Check out my new article “It’s Okay To Say No” that’s up over at screenwriting magazine The Story Department

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was unleashed last weekend. The $60 million, Edgar Wright directed video game romp is a strange foray into nostalgia, contemporary manga style fiction and stylistic filmmaking, so, when I went to see Pilgrim at the Arclight opening night, I had only an expectation: the film would be fun. Why then, did this collision of my beloved interests: manga, anime and video games feel slightly off mark?

It’s weird to see the very things I cherished in my youth being synthesized into a major studio releases. I was born in 1980′s and now my generation is now a prime target for 80′s nostalgia. From “pre-worn” graphic t-shirts to the resurgence of 2D side-scrolling platform games and 80′s action and ski flicks, us 20-something guys (and gals!) are getting it from every side.

Pilgrim shines with every  lovingly hand-crafted sound effect and video game call-out. It’s as though Edgar Wright kidnapped video game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi and forced them to work in a bunker deep under Los Angeles for Xbox Live points. Elements of every genre are present, just take a look at “Every Video Game Reference in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World” Pilgrim takes all my fun quirky, formerly niche interests and synthesizes them, and surprisingly for me, the sum is not as great as its parts.

Story with Character?

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, adapted from an award-winning comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley, takes some tenants of video gaming to heart. But perhaps not the right ones. In seeking to emulate a video game style, many of the characters seemed flat, literally one-note “non-player characters” (NPC’s) in a light-on-story fighting game. It felt more like I had been playing an hour or 2 of Tekken than watching a proper story.

What happens between the awesome over-the-top fighting? Sadly, it’s where things really fall apart. Many geeky movie goers may be willing to forgo the flicks apparent lack of motivation or depth (more on that in a second.) For what it’s worth, this is a beat-em-up style movie, it has a story as deep and transparent as beat-em-up games like Streets of Rage II.

In fighting games, the story serves the gameplay, it (often clumsily) sets up the next chance encounter and then you fight!  That’s a tough trick to pull off seven times in a 112 minute feature. But as exciting as each battle was, the fun was ephemeral, the enjoyment fleeting. Like a ride at a theme park, we’re “on rails” until it’s over.

The love story between Scott Pilgrim and Romona Flowers runs on auto pilot. Love stories have to be authentic, to keep me invested, even in silly or fun movies. The “on-to-the-next-one” mentality of Scott, where his friends and loved ones are concerned, makes it difficult to reconcile his apparent infatuation with Romona. The Romona character never does anything worthy of being fought for. Yeah she’s cute, aloof, totally-hip but really she’s kind of a dick. And as a result, I never once cheered for Romona and Scott to be together.

It’s disappointing to see the story machinations so clearly in play. Can you recall the names of seven of the evil exes? How about their back story or motivation? I wasn’t looking for gold, but I just don’t know enough about any character to truly care about why they needed to be vanquished. This coupled with the anemic relationship between Scott and Romona left so much to be desired.

Visual / Sound

Edgar Wright has always been good with the visual details (check out my Shaun of the Dead breakdown) and he mixes it up with a clever visual vocabulary. I was initially drawn to the energy and visual execution of Pilgrim. Despite this, it’s hard for me to peg why this familiar synthesis isn’t a home run.

In a recent Popular Mechanics article, VFX Supervisor Frazer Churchill explains how they distilled the video game juice:

The film is informed by video-game style, but it’s not like we looked at games and thought, ‘We’ve got to put that in there,” – Frazer Churchill

And there’s plenty of video game mythos and fanboy gems to go around. Observant listeners may perk up when they hear the theme for Nintendo’s Zelda, ring chimes from Sonic the Hedgehog,  the explosion of coins out of a defeated enemy, or literally the hundreds of other small handcrafted audio cues that, no doubt, took time to design and execute.

The onomatopoeic manga-style typography adds some whimsy. By the second hour, I’ve seen as many “action words” as I’m willing to to bear. And perhaps that’s part of the problem. Pilgrim is filled with visual flourishes that are delightful, in small doses.  If Pilgrim was 15 minute YouTube video it would likely have 80 million views. There are constant split screens, over-layed text, power-ups, all with fast paced quick cuts interspersed with cheeky visual jokes. A.D.D. theatre at its best. But how do you do long-form A.D.D.theatre?

Insert Coin to Continue

I’d put the performances in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World into the same category as movies like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children or Resident Evil: Degeneration. With goofy delivery of lines like “I’m a little bi-furious!” the movie misfires with a quirky, strange Japanese-esque smile.

Pilgrim’s strength is with style and flash. Its depth will be a matter of much debate. Still, I like the universe in which Scott Pilgrim lives. In fact, I look forward to the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World video game. The nostalgia crowd is already eating it up. And why not? After all, as I left the movie theater I thought to myself, “I wish I could have played that game instead of watching it.”

Back in May, I had the opportunity to meet with comedian Tom Green at his home / studio and talk about his web TV show  Tom Green’s House Tonight.

The article, for a pro-audio/video industry mag, talks about the unique production considerations for running a broadcast style talk show on the web. (Article copy below / High Quality PDF )

Imagine if you will, you’re at the helm of a live internet TV show with high production values that bucks
the precise ratings driven format of television. The show is streamed in real time on the web, celebrity guests chat on a couch, a band performs and most certainly hundreds of callers Skype video chat with you. Oh, and it happens at a flip of the switch, all from the comfort of your living room.

If you’re Tom Green, that’s a reality. Quietly (and not so quietly) over the last five years, Tom Green has amassed an impressive internet following with Tom Green’s House Tonight one of the first, and longest running internet-call-in shows. One only needs to Google “Tom Green and Xzibit Freestyle Rap battle” and take a look at the nearly 3.4 million YouTube hits to see his reality is well watched.

