Nothing is ever small

So, I’ve been moving ahead with the pre-production of my short film. A snail’s pace - but I’m still moving.

I just finished a rewrite of the script - a class assignment I completed while at NYU. It turns out I just completed my first adaptation. The assignment was to write a scene for the stage between two people, where one person does not speak at all. It was a difficult assignment, and the first for that class. I dug deep in my bag of tragedy and anger and came up with a nice little piece for this great actor to perform.

We rehearsed the piece along with an assigned director and it was really received well. It didn’t hurt that this actor is AMAZING. He’s also agreed to be in the short film.

So, when I decided I’d turn this piece of theater work into a short film, I was totally clueless. Okay, I had a clue, but it didn’t prevent me from having to scratch the original outline and put my filmmaking hat on.

I’ve learned theater is theater and film is film. While they can meet, there has to be a whole lot of preparation and rearranging. What I thought would be a simple, no-budget film is turning out to be anything but. After coming to the realization that I would have to think bigger than just a stage with two actors, I have come up with a more visual story, without losing the original content and feel that garnered an emotion-filled response.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I write freehand, and now comes the task of sitting down and typing this 13-page script. I’m sure the page count will change, as I am a perpetual rewriter. Once I hammer out this draft, I’ll be sending it out to the actor. As he already knows the background and the emotions needed for this character, his feedback will go into another pass of the script.

Now I’m realizing that I’ll have to sit down and actually come up with a budget for this thing. What I thought only needed two locations, now calls for at least two more. I’ll also need a few more actors than I’d originally planned, and a good editor and lighting person. Or I can just learn to wear many, many hats. I am going to prepare two budgets - maybe three. One will be my dream budget, the other my bare bones budget, and maybe an it-can-happen budget.

The other thing I’m realizing is that I may need to get a producer on board. I have one or two people in mind, but as I have never worked with them on this level, I’ll really have to sit down with them and make sure it will be a good fit.

What I’m realizing through all of this is how much I really love storytelling. I’m also understanding the business end, which make me a bit Sybil-like when I sit down to work on the script. I have to think with a creative hat while remembering what can and cannot be done due to financial strain.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

So, my head is spinning. Okay, not quite spinning, but there is blurred vision.

I’ve been going back to school. No, no classroom or teacher involved. Just me doing crazy research on what I would need to make this short film the best it can be.

I spent a few hours yesterday with How To Make Your Movie: An Interactive Film School software. Pretty informative. I’ve also dusted off my copy of The Complete Film Production Handbook. As my short will be using real actors (and not just a bunch of friends and family who owe me a favor or two... though, I wish I could), as well as locations that I don’t have personal access or connections to, I am seriously thinking about forming an LLC. Since I already formed a nonprofit a few years ago, I’m pretty familiar with creating a business plan, filing articles of incorporation, forming a board of directors, etc... But, nonetheless, all of this is still a bit scary.

The more I think about the short film, the more excited and scared I get. I know the work and hours it takes to get this started and then to see it to completion. Doing a short film for a class assignment is one thing, doing one completely on my own is a whole ‘nother “thang”.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The strange thing about all of this is that I’m having fun. It’s weird, but the researching, scouting, planning and pulling out my dreds is giving me a high that I don’t want to give up.

I’m on my way to being a filmmaker.

Did I mention I’m scared shitless?

Did I say, It Is What It Is?

Here’s an LA Times article. To explain what I felt after reading it would take a lifetime, and still not show the emotions trapped deep inside of me.

This world - it is what it is, and I am what I am. Somehow, we have to meet in the middle. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless. I’ll keep on moving - always forward, always forward.

Taking the Plunge...

...into my short film.

So I’ve decided to stop talking about it and just plain do it. I guess I’m officially in pre-production for my short film.

I’m scared as hell, but extremely excited at the same time. It’s been over a year since I completed my first short film. It was a class assignment that called for no dialogue, but I had so much fun and I learned tons working with a crew of just four people.

I’m still gathering a crew for this project, as well as securing actors (I’ll just need two, and it seems like I might already have one - oh, and some extras). I’ll be scouting a few locations that I have in mind. The script is based on a piece that I’d written for one of my theatre classes back at NYU. The good thing was that it was performed by actors on stage and, afterwards, my classmates and other actors asked questions and provided feedback. The feedback will serve as the first set of notes going into the rewrite. It looks like I’ll be able to use the same actor who performed in the original piece; he is extremely familiar with the backstory.

Did I mention I’m excited?

Getting Notes

I am mentally challenged when it comes to receiving notes.

While my brain tells me that I should just keep my mouth shut, listen and meditate, my heart tells me it’s my freaking script and I’ll defend it like my life depended on it.

Well, this bipolar reaction to receiving notes is stressful as hell.
The really, really, really odd thing is that I actually implement notes into my subsequent drafts and have no problem acknowledging when someone’s notes have made the story stronger.

