Yesterday I was struck down with a rather nasty stomach bug that, literally, pounced on me from out of the long grass.
At about four in the afternoon, after having forgotten to get the mail, I made the walk up the hill to where the mailbox is firmly planted off the dirt road in its cement foundation.
I almost fell down on the spot. Plus the necessity to walk back to my house wasn't one I was fond of, and with a constantly increasing lack in velocity, I had to sit down twice next to parked automobiles and wait a few minutes while I recovered.
The rest of the afternoon wasn't much better, and this morning has seen an improvement, but I'm not back up to the challenges just yet. The mail can wait, so to speak.
So while I'm currently physically unstable right now, I've been granted the kind of opportunity that only comes when I'm bedridden -- the opportunity to think without any real distractions.
It was in one of these moments I came up with "Sweet Dreams - A Sandman's Story," and last night came the chance to figure out how to promote it to jaded studio execs and the population at large.
If I was in a room right now with a group of suits, this is what I'd tell them.
The Creative Side
To be perfectly honest, it feels to me the magic has long since disappeared from the cinema. Since the mid-90's, we've had "The Matrix," lots of super hero movies and such that are, essentially, CGI top heavy.
And I'm a child of the 80's, which is the era some of my favorite movies come from, and that's not simply because I was a kid at the time.
There was more authenticity, there was more realism even if the movie was something like "Back to the Future" or "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." The effects of a time traveling DeLorean were great, but they didn't make up the story, nor did they detract from.
Plus there was the true special effects wizardry of the time. Now we just slap a computer generated image into the film and be done with it, but Robert Zemeckis and crew had to be creative to figure out how to get Roger Rabbit to pick up a dish and break it on his head and so on.
With the loss of that creativity, we've had the loss of authenticity.
"Sweet Dreams" is a movie about two generations, but we can blend them effortlessly to make people forget they're watching something time specific. Would a 21'st Century guy or gal care if Mathon and Becca's relationship has a tragic end way back in 1953, a time when their parents weren't even thought of?
Sure, "Twilight" has proven it for the girls. Edward is a young man from a different time, but he fits in effortlessly. He is also, in the classical sense of filmmaking, genuinely romantic. We haven't seen this in a character since Mulder and Scully's very quiet relationship that began in the 90's.
The 50's have a specific look, but the more movies that come out displaying that era, the more they look artificial: the clothes always seem to look brand new, the hair looks like it came out of a fashion magazine, and the slang is repeated but also lacks authenticity because only that generation understands it.
So I've eliminated all slang from "Sweet Dreams," be it past or contemporary. This helps make things more uniform, and also keeps all the romanticism of making a "nostalgic" movie dead.
There's also the elements of fantasy, as our Sandmen battle mares with The Starlight Guard on a nightly basis, and these beasties get a good walloping every night, but they manage to do a fair amount of damage themselves so any guy looking for a good fight scene is going to be satisfied.
Plus there's a genuine mystery in the fact Mathon is uncertain of how he became a Sandman, if he's actually alive or dead, and so on. Why can't he enter the cemetery? Why are they kept out of the hospitals? Some have deduced that they're simply not needed there, but Mathon isn't satisfied with that answer.
When "Back to the Future" debuted, something wonderful happened: the kids came out to see a time travel, science fiction story while their older counterparts came out to relieve their youths. I'm willing to bet something very similar would happen with "Sweet Dreams," as the music and other artifacts from the past are brought out for a breath of fresh air.
But the music is important.
This is a movie about an era in time with music that was night time specific. We had truly wonderful artists singing songs like "Twilight Time," "One Summer Night," "Blue Moon." If that wasn't enough, there were artists like The Moonglows and various others that referenced various aspects of all things that occurred past sundown.
And all this music, along with my countless months of staring up at the night sky, has served me well in the writing of this script because it's all part of the atmosphere. And very few movies seem to capture that kind of atmosphere anymore. They show you want you need to understand, and tell you what you need to hear to take you back in time, but it's all just to serve a purpose.
Seeing it and hearing it isn't enough - one has to feel it. And such innocence and wonder was ran out of California a very long time ago. Hell there probably isn't a person in LA, Burbank, Beverly Hills, or Bakersfield who can actually see the midnight sky, let alone the stars themselves due to all the smog they've sent up into their skies.
