Why bother anymore? What’s the point of trying to make art, to be creative, to even dream about being successful, let alone earning a living doing something I love? These are questions that I feel that I should be asking myself regularly, if not every day but I am not. For some reason I am still trying to do it.
I once heard Barbra Streisand relay an anecdote about a young, aspiring actor asking her “Should I be an an actor?” to which she replied, “If you have to ask, the answer is ‘no’.”
As I have probably written before, I always just assumed that filmmaking and screenwriting were youthful pursuits that I would eventually grow out of when it came time to become and adult and make a living. But it hasn’t happened, I haven’t grown out of those dreams and I am not exactly making a living as an adjunct professor. I am basically getting by, still scrambling for work semester-to-semester, getting a screenwriting gig here, a book gig there (the photography book that I contributed to comes out in the fall) and I even have a speaking engagement coming up, moderating a discussion on depictions of inter-faith relationships in the movies.
Anyway, to “promote my name”, “get myself out ‘there’” (and see a lot of movies for free) I contribute reviews to IndieTalk.com. The last statistic that I saw on the matter, said that, at any given time, there are approximately 4000 indie films in production around the country.
When I read the trade magazines and check out IndieWire, MovieMaker and I look at the actors, directors and producers who I am friends with on facebook, all of whom have this thing and that going on and I imagine all of the actors, directors and producers I am not friends with, 4000 films seems an accurate number --- even if less than 400 will ever see the light of day, play a festival or two much less get some kind of distribution regardless of quality. Of the dozens, if not hundreds of titles that have passed through my dvd player over the past five years or so, I have seen some really good, worthy films wither away without ever finding distribution and I have seen barely competent productions secure solid deals.
So, last Saturday I received and watched a film by a young writer/director/cinematographer from South Jersey. “No Footing” is about a young woman who, eighteen months after graduating from college with a degree in fine art, finds herself working in a copy shop, designing business cards and flyers, stuck in a rut, watching helplessly as friends from high school get real jobs and start families. The film is by no means great but it is a decent little low-budget indie with nice production values, camerawork and acting, better than most of the films I have had to review and, more than anything, I really related to it on many levels.
Watching a film about a girl just out of college, full of hopes, dreams and ambitions, it was pretty hard to avoid looking inward and back at the twenty-three years since I graduated, wondering what I have done with my life, how much I have accomplished - or not.
Don’t think, for a moment, that I am complaining. I have a good life, a beautiful family, nice house in a great neighborhood and there is some money trickling in.
Back to hopes and dreams? Okay, I can’t exactly complain there either. In 1988, after working on two feature films, back to back with only one day off between them and, somewhere in there seeing Woody Allen’s “Crimes And Misdemeanors”, I decided that I wanted to be a screenwriter.
A lot of people want to be screenwriters and part of the way I earn a living is by teaching people how to be screenwriters. It’s a hard field to break into and, if I haven’t exactly broken into it, I have made a little dent in the door. If everyone who wanted to be a screenwriter, was actually working as a screenwriter, there might be a whole more than 4000 a year movies out there.
I had a volley of e-mails back and forth with the director of “No Footing” and tried to be encouraging as he told me that the film has been rejected from festival after festival.
I am re-writing a screenplay for someone who has a good chance of getting it made. When I finish that screenplay, I am writing a short comedy. A filmmaker whose films I have not liked in the past, who sent me a screenplay to read that I wound up trashing, has asked me how much I would charge to re-write a screenplay of his that is likely to find funding, I told him and he agreed to my rate. Who knows where any of this will go, if it will amount to anything? I do not know but, for some reason, that does not stop me from moving forward.
Does “No Footing” sound interesting? It might. Do you want to see it? You can’t, it has not yet gotten a distribution deal and there is no guarantee that it ever will but there is hope.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
No, but I read the...
How do I know that I am back from vacation?
1) It was about 90 degrees in Philly today.
2) I didn’t take any naps.
3) When I look out my front window, I don’t see any water.
4) I didn’t read 200 pages of fiction today.
