Twisting My Last Nerve

I'm watching the tele last night, and the advertisement for "The Skeleton Key" comes on. It looks excellent to me, until I hear the announcer proclaim "With a twist so shocking...", and then proceeds to compare it to The Sixth Sense and The Other's. I am immediately pissed off. Doesn't a twist ending cease to be a twist ending once you're notified there's a twist ending? I understand the actual twist might be so hard to decipher that I may not guess it. But I will know a twist is coming, therefore, I mentally prepare for it. The problem I will have is towards the end, I will be taken out of the story, and put into the role of investigator, looking for clues for the real ending, and not the faux setup I am currently watching.

The fact that the studio deemed it necessary to announce there's a twist so shocking, frankly has me shocked. Don't they know the reason The Sixth Sense was so huge was word of mouth, and not telling anyone what to expect? Sure, they still haven't told me what to expect, exactly, only that the twist exists, but that's much too much. I want to be surprised that there is a twist ending in the first place. Now they are relying on the actual substance of the ending, but will it be strong enough to actually shock anyone, since we're expecting to be shocked? The only way to rectify this is to see the film and find out there was no twist whatsoever. Now that would be a brilliant.

I had two marathon writing sessions last night. I wrote 45 pages, which translated into 25 typed pages in Final Draft. I will have Dead Trends finished tonight, in 9 days time, at approximately 95-100 pages. How shitting awesome is that? 2 first drafts done in a months time! I think I've found my schedule for life.

Katie, if you're reading this, I won't blast Brian Eno's, "Here come the warm jets" anymore. :)

Huzzah For Florida!...And More Sarcasm Stuffed Musings

In an incredible display of mid-twentieth century sense, it is now illegal to make a lane change without signaling in Florida! Wow. What's next? Passing in left lanes, helmets for cyclists, mandatory recycling, night road construction, car pooling?!

Anyway, enough of my disdain for this urine soaked hell hole.

I have a good movie recommendation for horror fans and especially giallo fans. "What Have You Done to Solange?". A little gory, but more disturbing than straight up blood spilling. I give it 3.75 shots down the hatches out of 5.

Wrote another 10 pages of Dead Trends today, after 18 yesterday. I now stand at 69.1 pages in 7 days. I may just finish this one within my self imposed deadline of ten days. Didn't think I could do it again, especially since this script will be longer than Generator. We shall see.

Lets hear it for Ebay, and the buyers of my 6 DVD's. I wanted to get rid of some doubles, (Goodfellas, American Psycho, Casino, True Romance, From Dusk Til Dawn and Scarface) since I bought the special editions. Worked like a charm! Averaged about $9 each, including shipping.

I am waiting for word back for the three contests I entered. I find out the finalists of one the first week of August, and Scriptapalooza Quaterfinalists are announced on July 29th. The Nickelodeon Fellowship, I have no idea about. I remember reading end of August, but now I can't find anything about the winner announcements. It'll take a miracle to win anything, but I'm damn well deserving of one.

Random notes to get to know me better:

Favorite past time: Drinking with buddies in Jersey.

My most influential films: 70's: Jaws 80's: The Breakfast Club 90's: Pulp Fiction 00's: Mulholland Drive

My sense of humor is: Dry, Sarcastic, dark and sometimes goofy.

I have 5 tattoos

I drank a bear 'o beer once. ( Picture forthcoming...maybe)

My favorite Tv shows are: Cheers, Seinfeld, 24, Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpson's, Hawaii 5/0

Bands I'm currently enjoying: Brian Eno, Danzig, Devo, Team Sleep, The Cure

Sleep schedule: 6AM until 1PM

Writing schedule: Writing from 10pm-12am. Typing in FD from 12am to 2am.

I have a cat, Madden.

I have a tremendous singing voice.(to me)

I have a DUI, and am shunned in society more than a murderer.

And that's all for now! Boredom has set in. For you as well, I'm sure.

It Is My Duty To Sicken You

Here are some titles and loglines of scripts which have sold recently.

Title: Untitled Heist Project
Log Line: Two ordinary blue-collar guys dream of pulling off the perfect heist.

The Pilot
Log Line: An airline pilot is charged with sexual harassment and is forced to become a cabin steward in order to learn gender sensitivity.

