Just had a question regarding representation in the comments section, so here goes my tale:
To date, I've had 1 agent and 3 managers. Zero Script Sales. 5 Options.
Note: 1st Option (4th script I wrote, it was called Good People) was optioned independently.
Got my first Manager back in '98. Super nice lady, had a good head for the business. At that point, I had been listing my scripts in a Spec Script Marketplace type of thing she was running and she was about to start up her own management company and grab some writers who had been listing there. So I jumped on-board. She gave great notes on some of my earlier scripts and we had some buzz, but no sales or options. Then she got in a car wreck and was unable to continue managing.
She hooked me up with an agent who took me on. Interesting dude. Older gent, the 1st time I met him in Beverly Hills we went for a ride in his fancy car (A 1920ish-style oldie) to chat and he got a case of road rage and almost beat down the driver of a car that beeped at him. Yikes. But I had no other way in at the time, so I hung in there. We had an odd relationship.
He had no assistants and answered his own phone in a different voice, then would always connect me with himself. Yeah, that'd be a red flag. But we did have 2 options (A Couple Of Joes & The Money Shot) so we had some success. I let him go once because we'd go MONTHS without speaking, and he fumbled the buzz I had after almost winning the Austin Screenplay Competition in '03 (set up zero meetings, etc) - and I had some nice buzz!! I decided to go back after a lack of options, then eventually ended it for the same reasons after another year.
Then came my next manager. He was actually one of the producers who optioned Good People, and we kept in touch. So I got with him, but we had 2 problems: 1. He was a friend. 2. He was also working for a pretty major director (still does) and had little time to actually handle my stuff. I mean, I know he sent some of my work out (although I have no proof), but he'd never give me any feedback or follow-ups. Plus, one time I was contacted by 2 production companies about my scripts and he told me he'd send them for me.
I heard nothing back and when I dropped them an e-mail, they both said they were never sent scripts. Thing is, this guy was super busy, and I should have known my screenplays would not be of any priority.
Then came my most recent manager. He found me through the Movie-bytes website called WinningScriptsPro. The Manager/Friend got miffed that I was going to defect to New Manager, however, I thought it best for my career, especially since Manager/Friend seemed way too busy to handle my scripts. The kicker? He hasn't talked to me in over a year now. Sucks, because he was a good guy.
Working with New Manager is great. He's very hands-on with my screenplays and WILL NOT send them out before they're ready, even if it takes countless re-writes. Brutal, but smart in the long run.
In a nutshell, that's my story.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Writing Update #4389678394b
Finally, trying to focus here. Most of my nights recently have been spent opening my Final Draft, staring at the 20+ screenplays in various stages of development, then falling asleep. Been in a rut. Work is blah. No news from the Manager (but he is waiting on my script The Stand-In, he thinks it's an easy pitch, high concept stuff). Problem is - I haven't had the inspiration to finish the damn thing. Hard to write without wanting to write it.
Instead I went back and worked on older scripts, even started a new one. But I've shifted my focus on 3 of them, a re-write of Cricket Hill, a comedy called Union that I started in December, and yes - The Stand-In. I mean, if he thinks he can sell the damn thing, I should at least finish it. I had some decent ideas for it so I'll work on it, but I won't force it.
Also, finally got my prize for being in the top 10 of a recent screenplay compeition - MovieMagic Screenwriting software (I first mentioned it was coming many posts ago). But I'm a Final Draft guy so I'll just hang on to it I guess. Received news of another recent competition - Nada. Sending out 1 or 2 for Austin. fingers crossed.
Have a good Memorial Day.
Instead I went back and worked on older scripts, even started a new one. But I've shifted my focus on 3 of them, a re-write of Cricket Hill, a comedy called Union that I started in December, and yes - The Stand-In. I mean, if he thinks he can sell the damn thing, I should at least finish it. I had some decent ideas for it so I'll work on it, but I won't force it.
Also, finally got my prize for being in the top 10 of a recent screenplay compeition - MovieMagic Screenwriting software (I first mentioned it was coming many posts ago). But I'm a Final Draft guy so I'll just hang on to it I guess. Received news of another recent competition - Nada. Sending out 1 or 2 for Austin. fingers crossed.
