The Writing Week part 2

Well, it's been a week already, somehow. The interesting thing is that I feel like I'm just as far along as I was a week ago, which is to say, a foot still on square one. However, that's not the case.

For the first time, I've done something other that either write or outline. (Sure, I've done research for past projects, too, but just minimally.) This time around, though, I find myself sitting at my computer typing page long answers to questions that I ask myself.

Briefly, so as to not give away too much about my script, the idea centers around a bounty hunter in a chaotic world. (Vague enough for you?) Of course I knew that there were going to be questions that I would have to answer before I could progress with the story. Up until I began sitting down each night to work on the script, I didn't realize how important the answers to the questions were. I literally couldn't progress until I answered a handful of them; I was stuck. By the end of the week--mind you, I started with three pages of script written--I was on page fifteen, but had over eight, single spaced pages of answers to myself. There was just so much I didn't know an anticipate having to know.

Truth be told, I'm not really content with the pages that I turned out. I was writing them while still lacking the answers I needed, trying to fool myself into thinking that was OK. Another first for me: I re-wrote scenes over and over, jumping back to them night after night, even though pages were piling on in front of them. It was that problem with the answers; my mind kept wavering, the pages kept feeling wrong to me, and the direction I wanted to take the script kept changing. Are the scenes stronger for that? No, I don't think so, because I'm still reworking them.

Last night, the final night of Week One, I had to ask myself a major question that I thought I'd resolved. In doing so, I upset the work I had done, once again requiring the two scenes I rewrote the most to be looked at again. In truth, it's an important question, and the answer to it will strengthen Act One (and the rest of the film) to the point where I can comfortable write it.

At the end of the week, though my mind was still foggy on many key elements of the script, I did have a few positive things to take away from those first seven days. For one, though I was unsure of many things, I did have a solid enough foundation laid out that I could embark upon the outlining process with little more than the natural stress and aggravation of outlining. Secondly, I had written through my inciting incident, however many rewrites it might require. And, lastly, while I was sitting in a diner having a work breakfast on Friday morning, I got that feeling. The feeling that things were good. The feeling that I was writing again and that being creative was going to lift my spirits. I had the urge to pull out a pen and paper and just write down ideas, dialogue, anything (which I actually did on my way to the diner).

Even if the pages weren't coming quickly, the creative juices were flowing. Week One was a very much needed foundation for the weeks that lie ahead.

The Totally Irrelevant Box Office Report

For those keeping track, we didn't have time to get to the week in review this past weekend. It'll be back this weekend.

Anyway, I'll keep this somewhat short because I'm a little flabbergasted.

Here are the top two films of the weekend:

The Bucket List - $19.4 M
First Sunday - $17.7 M

...okay. Now, I don't necessarily think these movies looked bad. They just looked like an amalgamation of rehashed ideas. It literally looked like ideas were plucked from hats to put those two movies together. I'll just refer you to Cakeman's post about originality instead of making this site seem redundant.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that Juno was third this week, earning $13.6 M in ticket sales. The word of mouth generated from the early release of this film clearly helped when it was released nation-wide. As my friend Rob put it, this film is definitely this year's Little Miss Sunshine.

Numbers were really low, folks. Numbers 4-9 look like this:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Alvin and the Chipmunks
I Am Legend
One Missed Call
P.S. I Love You
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie

The only other film in the top ten with considerable Oscar buzz was bringing up the rear: Atonement brought in $4.22 M.

The Random Friday Musings/Links

(Editor's Note: This post is updated throughout the day. Check back for additions.)

I was pretty much bowled over when I heard that The Bucket List was getting good reviews, but I never expected the same from First Sunday. The New York Times' review of the film isn't glowing, but it's certainly more positive than I expected. A rental, perhaps?

Anyone who watched Doug when they were younger should appreciate this one.


Write on...

The Writing Week part 1

Until I come up with a catchier title for it, the weekly update I'd mentioned I was going to begin putting on the blog is called The Writing Week (I know, they gave me a degree for that?). We're seven days into 2008, and to be completely honest, I haven't written yet this year. So, this is where I start. This is my first Writing (or lack-thereof in this case) Week.

