Ode to the Poet

Poetry is something I can no longer write.  Let me take that back.  It is something I can no longer do well.  When I was performing stand-up at a local open mic, poets would come up and read their work.  It was great to hear the way their love, fear, and anger flow in a paragraph or two.  There was a point in my life when I did write a lot of poetry.  I was sixteen and for the first time in my life I was in love with a girl who loved me back.  I was very “smitten” and that lead to a new creative outlet.  I wrote this girl SO MUCH poetry.  Two of them caught the eye of a regional publisher who put them into his book.  But first loves, especially those in high school, are known for not lasting and she eventually dumped me for a senior.  This caused my poetry to take a dark turn.  Before I turned eighteen I pretty much saw all the poetry in me dry up.  Now I was in love three or four times after that, but the poetry never came back.  Years later I now see it all had to do with being in love for the first time.  When the first time was over, the poetry was over too.  When I hear a poet spout off their work I’m in awe.  So keep writing poets and please keep sharing your work with others. 

PROJECT UPDATE:

Big week coming up.  I will be performing improv in the town of Wilber, Nebraska.  I’ve done a lot of improv in my day, but this will be two firsts, performing at a high school prom and me having to direct an improv show.  I welcome this challenge and I’m really looking forward to seeing what it is like being at the helm of one of these shows.  The next night I will be directing again, but this time the short film “Bus 1512″.  As producer, I only plan on submitting this to one, maybe two, film festivals and then I’ll put it online for all to see.  I’d go into details about other big items coming up, but I’ll save that for next week.

Back to the Well (aka “American Reunion”)

About ten years ago I wrote a script with my old college roommate, Chad Bring, called “Halfway Point”.   It was about a recent college grad dealing with being an adult.  After the film was released we received a lot of praise about the story, but what brought it down was the quality.  The film was made during a time in my life when I was first learning about filmmaking.  The lighting, directing, sound, editing, and acting were not topnotch.  After the film had run its course my first instinct was to write a sequel.  I knocked a quick treatment, but that is as far as I got.  I had to realize that in order to move on and stay creative I had to put the characters to rest.  The treatment helped me do that so in my mind I will always know how those characters ended up.  I will write a sequel someday though; I have to make sure it will improve on the original.  There are so many sequels that are made for money only.  But there are those sequels that not only improve the original, and if there were any before it, but bring a story full circle and make it worth the ride.  As was the case with “American Reunion”.

 

My wife and I got a sneak peek of the film, which in case you didn’t know is the fourth installment of the “American Pie” series.  (I’m not counting all the direct to DVD spinoffs)  The movie is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time; no I’m not crazy.  I also laughed out loud many times and my wife at times uncontrollably.   I was able to catch up with the characters I met back in 1999.  I was in college and one night we all decided to go see a movie starring a high school friend of my girlfriend’s, now my wife, Chris Klein.  I was expecting just another sex comedy, but I ended up relating to the characters and I found the heart of the film.  It was also VERY funny.  I also had a blast watching “American Pie 2”, and “American Wedding”.  So here we are, thirteen years removed from the first one and here comes film number four.  This time around the guys are dealing with being in their thirties and facing the fact that things in life don’t always turn out the way you wanted them too when you were eighteen.  Back again are Jim, Oz, Finch, Kevin, and Stifler.  Also back are their female counter parts Michelle, Heather, and Vicki.  Jim’s Dad also plays a very important, and emotional, role in this film. There are the excellent cameos of Jessica, Sherman, Nadia, Stifler’s Mom, and of course The MILF guys.  So to wrap things up, I highly recommend this film.  But if you haven’t seen the first three, you won’t get it.  It would be like going to a high school reunion at a school that you didn’t attend. 

PROJECT UPDATE:

Not one, but two films will go into production this month.  A short film I came up with a couple years ago is getting a rush to production.  I’m so happy for this little film and I’ll have more details regarding its status later.  But the big news is that “Immortal Darkness” will be going into production.  I’m going to be launching a web site hopefully soon. 

“Bull Durham”

With preseason baseball in full swing and opening day within site, I thought I do a movie review of one of my favorite baseball movies.  (Go CUBS!)

