Are Things Looking Up?

If you're anything like us, you're starting to get a little (well, maybe more than a little) fed up with the current state of development in Hollywood. It was bad enough that most blockbusters seemed to be sequels or lackluster adaptations of books, graphic novels, or other movies. Then the video game movies came out in full force, most pretty forgettable. With board games (and Magic 8 Balls) being developed into feature projects, it seems like Hollywood has hit a new low, digging at the bottom of the bin, when there's so much original material being cast aside for want of something that's an established property. 

Writers are being told to set their more interesting ideas aside - I even posted second hand advice to this effect here yesterday - so that they can instead write a (quite possibly) less intelligent, easier-to-sell script. And the "original" ideas making it to screens this summer have been less than tantalizing, to say the least. Most releases are opening under prediction and dropping off quickly. The long and short of it - fans are losing interest. And, according to this article by Nikki Finke, producers are taking note. And they're worried.

As they ought to be. I'm working on an original idea now, and the production I'm working with has been great. However, it's not lost on me how difficult it is to sell a spec right now, especially a high-concept, high-budget one. (I've had numerous discussions with my manager on how to best plan for my follow-up project, and there are a number of ideas we both like, but feel that the timing is not right on... due in no small part to their being a bit more out-of-the-box.) Finke's article, though seems to hint that the times might be shifting... at least a tiny bit. 

Intensively over the next few days, extending even for the next few weeks, a gaggle of studio moguls and/or their executives have scheduled a series of meetings with top agencies in Hollywood. Yes, the movie gods are coming down off Mount Olympus in order to soak up the wisdom of the mere mortals who rep the talent... That's how seriously this Summer of Discontent has unsettled the studios who are beginning to admit being relatively clueless what to greenlight next now that so many movies aren't clicking with moviegoers.

A little later, she adds, "So what are the agents going to tell the studio swells? Here are our writers, here are their scripts, here is the original material you should be making instead of numbing predictability."

I have to say, Chris Nolan's INCEPTION - due to land July 16 - is a glimmer of hope already. A high-budget, original film with a large cast and a lot of good speculation already, Inception could be the film that reminds Hollywood that good things can come without history. Then again, if any of us made a film that grossed over half a billion dollars domestic, I'm sure we could finagle something, too. Let's hope that we're seeing a new age of original material, as Finke suggests could come. Wouldn't that be great for all of us?

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 128 - Asked for Advice

After a frantic week of getting last minute notes and making revisions - finally leading to turning in the draft at 8pm LA time on Friday - I had the weekend to relax. Well, "relax" is a relative term. The company that I work for (another ally in the writer's universe - Day Job) received a TONY Honor for Excellence in Theatre this weekend, so Saturday was spent at the cocktail reception accepting the award with my coworkers. I decided, to provide a bit of a change of pace - and to spare you yet another post on how I made revisions for another consecutive week - I figured I'd share some advice I gave via email to a Screenwriters League reader.

A fellow writer emailed the League asking for some opinions on his next move. For the most part, the questions asked had to deal with choosing between two ideas (especially if one is grander, while the other seems much more typical Hollywood fodder) and how to get the drive to sit down and actually write a script. I figured that the questions were broad and general enough that they would benefit more than this one reader - I know I wondered the same things many times - so here is my paraphrased response. I hope it helps some other aspiring writers, as well.

It sounds like you have a few ideas for scripts, so at least that's a good place to start... Don't be ashamed of you ideas, and if you are, then don't write them. After you've become an established writer and are taking assignments, then you can write trash under a pseudonym to support your gold-plating habit. Until then, the rule I go by is that, if I don't want to see it or I don't find it a worthwhile idea, then why would I spend possibly two or more years working on it? So no shame...

As for where to begin... unknown writers can't break the mold until they've mastered using it, so pick up a couple intro to screenwriting books. Read them. Then read scripts. Lots of scripts. Drew's Script-O-Rama has a ton for free download. Study the movies in the same genre as yours, study the scripts, and take a close look at the pacing, story structure, and arcs.

Outline your scripts before you write them (I didn't always do this, but it's proving increasingly useful). You have ideas for scenes here and there, but those don't necessarily add up to ideas for movies. By outlining, you'll discover whether you have the foundation for a movie and all the requisite parts... You'll need to know your protagonists, antagonists, and everything about their world. You might even want to write out character histories. Study story structure and the three-act format, and think of your script in those terms. There's a formula to writing, which means that the buyers are looking for that. Learn what it is and stick to it (and then when you've mastered it, feel free to break it).

Regarding your two ideas, as I said, Hollywood wants a quick sell now. If you think one of your ideas is either too out there or too complex at this point, start simple... That's your training wheel script. Always write something you're willing to devote the time and effort to, but realize that some ideas are beyond your current scope. I'm sitting on at least three myself now, because I know I can't pull them off the way I want to yet. And when you do start writing and showing people the pages, listen to their feedback... this first script won't land you an Oscar. The first draft especially... Listen to everyone. Even if you think their notes are crap.