Have a good Memorial Day.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Ugh (UPDATED! UPDATED! UPDATED!)
Bad News - Ol' H-Wood is remaking The Long Good Friday.
Want more bad news? The director who is attached to direct also directed:
Yes! It's Paul W.S. Anderson time! He also directed the classic films Soldier, Resident Evil, Event Horizon, and Mortal Kombat! Be afraid.
UPDATE-Now I've just read that Fox is remaking TAPS, fucking TAPS, man! Christ! To be written & directed by Frank E. Flowers (Haven). And most of us out here can't break into this business???????
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Blown Away
What movies have blown you away? Now, they don't have to be on your top 10 lists or whatever, but maybe when you saw them they just suprised you, took your breath away, or stuck with you. Here are some of mine:
Red Dawn - Saw this on cable (Prism) a long, long time ago. Loved every minute of it. And it's not the cry of "Wolverines!" that got me, no, it was the eerie beginning: Paratroopers floating from the sky, landing near the high school. The teacher walks out to see what's up. "Hello there my friend" he says, then rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Down he goes as they riddle him and the school with bullets.
Jaws - When the boy is on his raft one minute, and then the next he's gone, and the raft is getting tossed around the waves, destroyed. Brutal.
To Live & Die In L.A. - Good cop movie, awesome highway chase, but as the movie starts to near its climax, the hero (WIlliam Peterson) is shot in the fucking face! Damn!
Red Dawn - Saw this on cable (Prism) a long, long time ago. Loved every minute of it. And it's not the cry of "Wolverines!" that got me, no, it was the eerie beginning: Paratroopers floating from the sky, landing near the high school. The teacher walks out to see what's up. "Hello there my friend" he says, then rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Down he goes as they riddle him and the school with bullets.
Jaws - When the boy is on his raft one minute, and then the next he's gone, and the raft is getting tossed around the waves, destroyed. Brutal.
To Live & Die In L.A. - Good cop movie, awesome highway chase, but as the movie starts to near its climax, the hero (WIlliam Peterson) is shot in the fucking face! Damn!
Gallipoli - Watch the ending. Made me want to make movies.
Fearless (Peter Weir not Jet Li) - solid movie all the way through, but that damn ending - astounding.
Children Of Men - Yeah, the car scene.
28 Days Later - The field scene - After some scary carnage stuff, this smart movie pauses and lets our heroes watch the beauty of a pack of wild horses run free across a field. Great stuff. Looking forward to the sequel.
Dawn of the Dead (remake) - The 1st 10 minutes simply rock!
You get the picture. Your turn!!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Maybe Your Screenplay Simply Blows
It's tough. How do we sell these damn things? Maybe we can't write.
Contests? God damn things. Yeah, I still enter them, not as many or as often as I once did. Because in the long run, I truly feel 99.9% of them WILL NOT GET YOU ANYWHERE.
I visited a message board recently, with screenwriters talking about all the contests they've won, and they are NOWHERE. And they had some decent placements in some good contests. I keep seeing the same names pop up as winners of various contests, with the same script, all the time. After winning these contests, they haven't gone anywhere? What the fuck?
Okay, you'll see a news blurb once in a blue fucking moon about a writer who sold their screenplay after it placed in a contest, I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but they may have had something in the works before the contest.
Think about it, did a bunch of do-gooders just wake up one morning and say - I want to help no-name writers!!! No, they didn't. They said - I want to make some fucking money!
Query letters? Useless. I tried that road before, and it's a sucky road. I hate that road. 99.9% of query letters will end up in the trash, or if you're lucky they'll wipe their ass with it (Hey, at least they were holding something written by you before they cleaned off their stink star).
Do you make it yourself with local actors? You can, and if you're actually talented, you might make something worth while. Or if you at least havea budget to work with so it doesn't end up looking like cable access quality. I went this route, makde some shorts, made 3 features, and they all went....nowhere. Sure, we had some local screenings and all, and our family and friends thought they were amazing! But they weren't amazing, they were low-budget crap. Don't get me wrong, I loved the process and I worked with some incredible cast & crew, but I wasted their time, too.
Or, maybe our stuff just isn't good enough. Maybe we're not inspired enough. Maybe we're too wordy, or maybe we put screen direction in our scripts (I NEVER do the last one by the way, it'll get you nowhere and fast). Maybe we do need to live in LaLa Land. But maybe there's too many damn writers there already.
