| Few updates and then I'm gone... |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
1. Graduated yesterday from the American Film Institute with a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting.
2. Was hired four hours ago to spend the next six weeks working on the fx for James Cameron's AVATAR for an embarrassing amount of money.
3. Revised the pilot teleplay to I'M WITH THE BAND with the aid of an immensely talented and supportive showrunner over at CBS/Paramount, who wants to shop it around this Fall.
4. Have six weeks to write the next (final?) draft of MAN IN SPACE, which turned out to be the nerdiest, awesomest thing I've ever written.
5. Grew sexy beard in celebration. |
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| Not that anyone out there gives a damn... |
[Mar. 23rd, 2009|05:05 pm] |
My "done/to do" list a few posts down is getting sloppy, so here's the updated list:
Crap Already Written in 2009
-First draft of the pilot to I'M WITH THE BAND (which is great!)
-Second draft of MAN IN SPACE (" " pretty good!)
-First draft of WASHINGTON INDIANA (" " mediocre!)
-Outline & first fifteen pages of WORLD FAIR (" " shit!)
-Pitch for UNTITLED COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG HORROR COMEDY
Crap Still Left To Do in 2009*
-Another draft of WASHINGTON INDIANA
-Another draft of WILBURY LANE
-Polish MAN IN SPACE
-Polish MULLIGAN
-Polish I'M WITH THE BAND
-Polish the pitch for UNTITLED COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG HORROR COMEDY
*I only have about four months to get one of these generating income before I'm homeless, so this list is basically "make everything better, in perpetuity." |
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| Profanities in Man in Space |
[Mar. 1st, 2009|02:53 pm] |
Did you know Final Draft has a built-in "Profanity Report" feature? It's true!
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"Ass" (3 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
52, 63, 85
It is spoken by the following characters:
HOTSHIT, MOOSE
"Asshole" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
96
It is spoken by the following characters:
STRUMMER
"Bullshit" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
86
It is spoken by the following characters:
SHEPHERD
"Crap" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
72
It is spoken by the following characters:
SHEPHERD
"Damn" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
73
It is spoken by the following characters:
STRUMMER
"Dick" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
62
It is spoken by the following characters:
HOTSHIT
"Fart" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
9
It is spoken by the following characters:
MOOSE
"Fuck" (23 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
12, 39, 52, 55, 62, 74, 75, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 94, 95, 98, 103, 106, 110, 114
It is spoken by the following characters:
GORDON, HARRIMAN, HOTSHIT, POPS, SQUIRREL, STRUMMER
"Fucked" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
54
It is spoken by the following characters:
HOTSHIT
"Fucker" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
69
It is spoken by the following characters:
HOTSHIT
"Fucking" (22 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
35, 36, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 62, 74, 75, 83, 92, 96, 98, 100, 115
It is spoken by the following characters:
GORDON, HARRIMAN, HOTSHIT, SQUIRREL, STRUMMER
"Pissed" (1 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
74
"Pussy" (2 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
27
It is spoken by the following characters:
HOTSHIT
"Shit" (7 occurrences)
It appears on the following pages:
53, 54, 58, 61, 97, 98
It is spoken by the following characters:
GORDON, HOTSHIT, MOOSE, STRUMMER
---
I love technology. |
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| :( |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|10:59 am] |
The Orphanage, the vfx studio that gave me my first real break, is closing down.
Here's wishing Tim, Charlie, and the rest of the ol' matchmove crew a speedy recovery.
NS |
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| obligatory yadda yadda New Year's |
[Dec. 30th, 2008|07:16 pm] |
Stuff I did in 2008
-Two drafts and a polish of Mulligan (offbeat Irish thriller)
-One draft of Wilbury Lane (Amblin-y children's adventure)
-One and a half drafts of Man in Space (i.e. Treasure of the Sierra Madre on Mars)
-One polish pass of Radio Babes (noncommercial indie garbage)
-Two drafts of "Spacemen of Camden County" (My Name is Earl spec)
-Outlined Washington Indiana (quirky Midwestern detective yarn)
-Outlined World Fair (oscar bait--Jews v. Nazis at the '39 New York World's Fair)
-Shed 30 pounds (since May!)
