Monthly Archives: August 2011

Aug29

Endings

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In light of the recent “apocalyptic” events such as the earthquake and Hurricane Irene–all this frantic scare tactic talk about the end of the world has prompted me to think more about the seeming crisis of ending a damn script (I love all my scripts btw–I’m just frustrated!).

I’ve spoken to many colleagues about the writing process and the brick wall that they hit when attempting to write the penultimate third act and I have also meditated on my own scripts and endings to try to figure out what the hell goes wrong between the midpoint and the last piece of dialogue uttered in a script and I still can’t quite figure it out to a point to where I am at peace with my own process and understanding of how to write a kick ass third act.

Due to my own quest and  insatiable neuroses of wanting to solve this issue, so I can just put a couple of my scripts on the finished shelf for good, I am currently doing a bit of research on endings and what makes certain films and scripts feel whole.

Today, I ran across a quote that I think is quite befitting and has also prompted me to reread the last chapter of  The Odyssey because it is the type of novel that serves as a platform for good endings… with an overall sense of reward and satisfaction after having weathered the apocalyptic storm of existence.

We Seekers come home at last, purged, purified, and bearing the fruits of our journey. We share out the nourishment and treasure among the Home Tribe, with many a good story about how they were won. A circle has been closed, you can feel it. You can see that our struggles on the Road of Heroes have brought new life to our land. There will be other adventures, but this one is complete, and as it ends it brings deep healing, wellness and wholeness to our world. The Seekers have come Home. -Vogler 

This quote is essentially what we the Writers… Seek to accomplish by even taking on a screenplay… we inevitably seek to bring our characters on a journey that in some ways completes them and the original question they asked of the world… the Main Tension of the film… the reason we spent our $15 to take a looking glass to our eyes to peer into someone else’s life and circumstance.

So I leave you with this… at the end of your script does your character come home with that special elixir, the power to heal the wounded land or do they come home at peace with their own failure or perspective of the world? Whatever the case may be… they better come home with something that is worth the return from that which they experienced… it’s all relative.

My research and thoughts on endings will continue. For now, enjoy one of my favorite endings from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest–and to be fair, this is not the entire ending because it is only 2 of the 15 minutes of the closing of the film, but
satisfying nonetheless.

Aug24

Listen to the Muses in the Music

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One of my latest scripts is titled Ade’s Blues about a young man who is torn between his own demons, his artistry, and what it means to sacrifice for his family. There is alot of music in the script and right now I am listening to Miles Davis’ “Tempus Fugit”, which in fact reminded me of a scene in the script.

I always listen to some type of music when I write and I typically like to use music to invoke the mood of a situation or character’s emotional state. All of my most momentous and detailed memories in life can be tracked by one song or another and as a writer I seek to synthesize the reader’s/audience’s experience of my character’s emotional arch in the same way in which I remember milestones of my life through music. Here is a sneak peak of some of the action (I must really like you all to be sharing this but, it’s a good practice to let the work flow…that’s the only way to get better)–Please excuse any grammatical errors… this has not gone through the second draft phase and FAIR WARNING: THIS IS RATED R:

INSTRUCTIONS: LISTEN TO THE YOUTUBE CLIP WHILE YOU READ.

INT. DRESSING ROOM- BIRDS EYE JAZZ CLUB- NIGHT
The entire band including Ade, Chuck, Willie, and Smalls
is enjoying drink and conversation in the club lounge.
Bear is a bit tipsy.
ELOISE
Right, but non violence is what has gotten
us this far, if it weren’t for a peaceful
approach we wouldn’t be able to sit here
and even travel together.
CHUCK
Oh wow, listen to you Eloise. Peace ain’t
got nothing to do with it. Art transcends
all of that shit anyway.
BARRY
Woah,Chuck, watch your mouth now.