Friend of mine won best Noir at Fade In a few years back. Script went nowhere, but it picked up a few more wins here and there. Still, nowhere. He ended up sending it to a company where you send them a ton of $$ and they'll guarantee you a read & detailed critique/meeting with a producer. And guess what, so far, it's worked. He hasn't sold it yet, but it is out to several agents, and the producer himself is putting himself behind it, so we'll see. But who has that kind of $$? Of course, it may have all been in vain.
You can also try the Inktips & Moviebytes websites. What I find funny is someone will request your script, and then they'll say it's "not for them." Hey cockdog - You knew what the fucking story was when you read the logline & synopsis. Don't make me go through the bullshit of sending it out if you're not gonna consider it anyway. Fucking idiots, man. I had someone request a script (HEADSHOT) back in March. Still haven't sent it to them. My main reason was that I wanted to tweak it a bit, but my inspiration simply wasn't there.
It's times like these where I get a bit annoyed (can't you tell) with this whole screenwriting thing. I haven't written much in the past 2 months (few tweaks here and there, nothing major).
I came up with a new idea for a script this week that I really like and will run with it. My other partially-begun scripts (there are about 40 of them) will just have to wait.
I'm not giving up. Fuck that shit. But I gotta figure out a better way. There's got to be a better fucking way. I mean, not all my stuff can be bad, can it?
How do you guys handle it?
Contests? God damn things. Yeah, I still enter them, not as many or as often as I once did. Because in the long run, I truly feel 99.9% of them WILL NOT GET YOU ANYWHERE.
I visited a message board recently, with screenwriters talking about all the contests they've won, and they are NOWHERE. And they had some decent placements in some good contests. I keep seeing the same names pop up as winners of various contests, with the same script, all the time. After winning these contests, they haven't gone anywhere? What the fuck?
Okay, you'll see a news blurb once in a blue fucking moon about a writer who sold their screenplay after it placed in a contest, I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but they may have had something in the works before the contest.
Think about it, did a bunch of do-gooders just wake up one morning and say - I want to help no-name writers!!! No, they didn't. They said - I want to make some fucking money!
Query letters? Useless. I tried that road before, and it's a sucky road. I hate that road. 99.9% of query letters will end up in the trash, or if you're lucky they'll wipe their ass with it (Hey, at least they were holding something written by you before they cleaned off their stink star).
Do you make it yourself with local actors? You can, and if you're actually talented, you might make something worth while. Or if you at least havea budget to work with so it doesn't end up looking like cable access quality. I went this route, makde some shorts, made 3 features, and they all went....nowhere. Sure, we had some local screenings and all, and our family and friends thought they were amazing! But they weren't amazing, they were low-budget crap. Don't get me wrong, I loved the process and I worked with some incredible cast & crew, but I wasted their time, too.
Or, maybe our stuff just isn't good enough. Maybe we're not inspired enough. Maybe we're too wordy, or maybe we put screen direction in our scripts (I NEVER do the last one by the way, it'll get you nowhere and fast). Maybe we do need to live in LaLa Land. But maybe there's too many damn writers there already.
Friend of mine won best Noir at Fade In a few years back. Script went nowhere, but it picked up a few more wins here and there. Still, nowhere. He ended up sending it to a company where you send them a ton of $$ and they'll guarantee you a read & detailed critique/meeting with a producer. And guess what, so far, it's worked. He hasn't sold it yet, but it is out to several agents, and the producer himself is putting himself behind it, so we'll see. But who has that kind of $$? Of course, it may have all been in vain.
You can also try the Inktips & Moviebytes websites. What I find funny is someone will request your script, and then they'll say it's "not for them." Hey cockdog - You knew what the fucking story was when you read the logline & synopsis. Don't make me go through the bullshit of sending it out if you're not gonna consider it anyway. Fucking idiots, man. I had someone request a script (HEADSHOT) back in March. Still haven't sent it to them. My main reason was that I wanted to tweak it a bit, but my inspiration simply wasn't there.
It's times like these where I get a bit annoyed (can't you tell) with this whole screenwriting thing. I haven't written much in the past 2 months (few tweaks here and there, nothing major).
