Hey! Wait a minute....

So for whatever reason today I had a moment of clarity. An epiphany if you will.

I realized what I haven't done any screenwriting that I enjoyed or that I thought was good in so long. I've been so worried that I had to please everyone with what I was writing that I stopped having fun with it. I just let myself dictate what I thought everyone else wanted to see that I never thought "what do I want to see?" and just have fun writing it.

I think I'm going to get a lot of writing done this weekend with this new mentality on my shoulders. I'm just going to write and have fun. I'll have to trust that the craft is embedded in my head by now.


....if not, that's why they made re-writes.

haha

Well I'm glad.....

...my momma raised me right. But we’ll get to that in a second.

“Now here I am sitting here by myself, uh, talking to myself. That’s, that’s chaos theory.”

Nice to know nobody reads my blog. Oh well, I’ll continue to post and maybe it’ll catch attention someday and people will read back this far.

So alright, I’m working in the offices today. Screening tapes as usual. And one of the higher up PA’s comes in and is checking log numbers for some of the tapes and one of the clients comes in and proceeds to say “It’s not a big thing, but my lunch order was messed up. The rice that came with the chicken was white, and I asked for brown. It’s not a big deal. I don’t know if you messed up or if they messed up, but yeah. I got white rice and I wanted brown. Like I said, it’s not a big thing, just an FYI.”

……

are you kidding me? My buddy got called out because some rice was white and not brown? I see that kind of stuff about Hollywood types in movies, but damn. I never thought it was true. I always figured it was an exaggeration.

Anyway, my script Indomitable Spirit has a VERY good chance of being handed to a pop culture icon at the moment and see if he’d like to help me get it made. Which means all that stuff about “putting it on the shelf” is being “dusted off” already. I don’t think there’s any dust on it. I have to act on this now. So I have to get back to work on that.

In addition to that, a major job offer has come through the vines to me that has nothing to do with writing or film, other than being near film students again. But it pays really good. Do I try and get out of debt or chase the dream? That’s the kind of decision that shows who u really are if you ask me….

Outcome....

So the final result has come to this - "Indiana.....let it go."

I'm shelving Indom for the time being. The damn thing is just so problematic that it's hindering all the other projects I want to get going on. Not to mention, some people pointed out a couple great points:

1) It's not my grand master peice as I think it to be. It's a personal treasure to me, but a "bleh" to everyone else. It's "my" story, so to speak. So that's why I'm so attached to it.
2) It has not much different from any other film of it's genre. There's nothing special about it. I need to find something special.
3) I'll grow more as a writer and make it something valuable after I hone in my craft from working on other projects.

And all that was staring me in my face, I just wasn't looking at it. It took a bunch of people to grab my head and twist it forward.

Ok ok, so metaphors aside, I'm working on "The Road Goes Both Ways" right now and although it's only 7 pages in, I'm not bored with any of the scenes. Which, I think, is a good sign. I'm doing the whole "drop the audience 1/2 way into the story" thing and we'll see if that works.

Just as a side question; does anyone read this blog or am I just voicing to myself. You can leave an anonymous comment if you like, I'm just curious.

- Andrew

A social experiment.....

So I'm on Facebook the other day, and I stick up one of those Photoshopped pictures of my head on an Abercrombie and Fitch model......problem with that is, I'm damn good with Photoshop. And this was one of my lesser composites. Regardless, in one day's time I got 5 responses from random good looking girls in my social network.

....So in addition to doing a couple sit ups this morning and eating Subway for lunch today, I'm going to try something out.

I'm always curious for honest feedback on my screenplay ideas but it's the hardest thing to muscle out of someone cuz people are so damn sensative these days. Not me, I want to be torn down. It'll help me grow and I'm very self-aware of that.

So what I did was post a note asking a few questions and instructed my friends to post their answers in the Honesty Box so they could give me feedback and not worry about me getting upset to them.

We'll see how this goes....

- Andrew

My Process

The thing most people think about writing is that you just sit down and "do it." I'm not sure how it is for other writers, but it ain't that simple for me. I have to be "in the zone." There's just something about being in the right frame of mind. I can't be over-juiced on caffeine or smoking a cigarette. I need a desk, a warm sun with a cool breeze and a soundtrack that carries the emotional weight of the genre I'm aiming for at that time.

"Writing" at work makes me create the most boring things of all time. Pretty much because I'm writing bored. As of today, I'm implementing a new self imposed rule to say "no" to hanging out with friends at every waking free second and start getting my personal work done.

The hardest thing about personal projects is no boundaries. People rebel and complain abotu them - I love them. I need something to shoot for or work within. The oppertunity to write whatever I want creates too many oppertunities to go in different directions. It's like a "Choose your own adventure" book. And if you take the wrong page, then you fall down the well as Jimmy raises the rope and takes the treasure for himself. At the same time, I'm so picky. I like writing for film because it opens up the canvas a bit more than theater. I don't like the limitation of a few set peices. I have nothing but utmost respect for the people that can do that, it's damn impressive. Me? I don't want to even challenge myself with that. Although, it may just help me focus on characters, which are the root of all good stories.

As you can see, I even procrastinate by blogging instead of writing.

Boo.

- Andrew

"That Guy who writes some stuff....."

So I changed my title to something more "witty". Or at least I hope it's funnier and grabs attention. I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with "Confessions of a Screenwriter."

I plead temporary dramatics your honor. I've since sobered up.

Anyways, I've sent out my first set of query letters for "The Indomitable Spirit." Much to my surprise (sarcasm), no one is "accepting new clients at this time." Now, whether or not that's a fancy way to say "screw off little film school boy" or they're actually not accepting new clients right now is something that remains to be seen. Me? I'm leaning towards the former.

Thus why I took the first letter I got back and framed it. Amateur? Certainly. Spiteful? You betcha. Wasteful? Eh.....I don't think so.

Whether I'm a millionaire Hollywood big shot driving around in a Batmobile one day, or if I'm fighting to get into a soup kitchen at 3 a.m. dressed like the squeegee guy by the bus station, this letter is proof that I tried. That's not always enough, I know. But I could never forgive myself for not trying. I'll do the starbucks jobs to pay the bills. But man.....if I wasn't writing I think I'd go out of my mind. I have to find some way to get my hero complex out of me and complain about the habits of society, right?

Look at me, the big query.....

I just realized how obnoxiously cliche my title is.

"Confessions of a Screenwriter". Sounds like an HBO special.

Anywho, so yesterday I mass mailed a bunch of agents with my query letters. Hopefully someone bites.

Cuz I want fame and fortune and beautiful ladies to lick my toes right!?

Far from it. I've shown that scene to audiences. Once in a venue of 500 some odd general audience people who came to a student showcase from the local area. They cheered, applauded and laughed (as hoped). Everyone else that's watched it has said the same thing, "What the crap? We don't get to see him beat up the blond kid?"

Which means I've got characters their responding to. Sure, it's the age old archetypes, but they're in a fresh new environment. Used for the some objective, but through new means. Which is what I've always tried to do.

And my response to them is always "how do you know he beats the crap out of the blonde guy?"

Hopefully someone will think this in the "big time" and want to go forward on the project.

If not, there's always the next screenplay. But I really love this project and i could care less how much money I get from it. I just want to see it happen, hook people to love it.......and then make the sequels (which i already know what would happen and they would kick ass for sure lol)

- I'm out

Andrew