Armed with the mantra “content over form,” Green makes a show on his terms. He calls it Guerrilla TV. But that doesn’t mean sound or production become afterthoughts. Guests are mic’d with Lectrosonics wireless lavalieres and surrounded by nine HD cameras, all set to various shot lengths and placed everywhere from the living room, front door, bookcase and even the refrigerator.

The before air set-up for Tom Green’s House Tonight resembles a pre-flight check. The control system of such an advantageous set-up looks a bit like the cockpit of a Boeing 747. At the center, a Yamaha 01V 96 VCM mixing console. Unique, are three Apple Mac computers each running a separate instance of Skype, and each running audio out through M-Audio Fast Track boxes into the board. In real time, director and web producer, Tony Corella, uses a Panasonic AG-MX70 video switcher to swap from various sources, and cues on-screen text from yet another computer, this one running Newtek VT[5].

When a band visits the studio, Green’s team rolls out a second Yamaha 01V 96 VCM and a second engineer. Just take a look at the previous show guests.  And no, that isn’t a laugh track you hear, the studio is equipped with bleachers to house twenty-some people to see the show in action.

That’s part of the fun of Tom Green’s House Tonight; two way interaction. Green wants to give unprecedented access and his viewers respond in kind. This attitude is reflected in just about everything he does. “I’m looking for good people to come out, have a little fun, and help run the show,” says Green. Feel like you have what it takes to run the rig at Tom Green’s house? If you’d like to get involved, post to the forum at TomGreen.com.

When the show comes together, the result is impressive. A live band jams, then switch on-the-fly to a Skype call, cut to the front door as guests arrive, then back to the couch. All seamless, all with the great care all direct to your computer in a show that could last twenty minutes of 4 hours.

But the action isn’t limited to inside of Tom Green’s teched and decked-out home. For high quality audio on the go, he uses a DXA-SLR active DSLR Adapter along with a MixPre Field Mixer and with two Sennheiser wireless lavs, turning his Canon EOS 5D Mark II into a formidable mobile sound package.

Ultimately, Tom Green’s House Tonight has built something unheard of in the world of internet entertainment; consistent, well-produced content that doesn’t sacrifice quality. So, when are you making a house call?

Tom Green is currently on tour, and will be performing  at the DC Improv on July 30th/August 1st. Stay tuned for more articles from me on screenwriting, filmmaking, editing, and more. They’re just around the corner, as soon as the dust from good ol’ Comicon settles!

Unlike novels, a script has implications far beyond the imagination of the reader. It is the document blue-print for an ultimately collaborative endeavor. In order to be an effective screenwriter, you need to be hyper aware of the production process and post-production process. I say aware, since you don’t have to do those tasks, you just need to know what is required of someone who does.

A couple of months ago at Screenwriter Karaoke, I was chatting with a writer about script dialogue. He was insistent that “real authentic dialogue is exactly like conversation.”  I responded that dialogue wasn’t actual conversation, but only gave the impression of conversation for the the sake of story. It is condensed and streamlined. After all, not everything we say in real life is interesting or even poignant. As we shared the exchange about a what dialogue needed to be,  he pulled the “well where did you learn how to write?” line. He’d gone to USC, was extolling the virtues of McKee or someone.  I simply said: “post-production.”

Pull the needle from the record! What, does the (mostly) solitary act of writing have to do with, say, cutting together a film? Quite a bit actually. Time and time again, I read scripts by writers who are woefully unaware that production and post process even takes place. For example: I often see scenes begin awkwardly with somebody walking into the room, simply to begin small talk, when the meat of the scene is a 30 second dialogue exchange on the couch later, where Jimmy tells Jane he’s joined a Poison cover band to avenge the death of his gerbil “Mikey.”

In a quest to mimic actual conversation, writers actually create the kind of stilted and obvious dialogue that makes most people groan. Film editing taught me to get in late and get out quick. Through my work, I’d spent so much time editing other people’s (bad!) dialogue, I began to gain a sense of what “good” dialogue sounded like to me. Part of a film editor’s job is to further finesse the dialogue, cut it so it sounds and feels natural, while maintaining the essence of the scene.  In many ways, the last cut of a film is the final draft of the script, or as Oscar nominated Director/Actor Peter Riegert said last year at the Southampton Screenwriting Conference: “Your script isn’t finished until opening night.”

As an editor, I was reverse engineering how to write a good scene.  I am able to recognize good dialogue when I read it in a script because I can see the semblance and pacing of “real” conversation, without all the boring parts. I am able to write good funny visual jokes that pop at the right moment, because I have an idea of when to get in and get out.

I put a call out to several writing and screenwriting communities for some comments on how their editing backgrounds have impacted their ability to write:

Xiaoniu (via reddit)

… I think it’s all part of what makes my film sense together, so it might have subconsciously influenced my writing.

Merrill Barr (Another Merrel?!)

You learn the idea of pacing early… when you bring that knowledge to writing, you end up pacing it the way you would edit something… It’s also helped the way I write movie/tv reviews. Reviews are written like a trailer almost. Short(ish), sweet, and to the point. I hate reviews that spend 4 paragraphs on nothing important. Most of my reviews never pass 700 words. You really shouldn’t need more than that.

Millstone99 (via Reddit)

I’ve spent a lot of time watching editors cut my extraneous dialogue (and sometimes entire scenes). So, I’m always thinking about the editor as I write. Is he just going to cut this bit anyway? Why do I think it’s so important, anyway?

So, the next time you write excruciatingly slow small talk, or have characters inexplicably enter the room at the beginning of the scene, think about how that scene will play visually, and how there would  be no way in hell, it would ever make it out of the editing room.

I encourage every writer to learn how to cut. I learned to cut on an AVID, and in recent years have moved to Final Cut Pro. There are many options out there. But, once you get a sense of how to assemble a scene visually, you’ll notice your writing will become more succinct. And even if you never work professionally as an editor, it is a skill and knowledge set which in no way can do harm to your ability to tell a story effectively. Get out there and be aware. Your story will be thankful for it.

