A Sign I Posted By My Computer To Remind Me To Focus On Writing | Made with Paper
Showing posts tagged writing
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Be so good they can’t ignore you.
Steve Martin
Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office, and You Can, Too!
is the funniest book I’ve read in sometime. Oh yeah, it’s also happens to be about Screenwriting, easily making it THE FUNNIEST BOOK ABOUT SCREENWRITING - EVER. Period. Authors Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon are the jack-wagon yay-hoos responsible for the delightfully demented Reno: 911, and the surprisingly diggable Night At The Museum flicks.
Yes, you need an agent. And to get one these days, you must be creative. Simply sending out your script unsolicited is about as appealing to agents as a cold call from a discount butt sandwich company.
Now, before you go out and pick up this book and L-O-L to the M-A-X, realize this is targeted at writers who want to sell scripts to studios. This is not for writers who only write cuddly, inaccessible Arthouse films, it’s for those who want to make money as a Screenwriter, and (God forbid) even make a career out of it.
Let’s put it this way: Do you like movies that challenge and confuse you? We do. Sometimes. Eraserhead is great. But not every night. Can you take your in-laws and their kids to see Eraserhead? Can you pop Eraserhead into your Blu-ray when your family is over for Christmas to shut everybody up for two hours?…
Don’t get us wrong, we love Eraserhead. But 95 percent of Americans, if you forced them to watch Eraserhead, would want to punch that movie in the face and would punch YOU in the face for making them watch it. If you want to make movies like that, make an indie. Make a movie with people who don’t care about box-office receipts.
Some chapters merely exist because the authors were most-likely drunk off their asses while writing them:
L.A. has the best Mexican food in the world. MUCH better than Mexico. Plus, unlike in real Mexico, you won’t get your face sliced off and sewn onto a soccer ball!
which, of course, precedes a list of their favorite Mexican restaurants in town.
However! There are many nuggets of wisdom here, ripe for the taking. Seriously, there’s actually some fantastic advice within (especially when detailing finances between studios and writers, the development process, etc.) Read about all of this and more in the book which has a chapter called, “Why Does Almost Every Studio Movie SUCK Donkey Balls?”*
*True story.
What’s up Mario Van Peoples -
I know it’s been a bit quiet on the ol’ blog lately, but that’s because I wrapped last weekend on the crazy rock-u-mentary I wrote and performed in, Hipster Backlash! Our production will rear its fashionably pretentious head sometime in January; look for it as a short film and possibly also as a web series.
Mad-Nazty thanks goes to all in front and behind the camera that made it possible, Crazy-Wack-Funky thanks goes to We Make Movies, and a Saucy-Spank-Tastic thanks goes to all who donated their hard-earned skrilla to finance the production on Kickstarter. What inspired this delicious descent into mayhem? Imagine Spinal Tap, but skewering Hipsters and the current state of the music industry (it’s about damn time!)
Scriptnotes Podcast by John August and Craig Mazin
Are you a Screenwriter who spends a metric ton of time in L.A. traffic? Have I got just the podcast for you! Screenwriting Heavyweights John August (Big Fish, Go) and Craig Mazin (The Hangover Part II, Senseless) throw down in a candid (and often funny) way only real Screenwriters can. They answer nuts ‘n bolts questions about the craft and business of Screenwriting - and believe me - they’ve seen it all! Learn from their mistakes and realize you’re not alone in your writing adventure… These guys are seriously paying it forward - take ‘em up on it!
Riding The Alligator: Strategies For A Career In Screenplay Writing (and not getting eaten)
If you enjoy sharpening your craft or plumbing for inspiration by reading books on Screenwriting (like I do) then you’re in luck - Riding The Alligator is different, refreshing, and encouraging. Pen Densham has done some big things (Writer, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves | Producer, Blown Away), but he doesn’t have a big head about it.
Instead, he tries to nurture you through the writing process; this book is much less about nitpicking grammar and structure, and more about tending to your psyche’s needy little insecurities and doubts. Alligator is also unique in that it talks about his personal experiences in development, where we delve inside the Hollywood machine and see firsthand what the actual process looks like for screenwriters new and old.
Pick it up, and prepare to be encouraged!
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Every so often, I have to remind myself to not make decisions based on imaginary conversations. It’s just wasted fear time, spent on all the bad things that could happen, instead of the really interesting things that might.
… It’s all about TAKING ACTION. And keeping on with it, mechanically, if need be - until something becomes, even briefly, more interesting to you than your own fear. Until you get caught by the words.
Shane Black on Persevering While Screenwriting, as interviewed by Pen Densham, in Riding The Alligator: Strategies For A Career In Screenplay Writing (and not getting eaten)
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Pitching is sharing enough of the sizzle so you get paid to cook the meal.
