Waiting on the Muse

Long time no see — how you all been?  Productive, I hope.

Been busy trying to figure which project to work on for the last two weeks so, consequently, I have not been very productive.  Shame on me.

Truth is, I have been writing.  First, I worked on my thriller, Blackridge Omega.  Stalled on that one.  Then decided to do a rewrite of another script while I waited for my Muse to return.  That went well for a week, then I put that aside too.  Frustrating.  Very frustrating to want to write — to feel the need to write — to have projects to work on — but don’t feel the writing.  Poor me.

But this morning all that changed.  I’ve been kicking around a story idea for a while now — the seed is a short story I wrote many, many moons ago — and this morning I wrote an extensive outline.  Twelve pages of legal sized paper.  Long hand.  And tomorrow I will open my computer and begin the shitty first draft. 

My Muse is back — perched on my shoulder.

Other than that, not much new to report.  The weather has been extremely hot — 90s for the last two weeks — and a tad on the humid side.  As for the business side of my screenwriting, still slugging away at those pesky query letters — some success.  A few scripts are still out, a couple of treatments too.  Some day lightning will strike.  Until then, I live by the 3Ps — Perseverance.  Perseverance.  Perseverance.

Guess that’s a wrap for now.  Hope you stay cool — your Muse sticks around — and you find the time to,

Keep Writing!

Vladimir Propp and the Morphology of the Folk Tale

Got your attention?  Good.  You’re probably wondering what the hell does this Propp fellow have to do with screenwriting.  Good question.  A little backstory…

On my long commute to work I will sometimes listen to CDs from The Teaching Company — mostly historical in nature (I love Early Middle Age England) — but I digress.  The last set of CDs I purchased — titled: Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind — discusses the literature of the fantastic (from the brothers Grimm to Asimov).  Somewhere on the first CD the instructor mentions Vlad Propp and his ideas on story structure.  Hmmmmm, I say to myself — on these long commutes I DO talk to myself — this sounds worth looking in to.  And I did.  Here is what I found out about good ol’ Mr. Propp over on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp)

In a nutshell…. Vlad broke Russian fairy tales down and discovered the all had a specific sequence of structures.  Thirty-one to be exact.  Not all thirty-one narrative structures where in every tale, but, he found that all the tales he analyzed displayed some subset of those functions.  The list is long:

1. ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person.
2. INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero (’don’t go there’, ‘don’t do this’). The hero is warned against some action (given an ‘interdiction’).
3. VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.
4. RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.
5. DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain’s seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location.
6. TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim’s belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration.
7. COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad).
8. VILLAINY or LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc., commits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc.). There are two options for this function, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first option, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second option, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero’s family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way.
9. MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc./ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.
10. BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counteraction. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.
11. DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;
12. FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc., preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. HERO’S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary’s powers against him);
14. RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15. GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16. STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19. LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);
20. RETURN: Hero returns;
21. PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognizably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23. UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;
24. UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;
25. DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. SOLUTION: Task is resolved;
27. RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28. EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;
29. TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc.);
30. PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;
31. WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into 8 broad character types in the 100 tales he analyzed:

§  The villain — struggles against the hero.

§  The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

§  The magical helper — helps the hero in the quest.

§  The princess and…

§  her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

§  The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

§  The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

§  False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Got it?  Look familiar?  Maybe, The Hero’s Journey?

In addition, Propp divided story into 4 segments:

1st Segment: Introduction (setting the scene)
2nd Segment: The Body of the Story (departure on the main quest)
3rd Segment: The Donor Sequence (hero gains a magical object, potential solution is reached)
4th Segment: The Hero’s return (hero returns, complications may arise, resolution)

Ahh, there’s that pesky Four Act Structure again.  Gotta love it.

I haven’t finished my analysis of Propp’s work — I fully intend to — but I do believe a better understanding of how fairy tales work and how they are structured can do nothing but make me a better writer.  Check it out, use what you like.  Throw out what you don’t.  But always,

Keep Writing!

Rhythm

The Bear Claw is gone.  The coffee — dark roast — grows cold.  And I sit here writing this blog entry ‘cause I just can’t bring myself to open Final Draft and load my current script.  Writer’s Block, you may ask?  Nope.  Just don’t feel like writing.  But I will.

I think the problem stems from my day job.  Really.  At my previous employer — before my current job some 30 months ago — I would get to work around 6:00 am; work through lunch or eat at my desk; then head for the bookstore around 2:30pm.  Once at the bookstore I would write my screenplay in longhand on yellow legal pads for an hour each afternoon, then transcribe that gibberish to my computer on the weekends.  I had rhythm.