I could probably go on and on but that would be depressing so I am going to focus, for awhile anyway, on #4 but re-phrase it. How do I know when I am on vacation? I average about 200 pages of fiction or creative non-fiction a day. Yes, I read about 800 pages last week. Of course, that number is nothing for big readers or “real” readers. I do enjoy reading, I just don’t do enough of it when I am not in Maine for a week. I read. Of course, I read. It is a big, big, big part of my job to read. In the heat of the school year, I can read as many as fifty student screenplays in a week and, if that sounds like a lot, it is but it is not the same as 800 pages of fiction.
Screenwriting, as I teach it, is almost the antithesis of conventional prose writing and it takes me awhile to adjust to reading books. Screenwriting is closer to music composition than it is to prose. A film, like a symphony, is meant to be experienced in a single, uninterrupted sitting. Would you leave an orchestra’s performance of your favorite Beethoven piece mid-way through and then return the next night to hear the rest of it? Have you ever driven around longer than necessary or stayed in the driveway after your arrival because your favorite song was on the radio? Screenwriters and filmmakers strive to create a piece of visceral, visual music, something that draws you in, sweeps you up in it’s drama and carries you away. Do not hit the pause button!
So, I read a lot of fiction while I was away: “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby and “The Corrections” by Jonathan Frazen. Wow. I am so glad that I am a screenwriter because I could never be a novelist. As a writer, I love to read books that would be ill-suited to cinematic adaptations. I love reading a book and thinking, “This could never be a movie!” Partially, I think that movies and fiction are completely (okay, largely) different art forms and lately, I feel like I have been coming across a number of books that are really thinly veiled movie-bait. All due respect to her, but it is pretty hard to not imagine Rowling sitting there, writing Harry Potter and thinking “This would be a great movie!”
I remember reading “Shopgirl”, the harrowing, hilarious novella about clinical depression by Steve Martin, truly one of my idols and such a major influence on me. “Wow,” I thought, “this could never be made into a film, how wonderful.” Later, on NPR, I heard Martin talking about how he thought that the book could never be made into a film --- and then changing his mind about it. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the film version (for the record, I haven’t liked most of his films), disappointed that Martin had second guessed his first instinct about the book and even more disappointed that he had miscast himself in a crucial part. We’re cool now, he made it up to me with his memoir, “Born Standing Up.”
Of course, I had to go ahead and dare myself, I couldn’t just let things lie, could I? What’s the point anyway, I would have found out soon enough. With great trepidation, a gnawing in my gut, I made a quick trip to IMDb and found that adaptations of both “A Long Way Down” and “The Corrections” are on the boards for 2011 and 2012. I guess that’s the way it goes. Maybe I’ll just read the dictionary on vacation next year. Maybe I’ll just work on screenplays while I’m away --- I would have gotten so much more work done this year if I had not brought so many really good books with me.
1) It was about 90 degrees in Philly today.
2) I didn’t take any naps.
3) When I look out my front window, I don’t see any water.
4) I didn’t read 200 pages of fiction today.
I could probably go on and on but that would be depressing so I am going to focus, for awhile anyway, on #4 but re-phrase it. How do I know when I am on vacation? I average about 200 pages of fiction or creative non-fiction a day. Yes, I read about 800 pages last week. Of course, that number is nothing for big readers or “real” readers. I do enjoy reading, I just don’t do enough of it when I am not in Maine for a week. I read. Of course, I read. It is a big, big, big part of my job to read. In the heat of the school year, I can read as many as fifty student screenplays in a week and, if that sounds like a lot, it is but it is not the same as 800 pages of fiction.
Screenwriting, as I teach it, is almost the antithesis of conventional prose writing and it takes me awhile to adjust to reading books. Screenwriting is closer to music composition than it is to prose. A film, like a symphony, is meant to be experienced in a single, uninterrupted sitting. Would you leave an orchestra’s performance of your favorite Beethoven piece mid-way through and then return the next night to hear the rest of it? Have you ever driven around longer than necessary or stayed in the driveway after your arrival because your favorite song was on the radio? Screenwriters and filmmakers strive to create a piece of visceral, visual music, something that draws you in, sweeps you up in it’s drama and carries you away. Do not hit the pause button!