...If you don't yet have the drive to write, then make a routine out of it. Like going to the gym, if you sit down at the computer for an hour a day - no internet, no tv, just you and the blinking cursor - you'll start to write, if for no other reason than to pass the time. And soon enough, that hour will become part of your routine. When you miss a day, you'll regret it.

Final bit of advice - don't get ahead of yourself. First write the script. Then be patient, listen to notes, rewrite it (possibly a few times). [Everything else] comes only after all of that is done.

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 127 - Give Yourself A Deadline

Right now, I'm in (what we're all hoping is) the home stretch of my script. On Friday, I got six pages of notes from the executive we're working with. Fortunately, most of them were things I had already addressed. I was hoping for a rainy weekend - as predicted - so that I could lock myself away distraction-free and write all weekend. As all you New Yorkers know, the rain never really came. Still, I cracked down for three hours a day and made some major progress. Of the six pages, I only have a few more notes to address.

Being in this stage of the re-writing process is kind of odd. It took me a while to push aside my insecurities about the caliber of work I was doing - prior to this draft, all of the notes had been more major, involving much greater changes. Due to the smaller-scale of the edits (finally, we could call most of them "tweaks"), I was worried that I wasn't achieving what I needed to. I felt like my wheels were spinning in mud and I wasn't going anywhere. When I cracked that delusion in half, I got down to business. 

A few weeks ago, my manager voiced a desire to get the script out this week. So, to try to make that goal, I gave myself a (somewhat informal) deadline of yesterday to have the script done. Six hours of work didn't accomplish everything that it had to, and by the end of the night Sunday, I was starting to stall again. That's ok, though. I emailed my producer to let her know to expect pages on Wednesday. The addition of two nights to complete the work that has to do will make me crack down hard and finish everything.


The work doesn't end once I submit the script, though. It's time to decide what my follow-up projects will be (yes, if this sounds familiar, it's because the past few weeks have been devoted to finishing the script and choosing a next project). My manager and I are narrowing it down to two ideas. Once the script is in the hands of the production company executive again, I'll have to develop the two ideas further, and then maybe focus in on one.

First thing's first, though - finish this script!

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 126 - (Hopefully) Nearing the End

The week kicked off with a conference call between my producer, the executive at the production company we're working with, and myself. It was time for another round of notes, this time dealing with the most recent draft that I submitted just before going on vacation. To be honest, I more or less knew what to expect from the call, as the exec called me while I was on vacation to give me the short version. This call was just time for some more specifics.

All in all, the notes were pretty small. That's not to say that there are no changes to be made - in fact, there are some key scenes that I have to re-address. As I was taking notes during the call, I started to feel as though I was being sent back into another long period of rewrites. However, as I reread my scribbles later in the week, the scale diminished quickly. In fact, I had to call my producer at one point to get her take on the notes again; it was becoming fairly apparent to me that the structure, dialogue, and events would remain pretty much the same. The printed final script wouldn't look much different than the current version. My producer agreed, concluding that the re-writes would be more akin to tweaks (with the exception of one scene), and that we should be nearing the end. For the first time, I'd be making revisions and tracking them all with an * on the right-side margin, rather than presenting a whole new draft.

As encouraging as that was, for me, one of the highlights of the conference call was a discussion on what would likely happen next with the script. Since we're working with an exec at the production company, but not the head producer, there was always a chance in my mind that we could do all this work, only to have the head producer decide he wasn't on board. Of course, that's still a reality. However, the exec informed us that she does not want to spur on another huge round of development once the company head gets it. He can and might have notes, but she hopes that development - as far as its concerned before any studios get on board, at least - will more or less be done when I turn in the next draft. 

My manager wants to get the script back out in about a week and a half or so. Deep breaths, Cake Man. Now go write.

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 125 - Be A Patient Newbie

Sometimes it seems that the development process can take a lifetime. At least, that's what I'm finding out first hand. Of course, despite how it may seem, that statement is in no way an outright complaint at this time. Rather, it's an honest impression of the industry, especially an unproduced, unknown writer's position in it. 

It was almost a year ago to the day that I signed a one-year option agreement with Gretchen, the independent producer who wanted to work with me on my post-Apocalyptic spec. By the time the ink had dried, I had already been working on and off on that script for a year and a half. In the year since we made our agreement, we've partnered with a notable production company in LA to develop the script further. It's gone through a few monumental changes in that time (as you know if you've been reading my weekly posts). Last Thursday, while on vacation, I got a call from the executive at the production company.