This Saturday I’ll be at WGAw in Los Angeles for another “The Best Short Film Workshop Ever” hosted by filmmaker, author and former Sundance programmer Roberta Munroe.

I’ve been both an attendee and speaker at previous workshops, and have met a great slew of filmmakers and industry folk.

Saturday February 27th, 2010
Los Angeles
The Writers Guild Of America
7000 W. Third Street Los Angeles, CA 90048

RSVP and join in!

Back in 2002 I was studying to be an audio engineer at The Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts. I reasoned that since I fancied myself a musician, it was an important step to learn how to produce my own music.

I further studied and later re-directed my focus on production and post-production for film. It was an excellent choice which gave me an important educational foundation to move onto and pursue rewarding work.

So, it is very exciting to share that nearly eight years after I graduated from Sheffield that I’ve been featured in their Alumni online magazine. Check it out!

Back in September, I was invited to speak on a panel about different aspects of short filmmaking at Roberta Munroe’s “Best Short Film Workshop Ever.” It was a great workshop, filled with wonderful discussion about writing, production and distribution of short film. (You can read my notes on the workshop, and notes from Roberta Munroe’s other events.)

Leah Meyerhoff

On the panel was Slava Rubin co-founder of IndieGoGo.com and filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff. Leah’s film Twitch won the grand jury prize at Slamdance in  2007. Twitch went on to show at over 100 festivals and received many awards and was her first foray into the film festival circuit.

Leah has been gracious enough to share a bit of her insight on her short filmmaking and how it has prepared her for her first feature length film. So, let’s get into it!

Merrel Davis: What were the circumstances surrounding the production of Twitch? When you set out to make Twitch did you have a particular endgame in mind, like getting distribution or simply visibility?

Leah Meyerhoff: I made Twitch while I was studying at NYU. I’ve always thought it best when filmmakers “write what they know” so I began with a very personal story and then expanded out from there. My mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis shortly before I was born and was in a wheelchair by the time I was learning to walk. My parents divorced soon after and I was left having to take care of my mother while I was still a child. I have always been interested in making a film about this mother/daughter role reversal and the complexities and challenges of growing up with a parent who was sick. Thus Twitch tells the story of a teenage girl torn between caring for her disabled mother and escaping into the world of adolescence with her new boyfriend. After many unsatisfying auditions in NY, I decided to cast my real mother as the mother character in the film, which meant that I needed to return to SF for the shoot. Around the same time, I was approached by a reality show called “Film School” who wanted to document the process of making Twitch for a program on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Although in retrospect, it probably wasn’t worth the headache, at the time it seemed like an easy way to finance the film as well as secure a certain level of visibility. Although I didn’t have a set distribution strategy in mind, I knew that I wanted as many people as possible to see the film and a showcase on IFC seemed like a good opportunity. We shot Twitch on Super16mm over the course of three days with a small crew comprised of many of my classmates from film school. Afterward I edited the film on an Avid and began sending it out to festivals. [Merrel Note: If you want to see part of Leah's process, there are many clips available on Youtube of the "Film School" series.]

MD: Much short film seeks to mimic the style and pacing of television. I increasingly see “all flash, no substance” short films that feel very impressed with themselves. After traveling the festival circuit promoting your various projects and music videos, do you see any emerging trends?

LM: I agree that many short filmmakers seem more interested in making calling cards than telling a story, but at the same time I think there is a counter movement towards smaller, more performance driven work. Some of my recent favorites are films like Man, Lady Margaret, Antonio’s Breakfast, In the Morning and The Execution of Solomon Harris which don’t try to cram an entire feature into a short, but rather focus on conveying the emotional truth of a particular moment in a character’s life.

MD: At the Boston Underground Film Festival, you talked a little bit about your original career aspirations, you said you wanted to be a marine biologist. How has that skillset come in handy as a filmmaker?

LM: Although I had different interests in high school, by the time I attended Brown University I ended up majoring in Art-Semiotics, which is basically a combination of film theory, art history, postmodern thought and film production. This skillset has informed my filmmaking by provoking me to consider the meaning behind each shot in addition to the visual effect. Similarly, I am able to watch films with a more critical eye and take away specific lessons which I then apply to my work. At the same time, I think too much theory can be dangerous because the emotional truth of the story has to come first.

MD: Can you talk a little bit about your first feature Unicorns? Has your introduction to the short film and festival world been helpful?

LM: Unicorns portrays an awkward teenage girl who escapes to a fantasy world when her first romantic relationship becomes increasingly abusive.  Through a combination of social and magical realism, I hope to create an intimate, honest, performance-driven film that allows us to get inside the character’s head as well as her heart. I began writing the script as my thesis at NYU and simultaneously started fundraising as I traveled the festival circuit with my short Twitch. In fact, I would not be in the place I am at now were it not for my prior experiences in the short film and festival worlds.

MD: How did the production of Unicorns come about?

LM: I met most of the people who are currently working on Unicorns through the festival circuit. Our executive producer Allison Anders had recently mentored a film I saw at the Sarasota Film Festival as well as directed several amazing films of her own. I met producers Alexis Fish and Heather Rae through the Sundance Film Festival (where Heather’s previous film Frozen River won the Grand Jury Prize). Our casting directors Judy Henderson, Meg Morman and Sunday Boling were recommended by other filmmakers I met on the festival circuit and I initially had seen many of the actors we ended up casting in festival films as well. Similarly, many of the other crew members we ended up hiring were originally introduced to us through the festival world.

MD: Do you feel filmmakers should embark on short film projects before attempting to begin their first feature? In what ways did it prepare you?

LM: I absolutely recommend that filmmakers make several shorts before they try to tackle a feature. Not only did making shorts allow me to hone my skills as a director (how to work with actors, where to place the camera, etc.) but traveling the film festival circuit prepared me for the reality of the distribution landscape. It makes much more sense to learn the system with a short, plus you are able to make amazing connections along the way!