Title: Duck for President
Log Line: A duck is thrust into the limelight when his effort to save his farm leads him to run for U.S. President.

Title: I Know What You Did Last Summer 3
Log Line: A group of teenagers believe they accidentally killed a man only to discover that the would-be victim is now out to kill them. (isn't this the first one?)

Title: Road House 2
Log Line: A tough bouncer is hired to tame a dirty bar.

Some big hitters there! Box office records will be smashed! Now, if this doesn't make you write, nothing will. Hollywood is ripe for the picking.

My Ten Day Program

I'm 6 days into my vaunted program, and I'm 59 pages in. Not a bad pace. Although one gets the feeling it's going to become my 11 day program after this screenplay. Nevertheless, it works well. Giving myself a strict deadline really stops me from sabotaging myself with procrastination. And it feels great to finish a screenplay in such a short period of time. So, in other words, it is a success.

I was in a total daze last night as I hand wrote 18 pages, then typed them into Final Draft, revising it as I went along. It took me a good hour to get out of character.

I have nothing else to bitch or complain about, so I guess that's it for today. Tune in next time when I rail against Florida in a completely random tirade.

:made some edits to show my overall progress Sunday after having two writing sessions.

Easily Led Automatons

I am really just sickened by the amount of remakes set to deluge us in the coming months. That on top of the already "Day After Tomorrow" -worthy destruction remakes have caused in the last 5 years. Do we really need remakes? How hard is it to write an original screenplay? And how many piss poor sequels must I endure until a solid original makes it to the screen? Then, of course, are the trained monkeys who attend to the opening night of "The Longest Yard", unaware it's even a remake. And it does outstanding business. So who's to blame?

It certainly can't be the studios, as much as it pains me to say it. If these vomit inducing remakes and sequels didn't have an audience, then they would not get the funding. So, if I may borrow from Seinfeld, who are these people? Casual movie fans, just looking for a night out? Ugh. I tremble at the thought that there are that many casual movie fans. But obviously, there are, and that's the target audience. They will be the first in line to see the Gladiator sequel. (Yes, apparently there is one in the works) And what of the actual film lover's? Well, I include myself as a film lover, and the last place I'll be seen is in a theatre. And perhaps this is the problem. I can't stand the constant chattering, the inane conversations popping in and out of my ear through an entire movie. One cell phone rings, and I may commit a Valentines Day Massacre. Hell, if someone gets up to use the bathroom during an important scene, my trigger finger itches.

So could this be the divide in quality vs quantity? Is it safer to cater to the casuals, who may or may not see the movie based on a whim and a few choice advertisements, or cater to a more demanding audience, who, if they love the film, will undoubtedly raise the box office gross into the stratosphere, and if we hate it, it may crash and burn opening weekend. Now, it seems to me what they've done is chosen the middle ground. It's the smart move. It's also called the lowest common denominator theory. Make the movie as accessible to as many people as possible. Make the movie PG or at most, PG13. Then release an unrated or extended cut on DVD. That's where the hardcore film lover's come in. That's where they make the money off us. We're, in general, not nearly as finicky when buying a Dvd as opposed to actually sitting at the theatre. We own the movie. And we get special features to boot. It seems worthwhile to buy a DVD for $5 dollars more (at most) than it costs to basically rent it at the theatre.

And this all makes perfect sense, if you think about it. I have to say, the studios know what they're doing. Sadly, this leaves less slots open to writers such as myself, or the countless other's whose Blogs I read each day. And it appears there's no way to stop the shit from rolling down hill.

Get your hiking boots on, because we're going up the hill, backwards.

No Politics Here, But...

I saw a preview for a new show on ABC about a female being thrust into the role of President. Doesn't this just about reek of perfect timing? I think it's almost a guarantee Mrs. Clinton has a shot to win, especially if the show finds a male audience. I'm not necessarily against the idea of a sort of cross promotion of television and politics, and I really have no hatred for Clinton. I'm kind of 'meh' when it comes to her, as I am with most politicians. But it seems to me this is akin to releasing a show last year about a democratic nominee from the Northeast trying to fight for the presidency against the red state incumbent. I mean, maybe there should have been a show, what do I know. But when I first viewed the preview, all I thought was "Well that was subtle".

This is not a bash of either party.(I do that in private forums mostly:)) I just wanted to hear if anyone else felt the same way?