Can’t Stop Developing for the Web

Alright, this will be the last of the major changes for a while. I promise.

I think I’m finally happy with the layout. Version 4.0 was functionally nice, but the look of it was a little all over the place. I think this one flows better and has a nicer palette of colors that blend well. There are still a few minor changes that I need to tackle. For instance, I’m not sure that I like the bright teal color in my right sidebar. I threw that color in there for readability since the ashtray background swallowed up the text.

I’ve also changed the left sidebar nav. I’m still debating on whether or not I need to split them up with headers that say “Writing” and “Reviews” so that people don’t get confused. If you’re a new visitor, I’d appreciate your comments. I do, however, love the cool “depression” effect the buttons make.

Well, that’s it for Web design. I’ll put up some movie reviews this weekend.

This Screenwriter’s Big Break?

Not to give away too many specific details, but the actor who read my screenplay is - in his words - “[my] biggest fan.” His management is trying to get him reservations for the Speed Racer premiere tonight. If he goes, there’s a good chance that Mr. Big Name Producer will attend as well. And if he does, then Mr. Biggest Fan will pitch him my script. So, yeah, a ton of big “if’s” still stand in my way, but you know what? I’ll take it.

Anyway, I’ll keep you all posted.

First and foremost, let me just share some great news! You know that screenplay that I’ve been trying to get in front of Mr. Bigwig Producer? Well, guess what. Mission accomplished. A nice fellow that I met at this seminar this past weekend was separated by one degree from Mr. Producer and the fellow said he’d gladly pass the script along. Mr. Producer read it, loved it and had his assistant call me today to set up a pitch meeting. I’m still reeling from all of the excitement. That just goes to show you the power behind networking. I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes. Cross your fingers for me. This could be my big break.

With that said, let me tell you how the Get Your Film Funded seminar went down.

If you’ve checked out the site, you’ll see that it promises a lot. Not only will they show me how to get the funding, they’ll “introduce [me] to who can do it.” On top of that, representatives from top talent agencies in Los Angeles were going to be there, too. Being put in-touch with agents and financiers was worth the price of admission alone. Of course, I had to go.

The instructions said to dress professionally for the networking event at the end of Saturday, so I got up early to press my dress shirt and slide into my suit. I made sure to wear my trusty fedora so that everyone would remember me (especially since that’s the icon on my business cards). I hit the road by 7 and got to the WGA theater on Doheny in Los Angeles by 8. A line was already forming out front and it looked like any other line you’d see flailing out from some club entrance in LA except it was daytime and no one was really dressed for partying. Come to think of it, no one was really dressed professionally either. I’m starting to notice how burgeoning filmmakers/actors always disregard dresscode when it comes to these events.

As far as this crowd of filmmakers went, I was on the younger edge of the age pool, which was good, because that meant these were probably more serious filmmakers.

The event organizers opened the doors to check us in and hand out badges and folders. Once inside, we had about an hour to kill before the theater doors opened to us for the first speaker. And then everything started to go downhill. Not steeply, mind you, but the decline was definitely there.

The first speaker on Saturday was entertainment attorney Mark Litwak and was presumably going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages to forming a business for your film, such as an LLC or S-Corp or Sole Proprietorship, etc. The folder we had contained pictures of the slides we assumed he’d use during his presentation. Instead, the first thing Mr. Litwak said was that he’d essentially wing the presentation since he’d never seen those slides before in his life. While his presentation was informative, it definitely could have used some visual aides. The long and short of his advice is: insulate your personal assets as much as possible from investors suing you for their investment back.

Other presenters came and went throughout the day. Unfortunately, they seemed to stray from the topic they were slated to discuss. One speaker’s presentation was titled: Find Out Who Will Fund Your Film Nobody Thinks It’s Profitable. This would have been perfect for me, since I’m trying to find funding for a five-minute short, for which there are no profitable markets to sell it to. The speaker’s presentation turned out to be more about working with her particular company that specializes in documentaries. Useful for documenters, but not me specifically.

Handy information I did pick up throughout the day included finding out what states offer rebates for filming with them and how a particular law gives tax incentives to film investors. Those two tidbits could come in very handy in the future when I’m dealing with million dollar budgets, but I think I’m getting ahead of myself here.

At the end of the day, there was a cocktail networking event for about two hours. While I appreciated that I was in a room full of serious filmmakers, I also realized that these were people who were much farther along in filmmaking than I was. With that said, it was difficult to network having basically nothing to offer. Still, I made sure to shake some hands exchange cards before the seminar was over.

