Writing a Trailer for your Screenplay

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:

 

 

Views from the Middle with Josh Parkinson

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?”

Dave Kajganich.  Jeff Nichols.  Craig Zobel.  David Green.  Jody Hill.  Robert Rodriguez.

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.

Views from the Middle with Kevin Miller

This is the second part in an interview series I’m doing asking the same five questions of creative professionals.  The goal is hopefully to give young writers, filmmakers, artists, and musicians a more realistic view of what success (or ‘breaking in’) looks like in each of these industries.

Kevin Miller is a screenwriter and filmmaker from Abbotsford, BC.  His many credits include the feature films No Saints for Sinners and After… as well as the documentaries spOILed and Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Kevin’s latest film is also his directorial debut, a feature-length documentary called Hellbound?, which takes on the traditional doctrine of hell.  He also teaches screenwriting at film schools and conferences around the world.  I’m privileged to call such a smart and talented guy my friend.  Even if he is Canadian.

At what point did you consider yourself a success?

I still haven’t reached that point, to be honest. I saw an interview with Conan O’Brien the other night where he admitted that even after nearly two decades on TV, he still worries it’s all going to end 30 minutes from now. I can certainly identify with that. I think every creative person’s deepest fear is that one day they will be revealed as a fraud.

Even though I’ve worked on a number of films, some of which have been well received and earned millions of dollars, I always feel like I have to put a footnote beneath each one explaining the parts that make me cringe.

On another level, with my current film, Hellbound?, I feel a huge step closer to feeling a bit more secure about my abilities. That’s because on this film, I have a much fuller sense of authorship than on any other. Typically, I’ve been a screenwriter, co-writer and/or associate producer. On this film, I raised the money, put the team together, wrote, directed and assisted in the editing of the film. And now I am helping to manage marketing and distribution as well. So while it’s far too early to tell if this film is a success, it is a tremendously satisfying creative experience. And the fact that our film has already earned the approval of so many of my friends and mentors helps me sleep a little better at night.

How long did it take you to get there?

Not sure if this question is relevant in light of my previous response. I’ll let you know when/if it happens. However, I can say there have been brief moments going all the way back to the first line of poetry I wrote in grade 5 where I’ve had a flash of insight that says, “Hey, I think I might be onto something here.”

There’s always this gap between what you envision and what you finally create in the end. I can say I think that gap is closing steadily. But I think it’ll always be there.

Hellbound? Official Theatrical Trailer HD from Kevin Miller on Vimeo.

Who do you look at in the movie industry as someone you respect, that is “doing it right?”

I’m a big fan of two types of filmmakers. The first are writer-directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coen brothers and Darren Aronofsky who manage to retain their artistic integrity while employing the entire myth-making machinery of Hollywood to their advantage. These guys consistently produce beautiful, insightful and important films. I’m truly in awe of their work.

The other type of filmmaker I admire is exemplified by people like George Lucas and James Cameron. These guys aren’t content to simply make movies. They see so far beyond the curve that before they can even make their movies, they have to change the way movie-making is done. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of every film they’ve created. But I have a deep appreciation for their commitment to innovation and excellence. It’s also humbling to be reminded constantly of how small my mind is in comparison.

What’s the biggest surprise for how you expected life to be at your level vs. how it actually is?

The money! (Or lack thereof.) I think everyone enters this business thinking/hoping that one day they’ll win the lottery, so to speak. Not true. At least not in my case. I can’t complain–I live in a relatively new house on the edge of town, I’m able to treat my kids to nice presents at Christmas and so on. But I’ve been a freelancer for 12 years, and that doesn’t always equate to financial security. We have had many highs and lows over the years.

People also expect this line of work to be somewhat glamorous. I know I certainly did. However, you quickly learn that the glamorous moments–if they even happen–are fleeting at best. Most of the time I’m in the field, on a plane or in my office at home. I jokingly tell people that making movies is about long hours of self-torture and self-doubt punctuated by brief moments of elation. So celebrate those moments when you can.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to break in to screenwriting or filmmaking?

Two things:

1. There is no substitute for learning your craft. A few lucky people can fake it for a while. But if you want to have a long, fruitful career in this industry, you need to work, work, work. Educate yourself. If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a filmmaker, make films. I’ve learned more about making spoof movie trailers with my kids than I have on actual film sets.

2. You’re only as good as your network. Like any business, film making is based primarily on relationships. I’ve gotten most of my jobs through connections from previous projects. What you know–and are able to do–is important. But who you know is vital. The thing I would warn against is using networking as a form of procrastination. I know people who feel like they’re filmmakers or screenwriters just because they’re able to score meetings or because they’ve met someone famous. The only thing that makes you a screenwriter or a filmmaker is the credit on the screen.

You can keep up with Kevin and his new film Hellbound? at hellboundthemovie.com.  And you can now view the trailer on iTunes!

The View from the Middle

So, I live in Roswell, GA.  It’s a suburb of Atlanta.  And as much as I love living in Atlanta, the big thing we’re missing is a body of water.  The closest beach is about a 5-hour drive.  (Unless you count the local lake… which, I mean, come on).  We do have a perfectly good river though, and thanks to that river, we in Roswell have a waterfall.

Roswell has a lot of history to it.  The town was built around an old cotton mill – a mill that was once used to make Confederate uniforms for the Civil War (before it was burned to the ground).  And to power this mill, they built a 30 ft. dam.

The ruins of this mill and the dam are now one of the most beautiful areas in the Atlanta area.  It looks like this:

Today, while exploring the falls, I was trying to navigate my way up a rocky path.  As I looked up, it was clear there was only one way up.  Every other possible path was either too dangerous or blocked by thick brush.

So I followed this one and only path to the top and looked back down.  What I discovered was this:

The brush wasn’t as thick as I assumed.  The dangerous rocks were safe and level.  There were many paths to the top.  I just couldn’t see them because of my limited view.  

And as I stood at the top, looking back down, it occurred to me… this is a great cheesy metaphor!

But that’s what life is like, right?  Especially for creatives.  We may be paralyzed by fear of the unknown.  We may be convinced that the path we want to go down is blocked or that the journey to the top is too risky.  It’s only when we make it to our destination and look back down that we see how clear the path really was.

I met a guy the other day who referred to himself as “an unsuccessful writer.”  When I told him that “success is just a mindset,” he replied “that’s something only successful writers say.”

My first thought was “He’s somehow been fooled into thinking I’m a successful writer!  What a sucker!”  But I suppose it’s true, I have found a little success in writing.  I’m still not doing it full time, but I do have a body of work to show for the past 8 years.  I’ve sold screenplays.  I’ve made a well-received short film.  I’ve had comics published on websites that I respect.  I’ve spoken at a conference on storytelling.  But it’s only looking back on these accomplishments that I feel anything resembling success.  While in the middle of the journey, these are very small steps surrounded by ten times that many disappointments and failures.

The only difference between me and this “unsuccessful writer” was that he just couldn’t yet see his path.  The further you climb, the clearer the path becomes.  You just have to keep moving forward.

Success is just a combination of time and consistency.  To constantly be producing over a long period of time.  Focus on the good, not the bad.  Overcome your fears.  Put your head down and keep climbing.  You’ll have plenty of time to figure out the path when you get to the top.

What separates you from the professionals in your field?

If only you’d get that big break.  If only you knew the right person.  If only your family was more connected.  If only you had just a little more luck.  If only you had more money, more free time, more guts, then you’d be doing your passion full time, right?

If only… If only…

The truth is, the only thing separating you and the professionals in your field is the amount of time you’ve put into your craft.  