Stuff I'm doing in 2009
-Another draft and a half of Man in Space (or however many it takes to "finish")
-Three Two drafts of Washington Indiana (ditto)
-Another draft of Mulligan (for which "the industry" has expressed interest!)
-Another draft of Wilbury Lane (optioned by an AFI producer)
-Pilot teleplay of I'm With the Band (hourlong high school marching band drama)
-Outline and Pitch for Untitled Colonial Williamsburg Horror Comedy
-Initial fifteen pages of World Fair (and maybe more)
Stuff I want to do in 2009
-Sell a script
-Sell a script
-Sell a script!
BONUS: Five mainstream films I saw this year that propelled the medium
1. WALL-E
2. The Dark Knight
3. Cloverfield
4. Speed Racer
5. Pineapple Express |
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| postscript |
[Oct. 28th, 2008|10:04 pm] |
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The first draft of my latest feature, Man in Space, was completed a few hours ago. |
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| GOTV |
[Oct. 28th, 2008|07:26 pm] |
In case anyone was wondering, next Tuesday I'll be casting a vote for this guy:
...and I think you should, too. |
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| .plan? |
[Aug. 10th, 2008|10:05 am] |
AFI Year Two gears up in a few weeks, opening with my thesis pitch for "Man in Space" on August 26th. I've been chomping at the bit to write this thing for years, and it'll be great to finally quarter off a block of time to get it out. I should have the first draft down by Thanksgiving, provided the faculty member running the workshop doesn't require the same amount of extraneous prep as last year's.
After that, though, the future is wide open. Aside from the obvious need to revise my current stock of scripts, I have three features I could move to the front burner: a low-brow mainstream religious comedy, a comedy/mystery/mockumentary thing, and a Suess-esque sci-fi children's film (for reference, I've already finished drafts for a whimsical Irish thriller, an 80s-style children's fantasy adventure, and a personal little bullshit talking heads quirky indy script that no one will ever buy because it contains no Manic Pixie Dream Girls*...or, frankly, plot).
There's also a TV pilot or two I may or may not be writing, depending on the wind.
***
On another note, this summer has been the most productive in recent memory, albeit a rather lonely one. So far, I've written a feature script and fully outlined the next one, lost nearly 15 pounds, stopped biting my nails after 16 years, updated my "fatso" wardrobe to "only slightly pudgy" garments, gotten a $14 haircut that Gore Vidal's attractive blond writing assistant mysteriously called "stylish", replaced my old Transition-lensed wireframe glasses with a set of great little not-quite-horn-rims, and finally started steadily reading books that didn't contain screenshots for the first time since college.
I haven't yet figured out a way to regrow and/or augment my screwy left middle finger so I can start playing guitar again, but there's still three weeks to go.
*MPDG: as in this phenomena. I've always tried (though not necessarily succeeded) to avoid these types of characters / people, as they seem to be my generation's version of that woman in the office who calls herself "crazy" because she tacks up Cathy comics on the break room wall. |
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| It's a boy! |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|05:59 pm] |
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Weighing in at a healthy 114 pages, I'm delighted to announce the birth of Wilbury Lane! |
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| Script update |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|03:40 pm] |
Just finished writing the end of Wilbury Lane's Act Two (aka. Act 2-B, aka. Sequence 2d, aka. Part 6, aka. Page 84*):
In David’s arms, Scraps’ body shrinks and fades until nothing
is left but a small bit of fur, which blows away in the wind.
SHERIFF (O.S.)
Over here, by the fire!
The sheriff comes out of the woods behind David.
SHERIFF
Best hold still this time, son. You
got nowhere to run.
The sound of approaching SIRENS echo through the forest as
state troopers emerge from the woods and surround David,
their flashlight beams glinting off his tear-streaked face.
Provided I keep working at this rate, I should be finished with the first draft in less than two weeks!