MD: Now that you’ve navigated the waters of the festival circuit. Do you have any advice to new filmmakers looking to embark down this path? What would you do again and what would you do differently?

LM: My advice is to plan out a festival strategy at least a year in advance. Figure out where you want to premiere, how many submission fees you can afford, where you want to travel, which festivals treat filmmakers well and so on. Compile a master database of everywhere you want to submit and then tackle each group of submissions one month at a time. Although this requires extra effort in the beginning, by the end you will have saved yourself a lot of time and trouble. Though I was lucky with Twitch (premiering at Clermont-Ferrand and Slamdance) I wish I had spent more time making a strategy in advance because there definitely were deadlines I missed or festivals I was disqualified from because I had already premiered elsewhere. Also, I can’t emphasize enough not to neglect the smaller festivals. Not only are you more likely to win awards there, but regional festivals tend to treat filmmakers really well and you are more likely to reach an audience that otherwise would never be able to see your film.

MD: Leah, thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge with other filmmakers. Do you have any take aways, or thoughts?

LM: Independent filmmaking is a long and difficult path, so the more we can help each other out and build a community the better off all of us will be!

MD: Amen! I’d like to end by sharing Twtich in its entirety.

LINKS:
Official Twitch Site
Official Unicorns Site
Leah Meyerhoff’s Blog
Leah Meyerhoff’s IMDB
Leah Meyerhoff’s Twitter
Unicorns Twitter

This past Saturday, I was a special guest of Roberta Munroe’s “Best Short Film Workshop Ever” — It was a great event, and despite also being a speaker, I took some time to live tweet the event for all those who couldn’t make it.

Leah Meyerhoff and Kim Garland chat during "The Best Short Film Workshop Ever"

Here is a twitter transcript of the event. Look for a full write-up on the event soon!

• Heading on train to downtown to “The Best Short Film Workshop Ever” headed by former Sundance Programmer Roberta Munroe. Gunna be a blast! 5:58 AM Sep 26th
• Introductions have begun – @robertamunroe is leading the room. Good turnout. #ScreenwritingSaturday7:33 AM Sep 26th
• In the “Best Short Film Workshop Ever” is a great mix of writers, directors, actors, and producers. #ScreenwritinSaturday7:43 AM Sep 26th
• Dispelling myths about Sundance “the # of good films never changed from year to year… despite increased # submissions.” – Roberta Munroe 7:51 AM Sep 26th
• On your short film for festival circuit “No opening credits, no long credits at the end” – Roberta Munroe. Don’t be overly self indulgent. 7:56 AM Sep 26th
• Surround yourself with others inline with your goals in filmmaking. “Surround yourself with genius” #ScreenwritingSaturday8:08 AM Sep 26th
• Workshop Break. Next up. ME! I’ll be talking about Mental Spackle, and where I “fell down” on my last short film. #ScreenwritingSaturday8:37 AM Sep 26th
• Talking about the Duplass Brothers — “This is John” and “The intervention” and “The Puffy Chair” #ScreenwritingSaturday8:55 AM Sep 26th
• The post-production process is the “final rewrite” — work is not done when you call “Wrap!’ #ScreenwritingSaturday9:24 AM Sep 26th from TweetDeck
• If you send a short film to festival — have your a feature script READY. If you a don’t you may be passed for other workshops @ festival. 9:28 AM Sep 26th
• “Youtube Screeningroom is the curated section of youtube. Filmmakers that got paid for their films” -Roberta Munroe http://bit.ly/C0MIO9:48 AM Sep 26th
• Nash Edgerton’s short film “Spider” — check it out! http://bit.ly/xTvPN (Roberta Recommends) 9:54 AM Sep 26th
• Break time from “The Best Short Film Workshop Ever” #ScreenwritingSaturday9:54 AM Sep 26th
• Re: Your short film “Get a Casting Director.” N/E thing takes something off shoulders. “get to know casting assistants” -Roberta Munroe. 11:01 AM Sep 26th
• “Do not settle in your casting. Find someone that knows more than you. You are paying for their time.” – Roberta Munroe. 11:09 AM Sep 26th
• “Cover peoples cost, they will respect you, and work harder” – Roberta Munroe RE: Day rates on short films. 11:13 AM Sep 26th
• “Create a ‘look book’ of your movie. Take book to your DP/Producer/Prod Designer. This is your vision/Colors/Magazine clips” – Roberta Monroe. 11:16 AM Sep 26th
• “You should never ‘be’ a post-production supervisor, unless you ARE a post-production supervisor” — Roberta Munroe 11:41 AM Sep 26th
• “1st time filmmakers often don’t understand post-production process.” – Roberta M. Admit you don’t know everything & hire someone who does.11:44 AM Sep 26th
• What a good editor says “you are probably are not going to be in love with the first cut. This is a skeleton.” Good editor gives you options. 11:54 AM Sep 26th
• “Don’t get stuck on the Master Shot. Get your close shots, mediums. Move onto getting closer. Make sure you’ve the coverage” – Roberta Munroe 11:55 AM Sep 26th
• Check out “The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the Web” by Norman Hollyn http://bit.ly/15aqu912:12 PM Sep 26th
• “More sound design, less music. Sound Design can add muscle to a scene. Fill out, move dialogue.” -Roberta Monroe 12:21 PM Sep 26th
• “Do not put music in the first 3rd of your film. Should stand and deliver on its own. Music should accompany not overwhelm.” -Roberta Munroe. 12:24 PM Sep 26th
• For those wondering what I’m tweeting. Am a special guest @ “The Best Short Film Workshop Ever” w/ Roberta Munroe former sundance programmer. 12:27 PM Sep 26th
• Now talking distribution with Leah Meyerhoff, @GoGoSlava will be here soon. 12:43 PM Sep 26th
• “If you want your short film to be distribution ready, don’t use recognizable music. You will not get the rights to The Who” -Roberta Munroe 12:47 PM Sep 26th
• “Take some pictures on set for promotional purposes.” It’s much better than pulling stills from your cut. They never look as good. 12:52 PM Sep 26th
• “Did you separate your Dialogue, Music, and Effects tracks? Ask about this in your soundmix! Important!” – Roberta Munroe. 12:57 PM Sep 26th
• “Contracts: Remember! “NON-EXCLUSIVE” never give all rights to single distribution co. Different Markets different needs” – Roberta Munroe. 1:01 PM Sep 26th
• “There is not a single distributor who can exploit your film worldwide. To be able to sell to as many people, non-exclusive!” -Roberta Munroe. 1:05 PM Sep 26th
• Now Leah Meyerhoff (@leahland) speaking about distribution. When shopping “Twitch” she created a “distribution database”
• Leah’s (@leahland)Her short film Twitch won Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance http://bit.ly/78Jpv1:11 PM Sep 26th
• Leah Meyerhoff (@leahland) sold exclusive rights for Twitch in Scandinavia for $7000. So there are cases when exclusive contracts work!1:12 PM Sep 26th
• “Sign all non-exclusive contracts you can. At this point it is about getting your work seen” – Leah Meyerhoff (@leahland ) 1:14 PM Sep 26th
• “Internet is murky & tricky. I held off releasing my film online until I completed the full festival run.” – Leah Meyerhoff (@leahland) 1:16 PM Sep 26th
• Be sure to have a website for yourself or your film. Oh, and Slava Rubin (@GoGoSlava) has arrived to the workshop. 1:19 PM Sep 26th
• “The more kind buzz you build about yourself comes back 10 fold. I know the importance of how to have a great image” – @leahland1:25 PM Sep 26th
• “When you go to film festivals, you are collecting a database of people who may later be part of your filmmaking career” – Roberta Munroe 1:27 PM Sep 26th
• “Build an email list. Don’t spam. Create an ongoing conversation and engage about your film and filmmaking” – Leah Meyerhoff (@leahland) 1:32 PM Sep 26th
• “Do not write a scathing email if you got rejection from a festival. It makes your look like an ass.” – Roberta Munroe 1:52 PM Sep 26th
• Now up is @GoGoSlava from Indie Go Go talking about raising about monies 2:06 PM Sep 26th
• “Email campaigns are the most undervalued items in your arsenal. Not just to market, but to engage filmmakers.” – Slava Rubin (@GoGoSlava) 2:14 PM Sep 26th
• Check out IndieGoGo provides “tools for fundraising, promotion, and discovery for filmmaking” Listening to @GoGoSlava speak. 2:28 PM Sep 26th
• Flyer from today’s “The Best Short Film Workshop Ever” http://twitpic.com/j9l80 3:03 PM Sep 26th
• “Focus on European festivals that don’t charge submission $ Go w/ the free ones 1st. Learn your festival submissions chops”- Roberta Munroe3:08 PM Sep 26th
• Sundance is not the end-all-and-be-all of film festivals, there are others out there, that can help you get great traction. 3:09 PM Sep 26th
• Closing statements from @robertamunroe. [Merrel note: Ouch! My back is killing me!] 3:22 PM Sep 26th
• Workshop over, now back to your regularly scheduled tweeting. Thanks for indulging me! 4:08 PM Sep 26th
• Look for a recap of today’s filmmaking workshop and tweets on my blog sometime mid next week! 4:54 PM Sep 26th