I’m not basing that on my own experiences, but on the experience of those professionals.  In the words of three writers from film, comics, & books:

Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin)

I made the observation that anyone who worked at a job for ten years invariably became an expert at that job. This insight freed me from the fear of picking a so-called ‘impossible’ job. I could pick any field I wanted, free of intimidation, because it was guaranteed I would become an expert… if I was willing to stick to it for ten years. So I picked the job I really wanted deep in my heart: writing for movies.

Since Ted and I were going to be working and studying screenwriting for ten years, that took some of the pressure off. It doesn’t make sense to kick yourself after failing at something for four years, when the path you’re on is designed to take ten. This allowed a period of time to undertake an analysis and exploration of the business, the techniques, the craft, the history, etc. Step by step, from style to format to character to concept to theme, etc. In other words, we gave ourselves room to practice.

Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Lost)

Write more, do other stuff less.

That’s it. Everything else is meaningless. You can take all the classes in the world and read every book on the craft out there, but at the end of the day, writing is sorta like dieting. There are plenty of stupid fads out there and charlatans promising quick fixes, but if you want to lose weight, you have to exercise more and eat less. Period. Every writer has 10,000 pages of shit in them, and the only way your writing is going to be any good at all is to work hard and hit 10,001.

And this isn’t just some tired cliche, I believe that’s a provable mathematical equation. I started writing five pages a day, every single day, when I began my senior year of high school. That means I hit 10,001 roughly a year after I graduated NYU, which was exactly when I pitched Y: THE LAST MAN to Vertigo.

Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Blink)

An innate gift and a certain amount of intelligence are important, but what really pays is ordinary experience. Bill Gates is successful largely because he had the good fortune to attend a school that gave him the opportunity to spend an enormous amount of time programming computers-more than 10,000 hours… The Beatles had a musical gift, but what made them the Beatles was a random invitation to play in Hamburg, Germany, where they performed live as much as five hours a night, seven days a week. That early opportunity for practice made them shine. Talented? Absolutely. But they also simply put in more hours than anyone else.

…to invest an extraordinary amount of time in pursuing that particular passion. Again, not just for a little time. The magic number for them, for Mozart, and for so many outliers, as I call them, appears to be 10,000 hours.

10 years.  

10,000 pages.  

10,000 hours.  

How close are you to these milestones?  How much time have you spent deliberately practicing your craft today?  Be pro-active.  Get feedback.  What area’s are you weak in?  How can you work to actively build those skills?  Give yourself time.  Be patient.  Enjoy this period in your life.

It’s easy to create one piece of art and then sit around complaining that no one wants it.  You can blame luck, you can blame nepotism, you can blame your financial situation, but there’s only one thing standing in the way of your success.

If you want to be a professional, you’ve got to put the time in.  There are no short cuts.

Top Five Screenwriting Resources

For the past 7 or 8 years I’ve been soaking up as much information on screenwriting as possible.  I’ve probably read dozens of books on writing, listened to hundreds of interviews, read thousands of articles.  This was my film-school.

These days I’m having less and less time for research, as I spend that time ACTUALLY WRITING, but I think it’s an important process for those starting out.

What follows is a list of my favorite resources, and the ones that I still revisit on a regular basis:

Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!

If you only track down one resources from this list, make it this one.  Written by the State alum Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon, it’s one of the only screenwriting books you’ll find written by ACTUAL SCREENWRITERS.  It’s also incredibly funny.

The book is split into two parts.  Part One: Selling Your Movie takes you through the process of what it’s like to work as a writer in Hollywood – How to Pitch Your Movie, Our Lunch With Jackie Chan, and Why Does Almost Every Studio Movie SUCK Donkey Balls?  It’s pretty eye-opening to learn what the job of a screenwriter actually entails.

The second part, Part Two: Writing A Screenplay, tells you how to… write a screenplay.  Structure, characters, drinking too much, and it’s all fantastic advice from guys who do this stuff for a living.  All you need to write a movie is right here.

Don’t let the cover fool you.  It’s a very smart book.  And in a sea of boring screenwriting books, this is the one that stands out.

The Coffee Break Screenwriter: Writing Your Script Ten Minutes at a Time

Written by Pilar Alessandra, a speaker and script consultant, the book is cutely divided in to ten-minute chunks and filled with ten-minute exercises.  It walks you through the writing of a screenplay from beginning to end.  Extremely detailed, great content on structure and with a much-needed emphasis on rewriting.  And yeah, it literally tells you how to write a movie on your coffee breaks.  So no more complaining that you don’t have time.

This is the only book I still reference while I’m writing.  It helps me focus on specific areas of need when I get lost.  Like having my own little script consultant.

Wordplayer.com

52 essays on the craft and business of screenwriting.  This site has been around for a while and isn’t much to look at, but these essays are just wonderful.  Written by Pirates of the Caribbean writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, you can tell that the articles were born out of real-life screenplay problem solving.  This is the only screenwriting website I recommend checking out.  Not because other’s aren’t any good, but because this puts them all to shame.

The Q&A / Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast

An amazing wealth of screenwriting knowledge, The Q&A is usually about an hour long and features interviews with screenwriters of new (and sometimes old) films.  Hosted by Jeff Goldsmith, who after a few listens, you’ll just be dying to make fun of, but he’s one of the best interviewers out there.  He consistently asks great questions and gets the information you wanna know.

You can find older interviews in the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast.  Same guy, same format, just a different name.  You’ll probably find your favorite screenwriter in there somewhere.

Screenwriting Tips You Hack

Xander Bennett gives you short, daily screenwriting tips.  This is also a book.  And a website.  But since all these tips are pretty short, Twitter is the perfect spot for them.  Go back and read all of them – there’s over a 1000.

Honorable Mentions:

Website: ScriptShadow – Carson Reeves reviews unproduced screenplays.

Podcast: ScriptNotes – John August & Craig Mazin discuss the business of screenwriting.

Book: Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies – Blake Snyder walks you through hundreds of examples of structure used in popular movies.

Do you have any favorites that I missed?  Leave a comment and let me know!

• Explosions Part II (in which I disagree with myself)

My last post talked essentially about the importance of selling out, slightly tongue in cheek, but still solid advice.  This time I’m gonna throw all that out the window.

I recently picked up the must-read book If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland.  I recommend it to anyone who works creatively.  The main theme of the book is “everybody is talented, original and has something important to say.”  Which I completely agree with.  Interestingly she says the ones without anything to say are the ones to whom writing comes easily.  Because they just blurt out without investing anything into it.  Remember – if it’s hard, you’re probably doing it right!

Ueland says it better than I do, so lets jump right into her words:

“It is our nasty twentieth-century materialism that makes us feel: what is the use of writing, painting, etc., unless one has an audience or gets cash for it?  Socrates and the men of the Renaissance did so much because the rewards were intrinsic, i.e., the enlargement of the soul.“

“Yes we are all thoroughly materialistic about such things. ‘What’s the use?’ we say, of doing anything unless you make money or get applause? for when a man is dead, he is dead.’  Socrates and the Greeks decided that a man’s life should be devoted to ‘the tendance of the Soul’ (Soul included intelligence, imagination, spirit, understanding, personality) for the soul lived eternally, in all probability.”

“I think it is all right to work for money, to work to have things enjoyed by people, even very limited ones; but the mistake is to feel that the work, the effort, the search is not the important and the exciting thing.  One cannot strive to write a cheap, popular story without learning moe about cheapness.”