Tomorrow, come Hell or High Water (let's hope not) and with amazing will power, I plan to overcome my laziness (correct word?) and put fingers to the keyboard. At the moment, I don't think I will be starting a completely new project. No, I already have three pages written!

In all seriousness, though, the outlining stage is the hardest for me. Oddly, I didn't do it the last time I wrote a play, and I was quite content with the draft I produced of it. Much more pleased than I typically am with first drafts of screenplay that I have outlined. Maybe that's because of the difference in mediums. In a play, characters seem to have much more room to ramble on and find the point of what they're trying to say. In a screenplay, they have to get right to the point, often as subtly or subtext heavy as possible, and then get out of the scene (or have it leave them). Personally, I feel a screenplay requires much more outlining, so the notion of doing that first step is always daunting.

Yet, even with these first three (solid, I feel) pages, I wonder if I really want to pursue the project in mind. Maybe I want to do a play. I don't really have another screenplay in mind at the moment. I think I'm just allowing myself to be intimidated by the inevitable outlining. But, once that process--typically, if I really focus and eat, sleep, and breathe it, it lasts a week--is over, I feel good enough to move rather rapidly through the actual pages.

The idea I'm working with now, though, is just so large, so dependent upon setting up a remarkably different world that I am also facing something... different. Sure, I've created unique worlds before, but always with an element of fantasy or realistic abandon that I can get away with whatever I want. This world, however, is based on scientific occurrences, so I feel a need to get as accurate as possible, if not for readers and viewers than for myself.

Maybe, come to think of it, I just have to treat it like any other world. Pretend it's something completely different. Mold it as I need it. And go from there.

Tomorrow, regardless of where I am in preparation, I begin. Because, why wait?

Until next Week.

This is What We Get in 2008?

I saw I Am Legend a few weeks back. I didn't really enjoy it that much, but I found some of it entertaining. I like the post-Apocalyptic genre, so that alone made it interesting to me.

But, what I was most dismayed with were the trailers. Every single movie, save for The Dark Knight --which you better not let me catch you saying a bad thing about-- looked done. I don't mean "done" in that it was ready for theaters. I mean done as in, "That's been done before."

I barely even recall which movies I saw trailers for, but I distinctly remember thinking, "Wow, not one of these is original. And, to make things worse, none of them look good." I suddenly felt so dismayed with the film industry, so disgusted with it and wanting to distance myself from it. Yet, at the same time, I felt an overwhelming need to get out there, to write like mad, and to be a part of a film that audiences will see a trailer for and think, not only, "Damn, that looks sweet," but also, "I haven't seen that before."

We talk about telling stories that we just have to tell, stories that almost write or tell themselves. And yes, I would feel as if I were being suffocated if I couldn't or didn't write my ideas out, if I didn't put them on the page. But shouldn't making movies be about something more? Don't we want to excite? To entertain with creativity and surprises? To be new?

After seeing the trailers before Sweeney Todd (worse trailers than before I Am Legend), I'm not so sure that's the case. I hope I'm wrong.

The Terribly Amateur Box-Office Analysis

Editor's note: data was taken from late Sunday estimates. Actual figures may vary.


Is it just me or has it been an oddly quiet awards season? I know the strike has put a damper on everyones' spirits, but it's almost as though you could hear a proverbial pin drop. There don't seem to be any films generating an overwhelming amount of "Oscar Buzz" (which I'm pretty sure is a side effect of prolonged drug use). In past years, you could reel off six or seven films that could receive Oscar nods for Best Picture without hesitation. But now? Wouldn't you have to at least think about it a little?

Anyway, that being said, National Treasure: Book of Secrets took home the most moolah this weekend, grossing an estimated $20.2 million. For all intents and purposes, by this time next week, it should surpass its predecessor and be the highest grossing film of Nicolas Cage's career. Reread that sentence and tell me why it's odd: because you'd think there would be some other film, or because it's Nicolas Cage of SNL's "Celebrity Jeopardy" fame?

I Am Legend came in second with $16.4 million. Has anyone else already forgotten about this movie? Honestly, after its release, I've heard nothing about it. Even people that have seen it don't seem to say much. It's like everyone collectively agreed that it was time for it go away. But thank goodness. Because just when you were over the idea of a decimated New York, Cloverfield is on its way.