Now, I get up at 4:00am; leave for work around 4:20am; arrive on the job at 5:30am (yes, that is correct.  A 75 mile commute one way — 70 minutes drive time); work through lunch or eat at my desk; early afternoon meetings and/or conference calls; leave for home around 3:00pm; and, depending on traffic, arrive home around 4:30pm.  No more bookstore.  No more rhythm.

But, on weekends I have plenty of time to write.  I arrive at my local Panera Bread when they open — 6:30am on Saturday; 7:30am on Sunday — and work until 11:30am.  This gives me nine hours of ‘alone time’, time to write each weekend.  My lovely bride is most generous and understanding about this and I really, really appreciate that generosity and understanding.  The problem is, when I first sit down to write, I don’t feel the rhythm.  I’m unsure where to start — how to start.  It feels like the first time each and every Saturday and Sunday morning.  But, after finishing my pastry, after my first cup of Joe, after checking the ball scores — the Cleveland Indians are having another crap year — I get down to brass tacks and write.

Which is where I am now.  Thanks for listening.  I’m ready.  Ready to feel the rhythm.  Ready to

Keep Writing!

Throwing off the Yoke of Despair

I’m not a happy camper.  Really.  Why, you might ask?  I haven’t written anything in several days.  Eleven days to be exact.  Eleven days, twenty-two hours, and thirty minutes to be precise.  I know, who cares?  But, not writing makes me, not happy.

I have spent the last eleven days, twenty-two hours, and thirty-odd minutes reading.  Reading scripts.  Lots of scripts.  I’ve read scripts by Shane Black, Joe Eszterhas, Mike Werb & Michael Colleary, Quentin Tarantino, and all the Usual Suspects.

And, to be honest, I’m tired of reading scripts. 

I miss the writing, the creativity, the time spent with my characters in their worlds.  But, I did learn things.  Things that will – I hope – make me a better writer.  And the desire to become better writers is something none of us – regardless of where we are in our careers – should ever not strive for. 

Okay, what did I learn?

·         Action lines should be conversational in tone.  After all, we are in the reader’s head telling them a story: Once upon on time…..

·         Character dialogue should sound as if two friends are chatting with one another.

·         Character introductions should cover both the physical and the emotional aspects of each character.

·         Show character attitude through dialogue.  If your character is a smart-ass, make him sound like a smart ass.  If she is sweet and naïve, make her sound sweet and naïve.

·         If there is a need for exposition and/or backstory, let it come out in a normal conversation between two characters.

·         Note character reactions in Action lines.

·         Characters can and should talk about another character to give us additional insight into that character.

·         Leave your voice on the page.

Most of these points, if not all, we have heard or read before, but like most good advice it dribbles in one ear and pours out the other.  It’s good from time to time to ‘re-educate’ ourselves; to  dribble that advice into our heads over and over and over until it sticks.

How ‘bout you, my one or two faithful readers?  How long have you ever gone without writing?  How did it make you feel?  Did you return to the keyboard resolved to be a better writer?  Let me know.

Today, things change for the better.  Today, I throw off the yoke of despair.  Today, I can be happy again as I, 

Keep Writing!   

Voice and Perseverance

Had an unproductive week – no screenwriting as such.  Been spending time completing my treatments (see last post) and working on my ‘voice’.  I’m working with an ex-development exec and script reader who likes my writing, I guess, but found my voice anonymous.  Consequently, he offered to mentor me.

When I asked for clarification about the voice thing, he stated that when reading my scripts there was nothing on the page telling him that this is a ‘Mike Scherer’ script.  My writing doesn’t have attitude unlike, say, Shane Black.  I must agree.  And, I discovered this for myself a few weeks back (see post: Liked it, didn’t love it).  So, for now, I am working to put my voice on the page.

Back on the query front… I’ve been having limited success.  Getting plenty of reads and plenty of PASSES, but, with encouraging words. For example, Would love to read something else; or, Keep my in mind for future projects.  So, I decided to try something new and different.  I put together a document listing all of my completed and polished scripts along with the genre, and a logline.  Included in this document are projects in various stages of completion – my future projects.

I then sent this document to those producers who responded favorably – two, to be exact. After all, this was an experiment – and both responded with script requests.  So….. I would highly recommend that you, my faithful two or three readers, do the same.  When a producer and/or manager asks: What else you got?  Send them the list.

Guess that’s a wrap for now.  Back to my coffee and Bear Claw and my voice.

Keep Writing!

The Nicholl, Treatments, and Queries

Hello, my Peeps – hope everyone had a successful week of writing.

