Well it seems I'm reaching a moment in life where I must step away from the computer for awhile, as I'm rejoining those who have "real jobs" in the next week or two.
If you followed me here from Mania, then you've already seen the heads up I left over there.
After another full year of promoting (again) I seem to have ran dry of contacts. I placed the calls, I sent out the letters\emails, and even sacrificed a sheep or two to the Screenwriting Gods.
They insisted, for my next sacrifice, I give them Jessica Simpson. Frankly, I think they're toying with me.
Oh yes, I must remember to thank Hanso for pointing me in the direction of the Script Shadow contest. He may not like "Twilight," but he's still a good man. The contest ends on November 9'th.
This morning I placed the logline, etc., for "Sweet Dreams" in the running. We'll see where that goes.
In the meantime, I continue to slowly work on the novel adaptation of "The Life and Times of Igor," which everyone already has heard about for the last four years or so. The link to the Mania blog entry above contains a first draft excerpt from Chapter 4 of this version.
And if anyone new believes I ripped off the idea, well just search about on here for Igor's history, and go digging into the Mania blogs from the last year or so to see the proof positive I was promoting mine long before the CGI movie came out a while back, which just proves it isn't what you know or what you can do, it's who you know and who you're sleeping with.
Not sure how often I'll be posting in the coming days\weeks, either here or at Mania, but don't sell me short as I will return. I've got blogs here, at Mania, my old Myspace account, and lots of comments in the "Twilight" and "Igor" articles over at Mania, not to mention practically everywhere else. Explore at your own pace...
Until the sun rises again kiddies...
Starlight
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Please, Mr. Postman...
Crazy, isn't it?
I'm always amazed (though I shouldn't be) at the differing means of replies between California, Canada, and New York.
To every contact in Los Angeles I could muster, I sent a letter. The same goes for New York, and Canada.
One should compare the WGA lists for America, both East and West. The number of agencies on both sides are huge.
But, when it comes to keeping in contact, New York is the clear winner. Los Angeles is, simply put, the void into which correspondences disappear. Come on, Hollywood, it's not going to kill you to write back like your New York cousins do, even if it is to say "not interested" for X reason.
Out of the pile I sent to New York, about half of them were met with replies: form letters, personalized letters, and even an email or two. They take the time because, obviously, they realize what their jobs are all about.
Out of the bigger pile I sent to California, about one tenth of those came back...at most.
So WGA agencies\signatories, are you trying to keep us from contacting you at all? Is it really your lot in life to hide from the very people you set out to find? It's like being a 911 dispatcher who won't answer a telephone.
At least have the decency to write us back. Making fifty grand (at least) per deal is enough to jade you, apparently, because some of us are damn near penniless screenwriters handing out money we don't have to pay for postage, ink, and all else that is required to have you kind people ignore us.
I'm always amazed (though I shouldn't be) at the differing means of replies between California, Canada, and New York.
To every contact in Los Angeles I could muster, I sent a letter. The same goes for New York, and Canada.
One should compare the WGA lists for America, both East and West. The number of agencies on both sides are huge.
But, when it comes to keeping in contact, New York is the clear winner. Los Angeles is, simply put, the void into which correspondences disappear. Come on, Hollywood, it's not going to kill you to write back like your New York cousins do, even if it is to say "not interested" for X reason.
Out of the pile I sent to New York, about half of them were met with replies: form letters, personalized letters, and even an email or two. They take the time because, obviously, they realize what their jobs are all about.
Out of the bigger pile I sent to California, about one tenth of those came back...at most.
So WGA agencies\signatories, are you trying to keep us from contacting you at all? Is it really your lot in life to hide from the very people you set out to find? It's like being a 911 dispatcher who won't answer a telephone.
At least have the decency to write us back. Making fifty grand (at least) per deal is enough to jade you, apparently, because some of us are damn near penniless screenwriters handing out money we don't have to pay for postage, ink, and all else that is required to have you kind people ignore us.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Heart Of The Problem
The general definition of insanity is that a person will continue the exact same actions and expect different results from after every action.
Well...maybe on the quantum level. But neither that nor work properly in the matters of Hollywood.
You gotta love it when the Editor In Chief at a genre news website posts on his Facebook and Twitter accounts how he's laughing at how a studio's press release now openly compares the movie they're comparing to other past blockbusters.
Now this A + B = C formula plays out in, as far as I can tell, two different fashions: the first is for promotional means, but it's never before been this bad when they're flat out admitting to the population at large this new project is just two movies (or more) shoved into a blender to produce this new concoction.