During his life, van Gough made a total of 109 dollars from all his paintings, yet his art transcends time because this is a man that believed “The world only concerns me in so far as I feel a certain debt and duty towards it and out of gratitude want to leave some souvenir  in the shape of drawings or pictures – not made to please a certain tendency in art, but to express sincere human feeling.”

Ueland goes on to say that if you write with “real love and imagination and intelligence” you may very well become famous and make a ton of money, BUT “if nothing is ever published at all and you never make a cent, just the same it will be good that you have worked.”

The reason I made this a part two is that I love the contradiction of working in Hollywood, where everything is about money and fame, while trying to make honest, transparent art that reveals beauty.  I believe the two CAN co-exist (though they rarely do) and this is my goal.

• Explosions!

So I went to see Drive a month or so ago, the Ryan Gosling flick.  It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of his and I thought the film was fantastic, one of my favs from the year so far (Top 3 – along with Moneyball & Harry Potter 7 part II).  But there’s a bit of a controversy surrounding it because a lot of people went into the film expecting to see Transporter 4 (are there really THREE of these???), and instead got a love story.

Personally, I thought it was very much an action film, but apparently the guy sitting behind me in the theater disagreed as he turned to his date and said “This movie should be called ‘Talk’”.

And last week I saw this:

(Courtesy joblo.com)

What you see in this chart is the number of explosions per Michael Bay movie alongside the amount of money each movie made.  More explosions = more money!

And it made me wonder.  Do people really just want to go to movies to see explosions?  Was the success of Transformers: Dark of the Moon due simply to special effects?  Would Drive have been more of a success if it had a couple more car chases in it?

But I don’t think it’s so much explosions exactly as much as it is delivering on the promise of the premise, whether that be thrills in an action movie or laughs in a comedy.  People go to the movies with a certain expectation.  Apparently a LOT of people want to see people drive fast, blow stuff up, and hear guitar solos.  And, as a writer, if you can deliver on that expectation, you will probably make a lot of money.

Now, I didn’t get into writing to (only) make money.  It’s my desire to tell stories that challenge people to live better lives.  And Drive did this for me, challenged me, reminded me that unconditional love is real and that life is short.  It reached me with a level of honesty that is unfortunately rare in film.

I think it’s safe to say that not one person was challenged to live a better life by watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon.   But a HELL of a lot of people saw it.

Whether you like it or not, when you work on the canvas of massive, explosion-laded movies, you have a larger audience to reach.  Is it possible to deliver on what the mass-audience wants and still challenge them?  Of course it is.  Does it happen very often?  Unfortunately, no.  But that’s where you, the writer comes in.  The producers & directors may only care about delivering a visually stimulating movie, but it’s your job to write a film that reaches through those explosions to challenge brains and touch hearts.

So my challenge is to all creatives (not just writers): how can you make art that reaches the widest audience possible that still challenges them in a unique and life-changing ways?

• Defining Yourself to Define Your Characters

When you think about your friends and family what pops into your mind?  Is it their clothes?  Their job?  Or is it the thousands of hours you’ve spent together where they’ve either gone out of their way for you… or didn’t.

For me, people are defined by four things:

1. How they treat other people.

2. Their dreams and passions.

3. Their environment (people, places, & things that surround them.)

4. Their career.

You may disagree with my order here, but it’s an important lesson to learn how other people see you.  To learn how to define yourself.  First and foremost, it’s how you treat others.  I think that’s pretty hard to argue, yet we spend an awful lot of time trying to define ourselves with the latter two.  As a professional writer, treating people with respect and love should be a higher priority for you than to be a great writer.

Now, apply that to the characters you write.  How often do we try to define our characters using career or environment?  Those are just facts, paper definitions.  They don’t tell you anything about a person.

I challenge you to attempt to write characters that are defined by their decisions, by the way they treat others, by what they do when faced with adversity.  This is how we get unique, well-defined characters.

• Thoughts on Stakes

I just got done watching Moneyball – completely blew me away.  Loved it.  And it got me thinking about sports movies and how I’m so thoroughly engrossed in them – and I don’t even like sports!  Yet, I love action movies, romantic comedies, science fiction – all genres with much bigger stakes than just playing a game.  So what is it about this magical genre?  A couple things occurred to me:

1. Everyone can relate to a dreamer.

And sports are all about dreams.  A little kid playing baseball with his dad.  All he wants to be when he grows up is a baseball player.  He works hard, finally gets his big shot.  You can replace “baseball” with acting or ballet or politics, but the dreams remain the same.  Everyone can relate to it.

For a lot of the world, they hang up on those dreams somewhere in or around college.  So when we see someone on screen, living out those dreams, we see ourselves living out those dreams.  It’s a “what if” scenario.  What if I had stuck with piano lessons?  What if I had written that novel?  What if I had traveled the world?  Everyone asks these questions, and it’s those questions we want to see lived out on the screen.

A hero who follows his dreams in the face of adversity is always a good story.  No genre does this as well as Sports, but it can be applied to every genre.

2. There’s always a clear goal (or basket or touchdown.)

In the Sports genre, there’s always a final hurdle.  And it’s clearly defined:  Win the state championship.  Go toe-to-toe with Apollo Creed.  Defeat Johnny and his Cobra Kai pals.  We usually know from very early on what that goal is and we’re along for the ride.

Almost always, our heroes are the underdogs.  They are the LEAST likely to win.  But they put that goal in site and don’t stop until they’ve arrived.  And that’s key to a great character.  We love someone who dreams big, and we love someone who doesn’t give up.

3. It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

In writing classes, they always say raise the stakes.  Yet, the larger the stakes, I believe the less you relate to them.  The world is going to blow up?  First of all, no it isn’t.  Secondly, I have no frame of reference for that.  What does that mean to me?  I can’t relate to it.  I’ve never been put in that position.

So, then they say make it personal.  Your daughter is kidnapped?  Okay, I can relate to what it must be like to lose a loved one.  What if she dies?  Well, in this scenario, there is only one way for our hero to win: rescue his daughter.  And that’s boring, because we expect it.  Some gutsy filmmaker might have the daughter die in the end, but then our hero is destroyed.  He’s a failure.  There’s no satisfying arc in that, (at least not in the same way Sports movies are satisfying.)

How do Sports movies do it differently?  By creating a scenario where win or lose, the hero succeeds.

Two of my favorite Sports movies are Rocky & the Karate Kid – both referenced earlier.  Both are similar stories.  Guys who don’t stand a chance, up against insane odds.  They stick to their guns, no matter what obstacles come their way (and they face a lot of obstacles), and finally arrive at their goal.  Simply arriving at that goal is an accomplishment.  Enough to end the movie right there.  But there’s that last hurdle.  That final goal that’s been driving the film.  And as a result of everything that came before it, you pull for them to win even more.  You are invested.

At this point Rocky & Karate Kid have two different endings: One wins the big fight and one doesn’t.  (I won’t specify which one is which in case for some weird reason you haven’t seen them.)  But both are equally satisfying.  And I believe that they are so satisfying because they are unpredictable.

If your goal for your action hero is to save your daughter or she dies – they are probably going to save their daughter.  If your goal for your action hero is to keep the world from blowing up – they are probably going to keep the world from blowing up.  These are predictable endings.

Is it possible to take an action film or a romantic comedy or a sci-fi film and create an ending that is both unpredictable and satisfying no matter how it ends?  Sports movies do it all the time.

I had no idea how Moneyball was going to end.  Leading up to and even after the final hurdle.  Yet, had the movie gone in either direction, it would’ve been a satisfying ending.  I think that’s remarkable writing.

