The first of many(?) speedbumps

So a few weeks ago I was lying in my bed working on the treatment, as I was when I last checked in with you. I put the computer down on the bed temporarily (or so I thought), but moments later it unabashedly crashed to the floor. Don’t get me wrong, this has happened before, but this time it was a fatal blow to the Powerbook’s display.

Hopefully you will forgive me. I will be purchasing a new Macbook in the coming weeks, whenever Leopard arrives. I can recreate what work I’ve done on the treatment most recently, and most my brainstorming notes have been preserved.

 The cost of the new computer is going to be quite painful, and the downtime is a serious blow to my motivation. I do expect that with a brand new, much nicer computer the motivation will return without a problem, though, so check back perdiodically as I may provide updates. 

 The silver lining is the reminder that you don’t need a computer to write, and at least it happened to me NOW and I’ve only lost the 8 pages of treatment and not the 70-100 pages of screenplay.

The Hook

So I started to write the treatment last night, and I was quickly reminded of how hard this is. You think, “It’s only 120 pages, 50 scenes, that’s nothing.” etc… No, it’s not nothing, it’s fucking one hundred and twenty pages, fifty scenes! 10 in Act 1, 30 in Act 2, 10 in Act three, etc…. which leads me to my next problem. I NEED AN ACT TWO. This is why I gave up the first time around. Not this time.

I have an amazing hook, interesting characters, a location they can interact with. I know Act 1 like the back of my hand, the climax is all set.. parts of Act 3 are hazy but coming together overall… I will talk more about these in detail, but I was already getting ahead of myself in trying to write the treatment.

My favorite screenwriting book so far is “Crafty Screenwriting” by Alex Epstein. It’s concise, easy and fun to read, and perhaps most importantly, the author is masterful at walking the fine line between realistic and encouraging. At the risk of losing you, my single reader, I will refer you to his blog, aptly named Complications Ensue., for specific examples of effective hooks. He’s already relatively successful, though, and if you like to root for the underdog like I do, then you will stick with me.

Epstein says there are two tricks to coming up with a good hook. The first is obvious – to pay attention. The second – steal it. Stealing it requires using someone else’s story but making it more dramatic and cinematic, making it your own…

Paying attention is my preference. I love to people watch (sounds creepy when it’s written, doesn’t it?).. but what screenwriter doesn’t? It’s all about finding stories and painting them with words… The best part about writing is how the act itself is a complete inversion of those events… First you see something happen or someone interesting on the street. He/she/it, or more accurately, the fiction that you surround he/she/it with, elicits an emotion within you. The challenge is in finding the exact words and exact structure that will recreate that feeling that you’ve captured to your audience.

So, you SEE something happen, it makes you feel a certain way.

Find Words, put them down.

The film is a recreation of the event, dramatized in order to let the audience feel the exact same emotions that you had when witnessing it originally. Of course, the director can turn your Picasso into a Homer, or vice versa, but that interpretation is part of the beauty as well.

It’s like letting the audience inside your body, seeing through your eyes and hearing through your ears… except you can make up whatever the fuck you want, and if you do it well enough they might even give you the benefit of the doubt and believe your ridiculous story. Not only will they believe it, but they will almost certainly sit there for two plus hours and just take it in, no matter what it is. You can do anything, like give them the ability to read lips as with an extreme close up, or allow them to be invisible in the living room where Hank and Leticia are having sex, or put them in a public park and force them to watch Bill Maplewood go on a murderous rampage with an assault rifle. Granted, Todd Solondz probably didn’t see this happen and think, “I am going to turn this into a movie anc all it Happiness!”. Milo Addica and Will Rokos probably hadn’t seen Halle Berry naked before they saw it at the Monster’s Ball premier. Writing a movie takes imagination, but it shouldn’t be so hard to find irony or imagine Halle Berry naked… maybe I can have her be my bankable element? Epstein would be proud.

It’s time to use some of that imagination to iron out some of those kinks in Act II…

Side note: Exactly 1:48 into “You Get Yours” from Bright Eyes and Spoon’s collaboration, titled: Home, Vol. 4 =Amazing… Even better is the last song, “Let the Distance Keep Us Together”… just buy the album. Right now. Side, side note: By far, my favorite two bands to play randomly in the background while writing are My Morning Jacket (thanks Danielle) and Sigur Ros (thanks Alyssa).

INT. SMART ROOM

My roommates and I have this room in our apartment… we call it the “smart room.” It’s where we keep all – yes, ALL – of our books. Sadly, we rarely go into the smart room. In fact, right now is the first time I have been in here for an extended period of time in over a year. Its pathetic, really.