Good news folks! I’ve been invited as a special guest to Roberta Munroe’s Best Short Film Workshop Ever, this weekend September 26th in NYC. I will be speaking with Roberta about short film script structure, things like how to creating characters that are immediately engaging.

You may recall Roberta put on a great workshop at DCTV last March, Please check out my detailed recap of the event if you haven’t, it is chock full of goodness

If you are a short filmmaker come out to this event. Roberta is a sharp filmmaker who has judged over 15,000 films for large festivals like Sundance. The workshop will cover:

• Story
• Structure
• Production Distribution
• Film Festival Circuit
• How To Actually Make Money From Your Short Film

See you there!

I’m back from a five day stint at the Southampton Screenwriters Conference, which was held at Stony Brook University, Southampton, Long Island.

What a wonderful experience!  Back in May when I was accepted to the conference I had some very specific goals in mind. I was going to workshop my feature script Through the Broken Glass. By the time of the conference, I had finished my fifth draft and was ready to run it through the ringer.

Surprising to me, was just how many things I learned during the conference both internal and external of my script.

The Workshop

Each morning began with the core workshop. I attended “Mastering Scene Writing” with actor/writer/director Peter Riegert in a small class of about six people. In this intimate environment Riegert proved a sharp guy. He offered a wealth of anecdotal advice based on both his acting experience and his experience writing and directing his Oscar nominated short By Courier and his feature length film King of the Corner.

Merrel Davis (me!) and Peter Riegert

It was refreshing to hear a consummate actor such as Peter Riegert read lines from my script. A lesson emerged from reading, a lesson of cleverness and simplicity and their places. I had written something (in a much earlier draft) that tickled me pink, and I was proud of it. But as Riegert said, “wit runs only so far.” My clever scene with a visual trick with an overly complicated execution didn’t really add to the my story, in fact it detracted.

The rest of the workshop explored simplicity and profundity as a way to “rise to the occasion” in a scene. Many view scriptwriting as severely limiting – Riegert encouraged us to “exploit what is limited.” Part of filmmaking is to embrace the limitations (no internal dialogue, visual storytelling, et. al.)

The Classes

In the afternoon, there were electives available to all screenwriters and playwrights.  I took an elective course “What Lies beneath” about psychology and screenwriting with screenwriter turned psychotherapist Renee Shafransky. [Note: Look for a full post about just this topic in the near future.]

She opened quite compellingly with the statement “Every good screenwriter is a psychologist.” She focused on the concept of “Why Now?” The idea of why are we seeing these characters in a certain state at this moment, what pushed them there? Shafranksy stated: “This will give the urgency to your story.  What’s so urgent today that wasn’t urgent yesterday?”