Playing the role of the obligatory "Indy movie that gets a lot of awards attention and also becomes a box-office success story" this awards season is Juno, which came in third with $16.2 million. The cool part about this? It has grossed $52 million since its release. The price tag? $10 million.

Rounding out the top five were Alvin and the Chipmunks ($16.0 M) and One Missed Call ($13.5 M).

Entertainment Week in Review

This is a new feature we're rolling out here at League HQ. I would ask for feedback, but unless a ton of people hate it, we're gonna keep posting it. So...enjoy?

Onto item number one!


The world enters 2008; people still writing 2007 on documents


What happened: We passed into a new year! This year happened to be the 100th anniversary of the ball dropping in Times Square - here's to the ongoing tradition of dropping balls at the end of every December.

Why it matters: Because in two more years, we'll be able to remember where we were on New Year's 2000 and say that it happened a decade ago.


The Writers' Guild strike reaches that point


What happened: What didn't happen? The writers are insistent that they'll be picketing the Golden Globes this month, which has put the fate of broadcast, and even the ceremony, into question.

What else happened: The late night talk shows returned to the air, sans writers (unless you happen to work for CBS, who worked out a private contract with the WGA so that their hosts, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson could go on the air with writers). Reviews (yes, these shows were actually reviewed) suggest that Jay Leno came ahead as some kind of "winner," putting on a more entertaining show than his rival David Letterman. The very next day, the WGA started throwing a hissy fit over Mr. Leno's monologue, basically stating that he's in breach of the strike rules by writing and performing his monologue during the strike (Leno's a guild member). This would be a point where everyone watching rolls their eyes.

Anything else?: Why yes. The Directors Guild has begun informal discussions with the Producers Guild. There is general fear that the contract these two come up with undercut the writers' demands, which in turn will make the producers even more stubborn about giving into the writers' demands (which will likely not change, no matter what the directors do). I hoped you guys liked television. And the movies this summer. Because it's the last original content you're going to see for a while.

Why it matters: Because A). The storm clouds of doom have become that much thicker. Also, B). I'm not sure about anyone else out there, but I'm getting so sick of BOTH sides, that I no longer sympathize with anyone (I do think the writers are right, I just don't care anymore), and I want to blow the whole system up and start from scratch. And C). I'm not looking forward to writing crap about the strike in this blog every week for the next two fucking years.


Netflix to stream directly into televisions
What happened: Netflix announced that later this year, they'll be able to stream movies directly into your television using a set-top box that sends the entertainment through a high-speed internet connection. No numbers have been released regarding a price, but similar products on the market run between 300 and 400 dollars.

Why it matters: It's a bold move for the mail-order movie rental company. After Netflix made the "video store" relatively obsolete, Blockbuster struck back with a similar mail-order service that had the added convenience of being able to return your movies to any store. Netflix began offering movies over it's website, streamed through your computer (certain subscription packages included a number of hours per month that you could watch streamed media), and it seems that this is just the natural evolution. It's a good idea, and I like companies that take risks. Unless you're Sony and you make that albatross, the Playstation 3.


The final season of The Wire begins this Sunday night on HBO.


What happened: It's the end of the best show no one ever watched. There is no crime show like it - it's visceral, authentic, and depressing. There is no better ensemble on television, and I'll miss it.

Why it matters: Because if you write for television or you've ever been interested in doing so, you need to start Netflixing this series. Right. Now.


Ugh. Britney Spears gets taken to a hospital following a custody spat.


What happened: Basically, and we don't know much, Britney Spears refused to return her two children to their father and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline following a court-monitored visit. The police had to intervene and the episode somehow ended with the former pop star being hauled away by paramedics and taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It's being reported today that a judge has awarded full custody of the children to Kevin Federline, suspending Britney's visitation rights.

Why it matters: I put the "ugh" up there because I don't consider this "news," but I'm mentioning all this because Britney is dangerously out of control and I hope to god she undergoes a psychological evaluation and gets some much needed help. I hate how our society drives certain idols to, more or less, kill themselves, and then we stand around and wonder what went wrong when we damn well know that it's our morbid obsessions that make these peoples' lives a living hell. Let me just wipe off my soapbox here...


Write on...