And playing 50's doo wop might get someone shot.
No wonder they're jaded.
The Marketing
I've been on Myspace for, what, three years now? I've got a fair amount of anonymous readers, and all my high school friends that keep up with me.
Also, on Mania, I somehow managed to get 10,000 profile views in approximately seven months which, I'm told, is unheard of. A year later after joining, my amount of friends continues to grow and I'm well over the 12,500 views that I had back then.
The term "Starlight Guard" which is my handle, has existed for a year and has had that amount of time to sink into the minds of several known, and countless unknown, fanboys who are familiar with me, my work, and all my ranting and raving I do.
Plus there's the new blog (this one you're currently reading) which is just another means of getting the message out.
That's three avenues of communication, and the first two are very well established, so a fan base has existed all this time, and there has to be a large group of people who've remained silent that must, at the very least, be curious about all this stuff they've heard about all these years.
I do know for a fact, that among those friends I know of publicly and virtually, I've got contacts across the entire United States, from coast to coast, on up into Canada and even as far away as Germany. Not bad for a guy living in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas.
There are no guaranteed successes in movies, and no guaranteed failures, but how could anyone pass up with this much pre-existing publicity and awareness I've accomplished in my own time?
The music, as stated, is important, and valued source for the music I've been enjoying comes from Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop, arguably the most successful show on the 50's On 5, as featured on XM Radio. Cool Bobby B has listeners on XM, Sirius, DirecTV, and likely even on Dish Network. That's four possible outlets alone, especially if we partner with him in the promotion and the selection of the appropriate soundtrack for the film.
But the influence doesn't end there, the message can be spread all across the spectrum of Sirius XM's radio channels, because they cross pollinate each other, so the entire XM Nation would be aware of this movie.
Plus, I can pull double duty over at Mania, as I'm acquaintances with three of their staff, which obviously also have the power to get the message out.
Never before has such an "unknown" project had so much going for it, and this is even before an agent has asked to read it.
Now this is a sales pitch, of course, but it's a pretty fair analysis of the potential and the promise to lay down golden stretches of pavement headed to cinemas across the country.
I need to lay down now. I've been working on this proposal for the last hour in brief spurts. At least I've got XM Radio to keep me company...
At about four in the afternoon, after having forgotten to get the mail, I made the walk up the hill to where the mailbox is firmly planted off the dirt road in its cement foundation.
I almost fell down on the spot. Plus the necessity to walk back to my house wasn't one I was fond of, and with a constantly increasing lack in velocity, I had to sit down twice next to parked automobiles and wait a few minutes while I recovered.
The rest of the afternoon wasn't much better, and this morning has seen an improvement, but I'm not back up to the challenges just yet. The mail can wait, so to speak.
So while I'm currently physically unstable right now, I've been granted the kind of opportunity that only comes when I'm bedridden -- the opportunity to think without any real distractions.
It was in one of these moments I came up with "Sweet Dreams - A Sandman's Story," and last night came the chance to figure out how to promote it to jaded studio execs and the population at large.
If I was in a room right now with a group of suits, this is what I'd tell them.
The Creative Side
To be perfectly honest, it feels to me the magic has long since disappeared from the cinema. Since the mid-90's, we've had "The Matrix," lots of super hero movies and such that are, essentially, CGI top heavy.
And I'm a child of the 80's, which is the era some of my favorite movies come from, and that's not simply because I was a kid at the time.
There was more authenticity, there was more realism even if the movie was something like "Back to the Future" or "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." The effects of a time traveling DeLorean were great, but they didn't make up the story, nor did they detract from.
Plus there was the true special effects wizardry of the time. Now we just slap a computer generated image into the film and be done with it, but Robert Zemeckis and crew had to be creative to figure out how to get Roger Rabbit to pick up a dish and break it on his head and so on.
With the loss of that creativity, we've had the loss of authenticity.
"Sweet Dreams" is a movie about two generations, but we can blend them effortlessly to make people forget they're watching something time specific. Would a 21'st Century guy or gal care if Mathon and Becca's relationship has a tragic end way back in 1953, a time when their parents weren't even thought of?
Sure, "Twilight" has proven it for the girls. Edward is a young man from a different time, but he fits in effortlessly. He is also, in the classical sense of filmmaking, genuinely romantic. We haven't seen this in a character since Mulder and Scully's very quiet relationship that began in the 90's.