Day 2 didn’t get much better. It was supposed to focus mostly on how to put together a business plan. Unfortunately, it got bogged down in personal anecdotes and jokes and the “course” was geared more for people who were already working on a business plan, because I definitely didn’t come away from that workshop knowing the “essentials.” Breaking up the business plan part of the day was a brief interlude on networking, delivered by David Nour. This was probably the best presentation of them all. Despite having no visual aides, you could tell he had rehearsed what he wanted to tell us. Furthermore, his information was instantly understandable without any necessary follow-up research. But then it was back to more business plan learning with some formula number crunching thrown in for good measure. I may have fallen asleep during this time.

Then I went home.

Overall, I’ll say that the seminar was useful, but only if you already know most of the information and just need clarification or pointers. It definitely wasn’t for the uninitiated like myself. Additionally, most of the people on the list, like talent agents and business members, weren’t there, which was really disappointing. And we’re all supposed to have CD packages mailed to us, but the organizers have yet to respond to my email asking for confirmation that they’ve received my address. If I can only have one criticism of this seminar it would be that it could me more organized. It is, however, still worth a look, if for nothing more than to network with other people in the industry.

And by the way, Mr. Bigwig Producer hasn’t really read my script, nor has his assistant called me for a meeting. Happy April Fool’s Day. I thought I’d sneak one joke in before the day was over.

EDIT: One of the speakers contacted me regarding my criticism of the seminar and of this person’s presentation in particular. I have been made aware that the speakers are not compensated for their time and know-how. Moreover, my representation of this person’s presentation was inaccurate. I have edited the review accordingly. I regret the error.

Man, I hate being sick.

I came home on Monday and started sneezing like crazy. That isn’t too out of the ordinary, since I have allergies, but the way I was sneezing definitely struck me as odd. It was a very deep, chest-cleansing sneeze.  Sure, it was odd, but nothing I didn’t think Claritin and a bit of nasal spray couldn’t handle. The following morning wasn’t pretty. My head was stuffy, my nose was runny and my sneezes were still in full force. I stayed home and laid low, but, ever the trooper, I went back to work the following day. This is usually a mistake. If you have the good fortune of working someplace that doesn’t grill you over your sick days, then take advantage of that and stay home and rest when you need it. Typically, you’ll just make yourself sicker and infect those around you. Throughout the day, I could actually feel the cold virus blooming inside me. By closing time, I was shivering even though it was 80 degrees outside. Needless to say, I didn’t go in to work today. I’ve also developed a very solid, phlegmy cough.

I did, however, receive some good news today. The actor I gave my screenplay to got back to me and he really enjoyed the read. His management is setting up a meet with some bigwig directors who’ll remain unnamed for now. Yes, I’m excited, but I’m still keeping calm. These are the first steps on a very long journey and there’s no use in celebrating right now. More truthfully, I have so much faith in my screenplay that people liking it is almost a foregone conclusion in my mind. I hope that doesn’t sound arrogant. I just think I’ve put together a very nice, commercial package. Anyway, I’ll let you know how things go.

As far as my Web site is concerned, I noticed that one of my nav bars would go MIA on certain pages. I’ve fixed that by altering some PHP code, but I’ve also discovered that my sidebar disappears on IE6 when looking at anything other than the home page and a handful of other pages.  I’m telling you, these are the cross-browser hells that make Web development truly suck. I wish everyone would just do me a favor and download Firefox or at least upgrade to IE7.

So. Did you watch the Oscars? I don’t know about you, but I was terribly bored. It just felt obligatory. Where was the fanfare? Where was the over-production? Instead, we got an awards ceremony that was just as predictable as most industry films. Daniel Day Lewis had to win for There Will Be Blood. He raised the bar so high, actors who win the same award in the future will feel like charlatans. On the other hand There Will Be Blood couldn’t win for Best Picture, because it was horribly dull. The academy might be eccentric in its voting, but they understand what entertainment is. Heck, I haven’t even seen No Country for Old Men and I knew it was going to win. It was also a sad night for Original Songs. The Disney songs were serviceable, but horribly staged and/or performed, though hats off to Amy Adams. I think she’s a natural performer and could probably hold her own on Broadway. I think it was the big faces she made that sold me. The Once song - the one that won - was just not something I would ever listen to if given the choice. I’m sure within the context of the film, it’s magical, but outside its setting, performed on stage, I just wanted to fast-forward the whole thing. At the end of the day, all I can say is, “Thank God for Jon Stewart.” His dry wit was probably the most entertaining part of the whole show.

One day, I hope to see the show live.

Like everyone else, I love movies. It’s a wonderful feeling to be swept away into another world for an hour or more and live through a portion of someone else’s life. Granted, not everyone’s life is interesting (or well told) and I’m, more often than not, disappointed. Whenever I am, I can’t help but think that I could do better. And that’s one of the reasons I fell into screenwriting.

