Back at it – Script Meetings – Production and Pre-Production

I have been out for a while. My production team and myself have been stepping up the meeting schedule. We have some self imposed deadlines which are fast approaching and we want to get our “baby” done.

With that said, I thought I might talk about our latest meetings.

Poduction Meetings:
The movie making prosses is making it’s way from fictional writing on paper to dramatic screen presence. What I mean by that is, we are beginning the phase of “Pre-prodcuction“.

Our script is nearly finished in “draft 2″ form. It is far from complete but it is one draft closer. My team and myself decided that it was time to start talking about the rolls we want to play, in terms of jobs, titles, and responsabilities.

Our Approach to Prodcution:
The way we are attacking this is simple. We are writing out all the jobs that exist (for the most part) and putting them into tree categories. The first being, what do we want to do ourselves. Second, What do we want to have control over but not physically do. And the third and finale is, what we do not want to do at all.

What We Want To Do:
This category consists of a Producing Unit, a Directing Unit, the Cinematography department and the Art Department.

These are areas that we want total control over. It could change from one group of people to the next but this is what we see ourselves doing.

What we want to have control over and maybe do ourselves:
In this area we have, Costumes, Make-Up, Location Scouting, Props, Production Management, Set Construction.

Again, these departments are things that we will ultimately control but may not want to physically do. There was a lot of discussion and debate over certain areas in this category. For instance, Production Management and Set Construction. However, we will discuss this further and see how big our plates and ultimately our budget is.

What We Do Not Want To Do:
This area included Sound, Special Effects, Transportation, publicity, Craft Foods and Additional Personnel.

This is not to say that we will not be involved, but we do not know enough about these areas to even begin to deal with it properly. We will be hiring specialists to do these tasks. However, again, all of this is the first meeting and everything will end up depending entirely on budget.

Informational Source:
The primary source for information on most of these topics came from personal experiance and a book. That book is called;

Independent Feature Film Production by Gregory Goodell.

I highly recomend anyone interested in making, producing, and financing a feature film, read this book.

I will talk more about what the indevidual tasks entail in my next post.

Happy Writing and Happier Creating.

Working with Zhura (part 2)

The second part to this two part posting on Zhura deals with the workings of the script editor.  See also, Working with Zhura (part 1) and Create a Script Online, with Zhura!

The Script Editor:
The script editor is basicly like every other script editor out there. One nice feature is that Zhura saves automaticaly. This is good for anyone like me who writes until their hand fall off and then call it quits. I have, as a matter of fact, accidentaly pressed the “don’t save changes” button on more than on occasion.

What does it have?
The real question is, what does it not have? You have your basics to choose from, in terms of selections for lines.

• General
• Scene Heading
• Action (usually, known in the industry as a slug line)
• Character
• Parenthetical
• Dialogue
• Transition
• Shot

As stated before, this is standard with most script writing programs. Zhura makes it easy to switch between common selections with the ENTER and TAB keys.

The Comment Marker:
The comment marker is really cool. Anywhere in the script you can press a little blue triangle and a box will come up. The box tells you who edited this particular comment last and when. Click the SAVE button and it leaves the little blue triangle marker where you left the comment. You even have the ability to search through all the comments so you don’t have to scan the entire script, line by line, looking for markers.

This will be very useful when writing a script or screenplay in a group. Also, should you choose to create a public script this comment marker will come in handy.

The ability to leave notes for yourself anywhere in the script will serve the solo artist as well. So many times I have just written in a comment in the form of an action line. Make it bold or Italics and come back and delete it later. The downfall of this is obvious. Zhura’s comments will eliminate this entirely and make things easier because at any time you can just print the script and of course the comments are not shown.

Other Stuff of Interest:
There is a lot of things to see and do on the Zhura site. Like any good forum, you can brows the most recent posts and scripts (if they are public). You can also view videos that people have posted. I have not yet had the chance to view these, but it looks like they are acted out like plays or scenes. It looks really neat. There is also daily (I think) news about the site. In addition to everything else, you can view recent activity. Basically, if someone just made an edit to a script or added a video or rated something, it is listed on the home page.

Summary:
There are some really neat features to Zhura. My favorite is the comment marker. It makes it easy to find comments that you have made for yourself.

I hope these two parts have shed some light on this new site and encouraged some of you to go out and write something, either with a by yourself, with a group our publicly.

Happy Writing.

Working with Zhura (part 1)

In playing around with Zhura (www.Zhura.com), I have found some interesting things. This is really neat. Zhura offers, amongst other things, two buttons at the top of the page (after you have logged in). The first is a blue button called Create Idea, the other is an orange button called Create Script.

Create Idea:
You can create an idea.