The 50's have a specific look, but the more movies that come out displaying that era, the more they look artificial: the clothes always seem to look brand new, the hair looks like it came out of a fashion magazine, and the slang is repeated but also lacks authenticity because only that generation understands it.
So I've eliminated all slang from "Sweet Dreams," be it past or contemporary. This helps make things more uniform, and also keeps all the romanticism of making a "nostalgic" movie dead.
There's also the elements of fantasy, as our Sandmen battle mares with The Starlight Guard on a nightly basis, and these beasties get a good walloping every night, but they manage to do a fair amount of damage themselves so any guy looking for a good fight scene is going to be satisfied.
Plus there's a genuine mystery in the fact Mathon is uncertain of how he became a Sandman, if he's actually alive or dead, and so on. Why can't he enter the cemetery? Why are they kept out of the hospitals? Some have deduced that they're simply not needed there, but Mathon isn't satisfied with that answer.
When "Back to the Future" debuted, something wonderful happened: the kids came out to see a time travel, science fiction story while their older counterparts came out to relieve their youths. I'm willing to bet something very similar would happen with "Sweet Dreams," as the music and other artifacts from the past are brought out for a breath of fresh air.
But the music is important.
This is a movie about an era in time with music that was night time specific. We had truly wonderful artists singing songs like "Twilight Time," "One Summer Night," "Blue Moon." If that wasn't enough, there were artists like The Moonglows and various others that referenced various aspects of all things that occurred past sundown.
And all this music, along with my countless months of staring up at the night sky, has served me well in the writing of this script because it's all part of the atmosphere. And very few movies seem to capture that kind of atmosphere anymore. They show you want you need to understand, and tell you what you need to hear to take you back in time, but it's all just to serve a purpose.
Seeing it and hearing it isn't enough - one has to feel it. And such innocence and wonder was ran out of California a very long time ago. Hell there probably isn't a person in LA, Burbank, Beverly Hills, or Bakersfield who can actually see the midnight sky, let alone the stars themselves due to all the smog they've sent up into their skies.
And playing 50's doo wop might get someone shot.
No wonder they're jaded.
The Marketing
I've been on Myspace for, what, three years now? I've got a fair amount of anonymous readers, and all my high school friends that keep up with me.
Also, on Mania, I somehow managed to get 10,000 profile views in approximately seven months which, I'm told, is unheard of. A year later after joining, my amount of friends continues to grow and I'm well over the 12,500 views that I had back then.
The term "Starlight Guard" which is my handle, has existed for a year and has had that amount of time to sink into the minds of several known, and countless unknown, fanboys who are familiar with me, my work, and all my ranting and raving I do.
Plus there's the new blog (this one you're currently reading) which is just another means of getting the message out.
That's three avenues of communication, and the first two are very well established, so a fan base has existed all this time, and there has to be a large group of people who've remained silent that must, at the very least, be curious about all this stuff they've heard about all these years.
I do know for a fact, that among those friends I know of publicly and virtually, I've got contacts across the entire United States, from coast to coast, on up into Canada and even as far away as Germany. Not bad for a guy living in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas.
There are no guaranteed successes in movies, and no guaranteed failures, but how could anyone pass up with this much pre-existing publicity and awareness I've accomplished in my own time?
The music, as stated, is important, and valued source for the music I've been enjoying comes from Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop, arguably the most successful show on the 50's On 5, as featured on XM Radio. Cool Bobby B has listeners on XM, Sirius, DirecTV, and likely even on Dish Network. That's four possible outlets alone, especially if we partner with him in the promotion and the selection of the appropriate soundtrack for the film.
But the influence doesn't end there, the message can be spread all across the spectrum of Sirius XM's radio channels, because they cross pollinate each other, so the entire XM Nation would be aware of this movie.
Plus, I can pull double duty over at Mania, as I'm acquaintances with three of their staff, which obviously also have the power to get the message out.
Never before has such an "unknown" project had so much going for it, and this is even before an agent has asked to read it.
Now this is a sales pitch, of course, but it's a pretty fair analysis of the potential and the promise to lay down golden stretches of pavement headed to cinemas across the country.
I need to lay down now. I've been working on this proposal for the last hour in brief spurts. At least I've got XM Radio to keep me company...
