Shock Waves (1977)

There are plenty of films that have grand ideas which aren't fully formulated, and for that reason, they result in disappointment. Rarely has there been a better example of this in the horror genre than with Shock Waves.

Read more at Suite101: Shock Waves (1977) http://www.suite101.com/content/shock-waves-1977-a356557#ixzz1GEkXORhP

Waiting for the Sun is Done!

And thankfully, it seems to retain the humor I originally intended it to.  The problem is sometimes I begin a screenplay with this busting at the seams burst of idea energies, only to use my analytical skills to dampen it down.  This time, I went wild with my imagination, sketching out the possible path of scenes in outline form. I chose the best one and placed it into the script.  This worked for a few reasons, one being the outline helps me from aimlessly wandering around for 5 or 10 pages, and two, by doing this, it's almost like doing a partial rewrite on the fly.  And third, this allowed me to focus in on the humor of the situations within each scene, instead of the overall screenplay.

By doing this, I feel it's consistently funnier than anything I've written.  Sure, I had screenplays that were hysterical in spots, those spots I deemed needed to be so.  There were too many peaks and valleys. But with this one, I have definite peaks of humor, and the dips never bog down so far as to be unfunny.

Now to sit back and let it stew for a couple of weeks...then tear it up again.

All Your Links Belong To...You

Since I was gone so long I knew many of the links I posted to other blogs, those which i considered cool reads, would probably be outdated upon my return.  Sure enough, the first five links I clicked were dead, so I just decided to delete them and start over.  If you're still out there, and would like to trade links, throw me a line.

Chances are I'll probably end up adding you back anyway...my tastes haven't changed all that much.

Isolation, and its intense relation to creativity

It's funny, blogging would be one of the first hobbies I would cut off if I truly wanted to be a pro screenwriter. (In fact, I did cut it out, judging by my last post date) It's usually a meandering exercise, done so that I don't have to dive into my real work, aka my screenplay. However, I've come to find that there are many other practices that cut into my creative juices.

1) The stinking' internet. I find myself searching under the guise of researching, hours at a time. Now, it's necessary to cut myself off from the internet in order to concentrate on the task at hand. Seriously, the internet is a true time sucking vampire which wraps you in like a casino. You never know what time it is, or just how much time you've been in here, and the time flies accordingly.

2) Video games. There's no getting around this, as much as I want to make excuses. I noticed I played Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas a total of 120 hours in about 2 years. I'm quite certain I could have been banging out drafts of many a screenplay in that time. And lets not forget, that's just two games out of about 30 that I own. Red Dead Redemption-25 hours, Mass Effect 2-15 hours ...as you see, this is a major time sucker.

3) Television. Although tv comes in third, it certainly creates enough attention deficit disorder to be on the list. I probably only watch 3 current shows on TV, however it's the reruns of favs, like Seinfeld, that really zone me out. They offer me cold comfort, and I ...you know...vegetate.

4) Android. My rooted Nexus One is my new laptop. I'm constantly manipulating its screen for quick bursts of entertainment. I'm usually on the go when this happens, so it probably doesn't cut into my writing too much. But the availability of internet through my phone is counter productive to my whacking out the internet with purposes of writing. So the phone (and rooted Nook Color) have to be put away under lock and key (like Dokken).

5) People. We all have responsibilities, and with those responsibilities come people. Family, friends, enemies-doesn't matter. They all cause our personality to shift, and any shift is one away from the creative process.

I recently went away for one day, to a house on the beach. Mid winter. No tv, no internet and almost no radio due to really bad reception. No people at the house, and the town was just about empty. I wrote 30 pages in about 6 hours on a script I was having major trouble with. I came home the next day feeling good about myself, renewed in a sense. In the 2 weeks since? 10 pages. Of shit.

So now, to the detriment of my mashed potato brain, I will schedule total media blackouts. I will utilize headphones with my ipod if there's any outside disturbances. Usually will listen to Brian Eno, or late 70's Bowie as I write. But that's it. The project begins today.

Of course, the mere fact that I'm blogging right now should tell you all you need to know about my state of mind.

Time to go!

D.I.Y. Boom Mic

What year is this?

Somehow I woke up in the new year writing and directing my own tv series (no not for NBC, for myself). After all that I laid out last year, all the goals, all the dreams and the line by line...outline, how did I end up here?

I don't know, but it just goes to show you have to keep your options open and only a fool like myself would try and create a year long schedule. Mostly what I realized is that I hate work. Like, real work. You know, like those jobs that are dropping like flies at the moment? So I'm happy to report the scripts I had set up on the right hand side of the page are all done. I wrote and rewrote them. That is all I accomplished from last years list. But really, that's all I truly cared about.

Oh, and if by chance you haven't seen The Nines ( written and directed by John August) you should go and buy the dvd. Really interesting movie, and Melissa McCarthy made me fall in love with her.

**Oh yes, my move to L.A. is on hold. However I did take a trip there in August and loved everything about it. I have no doubt that living there is the correct choice for me. But my wallet and I have some issues currently so maybe at a later date I'll be there.