Abduction by Shawn Christensen

After a week long bidding war, Lion’s Gate reportedly paid just under $1 million dollars for Shawn Christensen’s high concept screenplay “Abduction”. I read it last night to see what all the fuss was about.

The script is a page turner, I’ll give it that, and if the momentum in the script ends up on screen, the film should do well.

I was a little disappointed in the direction the story took heading into the second act (spies, FBI, CIA, assassins), since we’ve seen so much of that before with all the Jason Bourne films and Eagle Eye. The script does lose a little steam in the third act, but it doesn’t lose all its momentum. The script is perfectly positioned for a sequel, which is a big bonus if the film actually gets made and is a hit.

Last I heard, The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Taylor Lautner was attached for the starring role.

ATM by Chris Sparling

After reading and enjoying “Buried”, which recently premiered at Sundance this year, I jumped at the chance to read “ATM”, another script written by Chris Sparling.

It is clear why this script was acquired so quickly. It is a page turner to be sure, and not surprisingly it follows the same formula as “Buried”. “ATM” tells a story of three young people trapped in an ATM alcove in bitterly cold temperatures, terrorized by a killer blocking their escape.

These two scripts are the perfect definition of “give me the same, but different”.

• Both scripts have minimal locations
• Both focus on impending death in a confined space
• Both have time constraints (running out of air, freezing to death)
• Both scripts are bleak and do not end in a good way

In “ATM”, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The result is 104 pages of unrelenting misery. It never lets up. I was hoping for one or two scenes where the victims prevail over their captor, if even for just a short while, so I could catch my breath. I felt it took too long to get to the meat of the story. But even with these minor points, it’s a good read and I look forward to seeing it on the big screen, should it successfully make it through all the hoops it takes to get a film made these days.

Find the script here.

Telemarketers, three strikes and you're out

• If I answer my office line and am met with three seconds of silence before someone speaks: strike one.
• If you then mispronounce my name: strike two.
• If you insist on telling me about that special offer you are not trying to sell me for only $19/95/month, after I state politely that I am not interested: strike three.

I fucking hate telemarketers calling my office line. I hate them, period. Do yourself a favour and get on the National Do Not Call List or in the US.

2009 demo reel

Right now, the work I do that pays the bills is visual effects work. I specialize as a 3D matchmover, and also do some compositing.

You can view my demo reel over at Youtube. Make sure you view it in full HD.

Looking forward to the day when I can do a little less visual effects and more writing. Yeah. Imagining and writing the visual effects instead of creating someone else’s vision. That would be cool.

Hollywood Anonymous

Honesty in Hollywood? Don’t call me, I’ll call you. My people will call your people. Indeed, getting an honest opinion about your script can be like pulling teeth. Of course, everyone is busy and doesn’t want to wade through a sea of crappy scripts. But what if it was simply because people were afraid of offending others int he business. Enter Hollywood Anonymous, a place to kick your addiction to saying what writers want to hear, instead of giving them the real goods, the real honest feedback. It’s a new “experiment” where anyone can comment about a script they’ve read or a TV show or movie they’ve seen, completely anonymously. How long will it take before it devolves into a sea of watered down shit? Who knows. Hopefully never. As a writer, this could be a goldmine of useful information.

Check it out.

Journal Archives
 

All archived journal entries can be found below.