Posts Tagged ‘screenwriting’
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Two good things happened today on the heels of a stupid occurrence of someone trying to stalk me and besmirch my good name 
I was asked by a friend to submit a scene to a Directing Actors group. In the processof trying to decide what script to make I became reacquainted with my sci-fi script, Renascence Odyssey. I’d completely forgotten about the script –stoopid me! I grabbed a scene, the first time the main characters meet — did a quick edit because the performing actors in the workshop wouldn’t be privy to the back story, and emailed it. I was concerned because it’s sci-fi and I wasn’t sure if the scene was what he needed. And as a writer, I’m never 100% satisfied with my work.
Thirty minutes later my friend called me. My heart raced. Shit, he hated it, I thought. To the contrary, he thought it was perfect. Most of the actors in the group are African American and don’t often get to practice/perform sci-fi scenes. There’s a surrealism in sci-fi that is similar to and different from contemporary drama.
Whew. I was happy. Even better: I’ll get to see the actors perform my scene during a live UStream. Nice.
Checked my email again and one of the performers from Resurrection of Serious Rogers sent me a note. She was excited about the sneak peek of this web series and had mentioned it to her acting class. The instructor then asked her to invite me in to discuss my casting methods, what I look for, and how I work and network with people in the industry. Nice.
Last time I spoke in front of a group it was the Long Beach College’s newly formed film society. The attendees were all folks who wanted to make a film, but hadn’t yet. The film class will be a group of working actors. Should be fun
Tags: acting class, cold reading, screenwriting
Posted in Life | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Here is a mockup of imagery I envision for my current script, “Black Lotus” – based on a story by Nicole Sessions
Tags: black lotus, screenwriting, script, Writing
Posted in Black Lotus, Writing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
The 12 Sequence Outline:
Imagine that each sequence in your script describes approximately 10 pages of material (ten minutes of screen time) and that your script is about 100 to 115 pages long (work with me people; The Wave-inatrix is quite loathe to set down rigid numbers on topics like these as there are always variants by story and by writer. So these numbers are flexible and approximate):
ACT ONE: 30 pages
Sequence One: 1-10
Sequence Two: 10-20
Sequence Three: 20-30 – first plot point or pinch
ACT TWO: 60 pages
Sequence Four: 30-40
Sequence Five: 40-50
Sequence Six: 50-60 – the midpoint
Sequence Seven: pages 60 to 70
Sequence Eight: pages 70 to 80
Sequence Nine: pages 80 to 90 – the second plot point or pinch
ACT THREE: 10 to 15 pages
Sequence Ten: pages 90 to 95
Sequence Eleven: pages 95 -100 – climactic ending
Sequence Twelve: pages 100 to – fill in blank – the tag
Okay so immediately you’ll notice that sequences 11 and 12 don’t have ten pages; here is a good place to note that while generally each sequence will have about ten pages, the further you go along in your script, the more compressed each sequence becomes.
http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/boards/showthread.php?t=39509
Tags: screenwriting, sequencing, sequencing method
Posted in Writing | No Comments »
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
Done. Wrapped. Finito. I just finished the script I began on September 18th. Two weeks, 110 pages. “Black Lotus”
I’ll take a few days off then commence the first draft re-write and polish. I hope to finish before thanksgiving.
I wasn’t really looking forward to the rewrite process, although I know how beneficial it is to a polished script. But a friend on twitter @jasonlblair had this to say:
Embrace the revisions, baby. Revisions refine the stone into a sculpture. The first pass is just chiseling out the big chunks.
‘Nuff said!
Tags: black lotus, screenwriting, script
Posted in Black Lotus, Writing | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
There is one thing that will get your script noticed. It’s not fancy script covers. Artistic packaging. Tricks and nepotism. It is Good Commercially Viable Writing.
Good writing does not mean your script is commercial. A good story doesn’t mean the writing in the script is good. Some writers trick themselves into believing the latter and the former. Thus they shoot themselves and their career in the foot.
The story for “Black Lotus” is compelling as I and the story creator envisioned it. But now that vision must be translated onto the written page. It must be deftly executed. Without that perfect execution onto the page how can we hope to sell this script? How can I leverage myself as being a studio-ready writer without a perfect example?
I delayed writing this script for two years because I was aware of the great divide between a good story and a great script. And the two are not mutually inclusive.
So, although I do LOVE the new script I’m working on, I realize that the storyTELLING must be better than or on par with the scripts out there in Hollywood land right now. It isn’t… not YET. 
Tags: black lotus, black mountain, screenwriting, scripts
Posted in Black Lotus, Writing | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Couple things to catch you up to what’s happening:
The do or die situation that most filmmakers and writer’s inexorably become faced with is upon me. My film, “Broken Hearts Club” will be screening for the folks at Central Europe HBO at MIPCOM. While this isn’t the only opportunity the film is presented with at MIP it is by far the best. Who doesn’t want to work with HBO?
If selected there’s a licensing fee. Paid to yours truly. Then the film gets split into six 20-minute episode and airs as a short series. The seventh episode would be a 2-hour recap of the story as a MOW (essentially the entire film).
Or, HBO just might want to go the MOW route and simply screen the film. Either way works for me.
Next up is “Black Lotus.” I have been on cruise control with this script since I started five days ago. As of this blog post I am at page 20. The treatment was so thoroughly completed by Nicole Sessions (who has a new Target commercial airing on TV) that I am not at a loss of story. In fact, the main concern at this point is fitting it all in. A nice problem to have.
Tags: black lotus, black mountain, broken hearts club, distribution, europe, HBO, screenplay, screenwriting
Posted in Black Lotus, Broken Hearts Club, Distribution, Television, Writing | No Comments »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
I just added another 5 pages to the mix.
Writing a script five pages at a time is new to me. I’m usually in a desperate rush, trying to get to page 115 as quickly as possible. It is only then I that feel accomplished.
But this time I relish in every page and every sequence. I bask in the information I’ve included– in the most duplicitous manner, or course. I attaboy myself often for not rushing, for living the script as I write, for ushering it through the birthing process like a baby slowly making it way down the canal towards the light and welcoming hands.
Black Lotus is officially on its way
Tags: black lotus, black mountain, screenwriting
Posted in Black Lotus, Writing | No Comments »