She read the latest draft and really liked it. That was the good news. She did, however, have some notes that she wanted to set up a call for. That was the expected news. So, tomorrow, we're hopping back on the phone - hopefully for one of the last times before we move ahead with it - to hash out a few things. I got a preview of the notes, but tomorrow will involve more detail and specificity.

Granted, this is my first real foray into the industry (not counting a manager that I parted ways with over a year ago). The kind of no-money development deal that I'm working under is supposedly surprisingly common practice these days. Of course, it'd be ideal to be paid for the two major drafts I've done since linking up with the production company in October. But that's the dream, not the reality, and I know I can't complain. Everything I've read indicates that the trend is toward holding off paying for work for as long as possible, and as new scribes, we have little to no bargaining power. So I am happy to wait, develop my work, gain the appreciation of producers and executives I'm working with, and ease my way into the industry.

There has been one, big surprise discovery to come from all of this. It's been over a year since I really tried to write a new idea (as most of my time's been devoted to polishing, re-writing, and re-imagining this one). The effect has been that I've had to re-acclimate myself with writing first acts again. I used to dive in and bang out the first ten pages in a writing frenzy. Now, things feel a bit slower. Then again, that could just be a product of having been on vacation, where the most important thing I had to do each day was wake up in time to catch breakfast.

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 124 - The Evolution of a Script

Last week was quite the busy one. By midnight on Sunday, I had gotten a revised draft of my post-Apocalyptic spec to my producer, incorporating notes that she had from reading it earlier in the week. By Tuesday night, I had more notes from her - primarily edits in an attempt to bring the page count down from 117. Oddly enough, the final page count for the current draft wound up being 112, the original target goal I had a few weeks ago after bringing the draft in at 122 originally. 

As of now, we're waiting on notes from the production company. They got the script on Friday morning, and I'm hoping to hear from them some time this week. Waiting to hear back regarding a draft can be difficult, unnerving. Do I expect them to call us up and say that they think the new draft is absolutely perfect and they want to buy it as is? No, of course I don't. I anticipate receiving some notes from them. Do I think they'll be monumental notes? I certainly hope not.

I gave Onyx the script to read over this weekend, and he had a few notes. Most of them would be easy to incorporate without altering too much of the existing structure. Other notes might make things a bit clearer for the reader - at this point, my producer and I have been dealing with the material for so long that it's easy to see what's not there (and forget that others won't). 

It's been really interesting to think about the evolution of a script. In the nearly two and a half years that I've been working on this project, so many different elements have come and gone that at times it seems like I've written four different movies. Characters that were integral to the plot for over two years just vanished on this most recent go-around. The world has shifted considerably as certain events have been pushed up in time. New characters, relationships, and personality traits have been brought in. As the script has evolved (and, at times, devolved), there have always been a few core elements that stayed in place, too. Perhaps that's the most interesting thing about it - what has remained from draft to draft. The protagonist's motives and status quo have held this entire time, which I suppose is perhaps the most important thing to hold onto as a script changes (at least, it was in this instance for me). The reveal at the end has stayed the same, also. And, certainly, there are things about the world that have not changed.

One day, if this sells, I think it would be interesting to plot the course of the script by taking a look at a few key drafts and tracking their trajectory. I wouldn't be surprised if they seemed like multiple writers' take on the same logline. And I know they will be different enough that many movies could be pulled from them (though those key similarities mentioned above would certainly be apparent). For now, though, I wait as patiently as I can for notes. Luckily, I'm off to Florida for vacation, so at least I get to wait by the beach this time. 

Logline Central - Monsterpocalypse

Logline Central is an irregular segment that takes a deeper look at loglines of scripts or projects that have just been purchased, as listed on DoneDealPro.

Ugh.

Title: Monsterpocalypse
Logline: Set in a metropolis filled with buildings, monsters brawl, blast or make devastating power attacks against the enemy monster. Units can attack a monster as well, but they typically need to work together in order to deal damage. The most damage comes from using the monster exclusive power attacks that deal damage by, for example, sending the opposing monster crashing into one or more buildings on the map.

Was this written by a third grader?

More: Board game, which is published by Privateer Press. Game creator Matt Wilson will co-produce. 

Oh, there it is. No writer yet attached to a movie based on another toy, this time a board game. 

You know, there was a time not too long ago when writers were encouraged to adapt their unsold spec script into a comic book or a novel if they were having trouble getting it made. The thought was that studios, reluctant to buy up some new material, would be much more comfortable paying for the rights to adapt a script from source material. The lucky writer, then, might essentially make the same sale twice, getting paid for the rights to his/her novel, and then cashing in a second time on a script that has already been written. (I heard that Larry McMurtry did this with Lonesome Dove.)

Now, perhaps it's we should start making our ideas into toys and/or board games if we hope to turn them into script sales.