It was this realization that reminded me of how much I like to write, and that taking it up again would allow me to, once again, sit in the smart room. Now that I’m here I realize that I just needed an excuse to write.

So here I am.

I open Microsoft Word. Blank page. Damn. Ok, how can I motivate myself?

Just get it down. Distracted. 15 minutes until Monday Night Football. Fuck Monday night football! I have an idea in my head that is completely, utterly unique. No one else in the world can express exactly what I have to say. Distracted.

Play music. Wilco, Sigur Ros, My Morning Jacket, M. Ward.. 8 songs and 35 minutes later (mostly due to Virar vel til loftárása), all I have to show for myself is a new facebook picture and an organized inbox (this blog entry came about an hour later).

Read inspirational material. The magazines SCRIPT, Creative Screenwriting, Secrets of Film Writing, Story, Emotional Structure, How to Write a Selling Screenplay, Accidental Genius, Screenplay: Writing The Picture, Crafty Screenwriting, and so so many more. Inspired? Yes. Motivated? Not quite.

I am procrastinating right now, I know, and it sucks. But I think procrastination is entirely necessary. I am writing all day in my head; sometimes it is all I can think about it. At least this way I am getting SOMETHING on paper. Right?

Actually, I am here blogging, doing something I’ve barely respected in the past and never thought I’d ever do myself, as my last attempt at motivating myself. This will be hard to believe, but if you are one of those poor souls who has googled (I still can’t believe this is officially a word) “screenwriting blog”, or anything of the sort, you have come to the right place.

I have an idea. A great idea that is not yet on paper or in any office. I am going to finally write it, and I am going to document the entire thing. I encourage you to follow along at my pace with your own idea. We can all motivate each other.

I will post quotes from any of the above magazines and books, musings on the process, frustrations, excitement, joy, elation, anything and everything, as long as it gets me to write. I am doing this for several reasons:

1 – It forces me to sit down in the smart room and actually type something. I’m sure there will be days when I am stuck. This will force me to think about it, and never give up.

2 – it will teach me, you will teach me, we will teach each other. It will force me to peruse the books and remind myself every day of why I can’t get this idea off of my mind, and I will share those thoughts that seem to help.

3 – For support. If anyone out there actually finds this blog, leave comments, give me words of encouragement. I know there are a bunch of blogs out there already, but they’re out there for a reason. I will do my best to entertain you.

4 – To put pressure on myself. I will publically declare goals.. Numbers of pages, or periods of time that I intend to write, anything. I will document what works and what doesn’t work as far as the process goes. The more people you tell the more people you have behind you, and the bigger the moron you become if you let yourself fail because of laziness. I’m tired of procrastinating. It’s like trying to quit smoking. I’ve never smoked, but this is my attempt at quitting cold turkey.

5 – Self promotion. I am getting way ahead of myself, but just like everything else in life, who the hell knows. I am way too timid and introverted to brag by any other means. That being said, I am sure I won’t do any of it here, either.

6 – To get away. I love to write, and the screenplay will surely take me away from my normal every day annoyances. 120pages, therefore will then take me away from the perils of writing the screenplay.

7 – To express myself, completely anonymously (at least for now), and to let out anything creative. I do schizophrenia research in Cambridge, Ma. I need to fucking express myself creatively. Enough said.

8 – For the story within the story. Writing a screenplay is a journey in itself. I am starting from only an idea and will document the entire process all the way through to the last period on page 120. You can follow me and share the feelings that are inherent in the endeavor. The climax, I hope, will be the entry of my screenplay into the contest circuit and to agents, triggertreet.com, etc…

9 – To have fun. I have heard all the horror stories, but I don’t care. I have decided to go into this with an excess of manufactured naivety. This blog will help me keep things in perspective and will help me laugh at myself when things get tough, whether it is in real life or on the page.

10 – To hear from you. I want this to be a forum with back and forth discussion. If I enjoy it enough maybe I’ll even upgrade to a real site.

This will undoubtedly be my longest entry. Actually, this is absurdly long. I am sorry for that, but if you’ve hung with me this long, perhaps you’re exactly the kind of person that should be here. From here on out I will focus most of my energy on the script, but I will make updates to the blog with quotes, motivational stuff, pictures, etc.. and “lessons” on the step of the process I am on at the time, if there are any true steps. Basically, it will be a lot more interesting, with, you know, that suff some might call real content.

This may be a disaster, but lets finally give it a shot. Maybe the smart room will finally earn it’s name.