I came up with a new idea for a script this week that I really like and will run with it. My other partially-begun scripts (there are about 40 of them) will just have to wait.
I'm not giving up. Fuck that shit. But I gotta figure out a better way. There's got to be a better fucking way. I mean, not all my stuff can be bad, can it?
How do you guys handle it?
Cool Shite
American Gangster posters. Nice!
Iron Man (2008) - Looks sweet!
By the way, I'm hearing Die Hard 4 will be PG-13. Bullshit! Yipee Ki-ay Poopyhead!
Monday, April 30, 2007
$ummer
My estimates for the summer:
Pirates 3 - 390 million
Spiderman 3 - 360 million
Shrek 3 - 320 million
Transformers - 24o million
Potter - 235 million
Bourne Ultimatum - 185 million
Surf's Up - 180 million
Oceans 13 - 150 million
Fantastic Four - 170 million
Knocked Up - 160 million
Ratatouille - 140 million
Die Hard 4 - 130 million
License to Wed - 150 million
Chuck & Larry - 120 million
Mr. Brooks - 110 million
Evan Almighty - 90 million
Hostel 2 - 75 million
1408 - 60 million
28 Weeks Later - 30 million
Bomb of the summer - I Know Who Killed Me (sorry Linds) - I bet it won't clear 20.
Possible sleepers of the summer: Superbad & Hotrod
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Finally My Meme (Updated!)
Been out of the loop for the past week due to CPU issues (thanks, Comcast!). That MovieQuill punk tagged me to answer his 5 things nobody knows about me meme. Here goes.
I had to go back and add this. Consider this 1A - I thought it'd be a good addition to my list, so I guess I got six things listed. Anyway:
White pregnant with me, my mom smoked like a chimney and worked in some kind of plant, and I was born with a birth defect! Thanks, Ma! Bitch! Anyway, the middle of my chest was sunken in. Sweet!
Had operation when I was 5 by C. Everett Koop (went on to be Surgeon General). And they installed a metal plate in my chest so I wouldn't die and all (I wouldn't have made it to my teens they said). Now I've got a cool scar to prove it! And no, I do not set off metal detectors.
1. Growing up, I'd eat salad plain. No dressing. I finally upgraded to French in my 20s, and now in my 30s I'm moved up to Creamy Italian, too.
2. First movie experience that I remember - Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind - Got scared shitless, made Grandparents get me the hell out of there. The fucking toys came alive, man!!!
3. Career - Growing up, I wanted to study oceans. Then I wanted to be a forest ranger. Then a pilot, preferrably of an Apache helicopter. Then I wanted to be an Architect. Then I graduated high school and did squat for a few years. Finally I decided to become an actor. I met my future wife, she put the kabosh on that and I decided to study journalism, which led to screenwriting, which led to producing & directing, which led to producing & directing extremely low budget movies that went nowhere, which led me back to screenwriting. Too late to study oceans?
4. I have a hatred for assholes who smoke in front of their kids. Hey guys, you're killing them!! I saw some dopey bitch driving the other day, her window cracked, her cigarette dangling from her ashtray mouth, and her little kid is in the backseat sucking in the smoke. Real nice, dope! Might as well just shoot him. By the way, guys are obviously as guilty, I was just using this lady as an example. I've seen plenty of dopey pricks doing the same thing.
It also bothers me to no end when I see kids/babies not buckled, or sitting in the front passenger seat with their mommies - Hey people, if you get into an accident your kid is gonna get torn to shreds - Wake up, fuckers.
5. I've never been to a strip club. Nope. I'm 34 now, and I've never been. And we have a few around here, I've just never gone.
So, I shall now tag Tommygun Crymes & Scriptweaver, mainly since they're bastards and haven't posted in a long damn time.
I had to go back and add this. Consider this 1A - I thought it'd be a good addition to my list, so I guess I got six things listed. Anyway:
White pregnant with me, my mom smoked like a chimney and worked in some kind of plant, and I was born with a birth defect! Thanks, Ma! Bitch! Anyway, the middle of my chest was sunken in. Sweet!
