Hey gang, been a while since I updated this. So what have I been doing with my time? Writing, of course!
Thought I’d tell you about my latest spec script…
SPLENDORA.
Here’s the logline: For her 18th birthday, a sheltered teen just wants to kiss a boy. Instead, she gets supernatural powers, a kidnapped mom, five deadly sisters to battle, and the disturbing news that her dad is the Prince of Darkness.
The script was recently in the Top 15 Uploaded Scripts at The Black List and it’s enjoyed a lot of attention as a result.
What people have been saying:
“One of the best un-repped scripts I’ve ever read.”
- PDFScreenplays.com
“The script is a fun blend between action, fantasy, and comedy and has a very original premise. A consistent string of comic and thrilling sequences, Splendora is a well-written script that isn’t too far from being production ready.” - Blcklst.com
“[The] writing style is already industry standard. Confident and strong. Not too many Black List finalists give a reader this much old-timey rollicking good fun.”
- 10ptt.com
If you’re an agent, manager, producer, or executive and would like to give it a read, shoot me an email HERE.
So you’ve finished your first draft. You probably started with an outline, but found that your characters took you to new places and new discoveries. How can you tell if it all fits together coherently?
Try writing a trailer for your script.
I adore movie trailers. I probably watch at least one a day. Either new movies coming out, or revisiting old ones. The great thing about trailers is they get to the heart of the film. From a good trailer you get an idea of tone, theme, characters, and story.
And while it might be hard to pick these things up from a 120 page screenplay, where the scale makes it all a little fuzzy, a trailer helps you focus in on those important moments.
So figure out those character introductions, those key scenes of dialogue, those big set pieces. Put on your editors cap. Figure out what beats are most important. And write it all down in a three or four page document. Pick out a few songs to set the tone. Play it over in your head.
It’s a great way to figure out what beats you’re missing and/or what scenes need more clarity. And if you can’t find those scenes or bits of dialogue that sum up your character journeys and themes, maybe that’s a good place to start on your rewrite.
Here’s a few of my favorite trailers to inspire you:
Part nine in a series where I lazily ask the same five questions of professionals in the fields of comics, film, music, and more in order to get an idea of what success looks like (or doesn’t look like) in creative industries.
Josh Parkinson is a screenwriter and all-around amazing dude living in Los Angeles. His screenplay Free Country made the Black List (of best unproduced screenplays) in 2010 and led to jobs at Warner Brothers, Paramount, Mandate and Media Rights Capital. He most recently wrote on the third season of HBO’s Eastbound & Down. I will be forever grateful to Josh for his kindess and for turning me on to Korean BBQ.
At what point did you consider yourself a success?
Depends on what you mean by success. If you mean paying off 90% of my debt and not feeling guilty about eating out more than once a week, then I’d say maybe two years ago.
If you mean being rich and famous and showered with gimme-work, you’re talking to the wrong guy.
How long did it take you to get there?
See above. I know a few dudes I’d call established but for the most part it’s a freelance hustle which means never really feeling like you’re “there.” It’s more like lots of competition in a jittery, screwy market that’s often–if not always–impossible to read. The dudes I know who are established would probably even tell you they’re not, and they’ve been doing it over a decade.
Who do you look at in the film industry as someone you respect, that is “doing it right?”
What’s the biggest surprise for how you expected life to be at your level vs. how it actually is?
There’s not nearly as many hookers as I expected. Just kiddin.
I don’t know really. I wrote fiction for years before screenplays and that’ll breed in you a pretty good habit of never forming expectations of any kind, especially around recognition or compensation for your work. I guess the fact that there’s an industry in America that does compensate appropriately (or at all) for creative work is still the biggest life surprise for me before and after my change in focus.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to break in to screenwriting?
This’ll sound like a broken record to people who know me but my biggest piece of advice is always to have something ready. You can’t control when an opportunity is gonna come up but you sure as shit can control having a piece of product ready when one does.
Josh has a minimal (non-existent) internet presence, but you can keep up with his work via imdb.
Part 8 in the continuing saga where I ask the same five awesome questions of awesome people who do awesome things awesomely!
John Crist is a very funny and award-winning comedian from Denver, CO. He’s remarkably successful, having performed all around the U.S. including an opening stint for Louie Anderson in Vegas. John and I used to play in a band together, back when he was 15 and I was 19. One time, after playing out of town, we ended up staying with this stranger who proceeded to show us his knife collection right before we fell asleep. This is the kind of adolescence that leads to stand-up comedy.
At what point did you consider yourself a success?
I think there are moments along the journey that are milestone’s of sort that help point you in the direction of success. For example, the first time we won a contest I felt very successful. The first time we received a check from a comedy club I felt successful. If you’re going to pursue your dream, YOU have to decide what success is and go after that. People will try to judge your career based on their idea of success and that can be frustrating if you’re not focused.
