Jane of All

So, continuing on the track of being a Jane of All Trades (see post below for clarification), I’ve been a busy little bee.

The phone is my new friend. The hubby and I have been calling any and everyone we can, seeing if they know someone who knows someone who is someone that I need to know.

So far, a few of these phone calls have paid off. Next week, I’m off to meet with an artist about using her original artwork in my short. I met her a year ago at a New Year’s Eve party, and having seen and admired her work, I’m hoping she’ll agree to jump aboard this project.

My Pool Guy, who went to school for video production, as well as acting, is becoming a tremendous resource, in addition to serving as one of the actors (two down, a few more to go). We’re actually discussing the possibility of working on a future project.

Having always been a bit uncomfortable with making small talk with complete strangers, I now find myself sporting what I call a panicked confidence. A confidence stemming from the fact that I either have to step up to the plate, or give it up - and giving up is NOT an option. The other night, the hubby and I dined at a cozy little restaurant up the road from us. I got to speaking with the waiter- who also dabbles in acting and comedy (made a mental note of this) - and before we left, he introduced us to the owner, who agreed to let me film a future project there. This place is gorgeous. With a mind that rarely shuts off, I found myself coming up with a story idea, and will get to work on a outline in the next couple of weeks. I like to let an idea marinate.

My Pool Guy also told me about a former classmate of his that has a strong background in film production; though he has since left, he’s still very much interested in getting back in.

Last night, I approached the first person on my list of possible producers. His background is more in music, but he’s a go-getter, and someone who always perks me up no matter what mood I’m in. For me, that’s going to be crucial during those days when I’m dragging. He’s going to think it over, and in the next couple of days, we’ll discuss it some more.

As I predicted, my transcribing the script (from handwritten to Movie Magic) brought about some changes. Nothing big, more of a needed polish.

With all the people that I will hopefully be meeting with, I’ve decided I need a prospectus/small business plan. There’s no time like the present to actually put to practice what I may need for future ventures.

Again, this all a bit scary, but fun as hell. I really hope to get people on board that will share the passion I have for filmmaking, but above all, who want to have a helluva fun time and amazing journey.

The Writing Bug Bites Another

Oh, proud mommy is me. Is that a real sentence?

I’ll just go and ask my 11-year-old son. He’s sooooooooooooooo smart. Scary smart. A bit arrogant smart, too, but, hey, I’m not hatin’.

For the past year or so, my son has been saying he either wants to become a social studies teacher or the President of the United States. On the president front, my husband told him to aim higher. Uh-Oh, did I write that out-loud? Are blogs covered by the Patriot Act?

Sorry, ADD.

So, the wise little owl that he is, brings home a written assignment that he must correct before handing in. He gives it to me and says, “Tell me if this is a good story.” Arrogant, didn’t I tell you? The boy knew damn well it was a good story. I was the clueless one, but what’s new?

So, he hands me this thing while I’m in the middle of my own writing nightmare. I take it from him and offer that “I’ll pretend to be a good mother and read it and nod at all the right places so that your confidence can continue to inflate and you’ll grow up to be a strong confident man who rules the world” smile. But, to my surprise, I was hooked from the first line. I mean, the first damn line. Did I say he was good? Better than good.

He’s even got a voice. Mind you, this was a kid who didn’t speak a coherent sentence for the first 3 1/2 years of his life, prompting us to spend money on a speech therapist. Though, I think we overpaid because when he does decide to open that mouth of his, it’s a mile a second.

The story was about a Marine in the distant future who, having returned from a future war, is unable to adjust to life away from the war. My little egghead (and I mean that with all the loving affection from a mother who continues to struggle with her own learning), he even has this vivid flashback/dream sequence thingy going throughout the entire story.

In the words of Don Corleone: “My boy. My boy.”

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

God, how I hate this saying. First of all, who’s Jack? I’d like to meet him (though it’s most likely a her) and give him the coveted Platinum Multi-Tasking Award. I think the person who came up with this catch-phrase was an underachieving slacker.

Okay, okay, so I understand what it really means, but sometimes I resemble that remark, and I can be quite defensive.

Having decided to leap into my first short film (outside of a class assignment), I’m starting to realize that I’m Jack, John, Jim, Jacob, and just to bring a wee-bit of realism to this thing, the glass-ceiling-breaking Jane.

What is a writer-director? Does a person start off wanting to equally be both? Does this person spend hours, days, months and years honing the crafts of both writing and filmmaking? For that matter, do screenwriters not consider themselves filmmakers? As a writer-director, what skills should I concentrate on more, and which one matters the most?

Do I have answers to any of these questions? As usual, I just ask a bunch of questions.

Will knowing the answer to these questions help me get my film off the ground faster? I’m not sure, but it would either prove or disprove that little saying about “master of none”.

I started out loving books. Words, words and more words. I can’t go more than a month without buying a new friend to spend several hours losing myself in a world either familiar or unfamiliar. Growing up, I didn’t watch much television. My mother believed that it was not an appropriate vehicle for growing minds, though, oddly enough, I was allowed to sit in on some of the shows she watched. Dallas was a favorite of hers... and mine. I guess I still have the flare for the melodramatic. We watched the Dukes of Hazzard (and I refused, as a loyal fan, to see the remake). My mother was big into the nature shows, and entering her 84th birthday, I just recently informed her that there are entire channels dedicated to the shows she loved watching on PBS. How come old people are channel-surfing challenged?

But, my ADD is getting ahead of me.

My older brother introduced me to movies. The first movie I remember seeing in an actual theater was Star Wars. He’d take me to see a lot of movies that I can barely remember, because as a small child, I would usually fall asleep. I remember, he was also the first person I know to get cable - WHT. Stripes, that was the first movie I watched over and over. Big brother also owned a number of VCR’s (Beta Max (sp?), I vaguely remember), and here is where I completely fell in love with movies. I would watch some of those movies over and over and over. To this day, I know verbatim the movies Beat Street, Ghost Busters and The Last Dragon. He also introduced me to my love of Karate Flicks - as we called them.

When I started teaching high school, I was given the opportunity to create two elective courses from the ground up, and I jumped at the opportunity to teach a film class. I was lucky that the school - a vocational and technical high school - had a TV studio. The TV studio class met for three periods straight, and I designed a course where I would team teach with the TV teacher, giving us four periods of film exploration.

I didn’t know at the time, but this served as preparation for my dip into filmmaking. I learned about the history of film, the “great” auteurs. I also learned about the technical aspects, from lighting to editing. I forever believe that if you really want to learn something, teach it.

Where the heck am I going with all of this?

I don’t think I set the stage to become one or the other. Without realizing it, I put myself on the path to becoming a writer-director, or what I like to call a filmmaker, with the hopes of becoming a MASTER FILMMAKER.

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.