Had operation when I was 5 by C. Everett Koop (went on to be Surgeon General). And they installed a metal plate in my chest so I wouldn't die and all (I wouldn't have made it to my teens they said). Now I've got a cool scar to prove it! And no, I do not set off metal detectors.
1. Growing up, I'd eat salad plain. No dressing. I finally upgraded to French in my 20s, and now in my 30s I'm moved up to Creamy Italian, too.
2. First movie experience that I remember - Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind - Got scared shitless, made Grandparents get me the hell out of there. The fucking toys came alive, man!!!
3. Career - Growing up, I wanted to study oceans. Then I wanted to be a forest ranger. Then a pilot, preferrably of an Apache helicopter. Then I wanted to be an Architect. Then I graduated high school and did squat for a few years. Finally I decided to become an actor. I met my future wife, she put the kabosh on that and I decided to study journalism, which led to screenwriting, which led to producing & directing, which led to producing & directing extremely low budget movies that went nowhere, which led me back to screenwriting. Too late to study oceans?
4. I have a hatred for assholes who smoke in front of their kids. Hey guys, you're killing them!! I saw some dopey bitch driving the other day, her window cracked, her cigarette dangling from her ashtray mouth, and her little kid is in the backseat sucking in the smoke. Real nice, dope! Might as well just shoot him. By the way, guys are obviously as guilty, I was just using this lady as an example. I've seen plenty of dopey pricks doing the same thing.
It also bothers me to no end when I see kids/babies not buckled, or sitting in the front passenger seat with their mommies - Hey people, if you get into an accident your kid is gonna get torn to shreds - Wake up, fuckers.
5. I've never been to a strip club. Nope. I'm 34 now, and I've never been. And we have a few around here, I've just never gone.
So, I shall now tag Tommygun Crymes & Scriptweaver, mainly since they're bastards and haven't posted in a long damn time.
Friday, April 20, 2007
3:10 To Yuma
This just looks great. Directed by James Mangold, it stars Christian Bale, Russell Crowe (playing a really bad guy), and Peter Fonda, in a really cool western. Coming October 5th. Could be Oscar bait!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Norton = Hulk
Edward Norton has been cast as the Hulk in the sequel to Hulk, called The Incredible Hulk. That's a lot of Hulk. He's a great actor, so I think it could work. Thoughts?
Oh Uwe
If you wanna get pissed off, check out this link for a horrible trailer from the WORST director/boxer working in movies - Uwe Boll. It's for his latest piece of videogame-to-movie garbage, Postal. The link takes you to joblo.com, then just click on the trailer. Simply tasteless.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Wah-Wah
What movies make you cry like a little bitch? C'mon, be honest. Here's some of mine:
Old Yeller - Brutal, especially when I was young. He shot poor Yeller in the face, man! And throwing him a freakin' puppy at the end is useless. He'll probably just blow it away some day anyways. Thanks, Disney.
White Dog - Movie about a racist dog starring Kristy McNichol & Paul Winfield. Pretty bad movie, and any racial theme went well over my head at the time, all I know is at the end a really pretty doggy is lying in a pool of its own blood.
King Kong (late 70s with Jeff Bridges). Hey, I was young, man. Cried myself to sleep that night. Thump-thump...thump-thump...thump.....
The Elephant Man - All he wanted to be was normal, and get a decent night of sleep! Poor bastard.
ET - This is a no-brainer. Fucked me up for weeks.
Gallipoli - You won't breathe for the last 10 minutes of this.
Platoon - Powerful stuff. The ending always gets me.
Field of Dreams - Yeah, that's a big one. Great, great movie, too.
Dead Man Walking - I cried at this, not because I felt bad for the brutal rapist (Sean Penn) but I think at the whole screwed up tragedy of the situation. Powerful film.
Saving Private Ryan - I sobbed at this. Sobbed! Most I've ever cried at a movie. Ever. Starting with Jackson's death through the death of capt. miller, I felt the tears coming, then went into a full waterfall by the end in the cemetery.
United 93 - Amazing, amazing movie. Can't take my eyes off the screen for this, but the part that gets me bad is when one of the guys on the plane (I forget the name of the guy) is saying that he loves his wife, and "his boys." He knows he'll likely never see them again, and in that moment you can sense that all he wants is for them to grow up and live amazing lives.
Your turn!
