Ken Levine Gives His Summer Preview

The ever-funny Ken Levine has once again treated us - the people of the internets - to his recap of the summer movie list. Always good for a laugh.


Part one
Part two
Part three


Thanks, Ken!

Logline Central - Dear Satan

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.


Every now and then, an idea comes around that makes you think, "Damn, I wish I'd done that instead." Today, Dear Satan is that idea for me. 

Title:	Dear Satan
Logline:	A 7-year old girl accidentally misspells “Santa” in her letter to the North Pole and instead invites Satan to bring her a toy for Christmas.
Writer:	Dan Ewen
Genre:	Comedy
More:	Spec. Conundrum's Bobby & Peter Farrelly will produce.

It's so simple and yet so smart. We've all noticed how eerily similarly spelled Santa and Satan are; one represents joy and goodness and generosity and love, while the other is death and destruction and denial and sin. Same five letters, though, only a little rejiggered. Thus, it makes perfect sense that someone would misaddress the letter. And a child? Of course. I buy that completely. 


Not to get into a debate on religion and the existence of Satan or not, but the logline does a perfect job of informing us of how this world works. Presumably, Santa really does exists and makes his perennial journey around the world each Christmas Eve to deliver toys. The fact that the girl's unfortunate typo addresses her letter to the Devil makes us think that, in this world, Satan is also very much a real force that can interact with the world. We know there's magic and the supernatural in the world of this script, and we also know that those forces pose very legitimate risks or influences. So, naturally, we beg to know the answer - what happens when Satan gets a request to show up with a present?


My search on Dan Ewen didn't reveal much about past writing credentials, unfortunately, though that doesn't mean much.  It looks like he had an earlier sale this past November and one in 2009. He might have ghost-written a ton before that, or been hired to do rewrites, deals that didn't make the trades. Either way, I don't really care. The title is great. The logline is beyond solid (we know the protagonist - the girl - the world, the rules, and the conflict). The idea is incredibly promising; I want to know where it goes. If I was the executive and this came across my desk, you can bet I would ask for the script. Hell, if I had the spending money, I might even pick it up regardless, just for the idea.

The Writing Week (Vol. 5) part 226 - The Waiting Week

Well folks, I won't lie to you. This week has been a bit of a slow one. I still haven't heard back regarding the producer's thoughts on my writing partner's and my outline for a sci-fi action adventure. My manager is also supposed to be giving it a read, but no feedback from him yet, either. And that's fine - I'll be going out of town for the weekend, so it's not as though I'll have much time to work on it anyway. 


The post-Apocalyptic spec is still out there somewhere in the ether. I think we (my manager, agent, and producers) are nearing agreement that we've about turned over as many stones as we can on the project... at least for now. It's kind of a sucky feeling, but not one that comes as a surprise to me. I sense that my manager's been slowly prepping me for the inevitable, "there's not much more we can do for it now," and considering the project's been out in the Hollywood atmosphere for a couple years, I could have guessed as much. Thankfully, I have the collaboration to actively focus on and a couple other ideas or outlines that I can jump back to and will jump back to. We're trying for one more A-lister to come on board attached to star, but I think that's more in the wish and prayer category than a strategy we're putting any real money behind.


I began to get back to the demon thriller spec, which was nice. By get back to, I mean I re-read the outline I drafted months ago. I was pleased to see that it reads pretty well. In fact, my manager had some thoughts about it that wouldn't change the pacing or overall structure in any major way, but would alter some situations and potentially eliminate certain parallels in the story that work effectively at present. It's hard to tell whether I'm just being intractable or even just lazy, or if there's merit to my desire not to implement his changes. I like to think that I'll be able to achieve an equally healthy outline for an even more unique story by implementing his suggestions, but I'm currently beset by that ever tempting, partially deleterious affliction whereby writers refuse to tamper with something that works. 


Ah well... if nothing else, an attempt at revising yet another outline that seems well-structured might just prove that the current incarnation is the most robust, most effective. And Hell, it felt great to keep working, and in a field where the temptation to procrastinate is ever-present, the drive to work needs to be embraced. After all, who knows how long the next writing break might last. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 5) part 225 - The Necessary Outline

At long last! Two months after my collaborator, producer/director/actor W.A. and I first met about the sci-fi project we're working on together, we finally sent our revised outline off to the producer that paired us together. (Actually, two months for revising a project isn't that long at all, but whenever I finish a stage of a project and am able to send something off for review, I feel a small wave of triumph.)


Believe it or not, what we sent the producer was the fourth revision of the outline. I received one before the initial phone call W.A. and I had before we began working together. Then, based on an in-person meeting we did the week after that, I provided him with the big points from our chat and then rewrote the outline based on those. He gave me feedback, which I incorporated into a second draft. Drawing ever closer to something we were both really pleased with, we met again, and out of that came the third draft. That one seemed to require less drastic adjustments, so we met via phone. Of course, drafts three and four are very different in a lot of places, but the result was mutually pleasing to us. Now, we wait to see what if any notes the producer has. 