Another reason is that it’s just easier for me. That’s not to say that writing a screenplay is definitively easier than, say, writing a book. I find that - for me - telling a story through a movie saves me a lot of pre-writing, which usually consists of researching whatever it is I’m writing about. As a storyteller, there’s a certain amount of authority you have to build in order for your audience to lose themselves in your tale. Take, for instance, a scene where a character is about to snipe a another character with a long-range rifle. You want to make sure the audience knows that the sniper is a professional. To establish your storyteller authority in a book, more than likely, you would describe technical details of the rifle, like accuracy, reload time, weight, etc. You might describe sniper methods, like breathing, adjusting for wind, stances, whatever. When you have this kind of foundation, your audience will be with you when you portray your sniper as a veteran.

Now, consider the same scene from a screenwriter’s view. The screenplay isn’t meant to be read by the audience. In a roundabout way, it’s meant to be seen. Therefore, the burden of storyteller authority is significantly reduced for screenwriters. Depending on the kind of story, I don’t have to necessarily research all of minutia about rifles. I can simply write: MAC pulls out a sniper rifle and aims without hesitation. When the audience sees the gun and how the actor is behaving, they understand that that character is a veteran. Not only does concept of writing visually save me research time, but it also saves me a lot of writing for foundation-building.

The craft of screenwriting is also just easier for me to understand. When I consider books, I think of meandering plots that don’t necessarily rise or fall. It’s just full of things that the characters do. That’s probably an ignorant statement to make, so if it is, I’ll just chalk that up to my not reading enough books. With screenplays - industry versions, anyway - I can totally get behind the three-act structure. I don’t mind knocking out the inciting incident within the first 20 pages. I like figuring out character arcs. Best of all, I enjoy the inverse necessity of pages. The target for screenplays is 120 pages whereas I’m sure publishers want authors to write more pages to justify book prices.

Anyway, my screenplay is now in the hands of a working film actor and if he likes it, he’ll sit down with a couple of bigwig directors and give them his thoughts on it. I’m trying to keep my excitement to a small warmth in my chest. I’ve lived long enough to discipline myself into not getting my hopes up. If it happens, then I’ll celebrate. If it doesn’t, I’m no worse for wear.

With that said, wish me luck.

I hate to harp on this, but I’m not doing a very good job at blogging. And now, I can’t even blame work, since there really isn’t that much to do - comparatively anyway. The fact of the matter is, I just haven’t been inspired to write. Before, I was living hand-to-mouth, spending my paychecks on living expenses almost as soon as I got paid. Ever since Christmas money and tax refunds have rolled in, I’ve been able to get a little ahead and have some petty cash left over for needless expenses like graphics and sound cards from my PC. It’s got me going through this gaming kick and now I’ve gotten myself a little obsessed. Unfortunately, getting back into PC gaming has more drawbacks than time constraints. I’m also being reminded of all the bugginess and hardware incompatibilities I used to have to deal with. What I especially love is how everything is incompatible with Windows Vista! If you have a Sound Blaster Audigy card on you XP rig, you will be charmed and delighted to find that your 5.1 will break on Vista. You’ll have to set your output to 2.1 or you’ll be missing some channels. It’s really weird. You could, of course, upgrade to an X-fi card - like I did - to restore your surround sound.

What really gets to me is that I upgraded to Vista to play one game in particular: Bioshock. I come to find out that Bioshock (BS) crashes to BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) every five minutes on Vista. Sadly, you need Vista to run any game in DirectX 10, which has all the new bells and whistles that we game enthusiasts crave. When I contacted 2K Games about a possible solution, their tech guy advised that I run the game in DirectX 9, totally defeating the purpose of making the game for DirectX 10 and me upgrading. So let’s see, I’ve spent:

• $200 for Vista Ultimate to run DirectX 10
• $250 for 8800 GT video card to play in DirectX 10
• $150 for X-fi sound card to restore my 5.1 in Vista
• $40 for Bioshock

And now I can’t even play the freaking game, because the crashing is so aggravating - even in DirectX 9. I think this is God’s way of telling me I need to focus my time on something more productive.

With that said, a cousin of mine and I have been talking about producing a short film. I can’t discuss the concept yet, but it’s on the funny side. We met with a possible director and I thought the meet went pretty well, but we’re still open to bringing other people on board. Once my cousin gets back from Japan, we’ll have a sitdown with my other director buddy and see how everything jells.

In other news, I recently found out that my friend, The Mormon, works with someone at his restaurant with industry ties. I’ll keep the guy’s identity on the QT for now, but the important part of this story is that he’s willing to read my screenplay and see what he can do with it. This just goes to show that you never know who knows who, so network with everyone. When you’re starting out, there’s less room to be picky with your friends when your writing career is concerned.

More soon.