Behind the scenes, this "It's This Meets That" means of pandering is the secret means of promoting a project to jaded Hollywood execs who only understand "This Is Popular, That Was Popular, Together They'll Be Three Times As Popular" reasoning.
Did I just refer to that line of thinking as "reasoning?" Hell, it's spreading faster than H1N1.
It's not reasoning, it's marketing which, of course, is the opposite of reasoning.
I once was writing a script called "Dip Your Wings," a fantasy about a guardian angel who was made half mortal...and so on. I was about 25 pages into it, and told a female friend about it.
"Oh," she said, "that sounds like 'City of Angels,' and 'What Dreams May Come.'"
The second movie I'd heard of, but the first I had not. So I wrote it down on a piece of paper, headed to Best Buy, and started searching the aisles.
I found it, picked it up, read its synopsis, and became disgusted. I sat it back down, left, and never touched that screenplay again. Saying it was "this" plus "that" killed my project, because I absolutely detest the comparisons.
This Plus That stifles creativity. It strangles originality and free thinking. Recycling of movies and storylines is not an effective means of green production (as in greenbacks.)
The other place this formula comes into play is in the audience, who is (sometimes) smarter than the studios think they are. "Twilight" debuts in theaters and the howling of emasculated fanboys cried out into the night about how it was a ripoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Yeah...no, not seeing it.
As a rip off of "Romeo And Juliet," well that's a more feasible argument. Shakespeare's story of star crossed lovers has been raped and left for dead as many times as "A Christmas Carol."
Everyone's got a remake of "Christmas Carol," even that god awful "Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past." Michael Douglas should know better.
If given the chance, Hollywood would continue to feed off itself until it's all homogenized and it's an equal shade of gray across the color spectrum.
Some would argue that is precisely how it looks now. The need to snap the spectrum back into differing wavelengths isn't fast approaching, it's here.
When everyone is doing exactly the same thing, and remixing the exact same shades together to get a fresh coat of gray, then someone needs to come from left field with a palette of pastels and primary colors to put the zing back into creativity.
The Moral Of The Story -- If everyone is doing (or redoing) the exact same thing, do something wildly different. Streaks of red, green, and violet will get the attention of the population who was forced into color blindness.
Well...maybe on the quantum level. But neither that nor work properly in the matters of Hollywood.
You gotta love it when the Editor In Chief at a genre news website posts on his Facebook and Twitter accounts how he's laughing at how a studio's press release now openly compares the movie they're comparing to other past blockbusters.
Now this A + B = C formula plays out in, as far as I can tell, two different fashions: the first is for promotional means, but it's never before been this bad when they're flat out admitting to the population at large this new project is just two movies (or more) shoved into a blender to produce this new concoction.
Behind the scenes, this "It's This Meets That" means of pandering is the secret means of promoting a project to jaded Hollywood execs who only understand "This Is Popular, That Was Popular, Together They'll Be Three Times As Popular" reasoning.
Did I just refer to that line of thinking as "reasoning?" Hell, it's spreading faster than H1N1.
It's not reasoning, it's marketing which, of course, is the opposite of reasoning.
I once was writing a script called "Dip Your Wings," a fantasy about a guardian angel who was made half mortal...and so on. I was about 25 pages into it, and told a female friend about it.
"Oh," she said, "that sounds like 'City of Angels,' and 'What Dreams May Come.'"
The second movie I'd heard of, but the first I had not. So I wrote it down on a piece of paper, headed to Best Buy, and started searching the aisles.
I found it, picked it up, read its synopsis, and became disgusted. I sat it back down, left, and never touched that screenplay again. Saying it was "this" plus "that" killed my project, because I absolutely detest the comparisons.
This Plus That stifles creativity. It strangles originality and free thinking. Recycling of movies and storylines is not an effective means of green production (as in greenbacks.)
The other place this formula comes into play is in the audience, who is (sometimes) smarter than the studios think they are. "Twilight" debuts in theaters and the howling of emasculated fanboys cried out into the night about how it was a ripoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Yeah...no, not seeing it.
As a rip off of "Romeo And Juliet," well that's a more feasible argument. Shakespeare's story of star crossed lovers has been raped and left for dead as many times as "A Christmas Carol."
Everyone's got a remake of "Christmas Carol," even that god awful "Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past." Michael Douglas should know better.