So, I read a lot of fiction while I was away: “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby and “The Corrections” by Jonathan Frazen. Wow. I am so glad that I am a screenwriter because I could never be a novelist. As a writer, I love to read books that would be ill-suited to cinematic adaptations. I love reading a book and thinking, “This could never be a movie!” Partially, I think that movies and fiction are completely (okay, largely) different art forms and lately, I feel like I have been coming across a number of books that are really thinly veiled movie-bait. All due respect to her, but it is pretty hard to not imagine Rowling sitting there, writing Harry Potter and thinking “This would be a great movie!”
I remember reading “Shopgirl”, the harrowing, hilarious novella about clinical depression by Steve Martin, truly one of my idols and such a major influence on me. “Wow,” I thought, “this could never be made into a film, how wonderful.” Later, on NPR, I heard Martin talking about how he thought that the book could never be made into a film --- and then changing his mind about it. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the film version (for the record, I haven’t liked most of his films), disappointed that Martin had second guessed his first instinct about the book and even more disappointed that he had miscast himself in a crucial part. We’re cool now, he made it up to me with his memoir, “Born Standing Up.”
Of course, I had to go ahead and dare myself, I couldn’t just let things lie, could I? What’s the point anyway, I would have found out soon enough. With great trepidation, a gnawing in my gut, I made a quick trip to IMDb and found that adaptations of both “A Long Way Down” and “The Corrections” are on the boards for 2011 and 2012. I guess that’s the way it goes. Maybe I’ll just read the dictionary on vacation next year. Maybe I’ll just work on screenplays while I’m away --- I would have gotten so much more work done this year if I had not brought so many really good books with me.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Vacation: Had To Get Away
Yes, in case you're wondering, I did hear the old Go-Go's chestnut "Vacation" on the radio today as I was scurrying around, taking care of last minute stuff before heading off on our annual jaunt to the coast of Maine tomorrow.
Everyone is really looking forward to being away. A look into the future (aka the five day forecast) shows chilly temperatures and rain for our first few days and we don’t care. Being away is about chilling, it is about what we don't do as much as it is about the activities we have planned. We plan to sit and read and sit and read and sit and read -- with regular long, long walks on the beach that lies just beyond our yard. I can’t rule out the possibility of a board game or two entering the equation.
Beyond reading and walking however, I plan to write. With the blessing of little to no internet access to distract me, last year, I wrote two screenplays in about four days. Granted the legwork had been done well in advance, I had treatments and notes ready to go so, when it came time to write, I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.
So, I am going for it again, I have screenplay to rewrite or re-imagine for someone, a director who already has one feature to his credit and feels that this old script could be his next project but that it needs to be taken to a new place. Even though I sort of like it as is, I am under orders to add some Alfred Hitchcock, some David Lynch, some John Ford, some Salvador Dali and a little Fellini. Fun. Picture "Twin Peaks" meets "Touch Of Evil" with a dash of "The Exorcist."
Next, to lighten the mood, another Philly director has asked me write a short comedy about a model becoming an actor. I am looking forward to this project too because it is a world that I look forward to playing in and also because I rarely get to flex my comedy muscles on the page.
Oddly, I think I am a pretty funny guy in real life. I am not someone who suffers from an over abundance of self-confidence in many areas but I do think I have one healthy sense of humor. Sometimes I genuinely feel that my mission in life is to make people laugh and, okay, if it's not my mission, it's something I have been pretty good at since I was little and it seems to make people like me. Nothing too odd about that. What is a little odd, or maybe not, is that when I sit down to write, what comes out is rarely funny (go ahead, start singing “Tears Of A Clown”), instead it is my dark, sometimes very dark, nasty, misanthropic side gets to come out here and there. I guess it's all about balance.
Finally, if I get through these two projects and I don’t get another paying gig, I might actually have time to work on something of my own, something that, of all things, balances dark and light, humor and horror, just like me, just like life, right? That’s what I like.