• Look Them in the Eyes (or how everything I know about networking I learned from dating)

My brother is a born salesman, he’s constantly rising the corporate ladder of whatever fill-in-the-blank company he’s currently working for.  He quits one job, immediately gets a new higher paying one.  He started a coffee shop from scratch, only to turn around and sell it six months later.  He’s one part Gordon Gecko, one part Patrick Bateman.

If “born salesman” is at one end of the spectrum, then “starving artist” as at the other.  One look at my bank account, and I’ll let you guess where I land (usually in the negative).

I have a theory for this.  I believe that creatives usually have some kind of pain in their past, and as a result disappeared into their imaginations to deal with it.  This is certainly true of myself.  And while this has led to a rather creative & talented mind, it’s also led to a terribly shy, somewhat bumbling personality.  If you’re anything like my brother, then this essay is not for you.

For us creatives, the problem is that if we ever want to be successful (read: pay our rent) then we have to be salesmen.  We have to master self-promotion.  Here is my 4-step process to doing so.

1. Get out of your comfort zone.

I would much rather sit at home typing safely into my computer than put myself out in the real world.  The real world is harsh.  Rejection is personal.  Technology provides us with a buffer of safety.  You don’t have to look in the eyes of someone who is telling you your life-long dream is a terrible idea (there’s also nothing more satisfying than looking into the eyes of someone who “gets it.”)  But in the world of writing, at least in film or comics, it is extremely hard (if not impossible) to “break-in” from behind your computer.

In the past month I’ve gone to two events – Nashville Screenwriting Conference in Tennessee and HeroesCon in North Carolina.  Both provided me with experiences and contacts that would never be made sitting at home.  I personally believe that you don’t have to move to a new city to follow your dreams (some professionals disagree with me), but I do believe you have to at least travel to where others in your industry are from time to time.  Both comics & film are about relationships.  Talent takes you a long way, but nothing replaces relationships.

2. Look them in the eye.

Craig Mazin, the screenwriter behind Hangover 2, told a story at the Nashville Screenwriting Conference about an anonymous writer who slid a letter under his hotel room door.  In the letter, the author introduced herself and stated that she had left her script for Craig to read at the first desk.  Craig said that this person made the wrong decision and he refused to read the script.

This was of course an awkward story as the author was sitting in the room, but it was a very important lesson.  If you want to make it, you have to have the guts to put yourself out there.  Nothing replaces a handshake.  Nothing replaces looking someone in the eye.  Craig will forever know this writer as the writer too afraid to face him in person.  Would he have read it if they did talk to him in person?  Maybe not, but they would have at least had the opportunity to make a good first impression.

3. Sell a personality.

Great stories are about great characters.  The first ten minutes of a film should set up your character so that the audience falls in love with them, so they are invested in that character’s plight for the next 90 minutes.  No matter how great the plot is, if the character’s aren’t worth investing in, the story suffers.  The same applies to your career.  You could have a great plot (written ten screenplays, shot a bunch of shorts, created a 1000 page graphic novel) but if the powers-that-be are not interested in YOU, then they won’t be interested in your art.  (And by powers-that-be I mean the gatekeeepers: agents, publishers, pros, managers, producers, investors, etc.)

If you stay behind your computer screen, you are nothing but a product.  A faceless, personality-lacking, dime-a-dozen drone.  Your greatest product is yourself.  Get out and sell you.  BUT your first goal should not be to “sell them.”  Just like a bad salesman, the gatekeepers can see you coming a mile away.  Don’t be the telemarketer.

I don’t know much about sales, but this sounds like something they would say: “You have to earn someone’s trust before you can sell to them.”  The key is trust.  The key is friendships.  If you come up to someone and immediately start in with your pitch, they never get a chance to know your personality, only your product.

4. It’s a date.

Practically speaking, how do you “sell yourself?”  Well, think of it as a date.  What’s the worst thing you can do on a first date? Talk all about yourself.  The key to getting that second date is asking questions (and to actually be interested in the answers).  Getting to know the person sitting across from you.  If it’s a good date, they’ll be interested in you as well, and that will hopefully lead to a second “date” where you can talk more about your career and goals.  And if they aren’t, then you politely move on to the next suitor.

The thing is, in the grand scheme of things, these friendships are going to be more important than whatever career you have anyway.  The friendships I’ve made in the industry, I wouldn’t trade for anything, not even “success.”  Life is ultimately about relationships – the people we bump into while we’re busy living life.  Those are the moments that really matter.

In the opening paragraph I made my brother out to be this superhero, but the truth is his success lies in the same principles I’m discussing here.  This was made clear to me when he recently shared his definition for success, quoting Sir Winston Churchill: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Just like dating, you’re going to have some bad ones.  You’re going to get hurt.  You’re going to be beat down and disappointed.  You’re going to fail a lot.  But if you keep at it, you will find what you’re looking for.

- Hudson

• STORYLIVING

My 9th grade science teacher used to say “no question is a stupid question” but I like to think I put that to the test.  My first semester I ended up with an ‘F’ in the class, due in part to a leaf project in which I made up my own leaves.  I thought it was creative.  My teacher thought I was an idiot.

A question I see asked a lot of other writers is “where do you find your inspiration?”  And my first though is “if you aren’t inspired a million times a day with ideas, then you’re probably not a writer.”  Or at least not a very good one.  Now, I’m not saying it’s a stupid question, but… yeah, okay I am.

Luckily, even if you are a terrible writer who asks stupid questions, there is a way to become a great writer who asks smart questions.  And the key doesn’t lie in reading scripts or taking classes or collecting all the great books or watching all the great films.

The key lies in living a life worth writing about.

They say “write about what you know,” but obviously if I wrote about what I know, I’d be writing stories about guys who sit in front of their computer checking Facebook all day.  (And even though last year’s Oscar winning adapted screenplay ended this way, I wouldn’t recommend it.)

So what does “write about what you know” mean?  Well it means write about emotional journeys.  Write about theme’s that are important to you.  Write about life lessons that you’ve learned as you’ve LIVED life.  And that’s the key to being a great writer.  In order to be a great storyteller, you have to be a great storyliver.  (See what I did there?  I know, it’s very Tony Robbins, but hey, that guy’s a billionaire, so there.)

When’s the last time you went on an adventure?  The last time you took a risk?

Stop reading this right now and go drive to the beach.  What’s that?  You live in Arizona?  Good!  More adventure for you.  That girl sitting next to you who you’re afraid to talk to?  Ask her out.  That job that you’ve done for ten years and hate?  Go quit.  The brother you haven’t talked to since that fight last Thanksgiving?  Go visit him.  Go hiking.  Go hitchhiking.  Crash a wedding.  Jump on a moving train.  Run a marathon.  Take up skateboarding.  Go perform at an amateur stand-up comedy night.  Strike up a conversation with that weird dude that hangs out in front of your apartment building.  Make a new friend.  Go treasure hunting.  Buy a motorcycle.  Surprise your wife with a different gift every day for a week.  Climb a mountain.  Eat something you’ve never tried before.  Get in a fight.  Build an orphanage.  Take a homeless person out to dinner.  Throw a dart at a map.  Go there.  Call up a random number and see how long you can keep the conversation going.  Take a break from all technology – tv, computer, phone – for an entire day, nay, a week.  Build something with your hands.  Plant a garden.  Make a list of 100 things you wanna do before you die, then do them.

