The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 80 - New Title, For Coverage's Sake

Coverage. You know the term. The feedback that your script gets when it lands atop a VP of Acquisition's desk (or, much more likely, their college intern's). Chances are, you might have even written coverage if, like most Leaguers, you were that college intern at some point.

Coverage can be a new writer's best friend. It can also be that thorn in your paw. Heaven forbid, it can also be devastating. A lot of emerging writers actually pay script consultants or competitions to provide coverage, which they then incorporate into their query letters. (I wouldn't necessarily advocate going that route, at least not until you really have a solid draft that's ready to go out. But that's another post for another time.) Personally, I don't really see the benefit in paying for coverage for a script. I'd much more strongly recommend starting a writers group with people whose opinions you trust, writing and sharing a ton of feedback, and reading as many produced scripts as you can.

Anyway, coverage has recently done an odd thing for me. It required me to change the title of my script. With the thousands of scripts (95% hardly worth reading) that float around Hollywood each year, people don't want to waste time re-reading something that they've already passed on - unless, of course, a rival studio just put a bid on it. To make sure that the latest reading assignment is a new project, production companies and studios will check incoming titles against archived coverage. If something sounds familiar and the logline that the intern on duty comes up with is similar to a logline for a script with the same title in the coverage records, that script will almost assuredly not be read again. Especially if it was passed on the first go around.

You've probably heard the rule: only send your script out once. If you are lucky enough to have your script shopped around, and it gets passed on, you can't tweak a scene or two and give it another shot. It's been covered, read, and passed on. That, my friends, is that. It is also, however, what I'm trying to do with my post-Apocalyptic spec. My old manager sent it to nine companies, none of which wanted it. My new manager and producer who have optioned the script want to take it out in the next few months. Unfortunately, some of the people with the buying power we'd need have already received the script in round one.

The solution? New title. Rewrites. Different page count. And, perhaps, a slight shift in focus. The goal is to change the script enough to warrant a second read, and the title change is a major part of that. I wonder how long it will take to begin thinking of the script under the new title. It's been in my mind as one thing for a year and a half now.

24 and Counting

It feels like it was just a couple months ago that I was sitting down and writing about my goals for 23. Here I am now at 24, an age that has nothing going for it except that it's almost 25. We can choose any day of our lives to reflect on progress and set goals, but I like to check in for a life analysis on my birthday. It’s our personal new year’s day. Looking back at the goals I set for myself a year ago, I can’t say that I’m satisfied with the recent past. But I’m very excited for the future, and a good deal of it has to with the fact that I finally want lots of other things to be great in my life aside from my writing.

The first goal I remember setting for myself at 23 was placing in a screenplay competition. The year before, I had done well and made it to the semi-finals in a competition with my thesis script from NYU. This time around I had finished an action/horror spec. It was a ton of fun to write and I still think it’s got some of my best material to date. It’s the only script I entered into a competition and I didn’t advance one round. Some of these competitions sure make you wait a long time for disappointment. I haven’t given up on the competition circuit yet, and don’t expect that I will anytime soon.

The second goal was to have conversations with three people I've never met before who work in a relevant corner of the industry. I did pretty well with this goal, although today I wish I hadn’t phrased it as someone in a “relevant” corner of the industry. At this point any corner of the industry is relevant. The top tier LA set designer I met at a party is going to be able to help me with my pursuit of being a Hollywood screenwriter a lot better than the LA/NY screenwriter I never met. Luckily I did have a chance encounter with a working screenwriter who lives in New York and continues to work with some big names in the industry. I hope to pick his brain further soon. I also had a great conversation with a screenwriter who took a major Hollywood studio to court over claims they stole his material. He eventually won at the end of an ordeal that spanned many years. That encounter was more cautionary than inspiring, but it can never hurt to understand the potential dangers that lurk in the industry.

The last goal was to have six scripts polished to the point where I wouldn’t hesitate showing them to somebody in the industry. I failed miserably here, but I think part of the reason was that some of my previously valued ideas suddenly didn't seem as movie worthy, or I realized they were a really tough sell for a beginning screenwriter. I have to be honest though, the previous year has been plagued by lack of motivation as well as stubbornness. I got notes from an established LA manager on where my action/horror spec needed to go, and I haven’t acted on those notes in any way. I’ve spent a lot of time this past year not being happy and fulfilled by my writing. It's hard to press on when your therapy starts feeling like torture.

I’m a writer and that’s how I want to make a living. Everyone in my life knows that, and when people want to check in on me, especially those I'm not in regular contact with, they ask me how the writing is coming. But these days I want people to ask about more than the writing. Some people say life is long, others say life is short. I haven't decided for myself yet, but I do know we have the capacity to be great at so many different things. I plan on being a better writer by 25, but I'm going to accomplish that by being great at other things. When the writing slump hits, I'm not going to wait it out by watching movies and playing video games. I'm going to practice other skills and take on new hobbies. I'm convinced that if I can be fulfilled through other endeavors, then I can afford to wait for the words to return to me. When the words do return, I'll have the positive energy from other facets of my life propelling me back into my craft. The first two new endeavors that I've taken on are Kendo, which I've been doing for a few months now and studying spencerian penmanship seeing that I never learned cursive. I don't have any goals for 24 directly related to screenwriting, but I know this will be one of my most pivotal years of screenwriting to date.

