Merry Christmas

Ha! I got it!

The whole idea behind this book project I've been working on the past several months was just to figure out what works for me. I think. Maybe I will write that book someday, but right now I want to work on putting my money where my mouth is.

Once again, I found myself seriously considering the idea of setting up shop as a "script consultant", but script consultants are for people who want their script to be bought by someone else. And I don't really like the way the studio system works, so there's no point in aiding and abetting them. It's just more grief for me.

Instead, I've decided that I'm going to pursue videography. I'm willing to put forth the effort to promote myself...plus, I have an excuse to buy the equipment I want. I'm going to start working in that direction as soon as I can get around to drawing up a business plan.

I have to work tomorrow, but I have Thursday through Saturday off. I know I said that I was going to use the time to start working on the movie, but I really don't have anything yet. But I'm getting there. I'm starting to get the idea of writing for an audience. Once I can envision an audience, then I can envision a movie.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I'm Not Ready

I've realized something.

I'm not ready to make another movie right now. Making a movie is really important to me, but right now I need to get things straightened around. Driver's test aside, I'm working on trying to launch something freelance for myself, and so far, making a movie has mostly been an afterthought. Creating a safety net for myself is important.

My goal was to finish something in time for the 2009 SXSW Festival, but I don't know if that's really going to happen. That I've had to reconcile to this makes me sad, but I have to choose my battles.

This blog is going to go through a major overhaul in the next couple of weeks.

Niley in Love

The weather has been really crazy the past week and a half, with snow coming down. I was actually let out of work early tonight so that I wouldn't have to face anything worse later.

Hardly anyone was there today, but yesterday, it was a mob scene! Nonetheless, I managed to get some thinking done. I got reminiscing about what made me want to write that book I was working on. Remember that book? Anyway. This is the original quote that got me inspired, from the anthology The Practices of Psychoanalytic Criticism:

"Aristotleian criticism assumes a character is that wich reveals moral purpose. As a moral agent that makes choices, it encounters other moral forces in the process of working out an action."

I wanted to understand what was meant by "moral purpose", because perhaps this is why mainstream script analysts use Aristotleian Theory. (There's a lot more behind my reasoning, but it would take forever to explain.) Aristotle was a great philosopher, but the man hardly had the last word on storytelling.

In the six months of research I've done, I think I've answered that question. I hope to start doing some writing soon. What form will it take? I don't know.

Right now, I'm writing a new Hot Teen News video. Miley and Nick Jonas are officially a pair, FTW!!!

Cocooning After Christmas

Well, I've slated to take off five days at Christmas. We're closed on the 25th, and I requested the 26th through the 29th off. And I have one goal: to get something written.

A script for the movie I want to shoot, hopefully. With my job, it's been hard to make a long term commitment to any project. To go from relative solitude to the chaos of working at a supermarket can be very jarring. Working front end register can be intensely stressful. Hopefully, I'll have my driver's license soon, and from there on out, things should be full speed ahead.

But I'm getting off track. I feel it's a little weird to be working on the script already. For too long, I've been trying to figure out where the money's going to come from, but right now I don't care. I have a feeling that once I have an idea for a movie, in place, the rest will fall into place. I'm actively thinking about the kind of things I want to write. I need to stop worrying about fitting into any mold, drop any pretension, and just WRITE. The audience will be there.

The Strange Success of El Diablo

Over at the Done Deal Boards, there's a thread questioning the legitimacy of Juno scribe Diablo Cody's backstory.

I haven't seen Juno yet, but I did read Candy Girl, her memoir of her year as a stripper in Minneapolis and enjoyed it. The official story is, after Candy Girl was sold for $250,000, Diablo's manager urged her to write a script. Now, in addition to Juno coming out, Diablo has several scripts in development. What they're questioning over at Done Deal is, was Cody's success really a fluke, or is her story a machination of some really good PR people?

Mason Novick, Diablo's manager, works for Benderspink, a production and management company that brought you such earth shattering films as Monster in Law and the forthcoming Jessica Simpson vehicle Major Movie Star rather than representing top tier literary talent. Given the amount of competition to get read and the number of scripts that probably get submitted to Benderspink, I'm beginning to doubt that Cody was simply cajoled into writing a script.

Juno is what one might call "execution dependent", meaning that it relies on character development as opposed to high concept. Coupled with the other movies Benderspink produced, Juno is not the type of movie that Benderspink is keen to sell. The key? Candy Girl was a ruse to sell the writer, Diablo Cody, in order to get her scripts sold.

Two things I'm willing to believe, though, are that Diablo was discovered through her blog, and that she spent some time stripping.

If it indeed is a ruse, I'm a little disappointed, having liked her book, but I don't feel cheated. Actually, I think it's a really clever way to market a screenwriter, and I wish I had encountered someone like Novick when I was writing specs. Perhaps if I had worked more at my first one, I might have. But as I've said, I'd be writing a very different blog today...

$4000 / $5 Donations = 800 People

I'm cross posting this from the updates page from granterinswish.com, but whatever:

The bad news? I've jacked the trip price to $4000. The good news? I've got a plan to raise the money.

Here's the plan: If I can get $5.00 from each and every one of you, I will be able to meet my goal of raising $4K by March 5th.

$4000 / $5 Donations = 800 People

Hypothetically speaking, I've already recieved donations from 11 people, so I have 789 people left to go.

Outta My System

Before I discovered Mumblecore or even made a documentary, I wrote three spec scripts. The quality of these scripts varied, I suppose. Obviously, I didn't sell them, or otherwise, you'd be reading a very different blog right now.

By the time I had finished up the last script, I'd grown discouraged and frustrated. Joining a screenwriting group who kept saying "No, you can't do it this way because they don't like that" didn't help matters. I felt like that this was my major creative outlet, and I was being deprived of being able to do it the way I wanted to. Besides, who are they, anyway?

This past Friday Night, something happened. I was working the register when I decided it was time to confront some of these old demons. The next day, I wrote a scene for a movie, just to let the whole thing play out. I was too embarassed to finish it, but I got the whole thing out of my system. Whether or not it will find its way into an actual movie remains to be seen.

Now that I got this out of my system, what am I going to write?

Stockpiling (Pun Intended)

Well, we've had some pretty crazy weather for the last 48 hours, so I've been shut in. I have today off, so I spent it working on the bylaws for my MFP. Once I'm done with the bylaws, I plan on drawing up a plan and a budget. Then I'll seek out a pro bono lawyer on Craigslist who will take a place on my board of directors as well.

This morning, I ordered two HD MiniDV tapes from Edgewise Media. I also spent a good chunk of the day looking at Pro8mm's website and their different types of film stock. I know it seems kinda moot in the digital era, but I'm very fascinated with Super 8. I'm seriously thinking about shooting a short with it once the organization is finalized. With film stock, however, I know I'm going to want to write a more elaborate script.

As for the MiniDV HD tapes, I'm going to start working on my documentary on the SXSW trip once I recieve them. I can't wait.

Finally, Joe Swanberg had some nice things (okay, an understatement) to say about my Mumblecore Video on SpoutBlog in an interview with Karina Longworth. But I've already elaborated on that here.