Old Yeller - Brutal, especially when I was young. He shot poor Yeller in the face, man! And throwing him a freakin' puppy at the end is useless. He'll probably just blow it away some day anyways. Thanks, Disney.
White Dog - Movie about a racist dog starring Kristy McNichol & Paul Winfield. Pretty bad movie, and any racial theme went well over my head at the time, all I know is at the end a really pretty doggy is lying in a pool of its own blood.
King Kong (late 70s with Jeff Bridges). Hey, I was young, man. Cried myself to sleep that night. Thump-thump...thump-thump...thump.....
The Elephant Man - All he wanted to be was normal, and get a decent night of sleep! Poor bastard.
ET - This is a no-brainer. Fucked me up for weeks.
Gallipoli - You won't breathe for the last 10 minutes of this.
Platoon - Powerful stuff. The ending always gets me.
Field of Dreams - Yeah, that's a big one. Great, great movie, too.
Dead Man Walking - I cried at this, not because I felt bad for the brutal rapist (Sean Penn) but I think at the whole screwed up tragedy of the situation. Powerful film.
Saving Private Ryan - I sobbed at this. Sobbed! Most I've ever cried at a movie. Ever. Starting with Jackson's death through the death of capt. miller, I felt the tears coming, then went into a full waterfall by the end in the cemetery.
United 93 - Amazing, amazing movie. Can't take my eyes off the screen for this, but the part that gets me bad is when one of the guys on the plane (I forget the name of the guy) is saying that he loves his wife, and "his boys." He knows he'll likely never see them again, and in that moment you can sense that all he wants is for them to grow up and live amazing lives.
Your turn!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
R.I.P. Premiere Magazine
Damn, I've had a subscription to this mag for years, since 1989. The 1st issue I received had Indy 3's Harrison Ford & Stevie Spielberg on the cover.
With movie news galore all over the net, it's certainly past its prime. But I always got a kick out of getting the latest issue and filling up on pretty useless movie trivia and news about upcoming releases.
Premiere - godspeed.
With movie news galore all over the net, it's certainly past its prime. But I always got a kick out of getting the latest issue and filling up on pretty useless movie trivia and news about upcoming releases.
Premiere - godspeed.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Poster Coolness
I came across this pretty cool poster for MR. BROOKS, an upcoming Kevin Costner summer movie (thriller) that's getting good "buzz." I like it because it doesn't throw the typical dopey faces photo-shopped onto the poster.
And don't forget this classic poster, from the great STRAW DOGS (threatening to be remade, by the way):
Monday, March 26, 2007
Wassup?
What have I been up to, you ask?
I went through a pretty lame dry spell for a few weeks after coordinating my son's school's talent show (it's over - yay!). I would get to my Final Draft each night, open a file or 2, then stare at the screen until falling asleep, then I'd tuck myself in, swearing that "tomorrow night" I'd write 10 pages of whatever script. that went on for a week or 2.
I feel better now though. I took a drive through my old haunts the other day, namely the street & neighborhood where I grew up. Got me pretty nostalgic. It's funny to see my old house, which has been re-sided with vinyl plus they've added a pool & deck. But I lived a whole life in there. So many memories, lotta good ones, lotta bad, too.
Anyway, I thought to myself - Get your ass in gear, punkass! Ever since I've been on a writing tear. Thus:
Cricket Hill - I still have it in TV pilot form, but I went back and am finishing another feature-film version draft, including some of the better bits from the TV pilot.
The Stand-In - Deep into Act 2 on this one without even realizing it. I thought I was further behind that I am. It's going well, it's high concept comedy stuff, added some funny shit yesterday involving masturbation.
Rainwater - It's going well. I'm taking my time with this one, it's more of an indie script, dark stuff with bits of humor throughout.
Temp'd - I can't wait to finish this one. Pretty out-there comedy about temps robbing an escort service.
Union - I can't spill the plot yet, but it's GOOD.
Plus, I've got about 50 other ideas/scenes/pages of other scripts I want to write, but need to keep my focus on these so I can at least get something completed soon.
Had a request from an l.a. prodicer for my comedy/horror Headshot so I'm polishing that before I send it off. Then waiting to hear about my 2 scripts currently in the quarter-finals at FADE IN, we should find out in April.