Received my confirmation emails from the Nicholl this week.  Is it just me, or are there fewer entries this year?  I submitted my entries on March 28th and in my confirmation letter my submissions are numbered 1280, 1281, and 1282.  On April 9^th, when I received my emails, Mr. Beal stated that, to date there had been 2228 entries.  Hmmmm.  Now, March 28^th leaves 33 days left until the deadline on May 1^st.  And Apri 9^th leaves 21.  So what, you might ask?  Well, last year the Nicholl had 6380 entries and with 21 days to go the Nicholl is 4152 entries short of last year’s total.  Are fewer folks trying to break into the biz?  Have contests lost their appeal?  Will Mr. Beal and company suffer a deluge of scripts to the tune of 4000+ in three weeks?  (insert shrug) — I dunno.  Just find it curious is all.  Stay tuned.

On a different note, I did something this week I swore I would never, ever do.  I… wrote a treatment. 

I had a producer tell me he didn’t have time to read my script, Boomslang, so, “…could you please send me a treatment?”.  I know, I know.  This is like writing for free, but his reasoning made sense to me: producers are very busy people – at least the successful ones are – and that I would get a better response to my queries if I offered up a treatment instead of the completed screenplay.  So…

I caved.  And let me tell you, writing a treatment if tough, real tough.  That said, I can see the wisdom in his words, so I have decided to write treatments for all of my scripts and to change my query letters to offer the reader a choice: treatment or script.

Finally, the queries are still flying out of my computer at a torrid pace.  The response has been lukewarm at best, but I am a firm believer in the 3Ps: Perseverance.  Perseverance.  Perseverance.  My philosophy is this:  Query producers who produce movies in your genre, then throw’em up against the wall – the queries, not the producers – and see what sticks.  Getting noticed / discovered /  produced is a matter of reaching the right person at the right time with the right material.  So, onward and upward and always,

Keep Writing!

Back in the Saddle Again

I’m back in Raleigh after a wonderful week along the Outer Banks. Beaches. Lighthouses. The Wright Brothers Memorial – it was all good and over way too soon.

On the bright side: I’m back at my coffee shop where I can get good, hot coffee and tasty Bear Claws (alas, there were no Panera Breads at the Outer Banks – bummer) and where I can write. As I have mentioned before, for some reason, I can not write at home. What would Freud say about that? Any way, I’m deep into ACT II of my latest script (a thriller, tentatively titled: BLACKRIDGE OMEGA, INC.) and breezing along at a pretty good clip. With any luck the first draft will be completed by the end of the month and then it will be rewrite after rewrite after rewrite until I get the damn thing as good as I can.

I have also been pretty active on the query-front-lines. Not many ‘yeah, send me the script’ and plenty of ’sorry, not for us’,  but I soldier on. I have compiled a new list of production companies/producers (around 150 – look out Hollywood, I’m out to get you!) and will start pestering them starting next week. If anyone is interested, I get most of my contacts from a new service called Contactourage (http://contactourage.com/). It costs about $70 per year and is well worth the money. Here’s why. They don’t have a gazillion names in their database — it is growing daily– but more importantly, you can get a company’s email address structure (eg. FirstnameLastinitial@company.com) and use it to construct dozens of other contacts. Do this by uncovering manager and producer names/companies by subscribing to IMDB PRO or the CREATIVE HOLLYWOOD DIRECTORY – neither free – and build your own Hollywood rolodex.

I guess that’s a wrap for today. Time to get a refill, open Final Draft, and,

Keep Writing!

Liked it, didn’t love it.

In a previous post (see one below) I mentioned my Hollywood experience with managers and producers, specifically, their comments after reading my scripts.  Well, I have spent the last two weeks analyzing – as my limited time permits – several scripts using Shane Black’s rules.  I decided on four screenplays: Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang; Die Hard; Se7en; and Lethal Weapon 1.  and discovered this about my writing: 

Notice that the gags and twists and references to Riggs’ sanity start early in Act I – giving the reader/audience a glimpse into each character’s character and drawing us into the story.    

I’m Done…

…writing!

For now.

For a week or two.

But not for good.  Never!  Never!  Never!

Here’s the deal.  As you, my faithful two or three blog followers already know, I have been putting my scripts out there.  Way out there.  To the tune of 300+ queries and eleven (11) requests for scripts and, although there are several scripts still out being read – I hope – the passes have been encouraging.  I have received comments like: ‘…well written…’; ‘…like your writing..’; ‘…enjoyed the story…’; ‘…liked certain elements…’; etc.  But – and this is the kicker – in the end they all said pretty much the same thing: liked the script, but didn’t LOVE IT.