A storyteller should have stories to tell.  Stories come from EXPERIENCING life.  You know why your grandparents have such great stories?  Because they’ve lived a life.  They’ve survived.  The truth is that 9 times out of 10 you are going to fail and you are going to be embarrassed and you are going to make a mess of things.  But success is defined not by what we accomplish, but by what we survive.  And those are the stories people wanna see up on the big screen.

There are some things you can’t learn by reading a book or watching a movie.  If you want to be a great writer, you have to live a life worth writing about.  Just like if you want to pass a leaf project, you have to go out and actually gather some leaves.

• So, you’ve written a screenplay? What to do next.

Wow… 10 months since my last post.  The thing is, I promised myself that when I started this site I would only post if I had something unique to say.  So, when I write an article for this site, it’s usually because I’m interested in something yet can’t find it already existing on the web.  I feel like I haven’t had much to say the past ten months, but I’d like to get back in the game when I have the time, starting with this one:

A friend of a friend told me he just completed a screenplay and wondered what he should do with it.  Good question, right?  I’ve had some MILD success in the area, so this is what I responded with.

1. Congratulations!
Writing a screenplay is hard work.  The fact that you finished one puts you ahead of the majority of “writers” out there.

2. Send queries (emails to people in the biz asking them to read your stuff).
I’ve heard some industry people say that this is useless and doesn’t work, but I can tell you it does because I’ve done it with some success.

I sent out about 100 emails when we finished Hourglass and got about 15 responses to read.   Of the 15 we sent to only about 5 actually read it.  All passed but it created some recognition with these reps so that when I finished my latest screenplay, I was able to use those same contacts.   The fact that we had already optioned something and that we had a lawyer probably helped.  Any contests you’ve won would also be a help, although ultimately it comes down to having an awesome idea.  If you’ve got a great logline, they’ll wanna read it.  Just be polite, professional, and brief.

Here is an article that mostly discusses writing loglines (which you’ll need when you send out the queries), but it also talks specifically about how to find emails for agents, managers, & producers and send them queries to read your script -

THEUNKNOWNSCREENWRITER.COM/THE-ELEVATOR-PITCH

3. Send your screenplay in for “coverage”.
Not only do you get honest feedback on your script, but if it’s good, they will forward your screenplay to agents/managers/producers.  Just be careful which coverage services you choose.  I would suggest these:

SCRIPT SHARK
SCRIPT XPERT

4. Enter your script into contests. If it’s good and it places, agents, managers, & producers will get ahold of it.  Here are links to ones I am aware of:

NICHOLL FELLOWSHIPS
AAA / CREATIVE SCREENWRITING
SCRIPTAPALOOZA
BIG BREAK / FINAL DRAFT

5. Collaborate. Be on the look-out for young, hungry directors.  With the advances in technology, directors are popping up everywhere online.  Many are looking for scripts to shoot in order to advance their own careers.  The same can be said for producers.  The best thing you can do is contact and network with others that are in a similar place as you.  The internet is your friend here.

6. Call in favors. Does your uncle’s dentist know a producer?  See if you can’t get the script to him.  It’s tacky and a little lame, but what’s it really gonna hurt?  Half of being a writer is being a salesman.

7. While you’re waiting on all that, write another script. Then another.  Then another.  You’re only as good as your next idea.  And every script gets better than the one before it.  It’s completely normal to write 5-10 screenplays before making your first sale, so the sooner you get to number 10, the better.  I sold my second script, yet I’m still struggling to ‘break in,’ and I’ve written three more since then.  According to Malcolm Gladwell, if you do anything for 10,000 hours (or approx. ten years) you become an expert, so give yourself time.

• Writer’s Anonymous Pt. 1: Time Management w/ Dave Accampo

Writer’s Anonymous is a new multi-part series I’m working on where I interview entry/mid level writers about lifestyle subjects such as organization, prioritizing, and dealing with rejection.

This is not about how to write or how to break into the business, but about the everyday mental and emotional journey of the writer. Hopefully these articles will give writers a place to know they are not alone in that journey.

In the first installment, I interview David Accampo about finding time in his busy schedule for his many writing projects.

David, along with frequent collaborator Jeremy Rogers, has developed a number of critically lauded pitches, shorts, and feature-length screenplays. He is a co-founder of the independent production company, Habit Forming Films, LLC where he and Jeremy wrote, directed, and produced three award winning films. Additionally, David writes, produces, & edits “Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery,” a full-cast audio drama he co-created.

All of this in addition to a day job.

What all do you have going on right now creatively?

Habit Forming Films has launched the third season of our audio series, Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery. We’re in the midst of the post-production on an 8-part series we’re calling Wormwood: Portraits. I edited the first two installments, and right now I have a break before I have to go back to the editing room for Episode 5.

And during this break, I’ve decided to use the advent of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to knock out a draft of a novel that I’ve been mulling over for a year.

How much time do these creative projects take out of your day?

Wormwood varies — it’s a three part process. First, we write the episodes. This usually involves a writer’s meeting via Skype that takes 2-3 hours. Then I have actual writing assignments. On the last batch, I scripted two episodes, which is roughly about 40-45 pages of script.

I’d say that each script takes about a week to write. I also get scripts in from the other writers, and as one of the show’s producers, I then have to work with the writers to tweak and polish the scripts. This is a nebulous period of creative time, so it’s hard for me to track.

The production of 8 episodes of Wormwood takes about 8 hours. We gather our actors, and we record the episodes back-to-back, sending the actors in and out as we need them. We keep a strict one-day schedule to help accommodate the actors, since we have about 16 cast members, and it’s tough to coordinate schedules.

Post-production is divided up by me and my co-producer, Jeremy Rogers. We each take half the batch, and we’re each responsible for editing together the audio and layering in music and sound effects.

The inspiration for the Wormwood writing process was to create a virtual version of a TV show’s “writer’s room.” That always sounded like a magical place of collaboration, so we figured we’d just make our own idealized, virtual version with our writers who are living all over the country.

The novel I’ve started as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), is a move back to prose. I’m more comfortable writing than producing and editing, so right now, the writing is almost relaxing to me. I’m trying to spend about 2 hours a night writing.

And this is in addition to your day job?

Yep. By day, I wear the title of Marketing Communications Manager. This job involves everything from writing copy to doing graphic design. There was a time where I figured that I needed a very physical job (I was a bartender while in college), so that I could come home and pour all of my creativity into my writing. Now I see that the more creative I am at work, the more creative I am at home.

What is your daily schedule like? Do you have a set time when you write?

My scheduled time to “sit down and knock it out” is usually the evening, after work, before I get too lazy watching television. Or if work is too grueling, I’ll allow myself to vegetate until, say, 9pm, and then force myself to sit in front of the computer.

Where do you find the time for your “passion projects” while trying to balance it with work & personal life?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? First of all, my day job is great because they value my creativity, and they know and respect that I have a life outside of work. I’ve found that some employers don’t subscribe to this concept. I suggest staying away from those employers.

Similarly, I think you’ve got to surround yourself with loved ones who understand your passion as a writer. I think I’ve lived my life long enough just saying “I’m a writer,” that there’s no one around me who doesn’t understand this and understand that there are times when I need to close myself off and write.

How do you go about “closing yourself off” for those times where you need to get away and write?

Well, the first thing I do is make sure that friends and loved ones know I need this time to “work” and they understand that I can’t really be bothered in this time.

Another thing I’ve found recently is that getting out of the house really helps me. It forces me to think: this is WRITING time — no catching up on those shows on the DVR! So, I like to sit in cafes with WiFi with a laptop and headphones and work there.

With both NaNoWriMo & Wormwood, I assume these are deadline driven projects?