And that's it in a nutshell.
Listen to: Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank).
Watch: Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock.
See: Children on Men - On DVD tomorrow (Tues)!!!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Best Flicks of '06 - Belated
Finally got around to slapping together "best flick" list from last year. I had a lot of catching up to do, and still have more to go. I still haven't seen Babel, The Prestige, The Illusionist, Pan's, Casino Royale, Half Nelson, or the Good Shepard. But I've seen enough to make a decent list. Here:
1. Children Of Men
2. United 93
3. Stranger Than Fiction
4. The Departed
5. Marie Antoinette
7. Cars
8. MI:3
Underrated gems - Idiocracy & Slither. Both pretty fun movies, and worth a look.
Not bad for a chick flick - The Holiday.
Some days I like it, some I don't - Brick.
The Worst - V For Vendetta. What a god-awful bore. Also, Art School Confidential, The DaVinci Code & Underworld 2 sucked pretty hard.
What were your faves?
Friday, March 16, 2007
Oh, by the way....
I'm looking outside, and we've got like 6 inches of sleet.
Mother Nature is a Beeyotch.
Mother Nature is a Beeyotch.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Rainwater - Excerpt
The following comes from my script, Rainwater. The scene unfolds around Page 9, and is between PJ & Lenny, two friends stuck in the small town of Rainwater. PJ runs his deceased parents bed & breakfast, and Lenny drives a hearse.
INT. DINER - DAY
PJ and Lenny sit at a booth in the quiet diner. ROSE, an old firecracker in her 70s, approaches.
She coughs.
Rose scoffs.
Rose nods and walks off, hacking.
Rose approaches with a stack of pancakes.
She walks off, coughing. PJ looks at the recycled flapjacks.
Lenny chuckles.
INT. DINER - DAY
PJ and Lenny sit at a booth in the quiet diner. ROSE, an old firecracker in her 70s, approaches.
LENNY
Ah, there she is.
ROSE
You flirting with me, Lenny?
LENNY
Always, Rose.
ROSE
Yeah, right. You’re gonna be driving me in that death car of yours soon enough.
She coughs.
LENNY
Maybe slow down on the cigarettes.
ROSE
Been smoking for over fifty years. The problem is my piece-of-shit husband. He pisses me off again I’ll slash his throat.
LENNY
Ah, young love.
ROSE
What do you guys want?
LENNY
Coffee and home fries. I’m on a diet.
Rose scoffs.
PJ
Stack of flapjacks, go heavy on the butter.
Rose nods and walks off, hacking.
LENNY
I met this chick. Can’t tell you her name yet.
PJ
Dude, c’mon. This ain’t the fifth grade.
LENNY
In time my friend. But I can tell you this - smokin’ hot!
PJ
Wonderful.
LENNY
Don’t be all bitter. Lucy’s gone. You had your chance.
PJ
I know she’s gone. It wasn’t meant to be.
LENNY
Because you have no balls. When you gonna get your head out of your ass and get your life in gear, man? She was the one for you. You can’t just sit around Rainwater the rest of your life, running that termite-infested B&B.
PJ
Hey, the termites are the only things holding up the place.
LENNY
It was your Mom’s thing, I get that, but it ain’t for you. She’s probably rolling around in her grave, pissed off because you’re wasting your life.
PJ
I didn’t come here or a lecture. I came for some fucking flapjacks.
Rose approaches with a stack of pancakes.
ROSE
Here’s your fucking flapjacks.
PJ
Wow, that was fast.
ROSE
Table six didn’t eat theirs.
She walks off, coughing. PJ looks at the recycled flapjacks.
Lenny chuckles.
LENNY
Yum.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Vs.
Ok, which do you use, Final Draft or Movie Magic? By placing in the Final 10 of the Screenwriting Showcase Awards, they are sending me Movie Magic as one of my prizes.
I've been an avid Final Drafter for a long time now, and don't have any real plans to change that. But at least now I'll have some kind of back-up if my computer implodes/Final Draft disk melts.
Which do you guys/gals prefer, and Y?
I've been an avid Final Drafter for a long time now, and don't have any real plans to change that. But at least now I'll have some kind of back-up if my computer implodes/Final Draft disk melts.
Which do you guys/gals prefer, and Y?
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