If given the chance, Hollywood would continue to feed off itself until it's all homogenized and it's an equal shade of gray across the color spectrum.
Some would argue that is precisely how it looks now. The need to snap the spectrum back into differing wavelengths isn't fast approaching, it's here.
When everyone is doing exactly the same thing, and remixing the exact same shades together to get a fresh coat of gray, then someone needs to come from left field with a palette of pastels and primary colors to put the zing back into creativity.
The Moral Of The Story -- If everyone is doing (or redoing) the exact same thing, do something wildly different. Streaks of red, green, and violet will get the attention of the population who was forced into color blindness.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Reminders
Every so often I post this message because, for some, the usage and means of this blog is a bit confusing -- it is an exploration of ideas and opinions, a means for my friends receive an answer to their often stated questions of "what the hell is it you do?," and so on.
For those who represent literary agencies and said friends from Myspace, Facebook, Mania, and "real life," there are shortcut keywords in the right side of the frame. Just scroll down and pick the topic link and receive either descriptions of one project or another, some rambling thoughts on certain Hollywood trends, love (or hatred) for other instances.
As "Sweet Dreams: A Sandman's Story" is constantly being promoted on both American coasts (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) then it's only fair to provide a shortcut link here.
This site is kept to a minimum to make it easier for all involved, especially me as I have dial- up (as some of you already know) .
It's raining today -- and has been all night. Flood watches and warnings are everywhere, but I'm in no danger. Can't speak for the River Valley, though.
Ah yes, another lazy, rainy day -- and a chance to make a little more progress on adapting "Life and Times of Igor" to novel form.
For those who represent literary agencies and said friends from Myspace, Facebook, Mania, and "real life," there are shortcut keywords in the right side of the frame. Just scroll down and pick the topic link and receive either descriptions of one project or another, some rambling thoughts on certain Hollywood trends, love (or hatred) for other instances.
As "Sweet Dreams: A Sandman's Story" is constantly being promoted on both American coasts (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) then it's only fair to provide a shortcut link here.
This site is kept to a minimum to make it easier for all involved, especially me as I have dial- up (as some of you already know) .
It's raining today -- and has been all night. Flood watches and warnings are everywhere, but I'm in no danger. Can't speak for the River Valley, though.
Ah yes, another lazy, rainy day -- and a chance to make a little more progress on adapting "Life and Times of Igor" to novel form.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
If you clicked on this hoping to hear the "Angus Prune Tune," well I'm sorry but ISIRTA isn't here, although the obvious reference was made in the title.
Mania blogs are, currently, down. I assume Jarrod is doing something about this, when he's not suffering from insomnia that is.
Since the entries over at Mania are far more interesting (and currently harder to find) I thought I'd just add this link to expedite the search. There's rambling opinions (such as you'd find here) sketches that parody "Twilight," declarations of why J. J. Abrams is bad for "Star Trek," and other such madness.
In the meantime, promotions continue to go out to New York, Los Angeles, and Canada.
Also, the idea of exploring the notions of how Summit Entertainment is possibly selling out the soul of "The Twilight Saga" in exchange for "man candy" is bubbling in my brain. We'll see where that goes.
Mania blogs are, currently, down. I assume Jarrod is doing something about this, when he's not suffering from insomnia that is.
Since the entries over at Mania are far more interesting (and currently harder to find) I thought I'd just add this link to expedite the search. There's rambling opinions (such as you'd find here) sketches that parody "Twilight," declarations of why J. J. Abrams is bad for "Star Trek," and other such madness.
In the meantime, promotions continue to go out to New York, Los Angeles, and Canada.
Also, the idea of exploring the notions of how Summit Entertainment is possibly selling out the soul of "The Twilight Saga" in exchange for "man candy" is bubbling in my brain. We'll see where that goes.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Hollywood Gaming Association
I hate gambling.
Maybe "hate" isn't the correct word. Let's try something more along the lines of this:
"Boring."
Yeah, that's better -- it's such a standard, uninspired word to describe something that promises MONEY! SEX! BRIGHT LIGHTS! ADVENTURE! FAST TIMES! THE HIGH LIFE! and so on.
Promoting myself is a lot like gambling, it's two quasi related activities in which the gamer (or writer) hopes to advance in life, wealth, happiness, by means of making this small investment in the glowing machine with ringing bells and lights.