Bear sits back sipping on his drink, enjoying the
conversation.
Ade is equally intrigued, waiting for a chance to jump
in.
ELOISE
Well, I stand corrected.
WILLIE
You sure do. Back to my point, Malcolm
had a better handle on what was necessary
for the black people, forget all this we
shall overcome bullshit. I doubt we have
made any progress in terms of who we are
to ourselves as a people.
SLIM
Right. But I do agree that if we are
going to live in this country we have to
work as a unit, and Martin was on to
something with desegregation.
BARRY
Well, despite their faults, I suppose
they still brought us to a place where we
can applaud something about their
efforts.
ADE´
Yeah.
BARRY
What chu’ yea’in about? You really fucked
up tonight, you know.
ADE´
That wasn’t my fault… Willie how you
gon’ just let him throw me under the bus
like that?
ELOISE
Bear, come on… we’re having a good time
here.
Ade shakes his head with disgust.

BARRY
It may not have been your fault, but your
career was on the line in that moment.
Fuck Slim, Fuck Willie or anyone else who
was accompanying you. It is your
responsibility in that moment to save
your own ass. These cats we talk about,
Martin, Malcolm…when they are in front
of the press all that matters is their
own representation of themselves, not the
meetings they had or the support that
comes with it… just them and their
words.
Ade tries to back Bear down.
ADE´
Right, but as musicians we work as a team.
BARRY
No, you are always the director of your
team. Shit, stop the damn performance if
they are taking you off course. But
NEVER, EVER let them sabotage your
greatness. You fucked up! You don’t know
what the hell these folks think of you
and what’s even more appalling actually
is that you fucking embarrassed me. I
don’t play that shit son. You just barely
made it.
ADE´
I can’t believe this. Pops It’s my first
time.
BARRY
Might be your last.
ELOISE
Oh Bear, come on… we’re all having a
good time. No artist is 100% perfect all
the time… no visionary is so either…
BARRY
In life… Yes that may be true, but
after practice is over… that is your
job… to just fucking show up! That’s
all you have to do! After all the hours
of practice, and all the bull shit you
have about 20 minutes to show up and if
you dont’ do that, you’re a pathetic
piece of shit. There are millions of
musicians out there waiting for that
chance.

The room has gone silent. All the men are tuned into
Barry’s lecture, except for Ade who has checked out
mentally.
ADE´
Is that it?
BARRY
Yeah.
ADE´
You’ve got some nerve Bear.
BARRY
Go on.
ADE´
Out of all the missed opportunities you
had to do this very thing… drop
knowledge, care, be a fucking man, you
chose other ventures… but now… when
that moment has passed you want to take
it upon yourself to teach…I’m grown
now… no thank you. Fuck you! I’m here
by my own vices and I will either stay or
leave by my own vices.
Barry is tickled by Ade’s forward rebuttal.
BARRY
You think you have control huh? That you
don’t need me?

A scene like this would be dead in the water without a bit of Miles simmering in the background… and If I could put music to all of the fights I ever witnessed in my life they would have been so much more cinematic :) Hope you enjoyed it. On that note–I’m actually quite inspired to bang out the second draft of this pretty soon, goodnight all!

Aug17

Look Right Next To You

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Last year, a man who’s name I can not remember at the moment shared an interesting piece of advice when someone asked him what is the best way to go about building relationships with those ahead of you in the film game and his advice was to look around you instead of looking up to find out who to network with. I am going to take this further by saying that I have learned that there is absolutely no reason to look beyond my circle of friends and colleagues to find greatness, inspiration, or a helping hand to lift you up out of the barrel.

Today my best friend and homie for life, Amari Johnson performed at the Nuyorican Cafe with his band Liberated Soul Collective –they drove up here all the way from NOLA! After the show he placed a special gift in my hand… his first book of short stories titled, Spring Chicken’s Revenge, Tall Tales and Small Stories. I couldn’t believe it! I knew he was writing the book but to have it completed and in my hand after witnessing the journey of such a long road of growth and expansion from college til now was just incredibly sobering.