Naturally, the whole point of this process is to enable me to write the first draft of the script easily and effectively, and for that draft to be a very solid foundation for the final draft. Granted, projects change a lot between the outline and script stages, but we've worked out a lot of the questions and kinks in the story, so hopefully even if the story doesn't adhere, the logic of the world will. It's always impossible to anticipate every question a producer or writing partner or reader or agent or... (you get the point) will have about a script, and that's why the outlining process is so vital. As W.A. and I worked on the story, issues would arise. He would suggest a change based on something that wasn't working, and in attempting to fix it, I would realize that some other piece fell out of place. Or I would ask why something was a certain way, and in his response, he would see the solution to another problem we were grappling with.  Though not every bug or flaw might be addressed, our two minds have raised and answered an enormous number of questions at this point, which should make notes and then writing that much easier. 

Friday Writing Roundup

A selection of articles and postings from Leaguers that have appeared in other corners of the internet recently.

Austin (aka Zombie)

Chromatics - Kill For Love album review, Under the Radar Magazine:
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/kill_for_love/

Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs reissue review, Under the Radar Magazine
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/game_dames_and_guitar_thangs/

Marthas & Arthurs - The Hit World of... Marthas & Arthurs album review, Consequence of Sound
http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/04/album-review-marthas-arthurs-the-hit-world-of-marthas-arthurs/

Mariee Sioux - Gift for the End album review, Consequence of Sound
http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/04/album-review-mariee-sioux-gift-for-the-end/

Zach (aka Cake Man)

"There's More Than One Right Answer", ScreenwritersUtopia

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/2012/04/21/theres-more-than-one-right-answer/

The Writing Week (Vol. 5) part 224 - The Agent Syndrome

When should I get an agent?


What writer hasn't asked this question? It's probably one of the first things I asked (myself, my professors, countless message boards and blogs about screenwriting). I was eager for an agent; an agent would launch my career seemingly overnight. Step one: write script. Step two: land agent. Step three: $$$. Right?


I now have an agent. I've had an agent since October 2010. I have yet to sell a screenplay.


This is not my agent's fault. I was actually quite fortunate to land a well-known agent at UTA in my one and only agent meeting. Far as I know, the producers who set up that meeting for me had essentially orchestrated a done-deal. As long as I was personable and could hold my own in the meeting, then it was a shoo-in. At that time, we all had high hopes that my post-Apocalyptic spec - the one I was taking the meeting about - was on the verge of selling, so it was looking like an easy and mutually beneficial relationship all around. The day after the meeting, which went well, my manager told me that the agent had agreed to take me on, and that my manager had agreed in turn that I could and would deliver two scripts a year going forward. It seemed a lofty but doable goal. 


I've kept writing in the 18 months that have followed, but my agent hasn't seen a word from me (other than a few loglines early on). Due to what might seem a large period of inactivity, I worry that I've missed my chance. My manager never fails to try to console me, saying that no, the agent will read whenever I next present a script to him. When that day comes, we can tell him that I've been working on other things since we met, but that they just weren't right for one reason or the other. The chance to get him to read my next script is still there, though, and theoretically will be for quite some time. 


Yet, this fear that I've missed an opportunity to get new material in front of my agent isn't the only concern that's come from the situation. I feel as though my access to my agent is incredibly limited, almost to the point on nonexistence, until I have something new to show him. And there's good reason to this. It's been a year and a half. How does it look if my first email to him - seemingly out of the blue - is about the one and only project he knows me from? What will his impression of me and my work in the long run be? Will it seem as though I'm still a promising young, new client, or will I be that writer who only has one thing under his belt and, years later, still wants that to be his ticket in? I'm working on new things, but the older I get, the more I've done this, the more I know that "hey, I am working on something else, but you can't see it yet" emails aren't just a waste of time, they can actually serve to discredit you. It's that basic writing 101 mantra - show me, don't tell me. 


Right before I graduated NYU, the head of my department told me it wasn't worth my time going to LA until I had a script, a treatment, and a pitch - three things for three separate projects. Until that point, I'd be ill-prepared to answer the inevitable question, "so what else do you have?" I had ideas when I met my agent. I had a full script, which unfortunately he didn't like the idea for. On paper, I was prepared. In reality, I wonder if I had enough going for me at the time. 


We're all compelled to seek validation and entry to the industry through an agent. It's intrinsic to being a writer. When you decide that it's time for you to go that route, to send your query emails or ask your friend to pass something along, please have another script ready to go. Have two. Your ability to jump in with both feet and turn securing representation into an actual career will be all the more bolstered for it. 

Friday Writing Roundup

A selection of articles and postings from Leaguers that have appeared in other corners of the internet recently. 


Cake Man talks about The Happy Family Curse, and how it can make a show or film laborious to watch when poorly executed, but how it can elevate a story immensely when done well.

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/2012/04/07/the-happy-family-curse/


The Name Game, or how often you should use a character's name in spoken dialogue (another of Cake Man's posts on Screenwriters Utopia).

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/2012/03/28/the-name-game/