AN UPDATE on various projects:
The Mumbai trip seems to have been a bust. Nobody was interested in the projects that my director friend was pitching. Too bad, actually a bit of a surprise but I guess that’s the way it goes.
The family film is now in crisis. The investor just backed out so it is unlikely to shoot this summer. Of all things, a former student who is now working in L.A. contacted me to see if I knew anyone who might be interested in working on some family films. I have put him in touch with the director of the film that just lost its backers and.... who knows?
However, if I do my job well and finish the “Twin Peaks” meets “Touch Of Evil” screenplay, it could shoot later this summer.
Everyone is really looking forward to being away. A look into the future (aka the five day forecast) shows chilly temperatures and rain for our first few days and we don’t care. Being away is about chilling, it is about what we don't do as much as it is about the activities we have planned. We plan to sit and read and sit and read and sit and read -- with regular long, long walks on the beach that lies just beyond our yard. I can’t rule out the possibility of a board game or two entering the equation.
Beyond reading and walking however, I plan to write. With the blessing of little to no internet access to distract me, last year, I wrote two screenplays in about four days. Granted the legwork had been done well in advance, I had treatments and notes ready to go so, when it came time to write, I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.
So, I am going for it again, I have screenplay to rewrite or re-imagine for someone, a director who already has one feature to his credit and feels that this old script could be his next project but that it needs to be taken to a new place. Even though I sort of like it as is, I am under orders to add some Alfred Hitchcock, some David Lynch, some John Ford, some Salvador Dali and a little Fellini. Fun. Picture "Twin Peaks" meets "Touch Of Evil" with a dash of "The Exorcist."
Next, to lighten the mood, another Philly director has asked me write a short comedy about a model becoming an actor. I am looking forward to this project too because it is a world that I look forward to playing in and also because I rarely get to flex my comedy muscles on the page.
Oddly, I think I am a pretty funny guy in real life. I am not someone who suffers from an over abundance of self-confidence in many areas but I do think I have one healthy sense of humor. Sometimes I genuinely feel that my mission in life is to make people laugh and, okay, if it's not my mission, it's something I have been pretty good at since I was little and it seems to make people like me. Nothing too odd about that. What is a little odd, or maybe not, is that when I sit down to write, what comes out is rarely funny (go ahead, start singing “Tears Of A Clown”), instead it is my dark, sometimes very dark, nasty, misanthropic side gets to come out here and there. I guess it's all about balance.
Finally, if I get through these two projects and I don’t get another paying gig, I might actually have time to work on something of my own, something that, of all things, balances dark and light, humor and horror, just like me, just like life, right? That’s what I like.
AN UPDATE on various projects:
The Mumbai trip seems to have been a bust. Nobody was interested in the projects that my director friend was pitching. Too bad, actually a bit of a surprise but I guess that’s the way it goes.
The family film is now in crisis. The investor just backed out so it is unlikely to shoot this summer. Of all things, a former student who is now working in L.A. contacted me to see if I knew anyone who might be interested in working on some family films. I have put him in touch with the director of the film that just lost its backers and.... who knows?
However, if I do my job well and finish the “Twin Peaks” meets “Touch Of Evil” screenplay, it could shoot later this summer.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Oui. Non. Oui. Non.
I should be looking for some work now because, as of this past Tuesday, I have taught my last class and I am basically unemployed until September.
I should not be looking for screenwriting work.
I should not be entertaining new screenwriting jobs, especially jobs that might only sort of "pay" somewhere down the line but, once again, this is where I find myself.
I have projects. I am doing a radical overhaul on a creepy, supernatural/religious thriller, making more "Twin Peaks" meets "Touch Of Evil." It is a good screenplay to begin with and making it better has been a lot of fun, it's like adding more icing to the icing on the cake.
There are the Indian projects that I am waiting to hear about: two films, one is an original story and the other is an adaptation of a novel. The director is in Mumbai pitching them right now.
So, why did I respond to an ad for a writer? I guess I thought I might get paid.
They got a lot of responses from writers, narrowed it down to me and a few others and picked me. Nice.