MSPaint Movie Review: Public Enemies

JOHN DILLINGER WAS SO SMOOTH

BELIEVE IT!





MICHAEL MANN IS THE MAN!

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 79 - The Drafts They Are A Changin'

It's pretty common to find us Leaguers hunched over a damp wooden table in some Greenwich Village bar, talking about the degree to which we would let producers' notes influence our scripts. For the most part, this talk is purely hypothetical. "OK, they like your script and want to buy it for $500K, but they want you to make your action hero a woman. And a paraplegic." Or, "You'll get a sale, but they need it to become a coming of age comedy, and not a werewolf horror flick. Teen werewolf comedy and the sale is yours." "Would you sell the script if they wanted to make your Roman soldiers actually lovers traveling through time to modern day San Francisco?"

Read any book on film development or production from the studio side of things, and you'll hear more stories than you can count on one hand about the ridiculous ways that writers have been encouraged or flat out asked to change their scripts. We Leaguers like to pose these "suggestions" to one another as tests, seeing where the breaking point is. A year or two ago, we had very little bend incorporated into our interpretation of ideas. Bend at all, and the idea breaks.

Now, though, the discussion has become less hypothetical, and we've become more malleable. I've spent the past few weeks working with notes from Kevin and Gretchen (my manager and producer, respectively), and have to admit that I'm nearly 100% behind almost all of the suggestions. At first, I was just excited to get notes. Then, after thinking on them, I was on board with most of them. As the rewrite process has gone on longer, I've come to see the reasoning behind the remaining notes. And for any that I'm still not entirely behind, I can at least see the way to do it without compromising my vision of the material.

That, compromising the integrity of the initial idea, is my biggest concern in doing these rewrites. No, I haven't felt that happening yet. However, I did have an idea that could have completely redirected the purpose of the script - if I let it. Kevin and Gretchen had an idea to emphasize one element of the script, which I had not thought about beefing up. Doing so, however, risked diverting the protagonist's goal drastically. So, I revised a key sequence, managed to keep in what I wanted while adding the additional scenes, and wound up being pleased with the way the puzzle fit together. The current version of the script is different, but the character's ultimate goal is the same. I guess I know how I answer that hypothetical question now.

Some linkage for the long weekend

FreeWilliamsburg has their July movie preview posted.

Because we're the last remaining blog not to post about Michael Jackson: the Thriller video remade in Legos.

Something else Hollywood is putting money into that's NOT your spec script: Asteroids: The Movie, based on the gripping Atari video game.

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 78 - Make (and Meet) Deadlines

Even though I'm not a "professional" writer yet - though I did get to deposit the first check I've received for my writing since a competition in high school this week - I treat my writing as though it is a job. As with any job, there are deadlines that I have to meet. Only, in this case, most of the deadlines are made by me.

Treating your writing, from the outline you've just started to the re-write of draft number five, as a project that you're getting paid for (even if you're not) can actually be a great motivator. I've found that since I adopted the "every script is a job" mentality, I've become more focused in my writing, sharper and more professional. The writing is of a higher caliber, from a more experienced writer. All too often, I fell, when there isn't a concrete drive to deliver a high quality product, quality can inadvertently fall by the wayside. That's not to say that I want to write an inferior script, but by treating the work as something that someone is waiting for and expecting a high quality result from, it helps me focus on delivering.

Deadlines are, so far, mostly up to me still. The producer and manager I'm working with on the post-Apocalyptic spec are pretty loose on when they want the rewrite done by; we're hoping to go out in September. That said, if I claim to be able to get a new intro to them by the end of the weekend (which I did last week), then I'll be damned if I don't do that. Even though the deadline didn't come from them, it's been planted. And at this stage in my "career," the last thing I want to do is come off as someone who makes claims and never follows through. As a young writer with no production history, it's crucial that I deliver on time.

If you don't work with self-imposed or other deadlines, consider giving it a try. The key is to acknowledge that no deadline can be broken. Hopefully, not only will the crunch keep you writing, but it will help you deliver high quality pages, since you know you might not have time to go back and rework them as much. It's an exercise that might help. And, down the road, when you are writing for that major studio, it'll be practice that paid off.

Academy to Nominate Ten for Oscars?

I just clicked over to imdb for part of my daily work avoidance and saw the following breaking story:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just announced in a small blurb the Oscars this year will be bumping their Best Picture nominees from five to ten beginning with the upcoming 2010 Oscars President Sid Ganis announced today at a press conference in Beverly Hills.

“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.”

The move is an obvious response to the recent discussion concerning The Dark Knight’s absence from the nominees for more art house style films such as The Reader and I would expect we can now look at Up as a serious contender for a Best Picture nominee when previous Pixar favorites Ratatouille and WALL-E were left in the cold.

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis. “I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”

You can read the full article at Rope of Silicon.

Not sure how I feel about this. I guess in some ways it's appropriate, but the Academy could also just get more selective with its nominating, rather than just expand the category. Then again, I also just don't like change. What's your take on this?