Whoa. Best Feature – Action/Thriller – way to go, Amit!
I’ve been miserable with lurgy this past week but I’m feeling humanoid again.
‘S not bad.
Technology
A couple of years ago, my wonderful Alcatel gave up and stopped working. Old age. And probably one drop too many. Money was short at the time so when I went looking for a replacement, the main criteria were the ability to make and take calls, and low cost. I got me a Motorola VZ170:
I’ve used phones from Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel, and I’d learned that though the different brands had their idiosyncrasies, they did their main jobs without much fuss. I assumed that the Motorola, a brand I hadn’t used before, would be much the same: a period of adjustment, and then business as usual.
Silly me. Voice calls were straightforward enough but texting was frustratingly slow – each button-push required a half-second wait before anything happened or anything else could be done – and when I wanted to send a message, I’d have to jump through hoops:
ME
(finish txt message)
Send
PHONE
Send Message? Y / N
ME
Y
PHONE
Send Message Now? Y / N
ME
Y Y! Y!! Y!!!
Navigating the menu was much the same – with the added frustration of the ‘Yes/Confirm’ and ‘No/Cancel’ buttons switching sides with no apparent logic to it.
I loathed that phone.
After two hair-yanking years of putting up with it, I eventually snapped that fucker in half (and then jumped on it) (several times) and killed it.
Of course, I immediately needed a new cellphone – and thanks to my decade-plus-long patronage of Vodafone, I scored this for a hundred bucks:
It makes calls – even two-way video calls. It texts – ooh, the button response is so quick! – with an intuitive functionality that harks back to the Alcatel, Nokia and Ericcson cellphones.
But that’s not all. I can take photos and short blocky video clips with it. The original Lalo Schifrin Mission: Impossible theme has been set to ring out in the very rare instance that someone video-calls me. And I’ve finally caught the podcast-listening wave – I may look like I need stereo to make calls on the Z400 – but I’m enjoying working through my backlog from KCRW’s The Treatment and The Business, National Radio and my favourite Vidiots.
So this is why they’re pumping cellphones full of features.
Anyway. The moral of this story?
Don’t buy a Motorola.
(This post was supposed to segue into a rant discussion about appropriate screenwriting tools – does one really need Final Draft to be a screenwriter? – but my PTSD got the better of me. Another time maybe.)
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Ultimatum is here. I’ve prepped by watching its predescessor and enjoying it the second – or third? – time around. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing what John Rogers means by nested sequels.
Roger Ebert enjoyed it – and has received a flood of complaints about its visual style.
I was a bit concerned about the ‘herky-jerky hand-held’ camerawork until I remembered The Blair Witch Project. I remember complaints about it inducing nausea and vomiting. It didn’t stop me from being scared out of my wits. As I’ve told anyone who’s asked me whether to watch Blair Witch: if you can get over the shaky-cam, and the contrivance that the characters obsessively shot everything, it’ll scare the bejesus out of you.
I think (and hope) that what’ll save my brain and stomach from Bourne‘s visual jazz will be the story. If I’m pulled into it sufficiently, I shouldn’t notice the two-second average shot length. I’ll be too busy sitting on the edge of my seat going, Oh my g-, what th-, wait – don’t -, which’ll be just what I want.
Tuna Town Productions
Messrs. Ethan Smith and Kurt Oram, the DOP and Soundie/Editor on Daniel Power‘s Hunting the Phoenix, have a website: Tuna Town Productions.
They keep busy. And it looks like they have fun regardless. (Check out their equipment page: Senor Rodriguez’ Ten Minute Film School – eat yer heart out.)
(Deadlines have been met – normal transmission shall resume.)
Flat Out
Been flat out with work this past week. Not even enough time to throw together a Point & Click. I’ve more of the same this coming week.
Meantime, try Phill Barron‘s blog on the scriptwriter’s life in the shallow end – ask him about his supercool new laptop.
Pots on the Boil
Okay, it’s been all fine and dandy to be as opinionated as Ianthe of Timaru about various media, but what about what I do?
Good question.
- Five is in the excellent hands of Amit – sliced, diced and packaged for a premiere. I should stop counting that as a pot on the boil now.
- Earlier in the year I finally finished a first draft of a semi-biographical feature script. The producer/director I did it for is currently having a whack at the next draft. It’s been interesting to work through the inevitable tension in the creative process where the producer/director wants authenticity while I’m trying to argue for dramatic impact.
- My long awaited 2007 spec script has really only had its outline tweaked – it even had a one-page pitch done – but I haven’t started writing it yet. I’d like to blame the non-start on some of the following projects – but I’d be lying.
