...from April to September. Doesn't sound good, does it?
I was so looking forward to the adaptation of The Nanny Diaries. Really. Loved the book, lots of heart.
But then.. Scarlett Johansson, really? Couldn't quite see that.
And then... The trailer. The trailer that announces it to open "this spring", mind you. Here it is...
Can you feel my pain? Maybe a miracle will happen between "this spring" and September? Let's keep our toes crossed!
After all, I own Nanny stocks at HSX plus I invested in the Weinstein fund. Now they're releasing... stuff like The EX. (formerly known as Fast Track USA)... Argh!
Those flicks have got to be better than their trailers. They've got to.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Altruism? Hell no. Review to Learn. BEGINNINGS
I'm not going to discuss the fact that altruism doesn't exist and that any Gutmensch gets something out of whatever good deed they're doing. Nope. This is about reading and reviewing unproduced screenplays (posted to the net by pros as well as unsold writers) for YOUR benefit.
Screenplays that show that the writer knows the basics, of course. You don't learn anything from discussing - for the umpteenth time - what "in late, out early" means or what the diff is between V.O. and O.S.
I read a script by a new produced writer that started out not-so-great, got more interesting, and had a good third act. One of the reasons the third act worked well was that we finally got to know the protag better, she finally came to life! Of course the beginning should have intro'd her just as effectively.
That got me thinking about beginnings and character introduction.
Yesterday I came across one of my many unlabeled, unwatched video tapes. Spidey I! I watched the beginning:
Spidey chases the school bus, gets laughed at, called a loser by the other kids, falls on his face. His love interest doesn't pay attention to him. At the field trip, he spouts some knowledge about spiders and is called a dork. Seconds later, Mr. Dorkcaller repeats what he'd just heard to MJ and she digs it.
During all this, Spidey stays calm. No hate. No revenge. He's cool! (In a later scene, he's pretty pissed at the manager of that wrestling freak show and lets the robber go. Payback time. Then Mr. Robber kills his uncle. Wow. Okay, I didn't watch the whole film yet, but so far it looked cool.) So we know he's not one of the cool crowd but instead they think he's a loser. And he's kind of a geek. But a cute one. We're so ready to pull for him.
Also, MJ seemed rather interested in Spidey's factoids that Dorkcaller recycled, so she appears to be a good match.
In my book, that beginning works really well. It's a well chosen incident that's active and does a good job of introducing protag, his goal (to get the girl. Hm) and he gets bitten by the spider. That's actually a really cool and highly effective visual: he gets bitten and in the background there's an info screen educating people about spider DNA.
Shallow Hal starts out with relevant back story that explains basically, why the hell Hal is shallow. If you got a chubby, average-looking guy behaving like a total jackass, it's a good idea to redeem him before the chicks throw their popcorn at the screen and walk out. It also helps to show him when he is still a kid. And the "wisdom" he picks up stems from his half-dead father who's high on morphine. So before Mr. Sexist Idiot even utters the first b.s. the joke's already on him. That softens the blow. Or so the theory goes. Worked for me.
And God, do we love jerks who learn and change and end up being the kind of guys we want them to be. Uuuuuh. There seems to be no shortage of them, either. I call them RJs. Reformed jerks (in the making).
What Women Want would be another such example. With Mel Gibson playing Jerkovich, he wouldn't really need the prophylactic redeeming upfront, but nevertheless - it's all his mother's fault. Yep. To raise a boy among showgirls? Please. No wonder he's screwed up. I thought that piece of backstory upfront was cheap. Let the guy be a jerk and then give him what's coming, no excuses.
As Good As It Gets - now there's a guy who throws a little yapper down the chute without apologizing. He's an old fart, fat, and no father/mother around to blame. Good for him. I love nuts, they are entertaining. Lots more fun than the saints, anyway. All the redeeming he needs, goody!
That Jack Nicholson's character is as grump, nutty, and unapologetic only increases the fun we have with all the conflict. He has to pull most the weight, anyway, because Helen Hunt's char - please. Waitress, single mother of a - not kidding here - sick little boy, uneducated (can't remember, was she dyslexic?). Get the Kleenex. Good thing that Jack's char happens to be a wealthy novelist, then, right? Let's just call her Cinderella. That shoe ought to fit. Oh, and let's make the second man gay, shall we? Gay AND recently impoverished. So she's really got not much of a choice. Thank God for comedy.