I am so humbled and honored to be apart of a universal creative arts movement as well as to have dope ass friends in my midst no matter what! Love you Amari and I promise you I will have an equally amazing gift to share with you soon!

Be thankful for your innercircle for they are your muses and your truest reflection and without them you are relative to a reality that may prove to be something different than what you perceived.

Aug15

Set Antics

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I’ve realized I don’t particularly enjoy the manic bustle on other sets outside of my own and the reason being is because the egos and the insane need and attempt to get something in the can by any means necessary just drives me crazy when I’m not the one running the show! My nerves are already bad and to be around a bunch of folks speaking fast, piddling in hierarchy, talking over one another, and frantically trying to figure out how to get the next shot is just too much for zen little ole’ me. Nevertheless, I still do it because a huge part of me just loves the zeal of completing such a big feat in a small amount of time even if I am just one of the many contributors helping to make the film happen,  which is the passion filled joy of MAKING FILMS.

Whenever I am on other folks sets I am incredibly amused by the types of conflicts and conversations between keys (heads of departments) that arise. We innately place so much pressure on ourselves to be flawlessly superhuman that from the outside looking in it appears that we are all walking nutcases who need to be committed YESTERDAY–and you know what, perhaps this is a true statement in someone’s universe but I’d like to think that my set is a peaceful paradise where we can create PERFECTION calmly.

I am currently debriefing from a shoot that I recently AD’d and I must say that at times I thought I was gonna walk myself off the plank for a piece of sanity… any infinitesimal piece of it. And…now that I am looking back on the entire experience, I am more the wiser, patient and stronger for having worked on the shoot and this is why we do this…  for the almost immediate barometer of progress and growth that is the debriefing process of having written a feature script or worked on a film and the only reason such revelations are possible is because we put a shitload of work into the making of our filmmakers brew.

People who watch films have absolutely no idea but those who work on films can appreciate the two clips I would like  to share with you today… Take a look and I hope you find this amusing or somewhat sobering and for those of you who have no idea, this is a little taste of some of the ridiculously amusing parts of our world. You GOTTA LOVE THIS “FILM THANG” to put yourself through any of IT!

Aug9

“Finished” yet still not Finished

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Writing deadlines are always scary but they definitely put you to the test.  I made my writing deadline for  a very special program to happen next January but what I have truly learned from all of this is that the moment I submitted my script for the program I should have started rewriting… I did not realize how much work I needed to do on my project and on top of it all, it’s a true story about a big chunk of someone’s life so it’s extremely difficult to streamline.

I hit alot of emotional walls with this script. I often times get frustrated with my friends because I don’t feel that they take my craft seriously: through this process I have learned a few things about my process:

1) Don’t tell people you are writing… just go effing write. 

2) Don’t break up your writing day with entertaining folk… get the writing out of the way and then go out! 

3) Don’t drink while writing. NOT even a glass of wine :(  

4) Don’t eat while writing… ( I get the itis) 

5) Listen to wordless music while writing unless the music is supposed to somehow influence the scene. 

6) GO far away from your comfort zone in a place where there are people you don’t know surrounding you so that you feel the urgency to be productive. 

7) Writing or doing work of any sort with other people has never quite proven productive for me… must explore this further. 

8) Carve out specific times to go on the internet.  A free for all WIFI signal is a death trap for a writer unless you absolutely need it for research forgo the internet! 

I am better for this experience and I am not going to stop at the work that I did for the deadline… This is my future bread and potatoes… I gotta finish this bad boy off! 

In the meantime, check out this quote a fellow filmmaker unearthed… I wrote it on a notecard and posted it right in front of me as I worked on my script. Thank ya @NIKYATU! 

Writing is being able to take something whole and fiercely alive that exists inside you in some unknowable combination of thought, feeling, physicality, and spirit, and to then store it like a genie in tense, tiny black symbols on a calm white page. If the wrong reader comes across the words, they will remain just words. But for the right readers, your vision blooms off the page and is absorbed into their minds like smoke. -Mary Gaitskill