Why? 

Dunno.

Then I read a blog entry over at Scott Myers’ Go Into The Story (http://www.gointothestory.com/) — Shane Black on how he approaches action stories (find the entry here– you’ll have to scroll down just a tad: (http://www.gointothestory.com/search?updated-max=2010-03-11T16%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=10) and WOW!!! Did it ever open my eyes!  Now, all the things Mr. Black said I have read/heard/knew before but…. when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  I immediately knew why those producers and managers in Hollywood kept saying, ‘…didn’t love it…’.  Please, if you only do one writing related activity today, read this article.  Really.

Which brings me to this morning.  A balmy 55 degrees, overcast, rainy.  The coffee is hot.  The Bear Claw is fresh.  And I’m ready to begin the next leg of my journey in becoming the best screenwriter I can be.  I am shelving my writing for the next two to three weeks and spending my time reading/analyzing/tearing apart scripts based on Mr. Black’s Ten Rules For Action Stories.  When I am finished, I will apply what I have learned to my current script, then go back and rewrite, yet again, the four scripts currently making the rounds in Hollywood.  When I finish this writing odyssey I want those producers and managers who read my scripts to scream, ‘I LOVE IT!’.

That’s the plan.  Learn from the best.  Apply what I have learned.  And then,

Keep Writing!

Today’s Subject Is…

….Uh, don’t really have one.  Sorry.  I guess you will just have to put up with my ramblings – old people have a tendency to do that, you know.

First, still been sending out the queries – every week.  I’m sure Hollyweird is getting very, very sick of hearing from me.  But, I have a theory about queries and it is this: you need to get your product out there in front of the buyers.  Sure, you will get rejected time and time again.  Over and over again.  But – and here comes the theory part – you only need to find that one person who is looking for the very thing you are selling – serendipity is the screenwriter’s best friend.  So, here is my score card to date – and don’t laugh, okay?

Production Companies: one-hundred-ninety-five (195) queries–five (5) requests for scripts–effectiveness:  2.56%. To date there have been no PASSES – but then again, no news – silence – very well could mean PASS.

Management Companies: one-hundred-twenty-three (123) queries–six (6) requests for scripts–efectiveness:  4.88%.  To date there have been four (4) PASSES – but encouraging words along the way.

I know these statistics sound horrible, but as I said: this is a numbers game and it only takes one YES.  It reminds me of the very old joke:

INT. RUSTY’S BAR AND GRILL – NIGHT

Jeff, 20s, average looking, wears bib-overalls – sits at the bar with his friend, Billy Bob, 20s, . dressed to the nines

Billy Bob turns to Jeff, asks:

BILLY BOB 

How do you manage to get laid every damn night?

JEFF

Easy.  I just walk up to a foxy babe and say, ‘Do you wanna F**k?’

BILLY BOB

Damn.  Don’t you get slapped a lot?

JEFF

Sure.  But… I get laid a lot too.

Go out and get slapped — then get laid

On a related note, there is a new service available to screenwriters that provides valid email addresses for industry professionals.  Valid email addresses are the hardest things to come by for us industry-challenged writers and I highly recommend that you check it out.  The service is called CONTACTOURAGE and is available for $79 a year to subscribers of TRACKINGBOARD and $99 per year for everyone else.  You can subscribe to IMDBPro and/or The Hollywood Creative Directory, but what both sorely lack are email addresses.  If you are interested go to http://www.trackingb.com/ and check it out.  Disclaimer:  I am no way affiliated with either website and I don’t get any compensation for this advert.  Come to think of it, I am cutting my own throat by telling you all about this!!  I’m creating more competition!!  Oh well.  Sigh.  What the hell.

Finally, some you may be aware of the GITS Club – loosely affiliated with Scott Myers’ Go Into The Story blog.  If you haven’t yet checked it out, do so at: http://www.gitsclub.proboards.com/ .  It’s free.  Fun.   And very educational.  A chance to link up  with like-minded writers.  Right now there is an interesting experiment in its embryonic stage where a group of perfect strangers – well, maybe they’re not perfect – intend to write a script via emails where each writes a twenty page segment and an editor will splice them together, tie things up, and present the world with a very unique reading experience.  Come on over and check it out – sign up to participate in the experiment.  Be a part of history.

Okay, that’s probably all I have time for – gotta get back to writing.  I’m deep into ACT I of my new thriller: BLACKRIDGE OMEGA, INC. – and we all know you can’t complete anything unless you

Keep Writing!