The Terminator Movies (Book) - 1/5/2016 6:07:57 PM
I read it. Even though I've seen the Terminator movies many times, I learned alot from and enjoyed this book. It has some cool 'making of' info as well.
My First Pitch (Article) - 10/8/2016 8:33:43 AM
Very good, detailed explanation for how to pitch your work. I also enjoyed the video interview of you, showing your enthusiasm. I agree, The Terminator is a hard act to follow.
I tend to agree with you about bland stories. A lot of the television fare are really boring although sometimes there are good actors with personalities that are much better than the screenplay. And, I'm really getting tired of all the action, reaction, and dragging out violent scenes followed by recovery and then more violence again, ad nausea.
While some of my short stories are virtually scripts, I haven't written any plays of any kind or pitched them. I have been approached by student moviemakers about one of my stories.
However, I find myself making elevator pitches about my books to anyone that I meet. And you're right. I tell the concept and leave it at that. If I give them the "what if" they automatically start conjuring up a story that my story may surprise them when they actually read it.
Ron
The 100 Idea Theory (Article) - 4/19/2016 7:59:22 PM
Ron,
I like testing the idea as a short story. That way you aren't writing 100,000 words only to discover the problem is a weak idea.
Yeah - screenwriting is a tough business, and what you write is never what ends up on screen. Years ago I went to the premiere of my first "Hollywood" movie TREACHEROUS at 20th Fox and laughed outloud when a line I wrote came out of an actor's mouth exactly as I wrote it! The only one in the whole film!
The 100 Idea Theory (Article) - 4/19/2016 8:04:04 AM
Good advice for writers in general, and especially for screenwriters. I haven't written any scripts, and I'm not sure if I will but I have written novels, some of which I would like to see adapted for the screen.
Like you, I've learned that some of my ideas are much better than others. That's why I like to write short stories of ideas come to mind. I'm thinking that my next novel will be taking one of my short stories that I really think is good and turn it into a novel, like some of my readers have asked.
However, when I read what you have to do to a script to meet the needs of producer (to land a job and make money in your profession), it makes me sick. That is why so many of the films coming into the theater are so much garbage. Unique ideas that are well carried out get and deserve critical acclaim. Spinoffs from successful properties, ad nausea, do little to create originality and good filmmaking. They are just commercial trash.
Ron
Gun Crazy (1950) (Article) - 2/13/2016 6:02:59 AM
I rememember the name of this movie, but can't rememeber seeing it, but after reading your write up, I'll have to see it. I remember John Dahl in 'Spatacus' and George Pal's 'Atlantis, the Lost Continet', so it will be good to see him as the lead. Great layout on your article with photos and trailer. I'll have to try that on my articles. I didn't know we could do that in the text here.
How To Be Productive (Article) - 2/9/2016 6:17:08 PM
An inspiring article and video. I especially like the '5 page reward' idea in your video.
Gun Crazy (1950) (Article) - 2/9/2016 10:18:19 AM
Two years earlier, Peggy Cummins was in my home town shooting scenes for Green Grass of Wyoming, a film that shall forever collect dust on the shelves of a movie studio somewhere. I was a young boy who noticed as many of her body parts as I could see. I don't remember any skin tight trousers. But she did wave to me in an open convertible before she left town. I still dream about that wave. And that smile. Hers and mine.
Gun Crazy (1950) (Article) - 2/7/2016 8:18:35 AM
That's a great example of a exploitation, low-budget, B movie of the 50s. I remember seeing many of them, but remember very few. Thanks for your excellent description of the plot and the actors and sets. I'll see if I can look it up on snagfilms.com.
You are right about building up tension and then releasing it with action. I need to do that more with my novels.
Ron
How To Be Productive (Article) - 1/30/2016 9:55:53 AM
One of the best articles on writing that I've read. Your idea that writing is a job, that you have to write every day and that you must set deadlines are all very good points for writers who want to be successful. The only negatives that I found in the article were that it seemed to focus on screenwriting, it was a bit repetitious (perhaps to drive home the points) and that it was about writing to the mainstream film market (in New York City?).
While I've been writing all my life and was paid well to be an analyst and writer in both industry and higher education, I've never written a screenplay. That does not mean that I can't or won't, it just means that I haven't and haven't learned how the syntax writing screenplays is constructed. I believe that I write dialogue quite well in my stories and novels.
While working, I always felt the need to write stories that reflected my experiences and sometimes, like you wrote, issues concerning me into fiction. I started a book of true stories in my 20s but dropped it when I entered my doctoral program. For that program I had a clear outline, squirreled myself away, did research and writing every day, and completed my dissertation in 2 1/2 years. Some of my fellow students took over 10 years and some never finished. While I hate deadlines, I always met them, even though I found that writing like that was often inferior to just writing to my muse my good time.
I don't use outlines for my novels (have been thinking maybe I should), but I usually have a beginning, middle and ending in mind for I begin writing. Fortunately, I'm retired and don't have to rely on writing for my income, so I truly am writing for pleasure. Currently, I'm spending about an hour a day working on my latest novel, and completing about two chapters a week. I generally finish my short stories, long or short, very quickly, spending hours on them in a single day. I find them exciting to write and like reading a good book or story, I don't want to put them down until they're finished and thoroughly edited.
Ron