- I was asked to write a low budget thriller a while back. After duly speccing an outline, I mentioned the word “contract” and scared the producer away. Ah well. Still, there’s something about the outline that’s really hooked me: I approached the project from an oblique angle to try and be ‘fresh’ as well as make it interesting to write. I’ve made it my 2007 spec* – and, yes, I’ll give the producer first dibs on it when it’s finished.
- I met with another producer recently about some development work on an half-hour series. I did some work for him last year that was great fun – not only did I get paid, I was writing cool shit. I’ll give with some details.
- The T.V. concept got cleaned up and sent out… and has so far flatlined. Oh well. At least it’s a good reminder to not pin so much hope on just one project. I can’t help it, but.
- The T.V. speccing got me going a bit – well, it was avoiding work on one of the above scripts – so I’ve got a couple of ideas to inflict on interested parties. I’m well aware of the odds against but at the very least I’ll be making some noise.
- And finally, despite earlier unsuccessful applications to the Screen Innovation Production Fund, I’m going three for three. What the hell.
So that’s… wow. Seven. It sounds so… productive.
I think I might make this – like my sometimes-monthly Point & Click fillers posts – a sometimes-quarterly update on what’s cookin’. Because I know you’re just busting to read it here first – and I know your need because I’m psychotic canny.
* And what will this mean for my other ‘long-awaited’ 2007 spec? Good question.
“Five” Review
Daniel Power Films
Daniel Power, the force behind Hunting the Phoenix, has hisself a website: Daniel Power Films. Those who haven’t caught that neat wee film – it screened on Rialto recently – can find it streaming here.
Impressed? Of course. Looking for a director or writer who’s based in Sydney? Hop to it.
Asking For It
Four years ago, it seemed like a brilliant idea: it would help my motivation, it would be great for the family as a whole, and our overall security would be taken care of.
Quite a job description for a mere mongrel.
Four years on, we can leave the house in her paws, safe in the knowledge that if she doesn’t leave teeth-marks in uninvited visitors, the neighbours will investigate any ruckus she makes. The honeymoon period of family outings for/with the dog are long over – come to think of it, it lasted as long as she looked and gambolled like a puppy.
Which leaves my motivation. I need to run regularly. The Dog needs to be exercised regularly. Hey hey: a running buddy.
The thing is, I hate running. Always have. Always will. But there’s no other form of exercise where a good pair of running shoes is all you need. Biking means bike maintenance. Walking’s too slow. Swimming means a half-hour drive (and costs). One could say it’s a low-maintenance high-intensity kind of exercise. I still say the hell with that – I hate it.
It has some pluses though. It’s supposed to be good for me. It clears my head, though this shouldn’t be surprising considering the din of my desperate wheezing, a drumrolling heartbeat, and a thought-process as primal as just to the next corner… okay, just a little bit more to the next telephone pole… ihatethisshit… now just to that red car…. On occasion, it feels good when I’m huffing about out there and I think, I’m-a goin’ places, yessirree… oh yeah, feel the flow, baby… but these are rare moments, fleeting enough that I seek them like some narcotic high.
Writing’s like that sometimes. I’d be sprawled across some project and, despite the writing pains, a liitle voice whispers how about… just one more set-piece/subplot/pay-off, hm? like, how hard could it be? Rare flashes of creative joy as words are thrown up on-screen in search of a story.
By the end of it all, whether I’m running or writing, I’m glad to (still) be alive, there’s the satisfaction of having done it and, if I’m not careful, thinking that wasn’t so bad – let’s go again.
It’s That Time of Year
Ah – the last of week of July: when cash-strapped independent filmmakers squeeze into their best clothes and, resumes and letters of introduction clutched tightly in their fists, launch themselves at the Screen Innovation Production Fund selection panel in the hope of getting something – anything (preferably money) – to help make their dreams come true.
I’m one of them. Paying gigs aside, I’ve got ideas of my own, you know. I used to want to just concentrate on feature-length writing but I was just limiting myself. ‘S not the end all and be all. Also:
Breaking into the film business is not a problem that resolves itself through a single answer or path. It’s a problem that succumbs only to a process, a series of efforts taken over time. And the bitch of it is, you never know which is the right strategy until it pays off. So you do everything. Whether the odds are with you or not. You do everything.
– Terry Rossio (Deja Vu, the Pirates of the Caribbean and Zorro series).
So to all supplicants, the best of luck. And whatever the answer in three months’ time, keep dreaming.