• Add the title of the idea and a description.
• Set the viewing parameters (i.e. public or personal)
• Select the type of movie, shore film, documentary, drama. Zhura even has a mockumentary box.
• After you submit the idea, it will be posted (I think). Then, people can leave comments.

I made one for the bug script. I will let you know if anyone leaves any comments.

Create Script:
The other option is to create a script with Zhura.

• Enter an idea
• Type in the script idea
• You can make notes (author comments)
• Add additional key words
• Set the public personal viewing options.

Here is the other interesting thing that Zhura is doing. They have a big yellow dialog box that lets you set the parameters of the Creative Commons license. Do you want to “Allow commercial uses of your work?” and do you want to “allow modifications to your work?“

This all has to do with how the public can edit your work. It sounds a bit weird but you can have random Zhura members make revisions to your work. Of course, this is only usefull if you are doing a project with the public.

To be continued…
See also, Create a script online, with Zhura! and Working With Zhura (part 2)

Happy Writing.

Create a Script Online, with Zhura!

This site is one of the coolest sites I have seen in a while.

The concept:
Want to write a professionally formated script or screenplay by yourself but don’t want to download the software or buy it? No problem. Just go to Zhura.com and register. It’s free and it’s easy. You get access to online software (I think it’s flash or javascript) that formats your script. It even backs up your files for you. So, if your computer crashes, you are covered.

Want to write with a group?
Still, not a problem. Zhura can let you write in a group, online. You can communicate throgh chat or messages. The feature that I find to be the most interesting is… The abliity to track what parts of the script was written by who. So if you are writing a script with two other people (Like I am) and Bob changes some part to your scene, the software will show you who changed it and when.

Write a script that is open to the public!
I don’t know who could stand this feature, but it might be fun. Maybe ForgeWriteAhead can start a project that all it’s loyal readers can participate in. It could be a real fun way to stay conected and create something at the same time.

Zhura lets you choose the privacy controls on your script so you can have any old person walk in and add to the script. I have not tried this part out yet, but i’ll let you know when I do.

Summary:
Whether you are writing solo or in a group, Zhura has the features you need. You can track contributions to your script and back up your files. Message group member and chat. All you need to do is register. Remember, it is free, easy and fun.

Go snoop around the site.

Happy Writing.

Subtext – Spray it, don’t say it.

Subtext is an interesting subject. Writing good dialog or story with quality subtext is an art all in itself. Subtext involves the themes and subject matter of movies and films (as well as all other art forms) that is said with out saying. Or as I like to say, “spray it don’t say it”.

Wikipedia Defines Subtext this way:
“Subtext is content underneath the spoken dialogue. Under the dialogue we can have conflict, sexual tension, anger, competition, pride, showing off etc. Subtext is the unspoken thoughts and motives of your characters — what they really think and believe. And what you leave a lot out of in the dialogue is subtext. Pushing this just beneath the surface of the dialogue is what makes life so interesting and people to be so misunderstood.”(see the whole article here)

Say something with your screenplay:
When writing a screenplay it is a good idea to have something to say about something else. Say something about the world or your culture. Say something about politics, government or history. The novel 1984 says a lot about facist governments and fear based societies. The film Shawshank Redemption talks about hope and how it can’t be taken from a man, no matter what is done to him. The Matrix, is an example of a film that discusses a wide range of issues from choice to freedom to religion. A film should speak to it’s audience on many different levels and one way to tap the audience on the subconsious level is through SUBTEXT.

Spray it don’t say it:
When writing good subtext you have to hint to the audience that something is being said. You have to say something without saying it. Many movies do this with the setting of the scene. Often times a villain will be talking to someone while feeding a dangerous animal like sharks, piranhas, or tigers. This says to the audience that the villain is a person who feeds dangerous animals, they are a keeper of danger. Or something like that. In the film Do the Right Thing, the main character is wearing a Jackie Robinson jersey. This tells the audience that race is probably an issue in the film and maybe the main character is a trailblazer or the first to do something in the story. The key to writing good subtext is saying something with symbols, metaphors and analogies.

Dialog Driven Subtext:
This is one of my favorites. In many cases, the best way to insert subtext is through good dialogue. A character may have a deep seeded love for a woman but can’t tell her directly. The character might talk about his love for something completely unrelated, such as swimming. The character would be talking about swimming but really he is talking about love.

An obvious example is sex. There have been many films where a man or woman is talking about sex through a subject such as food or maybe a game like pool. Regardless of the conversation, it is what the underlying theme of the scene is, that takes the spotlight and creates real passion, tension and attraction between characters.