How long did it take you to get there?
Years in the profession is one way to gauge it, but standup comedy, in many ways, is like skiing. When you ask someone how long they’ve been a skier, they could say 3 years. But if they’ve only skied three times in three years, they’re not technically lying to you, but its not the truth either. An actor could have an agent for three years but only done one job. Technically, they’ve been an ‘actor’ for three years, but they’re an amateur. I’ve taken the stage as a standup comedian 298 times.
Who do you look at in the comedy industry as someone you respect, that is “doing it right?”
Oh man, that depends on the perspective. I’ve always said my favorite comic is Katt Williams. He’s had some personal troubles and his act is crass at times but he speaks from the heart and I admire that a lot. I look up to Adam Carolla a lot too. Again, he can be very unsettling and dirty at times but he speaks from a place of passion and I love that. There’s a comic named Tim Hawkins that I really really like too. I also really respect the work of some of my fellow Denver comics: Sam Tallent, Ben Roy and Matt Baca.
What’s the biggest surprise for how you expected life to be at your level vs. how it actually is?
Great question. I have a quote from best selling author Jon Acuff on my wall. It reads
“Pursuing your dream is a grand insult to those who haven’t pursued theirs.”
I thought everyone would be supportive of my taking a risk and pursuing my dream. Turns out, not at all. When I left my job, one co-worker said, “I bet you’ll be begging for your job back in two months.” Every time I hear something like that, I write it down and use it at motivation. Whenever someone makes a choice to pursue greatness, it calls average people’s lives into question. I watch this short YouTube clip every Monday morning:
What advice would you give to someone wanting to break in to stand-up comedy?
Just do it. Over and over and over and over again. Just do it.
Part 7 in a continuing series (inspired by THIS POST) where I ask the same five questions of different creative professionals with the goal of forming a better idea of what success looks like at various rungs on the ladder in industries such as film, comics, music, and more.
Jacob York is an incredibly gifted theatre and film actor living in Atlanta, GA (with less desirable Kentucky roots). He’s been in like a bazillion plays, but I had the pleasure of working with him as the star of our short film, Rooney’s World. Jacob is also a talented writer and has that rare star quality that almost guarantees that he’ll get me into an exclusive club one day… as long as I can still get him to return my calls.
At what point did you consider yourself a success?
Hmm. I honestly don’t know that I consider myself a success yet. I’m a success in that I am paying all of my bills by people giving me money for saying things with my mouth, which is awesome, but I’m still not at the level that I’d like to be. For instance, I’m a fairly successful theatre actor in Atlanta, working pretty consistently, However, I’ve had virtually no success on camera, with Rooney’s World being the only film I’ve been paid to be in.
It’s all in the eye of the beholder, though, and I do recognize that I’m incredibly fortunate to be working as much as I am, which is quite a bit.
How long did it take you to get there?
I got started late and milled around Western Kentucky for much longer than I should have. I got started on my professional acting career, in earnest, when I was… what, 24? 25? Thereabouts. But, once I got started, “success”, so to speak, came reasonably quickly. It was just a matter of getting out there and doing the work.
Who do you look at in the film and/or theater industry as someone you respect, that is “doing it right?”
Personally, my buddy Nick Arapoglou is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, doing it right. He’s a super successful theatre actor, and is constantly booking things on camera. Examples of him doing it right are easy. He’s a hard worker, a nice guy, a talented actor, he knows how to take advantage of his opportunities without screwing people over. He’s top notch, and is going to work forever.
Also, in a general sense, anyone who is doing their own work, obstacles be damned, is doing it right.
What’s the biggest surprise for how you expected life to be at your level vs. how it actually is?
I feel like these questions are presuming that I’m a lot more successful than I am. I’ll be honest, I didn’t anticipate that I’d ever be able to make a living through acting. I always assumed I’d end up being a teacher of some sort. So, frankly, the surprise is that I can actually do it. I expected my life to be different because I wouldn’t have this life. I have it! How exciting!
What advice would you give to someone wanting to break in to acting?
A quote from Aziz Ansari -
“Never stop hustlin’. When you feel like quitting the hustle, start hustling harder. When you’ve hustled harder and you’re like, “Ok, I can take a break from hustling.” Then.. YOU HUSTLE EVEN HARDER.”
If you want it, go get it. Because no one is going to give you anything.
So, here’s the deal. Starting the second week of a series of interviews where I ask the same five questions of friends that I respect in different industries such as film, comics, music, and more. The goal is to get a more realistic idea of what it looks like to “climb the ladder” of success and whether or not there is such a thing as “breaking in.”