*in case you're interested, I structured the outline as a "serialized adventure" consisting of eight sequences (1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b), with each sequence lasting between 10-20 pages and containing its own mini-arc. This lets me write at the leisurely pace of one sequence per week (1 day for layout, 2 for writing, 2 for revisions), leaving me plenty of time to work on other things--namely, sweating like a hog on my Wii Fit and reading "Collapse" by Jared Diamond as research for another project. |
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| Mulligan coverage! |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|06:16 pm] |
I finally received coverage on Mulligan, and their response was overwhelmingly positive!
The comment summary opens thusly:
A story that is chock-full of familiar elements that border on cliches—of both all thing Irish, and the horror/thriller genre—is rendered by this author with such a deft writing style that we can't help but get picked right up into it, and whisked away by it."
...and ends:
The conventions of the whimsical Irish play throughout here, especially demonstrated in the Shakespearean, philosophically-waxing banter of the gravediggers, Bartley and Eirnen: they are totally from another era, but their presence here—like the burly bloody Butcher, like the town pub of drunks who are suspicious of strangers, like the mysterious gypsy-like unfriendly Travelers themselves—only enhance the richness of the whole here in MULLIGAN.
My favorite line from the summary section has to be, "the dangerous quay lives up to its bad reputation." I think I'm stealing that for the logline.
There's also this little gem buried near the end of the final three-page commentary section:
The author here does a phenomenal job of taking thriller/horror conventions and presenting them in a fresh compelling style, well-structured, well-paced, and making for a completely enjoyable page-turner.
The only negative the reader had with it was, "...the mixture of light Irish fun-poking and dark ghoulish goings-on is jarring." However, they point out that it's nothing they believe can't be smoothed out in another quick pass.
The script is given a "consider" and I was given a "track" :) |
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| Hmm |
[Jun. 17th, 2008|03:39 pm] |
Just shot myself in the other foot turned down another job offer from Weta in New Zealand, less than 24 hours after handing in my tuition deposit for my second year @ AFI. |
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| Ever-Growing Reference List for Wilbury Lane |
[May. 18th, 2008|12:44 pm] |
(ie "movies I loved when I was 10")
Flight of the Navigator
D.A.R.Y.L.
The Goonies
ET
The Explorers
Mio and the Land of Faraway
The Last Starfighter
The Quest (aka Frog Dreaming)
Little Monsters
The Wizard
Radio Flyer
Josh and S.A.M.
The Neverending Story
My Neighbor Totoro
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| Bullet: bitten. |
[May. 13th, 2008|01:45 pm] |
AFI only greenlit 13 thesis scripts from the first round of submissions (out of ~50), and they need at least 15 more in order to fill next year's production quota. Although I still refuse to team with any second year productions, yesterday I diligently dropped a couple of scripts into the box of round two thesis submissions: Ahab, which I've been tinkering with for nearly a decade (good lord, I'm old), and Sweet Little Sixteen, my rejected cycle three script.
Given that both are black comedies (an inherently offensive and easily misread genre), and both present massive production challenges (violent, animated dream sequences and a seedy underground slave auction, respectively), neither has much of a shot at getting a green light. There's also a decent chance that Sweet Little Sixteen could get me in some seriously hot water with AFI, but I'm tired of walking on eggshells at that school. Besides, the scripts weren't doing much good just spinning 'round my hard drive.
The final list of greenlit scripts is announced next Wednesday.
In other news, this year's AFI Lifetime Achievement Award (or whatever it's called) is being given to Warren Beatty tomorrow. As this is the last non-cycle-screening on the schedule for this year, I'm just going to show up late to catch the Q&A (moderated by Jon Avnet!), which I'll have to watch via a video feed on the TV in the lobby because getting a seat inside would mean first sitting through a screening of Bulworth. Ick.
Also: I'm seeing the theatrical cut of Forgetting Sarah Marshall at Paramount tonight, and I've become addicted to Crispy Mint M&Ms...so...uh...yay?
EDIT: As expected, neither script was greenlit. |
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| Nick in Space |
[May. 6th, 2008|06:54 pm] |
The shoot I was on all weekend went amazingly well, considering the intricacy and ambition of the project.