“Writing for the Camera” with Robert Emmett Ginna focused on how the visual narrative can show so much, without a word of dialogue. He spoke about his time on the set of Lawrence of Arabia and regaled us with tales of old-Hollywood. We watched Kurosawa and talked about how important visual is to the story telling component. A real old-school Hollywood filmmaker.

“Based on a true story” with Carla Singer, whom had done many made-for-tv-movies for lifetime and others, was an interesting exploration of life rights, life story rights, and legal problems associated with basing a script on real events.

Lastly, I attended “Editing and Rewriting” with Carol Dysinger. We spent much of the class deconstructing the script and film version of Barton Fink. Dysinger was on point with no-bullshit advice advice about screenwriting. She convinced me to “kill the leather notebook” — I’d been hanging onto the vestiges of a sub-plot that existed in the first draft(s) that had proved problematic. It involved the protagonist receiving a leather note book as a child. I spent so much time trying to make this component work, when really it just didn’t belong.

Dysinger left two things seared into my mind: “Manifest the movie in the mind’s eye of the reader” and  “Dialogue should be Haiku.” I couldn’t agree more.

The Speakers

Novelist/playwright/screenwriter Peter Hedges, perhaps best known for penning the novel and screenplay of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, spoke at length about his creation process.  I asked Hedges to share the differences he saw in adapting his own work or others. He said that early on he was afraid to betray the voice of the novel, even his own. Hedges later realized it was the story which mattered and began to focus on developing story for screen without rigidly focusing on the novel counterpart.

Screenwriter and AMPAS Nicholl Fellow Will Chandler posted some great notes on Peter Hedge’s Q&A over at the ScriptMag blog.

The following night, Alec Baldwin and Jon Robin Baitz took the stage to discuss writing for film and television. Baitz spoke of how he entered television writing as a way to financially offset his love of playwriting. He cautioned playwrights against going into television writing for the money, as too many never come back into the theatre fray. Baitz said “be responsible for what you write” – he stressed culpability for the work you produce.

Alec Baldwin spoke similarly of the responsibility of an actor. He once turned down a $750,000 gig to read a ‘part of a cop killer’ for the Grand Theft Auto games. Baldwin also said “the time of the writer/director has arrived” – if not for any other reason than, budgets are shrinking and why pay for 2 people when you can pay for one?

The Atmosphere

The lovely setting of Southampton, with its beautiful sprawling land and the beach so close, proved the perfect setting to clear my head. The Stony Brook University campus was accessible and inviting, and the organizers took every step to accommodate conference goers.

Unbeknownst to me until arrival, a playwriting conference was also taking place, and as a result I spent my time mingling between actors, playwrights, and screenwriters (and a couple of poets and novelists for good measure.) There was a sense of camaraderie between the “students” and the “teachers.” But really were all students and all teachers.

As there was a concurrent playwriting conference, I had the oft not indulged luxury of going to see some theatre. I attended a reading of “The First Day of School” by Billy Aronson, directed by Robert Davenport. It was a great experience, and made me wish to go to the theatre more often.

Also, be sure to check out Laura Thompson’s recap of the event. She attended Christina Lazaridi’s workshop on “Understanding Film Structure.”

Was it worth it?

Walking away, I feel invigorated. I’ve met new friends, made new professional contacts, and damnit I enjoyed myself! Something interesting emerged from the conference that I wasn’t expecting; I connected. Not just with my own work, but with fellow creatives. I have new goals to compliment my already riotous and fast paced journey.

This past weekend I went to the New York City opening of Duncan Jones‘ Moon downtown at my favorite theater, Sunshine Cinema.

There are plenty of great reviews of the film and interviews with director Duncan Jones. The buzz around Moon is burning white hot, there’s plenty out there to sublimate your media desires. As I often do, I’d like to explore my own personal experience as it relates to the film. I find this is a better way to connect with the work than a traditional review.

Moon is a film that readily plays with preconceived notions about what a science fiction film is or should be. As a jaded movie goer and screenwriter, I’m weary of the same contrived story twists that appear in movies. When I first saw the trailer for Moon, I was genuinely impressed. It has been a long while since simply watching a trailer got me excited to see a film. I was even more excited when I learned Duncan Jones would be on hand for some Q&A after the screening.

My science fiction chops were cultivated through American re-runs of Doctor Who. As such, I wasn’t expectant of over the top or flashy special effects. Just a good and engaging story that didn’t insult the audience. (On the literary side of things, I was reading things like Ender’s Game and The War Against the Chtorr.) Over the last twenty years, science fiction in television and film has fractured into countless sub-genres. The value of a good science fiction film has eroded as the marketplace is inundated big budget tent poles that look pretty but lack substance.  As an example, the “Space Opera” has enjoyed much time front and center. I’ve always felt there are better and more interesting stories to be told outside of warring factions in space and ship crews.

That is partly why Moon instinctively appealed to me. The story was smart and didn’t talk down. A sense of ambiguity played in favor against a set of preconceived notions that have manifested themselves in the movie going consciousness. However, it is hard to talk about the story beyond its synopsis, as there is a bit of magic that I don’t wish to ruin for others. By the way of “back to basics” story telling, Moon epitomizes sci-fi staples like Outland and Silent Running. There is an intensity and a level of energy that looks at real plausible science in a Carl Sagan-esque way.

When it came time to open up the floor for questions, I dutifully wrote down a detailed question. When called upon I could not find my paper! (Later, I’d find my question, it was about the revision process that screenwriter Nathan Parker went through.) So, I asked Duncan Jones to speak about the process leading up to his feature film. What was his planned trajectory? How did he position himself to move to the next level? Jones’ answer was a sensible one. He went to film school, leveraged himself in music videos and advertising, doing as much in the advertising world as possible to ready himself for a feature film. His ad for FCUK (not a typo, that’s French Connection UK) garnered quite a bit of attention in the UK as it featured two beautiful women in a martial arts brawl who then kiss.

