I am also expecting an advance copy of "Green", the second feature by my former student, the wildly talented Nick Gregorio. Nick co-wrote, produced, directed, starred in the wonderful "Happy Birthday Harris Malden" which made a little splash in the indie world a few years ago and I am really eager to see this new film, having read the screenplay last year. Nick stopped by my class yesterday to say "hi" and that the DVD would be coming soon.

If I can't yet see my own work produced, it is genuinely gratifying for me to see other people in my circle get to see their work produced. They know that I'm here for them and I know that they're here for me. Now, that's good care!

Has it come to this?

Read the attached article here, "Has Hollywood Finally Killed The Screenwriter."
Yikes but, the fact is, it's pretty dead on.
People hire me to write screenplays for them, I write the script and they tell me to make changes and I make changes until they stop telling me to make changes.

In my class yesterday, a student whose script goes into production this weekend as a group project, had to sit and watch in horror as he officially lost control of it, as the producer said to him, "I have to play producer here and say that the script is finished, there's no more time to tinker with it."

Brutal, yes. Heartbreaking for the writer, yes. Hard for me to see it happening to another writer, yes. But, I have to admit that that producer did the right thing. The script had been revised by committee several times and the production was two days away from the first table read, six days away from shooting. Sometimes it just has to be like that.

Of course, in my experience with "Aftermath", the producers optioned my 80 page screenplay and hired me to do re-writes. Over the course of six months, I turned in numerous drafts, I got over 120 pages of notes, the page count eventually rose to 106 pages and then, of all things, began to decrease to, guess what....82 pages, where it now stands.

Last week, I turned in first draft of a screenplay to the producer/director who hired me. He took out some of my stuff, added in some of his stuff, sent it back to me for another pass and then, after that, asked me to change/add/replace some more material.

I don't know what I am exactly saying here but this is the way it is: Go strong or go home(?).

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/features/j%E2%80%99accuse-has-hollywood-finally-killed-the-screenwriter.php

Who, what, where?

I have a screenplay due on April 15th. I am not even at 50 pages into it yet and the goal is 90. Am I worried? Not really. I have a solid treatment and lots of notes to work from. It should be a breeze. Of course, it won't be and I will be scrambling late into the night, early morning and, quite possibly, the late afternoon to finish it.
Why? Because I just finished doctoring another Bollywood screenplay, I am doctoring a thriller and, because the muse hit (and when she hits, she hits hard), I paused to write a short film for a director who is looking for material.

So, I am having trouble keeping track of what I am working on, where it's going, who I am supposed to be working for and what I am supposed to be doing next/now --- so I blog.

Back to the real world --- one of the guys who I am writing for is im-ing me on fb.

Paranormal trend

Okay, big surprise, when a movie hits it big, everyone wants to do their own version of it. Case in point, in the space of about an hour yesterday, I was asked to work on two different "Paranormal Activity" type screenplays by two different producers and this is in addition to the one I already worked on back in January. Whatever works.

Just say "yes"?

Moments ago, I got a Facebook comment from a nearby filmmaker who has a Sundance-backed feature brewing. He says he could use my help with something --- presumably this feature with the pretty decent budget. How can I say "no"? I need to get something out there that has my name on it. I need to make some money. Simple, right?

I am currently doctoring a US/Bollywood screenplay, writing a family film and a short sci-fi political allegory. On top of all that, I recently dusted off a pet project, the treatment for a screenplay that I'd started last year and now think could be a viable project for me to produce --- much like "Aftermath", the script that was optioned to an L.A. producer last year, it is a grungy, low-budget real time piece.

The question is: How do I do it all?

There is one school of thought that says beginning screenwriters should not work for free or deferred pay because it sends the wrong message to producers who think they can walk all over us -- which, to some degree, is true. On the other hand, I have to start somewhere, get my name out there so that, maybe, someone will hire me.

So, I guess that's why I do it, say "yes" to everything, even if it kills me.

I have the Indian script due on 3/31 but it's going well. The family film is due 4/15 and it's going well. Will I ever get to the point where I can write one or two screenplays a year and be happy? If I do get to that point will I be happy or will I miss the days when I had to run around, chasing down gigs that might or might not pay, might or might not get made?

Or will I just get a real job?

Blahg! What am I doing? Where am I going?

In my defense, I read scripts all day and when I am not reading them for students or friends, I am writing them, so if it seems that I barely blog it is because I barely blog.

What am I doing? Well, in January, February and the beginning of March, I wrote a book on the history of photography. Okay, I didn't write a book, but I contributed 45 250 word articles on the subject to a general book on photography. Fun!