 

I love baseball movies.  I’d love to write a baseball movie.  The problem is I can’t seem to come up with that perfect baseball story line that moves people to the point films like “The Sandlot”, “The Natural”, or the topic movie “Bull Durham” did.  The best thing about this movie is the screenwriters avoid major league teams and making this picture a bio pic.   This forces the film to rely on characters more heavily rather than baseball.  This could be a ping pong film and it still would have worked for me.  We can relate to the wild child of Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), the old fashion guy of Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), and then the woman who characterizes both of them Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon).  Screenwriter Ron Shelton did a great job making me relate to these people.  I never made the High School baseball team. (Which I should have, it really could have been my sport) I only have one complaint.  The first and second acts are great.  The third act starts off well, but the end is disappointing.  The reason for that might be because the movie was made in the 80’s and by a studio.  Happy endings were popular and I think if an audience didn’t have one they felt cheated.  If this film came out about five years later there would have been an unhappy ending and would have been more realistic.  It also would have left it open for a sequel, which is now very popular.  I wonder if there was an alternate ending…I’ll have to ask Kevin Costner someday.

PROJECT UPDATE:

The campaign continues to raise funds for the short film “Back to One”.  (Check out the new video!) Another big investor surge is going out for “Punished Woman’s Lake” before the campaign for that one begins in May.  “Legend of Pine Acres” is also going to be submitted into a few more festivals this week; might be able to get some more attention surrounding the first horror film I penned.  Finally, a new short film is starting to take shape.  Wish I could talk about it more, but I’ll have to leave it at that for now.

Getting Centered

When I’m working on a script I find myself living my characters.  I’m in their heads and in their world.  All writers must take a break and the best way to do that is to get centered. Some people meditate, some do yoga, some sleep, some do their laundry.  I never took to any of those.  It was always too quiet for meditation, yoga required too much bending, sleeping made me tired, and laundry was something I considered work.  If I want to get centered, and really relax, I turn to massage.  Not getting them, giving them.

Stay with me…

People feed off of other people.  They do this through conversation or just sitting in the same room.  I sometimes feel uncomfortable when put in a room with a lot of people.  Now this is where it gets weird.  I feed off of other people’s energy by touch.  This is totally non-sexual, it is so calming and brings me back to reality. When I discovered this I started studying massage therapy, the history of massage, and parts of the body.  I’ve done this so much that I now want to get myself certified as a licensed massage therapist.

I’m hoping to be licensed someday and I might even be able to make it a nice part time gig.  I can see myself as a freelance therapist making house calls between writing sessions; that would be cool.  Maybe one day you’ll check this site and see another tab talking about my new service.  Point is, if you are a writer you have got to have other things that take your mind off of writing.   We have a tendency to get too “involved” with our scripts; we all need that thing that calms us.

PROJECT UPDATE:

Big focus right now on the four films that I’m producing.  The short film “Immortal Darkness”, a cop thriller, is looking for second life by looking for a new location.  Another film looking for a second life is “Back to One”.  To make sure this film gets made we are seeking funding from Indiegogo.  Check out the PAGE and pass it on or donate.  Finally, “Legend of Pine Acres” is getting ready to be sent out on the festival circuit and a huge campaign is in the works for “Punished Woman’s Lake” to get that film going.  The year is filling up fast.

My Life is an Outline

Years ago I learned a great way to write that works for me. Before I start I always know four things: a big opening, the conflict, the ending, and the purpose. After that I can work on character backgrounds and possible arcs. Then I can work on my favorite step, the outline. I get to zip through the entire story in a matter of about 15 pages. I hand write them because I find myself working on it at odd times and places. This approach to screenwriting has now spilled over into the way I produce. I outline the tasks, crew, locations, equipment, auditions, etc. It makes for a long list, but everything gets done.

I have even taken it a bit further. I was looking forward to spending time with my daughters while my wife had to work one Saturday. I found myself outlining the day. Start the day at the library for story time, and then off to the Human Society to play with the dogs and cats. After that we pick up lunch on the way home, followed by nap time. When nap time is over we can go to the water park or the regular park depending on the weather. This is all before dinner, bath, and a bed time story.

Now to get real, I’m the only one who stuck to that schedule; turns out a 3 and a 5 year old don’t run on a clock. But this is how it goes with writing and producing. There will always be curve balls, but if outlined correctly you can allow for them and still end up with a great project…or day with your kids.

PROJECT UPDATE:

“Legend of Pine Acres” premiered at the Omaha Film Festival this past week. The response from the crowd was great. Afterwards we got a lot of compliments and only boosts my energy to work on the feature film. Stay tuned because a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds will be going up in a few weeks. It is going to be a ride.