Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Why this is hard (aka, who we are)

Just to clarify, in case someone wondered:  This isn't a full time job.  No.  I'm just another middle-aged maniac fighting off mid-life crisis by taking out one of his "I should do that someday"'s and dusting it off.

My real job (ie., the biggest time sink) is as a software developer.  Just another cube dweller in the bowels of a huge corporation, exchanging his time for the payola to support the wife, kid, and a suburban lifestyle.

Trying to make a movie in my "spare time", such as it is.  Between staff meetings, deadlines, Boy Scouts, mowing the lawn, walking the dog.

Can I quit my day job to do this full time?  No way Jose.

But I'm OK with that.  This way, there's no great loss if it never gets finished, nor great expectations if it does.

Friday, September 18, 2009

What Sixufus is About

No screenplay is really complete, in my opinion, until the synopsis is generated.  So what better place to unveil it than here?
Ever since he’s been accused of killing his mother, Darwin Russell has lead a reclusive and shunned life.  And during this private, un-ambitious hiatus, Darwin has healed by developing a coping mechanism:  Multiple personalities.  Some of them are nice.  And some… not so much.  And when some particular personalities are “in charge”, the others can’t see what is happening.  Blackouts occur. 
 Irregardless of their differences, all of them work together to hide his secret.
 But at his father’s death, Darwin once again comes under scrutiny:  He is the primary beneficiary of the will.  Millions of dollars, plus untold income in real estate and stock holdings.
 And with the inheritance comes the fortune seekers.  Family members with grudges and power.  Family friends with blackmail and other enticements. 
 All seeking Darwin.  All scouring him for manipulatable crevices in his character armor.
 And in the light of investigation, the glow of fortune, and the grip of blackmail, Darwin unleashes the forces within in a final effort at self-preservation.


The logline, however, is always a trickier hatchling.  It must be pithy and intriguing and... Well, you know.  Here's the current batch.  Let me know which one is your favorite.


An insane man inherits a fortune, but must first fend off blackmailers and backstabbing family members.
A man plagued with multiple personalities becomes the center of intrigue when he is named as sole heir of a fortune.


Or you know what would be cool?  If you generated a better one.  Give it a shot, I'd love to see whatever you come up with!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Preproduction: Morphing into a production monster

Finished draft 2 of the Sixufus script, and have handed it off to someone I respect.  Which means now I have to to take that deep breath before plunging into production mode.

For me, this means shifting out of creative hermit mode and into my Columbo-ish production weenie mode.  Time to poke the people I know (and some I don't) for stuff.  For free stuff.  For time, for locations, for talent, for equipment.  To beg and plead, cajole, and otherwise make a nuisance of myself in the name of Art.  My art.  Let me be clearer:  For me, this part is more squeam-inducing than any other part of the production process.  Despite my ironclad convictions of the value and worth of this project, I still hate to impose, hate to convince others to give me stuff, for free, to make it happen.

For this project, I'm just asking for time and assets.  Imagine how I'd feel if I had to ask for millions of dollars.

This is why I'm not a salesman.

So if you see me coming your way, and I ask you, in my mealy-mouthed manner, for some item or location or talent?  Have mercy my friend.  This is not my best role.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Preproduction: The Script

Hey:  I finished the first draft of the screenplay!  Sweet.  Went ahead and registered it with the WGAw, #1380655.

For some reason, I feel as though I've gotten through the hard part, the two-a-days before the real season begins.  Is this common?  As a writer, this would have been the moment of glory, the point at which I would sit and bask in my (now not-so-uncommon) accomplishment.  But for this project, I feel like it's just the first hurdle.  I'm glad to be past it, but I've still got 12 zillion more to hop over.  Is this how Christopher Nolan feels?

At any rate, it occurs to me that perhaps I can add a tidbit to the body of screenplay-writing knowledge.  It's this:  Drop the 3-act structure for a 4-act structure.

I've written enough feature-length scripts (13?) to recognize a pattern:  Start off gangbusters, then somewhere between pages 28 and 40, BANG.  You hit the wall.  Maybe this has happened to you before.  My hypothesis is that for you 3-act folks, that huge honking Act 2 is too big of an elephant to eat in one sitting.  You're looking at all those pages left to write, and there's no milestones between pages 22 and 72.

Furthermore, you may be tempted to think that nothing really needs to change much in your story for those 50+ pages.  Apart from the rising tension, that is.  So, force that change by splitting that sucker in two.  Or rather, force your mind to recognize that something significant needs to happen somewhere around there.

Imagine now you're writing 4 acts.  You get to page 32 and, instead of picturing the next milestone 40 pages away, you can look up and see the thing leering down at you, a mere 18 pages away.

No guarantees here.  Just sayin'.  It works for me, consistently.  Might work for you.

Up next:  Some tidbits from the script.  Don't want to give too much away.  Not yet.






Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Preproduction: Concept, Part 3

Getting back to concept.  Thought about a lot of different things, but noir seems more my style, personally.  Love Raymond Chandler's stuff, and look at Mind Reader 8.

So, where are we?  1) Zero budget (priority one), 2) Minimal locations and actors, 3) Compelling; never seen before.

If we think further along the lines of being minimal:  Back in the old days (ie., Hellenistic Age), actors would cover their faces so they could play multiple parts.  So what if we get people to play more than one role?

First, thought "is this like a variety show?"  Our actor sings, then dances, then does a dramatic reading?

Hm.  Doesn't really play to my strong suit, really.  Meaning it would take me longer and I'd probably wish I'd spent my time doing something more interesting.

But the idea is compelling enough to explore a bit.  How to get one actor to play a lot of roles...

Hey, what about split personality, a.k.a., "Dissociative identity disorder"?!

So there ya go.  A noir-ish piece about a guy or gal with multiple personalities.  Add something of value that our characters are willing to do ANYTHING for (ie, loads of cash), and now we've got... Sixufus.

Next:  The script.  (Or maybe something else.  Don't hold me to that.)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Pre-production: Concept, Part 2

So how do you make a feature-length movie with little or no money?  'Spen done and written about, most famously by Robert Rodriquez.  Basically, you use what you have, beg and borrow what you don't.  Production resources, I'm talking about.  

With that in mind, started thinking about the cheapest kind of production you can have.  Or I could have, specifically. Minimum locations for starters (so you don't spend time carting your equipment all over the planet).  Mostly interior (so you're not slave to the weather or the time of day).  Small cast (so you don't... OK, you're getting it).  Zero number of things I can't do myself, like model and animate Godzilla, or shoot at the Eiffel Tower.

And still be interesting to watch.  

Taking all those factors, and then munging them whilest I slept, I concluded that we should do something noirish.  You know; crime & punishment, passion, bad guys and bad girls with guns and lethal weapons, and a lot of money involved.  With a psychological angle.  (Hey, I majored in Psychology in school.  That needs to pay off somehow.)

So that's how Sixufus was born.  

[Well, if you want to get technical, "Sixufus" was just a word that popped in my head while driving to Starbuck's one morning.  Wasn't quite awake yet, really.] 

Up next:  What's Sixufus, and how far along are we?