Homework:
Write a scene, 3 to 6 pages long that has two people talking. Pick a theme for the scene (maybe they are breaking up or getting divorced or the two are seeing each other for the first time since high school and are very attracted to one another) then try to insert that theme through out the scene.

Here is the catch. Do not ever say anything related to the theme itself. Instead, try to drop hints though gestures and dialogue, even set and setting, that relates to the theme indirectly. It is a lot more difficult than it sounds.

Good Luck and Happy Writing.

P.S. If you get stuck, read The Mystery of Subtext. This article has a few more examples of subtext and how to implement it.

Bloggeries, my favorite forum

I have wanted to send a little love to a site that I use frequently.

If you have a blog you should check it out. It is called Bloggeries. This site is all about blogs. Other peoples blogs. They do reviews of your blog (if you ask for them), and there is even a place to promote your blog. The authors of the blog are very friendly and always willing to answer questions.

Most of my site promotion is done on this site and it generates a decent amount of traffic. It is a great place for “Newbie” bloggers to meet some other people and tell them about their blog. The members there also give great feedback and constructive criticism.

I highly recomend it, if you are not already plugged it deep.

Here is a blog called Quirky Jessi. This blog has a much better review than the one I wrote, and an interesting view on, well, everything. Check it out.

Happy Writing.

Movie Review – 21- most boring movie ever!

I have decided to review the movies that I see.  I definitely do not have time to see every movie that comes out but I will let everyone know what I think of the ones that I do see.

I saw 21 and I feel like crap.

What Happened:
Last night I was on a date with my girlfriend.  It was the nicest day of the year so far.  It got up to 70 degrees.  Here in Washington, we celebrate when the temp gets that hight in the middle of April.

We went to the beach, had some Thai food and beers and decided that we would finish the night out with a movie.  We went to the theater and the movie that was starting soonest was 21.

The Premise:
The basic plot is, five gifted students from MIT join up and go to Las Vegas to count cards and win a lot of money.

Main Character in 21:
Jim, or Tim, or Bob, or well whoever he was, is a Super Gifted student.  Of course he is not rich (even though his mother tries to give him $67,000 of her savings), so he takes the gig with the other MIT students and they go to Vegas.  The main character is your typical, good looking, nerd.  He has only one goal and that is to be a medical student at Harvard.

He ends up going too far with the whole Vegas thing, but never far enough where his life is in danger.  He only ever looses the money that he got by gambling (or counting as they call it) so there is no real threat.  I really don’t care about the main character.  I can’t even remember his name and I don’t care enough to go look it up.

My Rant About 21:
The movie 21, seemed simple enough to me, there should be no reason for this movie to be, at the very least, entertaining.

WRONG!

The movie 21, was believe it or not, BORING!  I could not understand why they did not throw an action scene or something to spruce it up a bit.  I guess the principle cast went on a small “run through a casino with a bag of money” scene, but it was boring too.  I really never cared whether the cast lived or died (they all lived).  All I wanted to do was stop falling asleep.

The characters were dull.  Their needs were basic (those of the characters that had needs).  The main character just wanted three hundred grand to get into Harvard.  Who doesn’t want that.  But of course he gets it and keeps wanting more money.  Like I have never seen that one before.

Not that I am a fan of nudity in movies (It takes away from the movie as an art form), but the characters went into two different (I think they were different) strip clubs and we didn’t even get a boob.

THAT”S HOW BORING THE MOVIE WAS!

No car chases, no getting into trouble in Vegas, nothing.  Hell, if the writers of 21, had even bothered to read screenplays from Rounders, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or 10,000 miles to Graceland (not that that last one was good), thet might have had an idea about how to insert a little danger and conflict into 21’s story.

What the writers of 21, could have done differently:
If I were to write the script, I would have made it about the same main character, but without the whole crew of students thing.  The main character could feel the financial preasure of school and student loans and decide to play Black Jack to earn money.

The film could be his journy of learning how to play, learning how to count cards, learning how to beat the odds.  We as an audience could learn the ins and outs of Black Jack as he learns them.

Then maybe he could get his own crew together.  With his friends, to help fund his funky science project or something like that.  ANYTHING THAT IS INTERESTING!

I am getting all worked up so I’m going to finish by saying;
Save yourself the trouble of watching the pile of filth called 21 and do something like go for a walk.  Do something constructive.

Homework:
Do NOT see the movie 21.  Instead, write for 2 hours and 20 minutes (the length of the movie).  Write a screenplay about a young gifted student who uses his mind to beat Black Jack.  Make sure that the main character has to overcome obstacles and at some point feels lower than when he started.  This may seem formulaic but at least it will be interesting.

Happy Writing.

