2010 Nicholl Fellowships

My screenplay “Vermin” got two positive reads but didn’t place in the Nicholl Fellowships quarterfinals. However, it was in the top 20% of 6,304 entries. Still good in my view but I still have much work to do. I am pleased. The email with the news continues to be a class act. I wish more competitions were run with such professionalism.

Moving on to the next script now.

My script "Vermin" passed the test!

Specifically the “Bechdel Test for Women in Movies”.

It boils down to three simple questions:

• Does your script have at least 2 women in it?
• Do they talk to each other?
• Do they talk to each other about things other than men?

My script Vermin passes this test with flying colours. And it’s a damn fun read, to be perfectly honest.

Does your script pass the test?

Forget Dramatica

From Go Into The Story

“Here is a set of questions I think are important for a writer to grapple with and eventually answer during the prep-writing phase:

CHARACTERS

Who is the Protagonist?
What do they want (conscious goal / external world)?
What do they need (unconscious goal / internal world)?
Who is keeping them from that goal (Nemesis)?
Who is connected to their emotional development (Attractor)?
Who is connected to their intellectual development (Mentor)?
Who tests the Protagonist by switching allegiance back and forth between ally and enemy (Trickster)?

PLOT

What is the story’s beginning (Opening)?
What is the end of Act One (Lock)?
What is the end of Act Two (All Is Lost)?
What is the story’s ending (Final Struggle)?

CHARACTER-PLOT

What is the nature of your Protagonist’s metamorphosis from Disunity to Unity?

Read the complete article.

Masters of Screenwriting Interview: Tom Mankiewicz

There’s a really excellent interview with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz over at Masters of Screenwriting.

Read it all. Very informative. You’ll be glad you did.

A screenwriter's income

After reading about all these multi-million dollar script sales, I have often wondered how do screenwriters deal with their income. I posed the question to Scott Myers over at Go Into The Story and this was his response:

“I, like most working screenwriters I know, incorporated, what is typically referred to as a “loan-out” corporation.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Thanks, Scott.

Whiteout

[1.5/5 stars] Very slow to get started, mainly because the setup that takes place in 1957 is completely irrelevant. It adds nothing to story except for removing some of the mystery. The shower scene is unnecessary as well. It all just wastes time instead of getting to the meat of the story. Except for the introduction of the inexplicable killer in the first act, who suddenly disappears from the story for the next hour, there is really no conflict, no tension. Another thing that brings this film down is the constant exposition from the P.A. system, telling us everything we need to know. The volume is of a level to make it sound like background, yet the story relies on it to move forward. The ending is completely anticlimactic.

Friday the 13th

[2/5 stars] What does Jason Vorhees do while waiting for people to kill? Tend to his marijuana crop, of course. And if someone gets too close, especially young people who drink and have sex in the forest, it’s off with your head. And there’s no shortage of obnoxious young people. Faster Jason, kill, kill. The characters are so thin you know who will live and who will die from the first time you see them. The brother searching for his missing sister is a mere distraction. Most of the young people here are dumb and do dumb things. The only interesting thing about the film is seeing a glimpse into Jason’s inner sanctum, his catacombs.

The Invention of Lying

[2.5/5 stars] It’s an interesting premise, but the thing that stopped me is you’re not lying if you choose not to say what you’re thinking. Only when you say something that is different to what you are thinking can that be considered lying, and I think that’s the fatal flaw of the film. A better title would be “The Invention of Saying Exactly What’s On Your Mind at All Times”, and that part of the film, that running gag grows tired. However, the message is good and the love story is sweet, but for a romantic comedy, I didn’t laugh nearly as much as I thought I would.

Law Abiding Citizen

[2.5/5 stars] I have to admit, this film kept my interest, even though it was panned by many. It makes sense and everything happens for a reason. I think it could have been an even better film without the “father who lost everything” storyline. Sure we feel sympathetic at the beginning, but when more than the perpetrators of the inciting crime are murdered, it’s hard to feel anything but contempt. It becomes a game of who is the less evil. I guess you could justify that Butler’s character was consumed by hatred, but is that any way to honour your deceased love ones?

2012

[2/5 stars] Get ready, because this film is a great example of excess and not knowing when to stop. More is not always better. Yes, the visuals are astoundingly real, but the antics the characters go through when the “shit hits the fan” is so ludicrous it ends up being funny instead of serious. Last I checked, the end of the world should be a pretty serious scenario. It doesn’t take long before things start to play out like a comedy. Then we’re back to the science for some seriousness, then back to over the top craziness. I wanted to be scared. I wanted to be at the edge of my seat, yet the implausibility of the main characters’ survival betrays all tension the film could ever hope to build. The only scenes that are chill-worthy are the ones showing regular folk battling to try and survive using only their wits and strength. But that in itself is not a compelling enough story. Plus, the filmmakers break the rules of the “film world” they have created. The Earth is self-destructing, yet cellphones work flawlessly, jets can fly through pyroclastic clouds without a hitch, and people can easily hold their breath in frigid waters for minutes on end. Why? Because characters need to talk to one another and go from A to B, of course. Smells like a plot device to me. I never thought that I’d laugh at the destruction of the Earth, until watching this film, and that’s the saddest thing about it.