There are casinos all over this country, and I would go visit them, but not to play their games. I've visited one casino across the border in Oklahoma, and smaller ones in Colorado. I dropped five dollars in a machine just past the state line, pressed a button or two, and was immediately bored by the prospect of it all. I simply have no real affection for gambling.
Arguably, I saw past the neon induced haze of glamour and riches and quickly decided that the best way to get money was by having a job.
I make similar, uninteresting investments in the gaming machines of Hollywood -- a small investment comes by means of dropping money into envelopes, postage stamps, and other such means of this life I have.
I then take all that the money has bought me, place it in the machine of an Out Of Town box stationed at the edge of the local post office, and pull the lever. After ten years of playing this game, I'm bored.
To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if those on the receiving ends of our letters are also bored, as it's arguably a two way gamble -- Hollywood is place of glamour I'm not enchanted by and I, most likely, am just another strobe light and disco ball act these harried agents are likely walking by because they are unable (or unwilling) to make possibly unwise bets on.
I can't speak for those men and women, but I can speak for myself: this game is soulless. Sure some win, more of us lose, and it really doesn't matter how you play the game. I find I have more fun writing my actual scripts than I do in placing the bets.
In other words, I'm walking through the casino, and sure the lights are fun to look at, but they're really just blurred streaks of the visible spectrum as I make my way to the word processor.
In casinos, it doesn't matter how you play the game, because you can still lose. In writing, you can win or lose, and how you play that game is a determining factor.
In the Hollywood Gaming Association, it again doesn't matter how well you play, because winning and losing comes down to just pulling the lever and seeing what happens.
It's a shame the HGA isn't more like a video game, as then it'd be more interesting. A person could make mistakes AND learn from them, then alter how they play the game, while continuing to improve their game with every press of the button.
Casino based gambling isn't anything special to me. Hollywood gambling also fails to hold my interest.
A person can learn more from the games that offer both success and failure than the ones that advertise success with the odds stacked against them. And that is what maintains a person's interest and challenges them to improve their tactics. Gambling just to get ahead is a certain way of falling further and further behind, and I've no interest in that.
But there is one thing these types of gambling can teach you, if you pay close enough attention to the lesson: "winning isn't everything, and walking away from the table doesn't mean you're a loser."
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got literary games to play. And when those games end, there's always "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess."
--Updated--
Some reading this might feel I'm just "mad at the system," or otherwise angry\jaded. Some years ago, that would've been true.
Now these thoughts laid out upon your computer screen are carefully thought out to actually examine what it is like.
The above comparisons to gambling establishments are not incorrect. But there is one matter that casinos have that Hollywood doesn't -- the notion of the smaller wins leading to what some would hope to be even larger jackpots.
Casinos are there to serve as bait for your paychecks. You can put a little in and would actually receive a small amount back. This is designed to keep you interested, to keep you from becoming bored, so they can, in fact, keep you fishing in an increasingly emptying lake devoid of fish or treasure.
Hollywood can't manage that. It is just like filling a slot machine repeatedly in hopes of the bigger jackpots, when the smaller ones aren't there to entice you further.
This is simply how it works, and how it has been for as long as I've been making the attempts. I remain uninterested in the "payoffs," yet I keep stuffing the machine. There are times when one's mood will mirror that of the Jimmy Buffett tune "Defying Gravity," as in "I never dream I will win, and if it all ends tomorrow, then that's fine too."
If it all ends tomorrow...then I will simply turn away from the machine and be free of it. It isn't an addiction or a lesson in self mutilation, it's an (arguably) necessary evil.
But, luckily for me, every so often Life likes to smile down on me and grant me relief and respite from the ongoing madness, usually in the form of some perfect night's sleep and Technicolor dream sequences involving blooming Easter flowers and incomparably beautiful sunrises that George Lucas has tried to recreate on his many computers, and still finds himself unable to do so.
Its moments like this that keep me going -- not the need for fame, money, or such. It's the promise of happiness in a life (hopefully) well lived as we chart our courses across the cosmos or across state lines.
You can keep feeding the machines if you've got Dory next to you, because though her advice is necessary (not to mention potentially annoying) , its her smile and attitude that keeps you going.
That, Technicolor dreams, and Jimmy Buffett.
It's all good.
Maybe "hate" isn't the correct word. Let's try something more along the lines of this:
"Boring."
Yeah, that's better -- it's such a standard, uninspired word to describe something that promises MONEY! SEX! BRIGHT LIGHTS! ADVENTURE! FAST TIMES! THE HIGH LIFE! and so on.