Screenplay Cartoon

I was inspired by another blog that I saw. It is called the Dan Taylor Blog. On there he has a great cartoon called The Burrowmates. Dan Taylor does many things besides just this cartoon. He writes a comic book called Hero Happy Hour, that is quite amazing. It is a really great concept. Check it out.

Anyway, this led me to believe that I too, could draw a comic. This is not true. I can’t draw that well. Strait lines are the real mystery to me. Thankfully, there is a wonderful program called Flash and another one called Fireworks. I have both and they do things like draw images for me.

My Cartoon:
Here is the comic that I created (inspired by Dan Taylor’s blog). *Drum Roll*

It’s two office supplies talking to each other. The pencil is asking the trash can where he gets his ideas. It’s not the greatest but it’s a start.

Premise:
I thought it would be funny to have objects that were around the writer, talking about the writer and what he does (mostly ironically funny things that all scriptwriters do). I don’t know whether it will catch on but it’s fun to make.

Let me know what you think.

Act 2 – The Confrontation

This is part two of a three part article on the basic structure of storytelling. Again, each piece deals with a different act of the story arch.

Remember:
You will recal from our last discussion that the first act is the “Set-Up”. We establish the setting, time period, and of course the main character. This is a great place to establish supporting characters, as well. Furthermore, we can insert small pieces of key information that will be used later in the over all plot line.

Act 2:
In film, act two starts at the fist plot point. The incedent that takes the character from his daily life and into the action of the story.

Take Star Wars for example. The fist plot point is probably when he finds his Uncle Owen and Aunt Peru, have been murdered by the Empire. Until that point, there was nothing that was going to get him off of his home planet.

Another example would be, The Shawshank Redemption. The event that kicks off the whole story is Andy talking to Red for the first time. Up until that point, we only know the Set-Up of the plot. “A guy is in jail for murdering his wife and her secret lover.”

Act 2 however, is much different. We have confrontation that drives the story. The second act deals with the main character making choices and reacting to situations. It is also in Act 2 that we find out where the story is going. We establish objectives and motivations for the character.

Let us use the example of Star Wars again. In the second act is Luke training to become a Jedi Knight like his father (or at least he is on his way to starting that). He does have some obastacles in the first half of Act 2. He is trying to get off the planet, which proves to be some what difficult. First, he needs a ship. Second, he needs to get past the imperial troops that are stationed on the planet looking for the droids.

The second half of act two is very similar to the first half. It is also in the second act that we find out what the real threat of the story is. In the case of Star Wars, again, we have the Death Star. By establishing the universal threat in act two, we know what problems must be solved in Act 3. The Death Star must be destroyed. This is all established in the second half of Act 2. Much like the first half, we have an objective and some obstacles. The cast is in the belly of the Death Star and needs to get out.

The Fun Part:
The second Act is my favorite act to write. This is where, as the writer, you get to play God with the lives of your character. As God, you want your characters to be the best that they can be. How do you do that? You train them. You put them into the most messed up situations that press them into making tough decisions. If the challenges are not tough enough. The story is bland and dull. If they are too tough, the story will not be believable (take any Hollywood blockbuster action film for examples of this). It is a thin line but it is always rewarding.

The other thing about the second act that is just plain fun is the plot. This is where you get to take an ordinary situation and make it more. In the Shawshank Redemption, we find out that our character is not just another inmate. He becomes more. He starts a library and does the taxes for the guards. This is a little over the top, but when you watch the film, it just makes sense.

In summary, the Second Act is the place where most of the fun beggins. We plant seeds that need to be resolved in Act 3, we establish our main character as something more than just a simple person and we create a story that is fantasticaly greater than real life. Of course there are exceptions but in terms of over all plot structure, these are the basics.

Happy writing.

Scriptwriting Classifieds

You just finished a script and nothing happened to it. You are broke, a little embarrassed. Your agent said it was boring. Your friends all said it was the best thing they had ever read. And your dog, well he still needs dog food.

What do you do?

In the interest of passing on good sites and ideas to others, I thought I would recommend an interesting site again. It is called…

Scriptologist.com

They have classified adds, workshops, articles for all filmmakers and script writers.

Why do I think this is so cool?

I am a huge supporter of working on scripts, in groups. The collaboration aspect is a huge contributing factor to the film industry. The whole process involves working with others. One must forgo there preconceived notions about what the end product will be and find the common (and almost always better) ground of the film. This is true with the whole process and it is true with scriptwriting.

At Scriptologist.com they you can link up with others with like minded goals. You could find a co-writer or maybe just someone who has a really good idea and needs a screenwriter to craft it into film form. Whatever the desired outcome, the possibilities are endless. These endless possibilities are attainable with the help of a group of individuals, all collaborating together in unison to create something greater than themselves.

Two heads are better than one.

Happy Writing.