The first half of Saturday was spent finishing the set, a reconstruction of the Apollo 11 capsule in which Michael Collins waited while Neil and Buzz were making history on the surface of the moon, complete with a functional instrument panel, removable walls and ceiling, and a perfectly balanced, rotating teeter-totter to simulate the actor floating in Zero-G. As the first two days were light on VFX, I filled in as sound mixer and occasional human puppeteer at the other end of the teeter-totter.
Sunday was more sound mixing and puppeteering, at least until lunch, at which point I was sent home after suffering a bit of a meltdown due to personal issues*.
Yesterday was the big day, though--setting up a rear-projection of the moon passing by the capsule's tiny window. The above-the-line folks were understandably nervous about this, and AFI had been pushing them to use bluescreen, but it ended up looking PERFECT! I can't wait to see it at screenings in two weeks.
I also managed to spend a few minutes geeking out with Harrison Richer, the director, about space and shit. He and I didn't exactly start off on the best terms (our first conversation earlier this year ended with us screaming at each other about independent filmmakers over a nice dinner at La Poubelle), so it was great to speak to him in the relative calm (::cough::) of a film shoot.
*In quite possibly the strangest fallout from this ordeal, I'll be making up the lost time next week in post, doing wire removal on a shot of a floating hotdog.
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| Flickr! |
[May. 2nd, 2008|11:25 pm] |
Just wanted everyone to know that I finally created a Flickr page to document my LA comings and goings (mostly goings).
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| Whew x2 |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|11:24 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  groggy | ] |
The second draft of Mulligan is done, weighing in at a solid 100 pages--roughly a third of them brand spankin' new!
I still have a week of polishing before it gets submitted the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship, and another week before AFI sends it out for coverage.
And then: darkness. |
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| Oh scripts I hast writ |
[Apr. 17th, 2008|05:15 pm] |
To put my experiences at AFI in perspective, here is a list of every short screenplay I've completed in the past eight months, each with the promise that it will get produced or submitted as a thesis:
Screech, Skid, Boom (ten drafts)
Nature Red in Tooth and Claw (two drafts)
Sweet Little Sixteen (five drafts)
Ahab (two drafts)
All it Takes (three drafts)
Reach for the Sky (two drafts)
And here is a list of screenplays which have actually been produced or submitted as a thesis:
Screech, Skid, Boom |
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| BZZZT WRONG! |
[Apr. 11th, 2008|02:35 pm] |
At this morning's AFI cycle screenings, there were two films involving graphic sexual abuse of a female character--one of them a cycle, the other a rough cut of second-year thesis. Besides both films demonstrating serious inability of craft, for some reason the writer/directors (both male) decided to objectify the women who were being abused.
The cycle film had the victim (the main character) tied up in her underwear, and lingered on several close-ups that served no point other than to provide some t&a. It then turned into mindless torture-porn, for which the writer/director was thoroughly harangued. Since the goal was a Grindhouse-ish film, at least it was in keeping with the misogyny of the genre.
The thesis film, however, was unforgivably repulsive. It was about a husband who is given the opportunity to execute the death penalty sentence on the guy who raped his wife (portrayed here as Stock Villain #3), and again turns into a bullshit torture-porn film--this time culminating in a horribly graphic castration scene. We are supposed to feel good about this ending because the rapist "broke his wife", like she was just some property which the rapist defaced. And don't get me started on the fantasy sequence in which the husband sews a prosthetic vagina between her legs as she repeats,"Make me clean again!". My comment card contained the phrase, "fuck you" at least 8 times.
I am so unbelievable happy to not have to deal with student filmmaking EVER AGAIN.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the best part. After the thesis screening, I was selected for the focus group! There was something incalculably satisfying about getting to tell this bastard that he failed on every possible level. |
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| FREE MUSIC! FOR FREE! |
[Apr. 8th, 2008|02:03 pm] |
If you have at least one ear still working and also enjoy getting stuff you didn't earn, head on over to the Achievements in Sound website and download his new album. Download the old album, too, while you're at it.
Matt and I worked with this guy up in San Francisco, and he could really use some fans. I'm pretty sure there's only the two of us right now. |
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