Then why, oh, why can’t I take constructive criticism (or what we writers call notes)? Because of that last word - criticism.

Oh, well, they say knowing is half the battle. But I don’t want to fight.

I’ve also learned that giving notes is an art form. Okay, maybe not an art form, but not everyone is good at it. Learning to distinguish good notes from shitty ones takes a bit of practice, as well. I firmly believe that there are no useless notes; even the worst can serve as a learning experience, even if it’s just building up your tolerance for complete idiots.

The biggest thing I’ve recently learned is that notes are only good when you are ready to receive it. I don’t mean when the script is at its best, or when you have fine selected those you trust, but when you, yourself are open and ready to fully open your mind to what needs to be done to bring your script to the next level.

Even the best notes given at a time when one’s not open will fall on deaf ears.

So the point? Knowing who you are is the most important step in the writing process. Understanding your own motives, intricacies, and misbehavior can make this crazy, rollercoaster process a bit more easy to swallow and stay the course.

Rewrite Central

All writing is rewriting. Who said this? I believe it’s true, but I also believe that all writing is writing.

Huh?

I recently sat down and read a script I’d written about two years ago. An action-thriller; the protagonist an African-American woman who kicks butt. The thing was, I just couldn’t read it - I mean, I was tweaking as I read, thinking about which character to kill off completely and what scenes might be added to put this baby in overdrive.

Sure, I had opened the script to read it and get ready for a possible rewrite, but as I sat there reading, I started writing, going over scenes and changes in my head. It wasn’t planned. I didn’t sit down and write out an outline (which I will be doing shortly).

I write. I tell stories. Sometimes the same stories over and over with different casts in different circumstances. I invent worlds and sometimes destroy them. I manipulate. I conspire. I build up. I tear down.

Writing is writing. Forget the catch-prashes, the gurus. Forget about the right way and the wrong way. Just follow your mind, heart and soul and do that thing you love.

Writing is writing.

My New Tattoo

So, I've been wanting a tattoo for about three years now. But, I'm a wuss... until now.

It Is What It Is

So, has it all been just in my head ?

I gotta keep working harder. We can build them stronger, faster, better.

“Where my girls at?”

New Script

So, I started work on a new script. Oh, how I love the passion evoked by a budding idea.

Sustaining that passion - well, that’s the rub.

I’m taking my first stab at a completely commercial project. I initially wanted to make it a PG-13 type thingy, as well, but my foul-mouthed, perverted little mind will not allow me to go down that Disney-cleaned-42nd-Street turnaround. Those of you who remember Times Square in the 70’s and 80’s will get my little reference.

But anyway, I am so psyched about my new project, even though the sub-genre has been done thousands and thousands of times before (of course, I have a twist and a way to make it my very own - or at least I hope to).

I know what some might be thinking... then again, if I knew what people were thinking, I’d have broken into this Hollywood playing field many moons ago.

I don’t know the market. I get my weekly Variety and read articles filled with names my ADD will never allow me to remember, and I can connect the dots to trends and money ebbing and flowing in particular directions and then I close the darn thing because my head begins to hurt.

All I know with 1,000,000,000,000...% certainty is that I love writing, and as much as I try to stop (just for mini vacations- a day or two), I CAN’T.

I’ve read books, I’ve gone to school, I’ve networked, I’ve cried, laughed, screamed, and through all of this, the one constant is my head filling with ideas and characters and themes and stories and voices...oops, I was not supposed to mention the voices.

I’m in the early stage of this new script. Having just finished another draft of my labor-of-love script which required a bit of heavy emotional thinking, I’m looking forward to this new project filled with the kind of silliness I like to escape to every so often. As much as I love Syriana, I can’t pass up an old Adam Sandler movie or White Chicks or Rocket Man. I need the yin and yang in my life, including my writing.

Not sure when I’ll have a rough draft of this finished, but I’m working on it and enjoying it

Mind Mapping

I recently started using mind mapping for brainstorming and outlining my story. I’m a visual thinker, and it is opening amazing creative doors for me.

While I’m still outlining, I find myself working it out beforehand using the mind maps. There is so much more clarity. Where as before I had so many ideas running around in my head, I now find myself opening up a mind map and getting my ideas down in a visual format so I can see where things actually connect.

As with all tools, it’s not for everyone, and I’m sure every project will come with its own method.

There are a few programs out there. I did some research and I ended up going with NovaMind. As I’m new to this program, I have yet to open up all the possibilities. There is a screenwriting version, which is what made me go with that program. There are some free mind mapping programs out there, as well.

I also find mind mapping integrates itself perfectly well with all the other tools in my writing arsenal. I’m able to use the map as a jump-off to my outlining, bringing more focus and clarity to the ideas and the story.

I love it when a plan comes together.