Well, that’s the beauty of NaNoWriMo — it forces a deadline on you. The goal there is to keep writing — 1,600 words a day. So far, so good

With Wormwood, we establish our own deadlines. The goal is a weekly audio series, but we’ve found it necessary to take breaks at various points along the way in order to recharge, catch up, etc. We have a staff of six writers, but we all have other jobs and other projects. I’d say that we’ve given the writers between 1-2 months to do the scripts needed for an 8 episode installment.

I’ve realized recently that I REALLY need the deadlines. It’s part of how I’m wired. I will often wait, wait, wait and then rush to do the work right before the deadline. I do get a rush from the thrill of the approaching deadline, but I also have realized that all that time I’m “waiting” is actually still part of my process. I tend to live with the story rattling around in my skull. I’m always thinking about it — it’s always in the back of my mind. Then, when the deadline looms, all of that subconscious work comes to the forefront and I spit it all out in one big burst.

I’m sure the goal would be to one day do the creative work full time. What exactly is your goal? Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?

Ultimately, I’d love for my full-time job to involve writing my creations. I don’t have anything more specific than that. In one sense, I’d love to make Wormwood a full-time job. I’d love to transition that into a TV writer’s room, and actually create the series as a TV show. But I’d also love to be writing screenplays. I’d also love to be writing novels. There’s no “one goal” aside from… well… telling stories that I’m excited to tell.

Any other tips or ideas on time-management?

1) understand your OWN process, but don’t make excuses. If you’re a procrastinator, then own it — don’t let it own you.

2) Give yourself deadlines. Tell other people (whom you respect) about these deadlines. They’ll keep you from getting too lazy.

3) Even though this isn’t necessarily the way I’ve written in the past, NaNoWriMo is teaching me that it’s very good to give yourself 2 hours every day to just work creatively and without stopping.

4) But my caveat to that is Step 1 above — know your own process. If Suggestion #3 is making you miserable, then don’t work that way. Find your own way. There’s no ONE way to do this stuff. You just have to do it.

Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery can be found at www.wormwoodshow.com
Some of my personal writing and scripts can be found at www.davidaccampo.com
Information on Habit Forming Films can be found at www.habitformingfilms.com
And folks can join me for the final days of NaNoWriMo here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/53946

If there are subjects you’d like to see covered in future installments of Writer’s Anonymous, let me know in the comments below!

• Mission Statements

Randomly picked up a book at the library recently. It’s called “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer” by Roy Peter Clark. I knew nothing of the author, but it looked up-to-date and easy to digest.

After flipping through a few chapters, it’s quite an interesting read. Most of the books I’ve consumed on writing have been screenwriting focused, which tend to be more story-oriented. Clark’s book however (which is intended for all kinds of writing, from poetry to journalism) talks about the joy (and power) of words, sentences, paragraphs… And how to use them effectively. And it’s quite good.

One particular chapter I enjoyed is “Draft a mission statement for your work.”

For myself, I think it’s something I do informally with every script that I write, but I really want to start applying it in a more focused manner.

A lot of times I find myself losing focus. Maybe it’s a producer wanting a rewrite, or maybe it’s just me getting bored with a character. When these issues arise, a mission statement helps me to find that excitement and purpose behind the story.

For myself I divided this mission statement into 4 categories:

• Theme – What is the “big idea” I want to get across, not just the theme that arises in every story, but also my personal beliefs?

• Form – What makes this script different than the one before it? How can I push myself as writer? How can I tell a story in a new way?

• Tone – What emotions do I want to evoke? What “kind” of story is it? Adventure, comedy, drama? How does this affect the themes?

• Character – What is the character journey? Why is it happening? What makes these characters unique?

What other areas can you think of that might be applicable in a writers mission statement?

• Finding Purpose in Art (and how Lynda Barry says it better than I do)

I had the pleasure of listening to a dialog between the great cartoonists Lynda Barry & Alison Bechdel on a podcast called “Live Wire!” recently and Lynda in particular hit on something that I had been thinking upon a great deal lately. And that’s the idea of purpose behind art.

I struggle with art a lot of times because it feels like such a selfish endeavor. Many times it’s driven by pride or money or fame… particularly in the movie industry (although I imagine it’s true of all art, I just have less experience with other industries.) Even the idea of struggling artists who create art “just for themselves” really turns me off. I think anything done “just for yourself” is a bit of a waste. I think it’s why I am happiest when I’m creating in a collaborative environment, whether that be a comic book artist or a writing partner, where I’m forced to bump into people. I believe that we’re put here on this earth to touch people and change lives, through our friendships, through our giving, and certainly through our art.

Lynda spoke to this during the conversation with this brilliant story:

“You all know what phantom limb pain is? That’s that thing where you lose part of your limb but you still have the sensation that it’s still there. There was a guy who had a particularly intractable case of it. He had lost his hand from here down. But his sensation was that his hand not only there, but it was in a really painfully clenched fist. He was in misery, the pain was constant. His life was really deteriorating. They didn’t know what to do for him.

And there’s this brilliant neurologist named V.S. Ramachandran who has done a lot of amazing work with imagery on the brain. And he had this idea, and his idea was, well, let’s make a box and we’re going to put a mirror in that’s slanted this way and there’s a hole on this side so that the guy can put his hand into the hole on this side, and then when he looks down it’s going to be the illusion of seeing two hands. You follow me on that? And so the guy did it. So he sees two hands. And Ramachandran says, ‘Open your hand.’ And he did. And he saw the other one open. And the pain went away.

And I believe that’s what images do. That there’s something about – whether it’s in another book, or it’s something that we make – there’s something about seeing something – and I don’t mean literally, necessarily, although with art that’s true – there’s something about working with images that can unclench something that we have no other way to get to.”

I was listening to the program in my car and after hearing this, I literally cheered. It was exactly everything I had been thinking, put into a simple, beautiful illustration.

What got me thinking about all of this was a lunch with a very good friend of mine named John Ray. John’s son, Marcus, was one of my best friends growing up and he took his own life almost 10 years ago now. After the death of his son, John became a pastor. And he did this in part, I believe, in order to help the hurting. Here is a man who has been through the worst pain imaginable, who very easily could have turned all of that pain inward and slowly morph into a twisted bitter old man. But instead, he took that pain, as inexplicable as it is, and used it to help others. Myself included.

When I had lunch with John, I was really struggling with my place in life. I was broken, not sure of what I should be doing. Just burnt out on trying so hard to be successful, in life and in art. And John said to me with such clarity, “Hudson, what you should be doing is taking the gifts God has given you, and using those gifts to tell your story. To share with others the questioning and the brokenness and the hurt that you’ve been through in order to help those who are on similar paths.”

This, to me, is art. Art is personal. It’s vulnerable. Art is not teaching. Just like John, I have no more answers now than I did before the pain. A lot of times, there are no answers. But I do know how to come through to the other side.

After the above illustration, Lynda goes on to talk about how Alison’s fantastic graphic novel Fun Home “opened a lot of fists” with it’s auto-biographical portrayal of a girl dealing with the death of her father who was a closeted homosexual. It is a story exploring death and life and sexuality and father/daughter relationships in a way that is completely unique to Alison.

The greatest desire all of us have in life is to know we’re not alone. It’s these unique, personal stories that speak to the hearts of the lonely.

We create, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. To share beauty and to ask questions… to challenge minds and to warm hearts.

Tell your story through your art. You never know whose fist you might be opening.

Go create.