At the same time, I was doctoring a screenplay, a creepy psychological thriller set primarily in an old apartment. Since, I love Polanski's creepy apartment films "Repulsion" and "The Tenant" and, sure, why not, "Rosemary's Baby", I used this opportunity to attempt something like one of those. Of course, I was working from an existing story, had little time and even less hope of actually getting paid for this thing so I did what I could with what I was given to work with. I hear that it is supposed to be shooting now but, what do I know, I am only the writer/co-writer/doctor.

Now -- it should be now, I should be writing right now -- I am working on a family film. More fun! Next up, a re-write of an Indian film.

I better get back to work.

something like a bio?

Okay, my parents were beatniks/hippies who more concerned with saving the world through progressive education than they were in earning a living and providing for their family. They separated when I was 10, divorced when I was 13 --- that year (1978) my father took me, my sister and twin brothers cross-country for six months. Fun!

I returned to the alternative private high school that my father had started (private school free for me, why not?). I developed a crush on classmate back then and we have been married for almost 18 years. We have two daughters.

My parents had both been show-biz oriented as kids. My mother was actress up through college (she found out that she was pregnant with me two weeks before her graduation, thus the end of her acting career) and my father was a professional tap dancer as a teenager.

So, I guess I got the show-biz genes from them, started acting as a kid and also became a movie junkie, not just watching them but reading about them and the behind-the-scenes of production, finally starting to make my own Super 8 films when I was 9 at elementary school. Have you seen "A History Of Violence"? The Oscar-nominated screenwriter was two years ahead of me in school. Quentin Tarantino's executive producer was in my class from nursery school to sixth grade. The producer of "Lost In Translation" was two years behind me.

So, from an early age, I wanted to be a filmmaker and I always just thought that I would grow out of it and get a "real job." Never happened.

I always say that screenwriting or filmaking is like drinking, smoking or doing drugs ---- it might look appealing to some people even though we all know that it usually only winds up being destructive and we know we shouldn't do it, do it anyway and, by the time we decide that we want to stop, it's pretty hard.

I was a film major at Temple, an unremarkable student. I worked on two feature films back-to-back a year after college. I went from working (for free) on a low-budget indie film where everyone did everything for three or four months, finishing on a Saturday and going to work on a big budget Hollywood film on the following Monday, working one boring job day in and day out, making buckets of money and the study in contrasts was really life changing.

I saw so many inflated egos and so much financial waste on the Hollywood film that it really turned my stomach. It was during this time that the whole 'independent film' movement was becoming more high profile and I drifted towards it creatively and philosophically. I liked those kind of films and I wanted to make those kind of edgy, offbeat films.

I took a bit of time off between 1988 and 1990 to be the primary care-giver to my mother when she was terminally ill. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1985 she became an AIDS activist, working as a volunteer to help patients because she felt that like cancer had been when she younger, people were afraid to talk about AIDS. People Magazine did a story about her, she was on the cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer and was ABC News' Person Of The Week in 1988.

In 1991, a screenplay of mine was a semi-finalist for the prestigious Sundance Institute's screenwriter's lab ---- out of 500 applicants, they chose 24 semi-finalists and from them, 12 got into the lab.

In 1995 my short film, "The True Meaning Of Cool" won an award from the American Film Institute. The art of film is getting people to believe that they are seeing something when they are actually seeing something else. So, when I say that I have an award from the AFI, people are impressed. The reality is that I entered the film into 30 festivals, was rejected by 29 and was a runner up in the AFI sponsored contest. So, sure I have a hunk of plastic on my desk that says AFI but the illusion I've created is less impressive than the reality. Everyone does this!

Really, the bulk of my adult life has been in retail, much of it in video stores, something I loved for quite a long time. I was the movie guy in an extremely high profile, popular store, part of a staff of wacky characters, all of whom were incredibly knowledgeable about film. I drifted into teaching in 1999.

Now, I am an adjunct instructor, barely earning a living, always scrambling for work. My original screenplay "Aftermath" was optioned by an LA producer last year, I got a chunk of change (most of which went to pay for my daughter's bat mitzvah) and I am waiting to see if they actually make it, give me more money and, hopefully, see my career launched. I have written or doctored 20 (give or take) screenplays since 2006, one of which was produced but with a script radically re-written by the director and the rest of which are either in various stages of development or just gathering dust in the office of the person who hired me to write it.

My hope is that one or two of these scripts will be produced, take off and launch me so that I can make a living as a screenwriter and eventually direct my own stuff.

I left a lot out but I guess that's it. Any questions?