Details emerged. The film is a foreign production set in the U.S. but with an international flair. That is, these guys have a lot that they want to tackle in this film, big issues that make the news every day, topics that involve the U.S., other countries and the relationship to the U.S. and these other countries -- not to mention the cultural/ethnic element.
They are unhappy with the screenplay that they have and they want me to fix it. They sent it to me, I didn't like it, found it heavy-handed and, even worse, not compelling and I told them so. I passed on the job. End of story. Or so I thought.
So impressed with my perceptions about the screenplay and my brutal honesty, they asked me if I would write a radically new version of the screenplay, incorporating their agenda and "whatever it needs" to make me as a writer interested in writing it. I agreed.
Then I got their agenda.
Notice that I have not mentioned what issues they want to deal with?
Sure, I have political views and thoughts about society but I have never been one to wear them on my sleeve per se. Yes, you can tell that I am an earthy crunchy liberal democratic Jew just by looking at me, you really can.
I appreciate the need to be vocal about issues and push the agenda but I not the one to do it and the producer and director of this film have a lot of things to express in no uncertain terms and I am not 100% comfortable giving my voice to them. I agree with some things, disagree with other things but, no matter how I feel about their message, I do not think that I am the one to deliver it for them, certainly not as emphatically as they want to have it expressed. I backed out of the project, told them that I am not up to the challenge --- and politics or not, it was a challenging project (no female characters allowed???) and really more than I think I can handle at this point. Give me a good haunted church any day and I'll be happy.
They have responded with another e-mail, this time appealing to me as an artist who should stretch, who should challenge myself with this project. I haven't responded to the e-mail.
They have already called twice today. I let the machine get it.
I should not be looking for screenwriting work.
I should not be entertaining new screenwriting jobs, especially jobs that might only sort of "pay" somewhere down the line but, once again, this is where I find myself.
I have projects. I am doing a radical overhaul on a creepy, supernatural/religious thriller, making more "Twin Peaks" meets "Touch Of Evil." It is a good screenplay to begin with and making it better has been a lot of fun, it's like adding more icing to the icing on the cake.
There are the Indian projects that I am waiting to hear about: two films, one is an original story and the other is an adaptation of a novel. The director is in Mumbai pitching them right now.
So, why did I respond to an ad for a writer? I guess I thought I might get paid.
They got a lot of responses from writers, narrowed it down to me and a few others and picked me. Nice.
Details emerged. The film is a foreign production set in the U.S. but with an international flair. That is, these guys have a lot that they want to tackle in this film, big issues that make the news every day, topics that involve the U.S., other countries and the relationship to the U.S. and these other countries -- not to mention the cultural/ethnic element.
They are unhappy with the screenplay that they have and they want me to fix it. They sent it to me, I didn't like it, found it heavy-handed and, even worse, not compelling and I told them so. I passed on the job. End of story. Or so I thought.
So impressed with my perceptions about the screenplay and my brutal honesty, they asked me if I would write a radically new version of the screenplay, incorporating their agenda and "whatever it needs" to make me as a writer interested in writing it. I agreed.
Then I got their agenda.
Notice that I have not mentioned what issues they want to deal with?
Sure, I have political views and thoughts about society but I have never been one to wear them on my sleeve per se. Yes, you can tell that I am an earthy crunchy liberal democratic Jew just by looking at me, you really can.
I appreciate the need to be vocal about issues and push the agenda but I not the one to do it and the producer and director of this film have a lot of things to express in no uncertain terms and I am not 100% comfortable giving my voice to them. I agree with some things, disagree with other things but, no matter how I feel about their message, I do not think that I am the one to deliver it for them, certainly not as emphatically as they want to have it expressed. I backed out of the project, told them that I am not up to the challenge --- and politics or not, it was a challenging project (no female characters allowed???) and really more than I think I can handle at this point. Give me a good haunted church any day and I'll be happy.
They have responded with another e-mail, this time appealing to me as an artist who should stretch, who should challenge myself with this project. I haven't responded to the e-mail.
They have already called twice today. I let the machine get it.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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
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
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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.
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.
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