• 3 Ways to “Fix” Indiana Jones in the Script Stage (SPOILERS)

So, I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night and I enjoyed it. No one has action scenes as fun as an Indiana Jones movie, and they captured that magic again in Crystal Skull.

I thought the cast was great. I’m a big fan of Shia Labeuf and he didn’t disappoint. Harrison Ford was spot on for the most part. He was different, but it fit. I felt like he was channeling Sean Connery a little bit, which didn’t feel like Indiana, but it made sense.

A lot of people complained about the alien angle, but to me it fit. The archeology behind the Mayan culture and Crystal Skulls is (in some theories) entwined with aliens. Every other Indiana Jones movie dealt with the supernatural… I don’t see why aliens are any different from the Biblical supernatural world surrounding the Arc and the Grail, or the Hindu supernatural world surrounding the Sankara stones. It might have something to do with the fact that I just watched a documentary about the Crystal Skulls so I understood the link they had to aliens and to archeology.

I liked the ending, was torn on the beginning, and was appalled by the Shia as Tarzan bit, but I enjoyed the movie as a whole… with reservation.

I felt there were some major flaws that could have made it great and it wouldn’t have taken much work to fix it in the script stage:

1. Higher Stakes
So, Irina Spalko wants to return the Skull from where it came in order to gain some sort of power where she wants to control every mind in the world? Very communist, it works. But Indy didn’t seem to care about this. In fact, after his experience with the skull, he wanted to return it (for no apparent personal reason), just as Irina did! So, where’s the conflict? The good guys and the bad guys want the same thing? It didn’t even have a “we’ve got to get there first” vibe that could have worked. I never got a sense that there was anything to lose by their returning it. They could have fixed this easily with my next point:

2. Make it Personal
The whole movie hinged on two characters we didn’t care about. Ox & Mac. We have this whole history of characters to pull from and they make up two disposable new ones. The whole journey takes place because of Ox being kidnapped and leaving clues. Why not make this someone we already know and care about? Apparently Sean Connery didn’t want to be involved, so Henry Jones Sr. out. Denholm Elliott died in 92, so Marcus Brody is out. What about Sallah? Or the more obvious suggestion: Abner Ravenwood! It was rumored that John Hurt was going to play the character of Abner – Marion’s Father and Indy’s Mentor who was thought to be dead in Raiders. This turned out not to be true, but it would have made the movie so much better if it was. It gave a reason for Marion to be there. It gave a PERSONAL stake for Indy being there. To go on this entire journey. You could make it a journey to save Abner’s life or maybe his soul. Something that would MATTER to Indy.

Secondly, Mac seemed to be the character that was morally questionable. We had the moment at the end of the movie where Indy tries to stop and save him, but he’d rather have the jewels. We’ve seen this kind of scene before, but who cared about Mac? We’ve got somewhat of a back story for Indy and him, but as an audience we weren’t connected. Why not make Mutt the one that’s obsessed with personal gain? It’s a lesson that Indy teaches him just as Indy learned the lesson in Temple of Doom.

3. More Conflict
Indiana and Marion see each other, have one squable and then they are perfect and happy together. Where’s the tension? Same thing with Mutt. From the very first moment, they are best buds, even when he finds out it’s his son, no tension whatsoever… everyone’s a happy family for the rest of the movie. The things that made the first movies so great was the tension between Indy and his leading ladies… the tension between Indy and his sidekicks. Where was it here? They had so much great opportunity to explore that here and went for happy family adventure instead.

Liked it? Hated it? Other ways to fix it? Comment below.

• The Top 5 Comic Book Writers and What They’ve Taught Me.

I love comics. I love writing. So, one would think the dream job for me would be a comic book writer. And one would be right. I’m currently piecing together a couple of different projects, and along the way learn as much as I can about the uniqueness of the medium and how to tell great stories by embracing that uniqueness.

Over the past few years, I’ve been soaking up as many comics as possible, and here are the 5 writers who have influenced me the most as a writer and why:

1) Brian K. Vaughan (Recommended Reading – Y: the Last Man, Runaways, Dr. Strange: the Oath)

I just adore every single thing written by Vaughan. He’s a master at balancing plot, characters, & theme.

He taught me that “world-creation” is key to a great series. The idea that you create something like Y: the Last Man, where all the men in the world have died… except for one. What does a world without men look like? What are the political, social, sexual, physical changes that take place in the world as a result of that? What stories arise from that world? It’s not just a premise, it’s a world.

This has encouraged me to look at my own projects: What does the world look like? How is it different than a world I’ve seen before? What are the stories I can tell that are unique to this world?

2) Robert Kirkman (Recommended Reading – Invincible)

Kirkman taught me that superhero comics should be fun. No one has as much fun writing comics as Robert Kirkman, and it shows on the page.

Reading Invincible made me realize that you can get away with things in comics that you can’t in movies, TV, & books. You can have 100 wacky supporting characters, introduce a popular character, kill him, and bring him back, you can have a kid worried about his relationship with his girlfriend on one page and have him flying to Mars on the next, you can have a man having a baby with a bug woman, or a man who travels through different portals in time. In comics anything is possible.

On my projects, this opened up a lot of possibilities for me. I began to think in these “anything is possible” terms and it really expanded the stories that I could tell.

3) Jeph Loeb (Recommended Reading – Hulk: Grey, Daredevil: Yellow, Superman: For All Seasons)

Nearly everything Loeb’s done with artist Tim Sale has blown me away. Probably my favorite writer/artist team of all time.

He taught me that you can embrace the super hero genre and still make it deeply human. He’s great at balancing that. He loves the super hero genre, and doesn’t try to make it dark or angsty… his books are fun. But at the same time, there is a deep emotional core to his stories. It’s a good lesson in all story-telling that something doesn’t have to be dark to be

He’s also a master at coming up with creative ways to frame stories – Hulk: Grey is told as a story from Bruce Banner to his Psychiatrist, dealing with the “grey” nature of his psyche. Superman: For All Seasons is written with each chapter physically and thematically representing a different season.

I really wanna capture that emotional core that he explores in each of his characters on my projects. And his framing devices have challenged me in my screenwriting as well.

4) Bryan Lee O’Malley (Recommended Reading – Scott Pilgrim)

O’Malley captures the voice of a generation. Scott Pilgrim has me hooked. I have more fun reading a Scott Pilgrim book than I do with almost any other media. Reading this series is like hanging out with friends.

He taught me that people connect with natural dialog, personal stories, and inside jokes. That even though my relationships & my friendships & my sense of humor is so personal to me, that’s what people want.

The more personal you write, the more universal it will be. I’ve always heard this, but it’s hard to put into practice because you always 2nd guess yourself. O’Malley has challenged me to be honest in my work, from dialog, to jokes, to plots that, on the surface, might seem petty

5) Gerard Way (Recommended Reading – the Umbrella Academy)

Way has only written one book so far, but it was my favorite book of this past year. A lot of people say that he’s just channeling Grant Morrison, but I haven’t read much Grant Morrison, so I’ll give Way the credit. He’s the one that’s influenced me.

He taught me that, in comics, you can let your creativity run wild and still make it work. The Umbrella Academy is a quirky book. It’s super heroes, but not. A lot of times I limit my creativity and quirkiness on a project, because you feel that people may not “get it.” The success of Umbrella Academy has proven that people will “get it” no matter how “out there” you go with it.

I feel like this is something that is unique to comics. Maybe it’s because comic readers are more prone to wackiness or maybe it’s because it’s such a small niche audience. Either way, it’s encouraged me to really push myself creatively and to not be afraid to try new things and put out whatever pops into my head.