The highlight of the evening, however, was when I briefly met Duncan Jones one on one. Ahead of me was a young Australian film student who was grilling him on “the next step.” Duncan was grateful, polite, and dare I say, humble. Always eloquent with my oratory skills introduced myself and said “I fucking loved” his film — I’m articulate like that! We talked for a bit, I gave him my card and thanked him for his work.

And so my evening ended standing next to a film director that I believe will make some great professional traction in the coming years. Go see Moon. You won’t regret it.

Writer and blogger Scott Kirsner, known for his CinemaTech blog and columns from publications such as Variety and The Boston Globe knows a thing or two about technology as it relates to the entertainment industry. His new book Fans, Friends and Followers takes a much needed look at new distribution models and ways of garnering a fan base for your work.

The old, large corporate distribution models are broken or are increasingly only working for few in dwindling numbers. We now, as Creative Professionals, can operate outside the confines of the old paradigm and are empowered to “pave our own way.” Fans provides a slew of concrete and anecdotal advice through interviews with Creative Professionals across the spectrum of movies, music, web, and books.

In likely the truest testament to what exactly this book encapsulates I thought I’d tell you just how I got a copy in my hand. I use twitter (follow me @uncompletedwork) and I followed @Cinevegas the twitter account for CineVegas Film Festival. They ran a brief interview with Scott Kirsner on their blog about the book. I commented and I won a signed copy of Fans along with a nice handwritten note from Scott. It was a result of an interactive and reciprocal series of events that empowered me to get involved — something key to garnering a fan base (more on that later.)

There is a largely recognizable shift in the exemplar of how films and music are being created and distributed. Many an article has been written, however, there are still unknown elements, partly because there is no “right” way to do it on your own. Kirsner does a good job of culling what has worked for other people with the caveat “not everything works for everyone.” There are new models always emerging.

Interacting with your Audience and Peers is Important

Long since past are the days where audiences are content only consuming content in a linear, one way path. While some portion of your audience will always consume passively, there are those who want to engage in a dialogue and be involved with you and your work.

For example, Jonathan Coulton uses audience driven booking via eventful through a “Demand It” feature that allows fans to request Coulton’s presence in any given city.  If enough people in, say Washington D.C. “demand” he come, then it’s financially and logistically viable for him to book a show there.

Jill Sobule, best known for her 1995 single I Kissed a Girl, took a novel approach to getting the fans involved. Armed with the website JillsNextRecord.com, Sobule reached out to her existing community of fans to finance the album California Years. Through paypal Sobule raised almost $90,000 dollars to produce the album. She offered various levels of contributions all the way up to “Weapons-Grade Plutonium Level” which entitled a chance to sing on a track on the album.

Throughout Kirsner’s interviews a pattern emerges: If your work is good, those interested will seek you out. But that simply is not enough. The guys at JibJab hit critical mass with “This Land.” It was partly a result of building a mailing list overtime. Over five years they organically grew list of over 100,000 fans. When the “This land” video hit, they leveraged the mailing list to get the word out, soon they were receiving half a million views a days.

“… it was the most effective $400 marketing campaign in history. It showed that if you have a relatively small, hardcore fan base, you can get exponential growth out of them if the content is really relevant.”

Involvement with those hardcore fans can spell a closer relationship with the community and have its benefits. Dave Kellett, the artist behind Sheldon Comics, commented that his super-fans are willing to pick him up from the airport or receive shipments for book signings.

“I think that those 20 percent of your fans, the super-fans, produce 80 percent of the kerfluffle around your strip. They produce the most blog posts, they support it financially, and they go out of their way to see how they can help, both in the the physical world and online.”

Fans, hardcore or otherwise, will look for ways to interact with you. Reach out,  leverage the social and video networks available to you as a way to initially garner a fan base or to keep in touch. First there was Friendster (remember them?) then came Myspace and Facebook, and most recently Twitter. I personally find Twitter to be an excellent tool to reach out and interact with fans and it is a good short form networking tool. I’ve connected with many screenwriters and filmmakers through twitter.

On the video side, YouTube is the soup-de-jour, but that’s quickly changing as smaller more niche based sites emerge. Vimeo, for example, is a great video sharing website designed specifically for creative content producers to exhibit their work. In fact, their uploading guidelines are very clear geared towards sharing works created by yourself. (Merrel note: Check out a music video I did a while ago on Vimeo.)

Creative Control

Undoubtedly one of the draws of not working for “The Man” is a lack of constraints on your creative control. Matt and Mike Chapman the brothers behind Homestar Runner and the lovably irritable StrongBad knew from the get go advertising wouldn’t be a part of their business model. Ultimately, they were able to generate revenue through DVD sets and t-shirts, but even then they remained very low key about the advertising:

“…we didn’t like ads … we don’t advertise the store at the end of our videos or anything. We could’ve made more money if we pushed the store more, but I wouldn’t have felt good about that.”

Jill Sobule shares a similar sentiment on the matter of having control of your creative endeavors. Her second album on MCA/Geffen, produced in part by Joe Jackson, never saw the light of day after Sobule was dropped from the label. She finds her newly adopted model better:

“Not to be cliche, but there is something really empowering about this – having your own schedule, your own timing”

Indeed, the record label game in the mid 1990′s was teeming with all kinds of opportunity at a price. Sobule relays what giving up that control meant to her:

“It’s the most awful thing in the world to go into a label and play things for them. I remember going into one label, and the guy said ‘I love your music but save your deeper lyrics for a book of poetry. And also, You’re not the youngest.’ I was, like thirty at the time. That just devastated me.”

Creative control also allows you the flexibility to experiment and reach out to the people and communities you’d like to without restraint. You don’t need permission from anyone to promote your work as you see fit.