One thing I've noticed about beginnings: writers often seem to feel the pressure to
a) reel people in
b) put the inciting incident early, no, earlier. Can't you put it on page 1?
c) move forward with speed of light
d) etc.
that many focus on plot and forget to set up their chars, to introduce them and their world as they get the story going.
Coming up.... Effective Beginnings.
Screenplays that show that the writer knows the basics, of course. You don't learn anything from discussing - for the umpteenth time - what "in late, out early" means or what the diff is between V.O. and O.S.
I read a script by a new produced writer that started out not-so-great, got more interesting, and had a good third act. One of the reasons the third act worked well was that we finally got to know the protag better, she finally came to life! Of course the beginning should have intro'd her just as effectively.
That got me thinking about beginnings and character introduction.
Yesterday I came across one of my many unlabeled, unwatched video tapes. Spidey I! I watched the beginning:
Spidey chases the school bus, gets laughed at, called a loser by the other kids, falls on his face. His love interest doesn't pay attention to him. At the field trip, he spouts some knowledge about spiders and is called a dork. Seconds later, Mr. Dorkcaller repeats what he'd just heard to MJ and she digs it.
During all this, Spidey stays calm. No hate. No revenge. He's cool! (In a later scene, he's pretty pissed at the manager of that wrestling freak show and lets the robber go. Payback time. Then Mr. Robber kills his uncle. Wow. Okay, I didn't watch the whole film yet, but so far it looked cool.) So we know he's not one of the cool crowd but instead they think he's a loser. And he's kind of a geek. But a cute one. We're so ready to pull for him.
Also, MJ seemed rather interested in Spidey's factoids that Dorkcaller recycled, so she appears to be a good match.
In my book, that beginning works really well. It's a well chosen incident that's active and does a good job of introducing protag, his goal (to get the girl. Hm) and he gets bitten by the spider. That's actually a really cool and highly effective visual: he gets bitten and in the background there's an info screen educating people about spider DNA.
Shallow Hal starts out with relevant back story that explains basically, why the hell Hal is shallow. If you got a chubby, average-looking guy behaving like a total jackass, it's a good idea to redeem him before the chicks throw their popcorn at the screen and walk out. It also helps to show him when he is still a kid. And the "wisdom" he picks up stems from his half-dead father who's high on morphine. So before Mr. Sexist Idiot even utters the first b.s. the joke's already on him. That softens the blow. Or so the theory goes. Worked for me.
And God, do we love jerks who learn and change and end up being the kind of guys we want them to be. Uuuuuh. There seems to be no shortage of them, either. I call them RJs. Reformed jerks (in the making).
What Women Want would be another such example. With Mel Gibson playing Jerkovich, he wouldn't really need the prophylactic redeeming upfront, but nevertheless - it's all his mother's fault. Yep. To raise a boy among showgirls? Please. No wonder he's screwed up. I thought that piece of backstory upfront was cheap. Let the guy be a jerk and then give him what's coming, no excuses.
As Good As It Gets - now there's a guy who throws a little yapper down the chute without apologizing. He's an old fart, fat, and no father/mother around to blame. Good for him. I love nuts, they are entertaining. Lots more fun than the saints, anyway. All the redeeming he needs, goody!
That Jack Nicholson's character is as grump, nutty, and unapologetic only increases the fun we have with all the conflict. He has to pull most the weight, anyway, because Helen Hunt's char - please. Waitress, single mother of a - not kidding here - sick little boy, uneducated (can't remember, was she dyslexic?). Get the Kleenex. Good thing that Jack's char happens to be a wealthy novelist, then, right? Let's just call her Cinderella. That shoe ought to fit. Oh, and let's make the second man gay, shall we? Gay AND recently impoverished. So she's really got not much of a choice. Thank God for comedy.
One thing I've noticed about beginnings: writers often seem to feel the pressure to
a) reel people in
b) put the inciting incident early, no, earlier. Can't you put it on page 1?
c) move forward with speed of light
d) etc.
that many focus on plot and forget to set up their chars, to introduce them and their world as they get the story going.
Coming up.... Effective Beginnings.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Baaaack!
Finally - new laptop! Yeah! Means that I'll be able to blog regularly and do stuff I previously wasn't able to do. Maybe there's a reader still checking up on this blog?