A huge thank you to all these authors for letting me “take their classes.”

• The Four Pee’s of Screenwriting.

My writing partners and I have been writing screenplays for about 3 years now. We’ve found moderate success. We’ve written 3 screenplays and one TV show. We’ve sold an option on a script. We’re in talks for a couple of other things. We have a great attorney, but no manager and no agent… yet. We’re not WGA… yet.

We assumed that once we sold a script, we’d be “in” and that it’d be “easy” from there on in. We were wrong.

It has been the most passionate, challenging, encouraging, pulse-pounding, smile-inducing, hand-raising, heart-racing, head-scratching, hair-pulling, wrist-slitting, higher-power-questioning, mind-numbing experience I’ve ever gone through. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As we continue our journey, 4 things have consistently popped out in my head as the “building blocks” of a screenwriter. Without these 4 things, you will never make it in this crazy world. (It’s yet to be seen if we truly have these 4 things or not.)

1) PASSION

Trying to break into screenwriting is a long and hard road. Notice that I said just “trying” to break in is a long and hard road… not breaking in. There is no guarantee at the end of the journey. So, you better be sure that you are passionate about, not only movies, but writing. If you are not truly and deeply passionate about what you are doing, you will not sustain.

We’ve gone through a lot in our 3 short years… from bad script notes to rewrites to being replaced to falling-outs to lies & deception to long drawn out contract negotiations… The only thing that has kept us going is the fact that we LOVE writing.

I feel like I have stories within me that need to be told. I love movies. I love the power they hold. The power to entertain, to take you to worlds you never dreamed, the power to challenge, and the power of escape. To have written a screenplay is like learning a magic trick to me. I feel like I’ve been let into this world of creation, shared by Steven Spielberg, William Shakespeare, and God himself.

The first thing I want to do in the morning is write. The last thing I want to do at night is write. I want to write movies that show my girlfriend how much I love her, to teach my son a lesson, and to tell my friends how much they mean to me. It’s in me and I have to get it out or I don’t feel like I’ve lived.

Because of this, no matter what obstacle comes my way, I will be writing today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of my life, even if it takes that long to “break in.”

2) PREPARATION

You’ve got to know what you’re doing. I think there are many people who are born talented writers. Others have to work at it. Everyone strikes that balance to some degree. No matter where you lie in the talent department, you need some education.

I have not been to school for screenwriting, so I can’t speak to that. But I have read basically everything I can get my hands on.

It’s important, first of all (of course), to get a handle on what a screenplay looks like. Learn the rules. There are any number of books out there about the how-to’s of screenwriting… or you could just pick up a script and “see how they did it.” That’s how I first learned the proper screenwriting format. Buying software such as Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter does this for you.

But secondly, you need to learn the “secrets” of screenwriting. Screenwriting is unique in a number of ways and you only realize this as you start writing.

The first step is to watch a lot of movies. The more movies you watch, the more storytelling comes naturally to you.

The 2nd step is to read a lot of scripts. What better way of learning the craft than seeing how the greats have done it before you.

The 3rd step is to read a lot of books. I’m going to recommend a couple of resources here that aren’t books, but to me are way more important.

wordplayer.com – this is the single greatest resource I’ve found anywhere on screenwriting. 48 columns written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, the screenwriting team behind Aladdin, Shrek, the Mask of Zorro, & the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. These columns opened my eyes to that “new level” of writing. Ted & Terry share some amazing inside information here from their many years in the business.

Artful Writer Forums – In a very close 2nd to wordplayer is Artful Writer, a website started by Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3&4, Superhero Movie). Part of his website features a forum with a section called “Ask A Pro.”

In this section, people have posted questions for professional writers, and each thread on there is like taking a class. The professionals posting their thoughts include John Turman (Hulk, Silver Surfer), Mike France (GoldenEye, Fantastic Four), the Wibberleys (National Treasure, the 6th Day), Jeff Lowell (Sport Night, Spin City), Tim O’Donnell (Growing Pains, Phil of the Future), Tim Talbott (South Park, the Stanford Prison Experiment), Derek Haas (3:10 to Yuma, Wanted), Ted Elliott (Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean), and Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Runaway Jury.

Go there and you can spend days getting a free education.

3) PEOPLE

The old saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Well, it’s true. When it comes down to it, you could write the best screenplay this side of Casablanca, and if you have no one with connections to give it to, no one will ever see it.

This has been tricky for us as we’re still in Atlanta. The way we’ve gotten around it is just asking around… following every lead we can. Following up on every friend who says “hey, I’ve got a cousin who worked on this show…” No one you meet is not worth meeting. Get to know people. Don’t just take advantage of them, befriend them. No matter how low on the totem pole they are, they could be running things down the line. If you’re outside of L.A. find people in your own area who share common interests. Hollywood is a collaborative business, so collaborate.

The other way we meet people, more than any other, is through the wonders of the world wide web. Get on a forum of other filmmakers. I think you’ll be surprised by how willing some people are to help you. Find out emails of Agents, Managers, Producers, Execs, and just give it a shot. We’ve blindly emailed over 100 “business folk” and got about a 10% response rate. (That is 10% actually returned my email). Part of this is due to our having sold something before, but I believe nearly as many would respond to a quality script.

All this is moot of course if you don’t have a great product. You’re only as good as your latest script. So, make sure you have something of quality to present before you contact those directly involved. They can’t help you if you can’t help them.

4) PERSISTENCE

Writing is 90% observation, 90% persistence, and 0% math.

This screenwriting thing is a long and bumpy ride. You’ve got to be in for the long haul. And I mean really long.

Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio gave themselves 10 years to break into the business. Rossio made the observation that “anyone who worked at a job for 10 years invariably became an expert at that job.” Therefore, they would give themselves 10 years to become experts and if they didn’t break in by then… well, who knows what would’ve happened. They did it in five.

Five Years is still a long time. Remember how long High School was? Add to that Freshman in college.

If you’re not willing to give it that much time, at least, you’re probably not cut out for it.

For me, part of what keeps me going, besides my love for the craft, is having writing partners that encourage me… having parents that encourage me… a girlfriend that encourages me. It’s important to surround yourself with people who keep you going.

I have a feeling that I’ll always be writing to some degree… and I hope the Hollywood thing happens soon. It would be really hard to hang around for another 7 years with nothing to show for it, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.

• Jonathan Hickman… on Writing.

Jonathan Hickman is the writer of the boldly creative new comic books The Nightly News, Pax Romana, & Transhuman, all out through Image Comics. I believe he is doing a lot to “change the face” of comics by pushing people expectations of what a comic could be. His books merge heavy design, prose & screenwriting techniques, as well as exceptional traditional comic book storytelling.

He also writes a great column for iFanboy.com titled Concentric Circles. Here is some of his great writing advice from a recent column:

“I write stories that I want to read. If at any point in the ‘writing process’ I mentally check out of a story I throw it away and start over. Accept that it’s shit and move on.”

“Here are a couple of other tips that we in the hack writer cabal find useful:
1. Keep it simple.
2. Don’t telegraph. A good story doesn’t turn, it unfolds.
3. Always have a theme.
4. Action should explode – think of this like a Pixies song – soft, soft, loud.
5. When a character becomes interesting, kill them.”

“It also helps to not have an ego about yourself or your work. Remember, it’s just a single story that you drew from what you believe to be an endless well of ideas existing inside of you. Not everyone is going to like your story because it’s not for everyone. Create. Move on.”

You can read the rest of Jonathan’s column at iFanboy here: Concentric Circles

Or you can find out more about his books here: pronea.com