Shane Houghton is the incredibly nice, clever, and funny writer behind the fantastic all-ages comic series, Reed Gunther, drawn by his equally nice and talented brother, Chris, and published by Image Comics. He’s also written comics for licensed properties such as The Simpsons, Peanuts, and Casper. If that wasn’t enough (for a 26 year old!), he’s also a talented filmmaker.
At what point did you consider yourself a success?
I don’t think I have considered myself a success yet! I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given, but I still have a lot of goals to accomplish. Personally, I feel like I’ve just now began to scratch the beginning of what I’ve always wanted to do. I really enjoy working with my brother, Chris (artist and co-creator of REED GUNTHER), and I hope we can continue making our bear-riding cowboy comic, REED GUNTHER, come up with more creator-owned comics, and even run an animated TV show together.
How long did it take you to get there?
I’ve been writing comics for about 4 years. But really, that was when the first issue of REED GUNTHER came out. When my brother and I first started self-publishing REED GUNTHER, we were releasing about two issues a year, which means I only wrote 64 pages a year for two years. While we were working on Reed, I wrote a few other short comics (2, 6, and 8 pagers) so my brother and I could flex some different creative muscles.
After about 2 years of self-publishing REED GUNTHER in black and white, we started getting some attention from publishers. Dark Horse asked us to pitch some stories for STAR WARS ADVENTURES, a digest sized self contained story. I wrote 10 pages of outline for three different stories (which I thought were pretty awesome) but Dark Horse ended up turning them down. The one-page version of those pitches and some artwork are posted on a blog we like to call: Rejected Comics by Shane and Chris Houghton. You can see all of our failed pitches there including lots of submissions to MAD MAGAZINE, KUNG FU PANDA, and Dark Horse’s CREEPY.
Around this same time, Image Comics became interested in re-releasing REED GUNTHER and having us continue the series. We finally came out nationally thanks to Image, in color, in June of 2011. Now it’s been one full year and we have 10 issues of REED GUNTHER and two trade paperbacks.
Because of Reed, I also have had the opportunity to write for a few other books including CASPER’S SCARE SCHOOL, PEANUTS, and THE SIMPSONS’ TREEHOUSE OF HORROR. But there have been plenty of failed pitches for lots of other properties.
Who do you look at in the comics industry as someone you respect, that is “doing it right?”
As a writer, Sam Humphries (writer of OUR LOVE IS REAL, HIGHER EARTH, and Marvel’s ULTIMATES) is doing it best. Sam has been hovering around the comic creating business for years. He created MySpace Comics when that was a thing. He knows everyone in comics and has been attending San Diego for like a billion years. Sam and I have been friends way before either of us was anything in the comics industry– before he wrote the FRAGGLE ROCK story that put him on the map and before REED GUNTHER was at Image.
I’ve seen Sam work at San Diego for the last three years and he is doing it right. Sam is there not to sell his book(s), but to sell himself. He doesn’t have a table, but floats from signing to signing at BOOM!, Archaia, Marvel… And meets and parties with editors constantly. He gets a hotel real close so he can take naps during the middle of the day. Something I couldn’t ever do because I have a table to cover. Sam also knows a lot of press folks and comes up with new and innovating ways to promote his new books. Press guys love that so they’re helping each other out. Sam knows his jam.
What’s the biggest surprise for how you expected life to be at your level vs. how it actually is?
That’s tough. I never really knew what life was going to be like after college. Up until you graduate from college, everything is set up and pre-planned. In school you always know you’ll move up to the next grade, then high school, then college. But after, everything is up to you. I got a boring day job for a while, but it took me a few years before I could freelance and transition into writing comics full time.
By the way, I only started writing comics full time this year, around April. So I haven’t been doing it long and I could totally crash and burn. Plus I’m getting married this year, which is pretty crazy. So those are both things that are surprises to me the year… sort of. Both writing full time and getting married are things I’ve been working at and developing for years! So it’s cool they’re both happening around the same time.
I’m 26, and if you ask me what my 5-year plan is, I’ll laugh in your face. Well, probably not because that seems mean, but what I’m saying is that I have no idea what I’m doing 5 months from now. Hopefully still working and married. Those are my goals into my very limited near future.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to break in to the comics industry?
DO IT! If you want to get in, start working. Don’t wait until someone gives you an opportunity because they won’t until you have shown them what you can do. My brother and I self-published for two years before we got a chance at Image. Check out our failed pitches site and you can see a ton of work we did that never went anywhere. And there’s a lot more stuff that isn’t on that site. But hopefully you’re doing what you do because you love doing it. And that is the reward right there. No one gets into comics for the money, because you can make a lot more of it doing a lot less work. Enjoy what you do and then don’t stop doing it.
You can keep up with Shane and Chris and their bear-riding cowboy at reedgunther.com or buy the first two volumes of the comic here and here.
Hey gang, been a while since I updated this. So what have I been doing with my time? Writing, of course!