For this one reader, there's this R-rated thingy...
I noticed that I missed the Screenwriter Blog-A-Thon while I was checking out my new toy... Guess I'll blog about my fave scripts in upcoming posts.
Happy Easter!
For this one reader, there's this R-rated thingy...
I noticed that I missed the Screenwriter Blog-A-Thon while I was checking out my new toy... Guess I'll blog about my fave scripts in upcoming posts.
Happy Easter!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Waiting
My pc was (is) acting up and b/c I need it for things other than blogging, posting wasn't a priorrity. I'll get a laptop soon and am researching what's out there now. Whooeee, fun stuff! I can't afford a Mac, but at least it will have Vista on it and I'll be able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I'm soooo excited!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
X Marks the Singular Masochist
Rita
I have to get ready... I'll meet with a friend and
try to survive the day.
Oops. Rita, my father's widow. She's one of THEM -- unattached adults who have a problem with Christmas. We say good-bye and for a moment I wonder if I should analyze why I'm not feeling anything. Like, empathy or at least guilt about not feeling bad. I shrug and decide it's okay to feel okay. After all, I told her that I'm totally in love with Karl Lagerfeld. I told her about a recent interview and that I totally get him. She called him a crazy nut.
According to Kathy Reichs, by now my father's corpse should be.... oh, wait - he's part of a wall. His urn is. Rita brings that urn flowers. I can relate to that about as much as I can relate to someone who puts out food for the Gods. If the food doesn't vanish, then....? Maybe try a subway station. The food will disappear, I swear. Even half-smoked cigarettes will find new lungs to destroy. Magic! Beer should work, too. Too many unused brain cells on the planet as is. Let's stop the waste, shall we?
Let's face it: for a single person who feels bad this time of year, Rita could be doing worse. It must be the same mechanism that is at work in ad campaigns: a need is created people didn't know they had, it's being reinforced over and over, word of mouth makes the round, you need to keep up with the neighbors and if you can't, you're the odd person out. The poor poor product-less chick. Better get moving or at least start feeling sorry, Have-not. Watch some Christmas movies and get into the spirit prontissimo.
Like the many others who then try to drown their imaginary sorrows in alcohol. Too bad that alcohol, like fat, can't find a target. You tell the fat to hang onto your chest area, for example, but it has butter fingers. It slips and slides downward. Even though it's lighter than muscle and I'm pretty sure it would swim in milk!
Alcohol is a depressant. Smart choice. For a masochist, that is.
So, the following day they'll feel... we know this .... worse. Yes. And it will be like in 50 First Dates or Groundhog Day until in ACT III it's finally New Year's Eve. After another day of wallowing in their perceived sorrow plus the physical discomfort, they'll drag their feet back to work.
Of course they took the week off. It's imperative for single/widowed/divorced people to have too much time on their hands in week 52. Nothing ought to distract them from feeling miserable.
The ones who have mastered the art even invite people to their I'm-so-lonely pity party. Free booze. I'm pretty sure it's an industry. There's always money to be made from people's misery. Alone on Christmas? No real problems to worry about? No sucky responsibilities to shoulder or boring functions you have to attend?
Fear not, you child-free Scrooge, you DO have a problem and there's a solution. Join us at Single-No-More for $ 100 (buffet w/cheap caviar plus 1 cocktail included) and you, too, will find your soulmate or at least Mr. Right Now with a big, warm...erm... heart. And a pulse. Guaranteed!
Sign up now and we even throw in a $ 10 off coupon for next year's My-boyfriend-took-my-money-and-went-to-buy-booze-now-I'm-still-waiting... event.
Back to Rita's package, my Christmas package. Every year I amazon her some books I know she'll love (gift wrapped by amazon very nicely, she says) . So there's no running around or standing in insanely long lines at the post office for moi. It's a win-win.
In turn, she sends me a sort of CARE package which absolutely must include chocolates and homemade cookies. My faves, no less. My caloric intake reaches dimensions only known to bears or Rosie O'Donnell.
The withdrawal will take a few days. The feeling that I absolutely need to consume chocolate. I need to put my body on that rollercoaster. Sugar rush. Slump. Repeat. Gain three pounds.
Maybe next year I'll do the smarter thing: give the cookies and chocolates to the subway Gods.
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