Promoting myself is a lot like gambling, it's two quasi related activities in which the gamer (or writer) hopes to advance in life, wealth, happiness, by means of making this small investment in the glowing machine with ringing bells and lights.
There are casinos all over this country, and I would go visit them, but not to play their games. I've visited one casino across the border in Oklahoma, and smaller ones in Colorado. I dropped five dollars in a machine just past the state line, pressed a button or two, and was immediately bored by the prospect of it all. I simply have no real affection for gambling.
Arguably, I saw past the neon induced haze of glamour and riches and quickly decided that the best way to get money was by having a job.
I make similar, uninteresting investments in the gaming machines of Hollywood -- a small investment comes by means of dropping money into envelopes, postage stamps, and other such means of this life I have.
I then take all that the money has bought me, place it in the machine of an Out Of Town box stationed at the edge of the local post office, and pull the lever. After ten years of playing this game, I'm bored.
To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if those on the receiving ends of our letters are also bored, as it's arguably a two way gamble -- Hollywood is place of glamour I'm not enchanted by and I, most likely, am just another strobe light and disco ball act these harried agents are likely walking by because they are unable (or unwilling) to make possibly unwise bets on.
I can't speak for those men and women, but I can speak for myself: this game is soulless. Sure some win, more of us lose, and it really doesn't matter how you play the game. I find I have more fun writing my actual scripts than I do in placing the bets.
In other words, I'm walking through the casino, and sure the lights are fun to look at, but they're really just blurred streaks of the visible spectrum as I make my way to the word processor.
In casinos, it doesn't matter how you play the game, because you can still lose. In writing, you can win or lose, and how you play that game is a determining factor.
In the Hollywood Gaming Association, it again doesn't matter how well you play, because winning and losing comes down to just pulling the lever and seeing what happens.
It's a shame the HGA isn't more like a video game, as then it'd be more interesting. A person could make mistakes AND learn from them, then alter how they play the game, while continuing to improve their game with every press of the button.
Casino based gambling isn't anything special to me. Hollywood gambling also fails to hold my interest.
A person can learn more from the games that offer both success and failure than the ones that advertise success with the odds stacked against them. And that is what maintains a person's interest and challenges them to improve their tactics. Gambling just to get ahead is a certain way of falling further and further behind, and I've no interest in that.
But there is one thing these types of gambling can teach you, if you pay close enough attention to the lesson: "winning isn't everything, and walking away from the table doesn't mean you're a loser."
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got literary games to play. And when those games end, there's always "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess."
--Updated--
Some reading this might feel I'm just "mad at the system," or otherwise angry\jaded. Some years ago, that would've been true.
Now these thoughts laid out upon your computer screen are carefully thought out to actually examine what it is like.
The above comparisons to gambling establishments are not incorrect. But there is one matter that casinos have that Hollywood doesn't -- the notion of the smaller wins leading to what some would hope to be even larger jackpots.
Casinos are there to serve as bait for your paychecks. You can put a little in and would actually receive a small amount back. This is designed to keep you interested, to keep you from becoming bored, so they can, in fact, keep you fishing in an increasingly emptying lake devoid of fish or treasure.
Hollywood can't manage that. It is just like filling a slot machine repeatedly in hopes of the bigger jackpots, when the smaller ones aren't there to entice you further.
This is simply how it works, and how it has been for as long as I've been making the attempts. I remain uninterested in the "payoffs," yet I keep stuffing the machine. There are times when one's mood will mirror that of the Jimmy Buffett tune "Defying Gravity," as in "I never dream I will win, and if it all ends tomorrow, then that's fine too."
If it all ends tomorrow...then I will simply turn away from the machine and be free of it. It isn't an addiction or a lesson in self mutilation, it's an (arguably) necessary evil.
But, luckily for me, every so often Life likes to smile down on me and grant me relief and respite from the ongoing madness, usually in the form of some perfect night's sleep and Technicolor dream sequences involving blooming Easter flowers and incomparably beautiful sunrises that George Lucas has tried to recreate on his many computers, and still finds himself unable to do so.
Its moments like this that keep me going -- not the need for fame, money, or such. It's the promise of happiness in a life (hopefully) well lived as we chart our courses across the cosmos or across state lines.
You can keep feeding the machines if you've got Dory next to you, because though her advice is necessary (not to mention potentially annoying) , its her smile and attitude that keeps you going.
That, Technicolor dreams, and Jimmy Buffett.
It's all good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)