Embrace New Ideas about Copyright Law and how People Consume Media

It’s no secret that fans don’t want to be arbitrarily restricted in how they wish to consume your music, book, or movie. Proprietary restraints that, for example, only allow you to play music on a single device are misguided attempts to protect copyright. The flip side is Creative Professionals (such as myself) obviously need to be paid for the work they do. It’s our life blood. So how does one strike a balance between protecting the rights of your works without alienating your fan base?

The Creative Commons allows you to specify licensing requirements for your work including attribution, non-commercial use and derivative work. It gives the fans greater flexibility in re-mixing or re-using your work. In 2008, Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor released the album Ghosts I-IV under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike License. He encouraged fans create and remix new music videos using the music from Ghosts.  Though Reznor had the institution of a record label behind him for much of the last 20 years he went independent with this record.

Musicians like Jonathan Coulton have also embraced this model of interactivity and less restriction. He offers DRM free mp3 downloads of his music for sale through his site. More telling is his views on how people use his music:

“One really big thing for me is the derivative works that people have created, using my music. Everything I do is under a Creative Commons license. People have made videos using “World of Warcraft” characters and put them on YouTube, Some of the videos have been seen millions of times. I don’t know how you could even buy that kind of exposure, and I got it for free.”

Director Timo Vuorensola shepherded the collaborative science fiction parody StarWreck over seven years until completion. The team was assembled across the internet with contributors all around the world. When the project was released in October 2005 the full movie was posted for download as a torrent, and then later uploaded to YouTube and Google Video. Embracing this bold model paid off, Vuorensola muses:

“Selling DVDs despite the free version is a funny thing, but people do it anyway.  I think you can double your income if you give something away for free. I don’t believe in piracy. It’s just people using the available technology… Some people watch the whole film on BitTorrent, but then want to support us by buying merchandise.”

“Be Remarkable and Create Remarkable Stuff”

I think what’s most important about the work that you do is that is must be uniquely and strikingly your own. As Kirnser puts it:

“In the crowded noisy party that is the internet, you don’t want to wear what everyone else is wearing… One of the secrets to succeeding in the era of digital creativity is doing something different.”

Make everything you do your own, keep at it, refine, tweak and interact. Eventually the organic growth will take you to the next level. Good luck!

Links:

PowerTools: A companion Wiki to the book. Check it out and add helpful links to the various sections. I have!

Buy Fans, Friends & Followers on Amazon

Chuck Tryon, author of Cinema: Movies in the Age of Digital Convergence review of Fans.

*All quotes come from Fans, Friends and Followers: Building an Audience and Creative Career in the Digital Age © 2009 CinemaTech Books. Excerpts are used for this review blog post and fair use purposes only.

I posted this to an online screenwriting group, I figured I’d share here as well.

Gods and Monsters, Directed and Written by Bill Condon, adapted from the novel “The Father of Frankenstein” by Christopher Bram. Won Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay in 1998. I was working at an independent video shop at the time and received a VHS screen copy of this movie in 1999.

The story is a fictionalization of how James Whale, the director of Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, (and others) lived his last days. James Whale was an open homosexual, which was not widely common in the 1920′s and 1930′s.

An ailing and fragile Whale is increasingly disconnected from his youth. Several strokes have rendered his mental state tenuous. He has nobody but his house keeper and his fleeting memories.

What drew me to the film was the gentle light in which Whale was painted. Whale’s fleeting past and his attempt to re-connect with a man who represents his own youth, Clay Boone his gardener, offers a compelling story of the past slipping through ones fingers.

In an intense scene, Whale tries to seduce Boone (who is a strapping young heterosexual) — Boone responds by attacking him. Wale then pleads for Boone kill him and end his misery. I could sense his longing and desperation – it spoke to me.

The most powerful scene, however, is the following morning when Wale is discovered drowned in the pool of apparent suicide. Even though I knew the fate the of the real James Wale, the scene was thoroughly affecting.

]]> http://www.merreldavis.com/blog/2009/04/23/gods-and-monsters/feed/ 0 http://www.merreldavis.com/blog/2009/04/19/speaking-at-new-york-film-academy/ http://www.merreldavis.com/blog/2009/04/19/speaking-at-new-york-film-academy/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:45:56 +0000 Merrel Davis http://www.merreldavis.com/blog/?p=472

I’m excited this week because I’ll be speaking as a guest to an Advanced Screenwriting class at the New York Film Academy.  I was invited by my former screenwriting teacher Peter J. Hobbs at Elyria Pictures and I’ll be speaking about my experience as a script reader.

For a while now I’ve been reading and evaluating scripts for a small management company. It’s been a rewarding endeavor on all fronts and has informed my work as a screenwriter as well as better equipped me to market my own work.

I hope to share some bullet notes later this week after I’ve talked to the class. So sit tight if you want to know what a lowly script reader looks for in your script.

Cheers,

-Merrel

I believe networking is a core component of success in any business. You can’t afford to be shy about who you or the work that you do.

When I attended the IFP Script to Screen conference, I made it a point to seek out and interact with like-minded filmmakers. There, I met Michael Wolfe, a “multi-hyphenate” who is gearing up work on his film Friendships and Trespasses.

Michael emailed me the other day and told me about the “United Filmmakers and Actors” group. I’d likely never of heard of it otherwise.

From the group’s meetup.com page

“This group is for people who are not content with merely waiting around for that elusive “big break,” but are ready to CREATE THEIR OWN PROJECTS to express their creative visions and take charge of their own future.

Come out and meet others interested in partnering: creatively, resources, as well as monetarily to make films. If you are an Actor, Writer, Filmmaker, or other, and have a project – or are interested in working on a project – and are seeking the help from others to make it happen, sign up, come out, PITCH YOUR PROJECT AND LISTEN TO SOME OTHER PITCHES.”

I’ll be attending one of their meetings tonight, and you should too!

Wednesday April 15, 6:15 pm
Playwrights Horizons
416 West 42nd Street
(West of 9th Ave)
New York, NY 10036