Everyone I know has been running around like crazy lately, trying to finish their scripts, get financing for their projects, or just live their life.One of the ways I’ve found to de-stress is to make a shift from screenwriting to storytelling.And writing a mini-memoir is one way to do that because it allows you to actually finish something every time you start.
For this exercise please choose:
You at a different place in your life, younger, older or earlier today.
A place and time where something important happened that made you want something new.
A struggle to attain that desire that put you in conflict with yourself and another person.
A resolution – you got it, or you didn’t.
The insight or understanding that the experience gave you.
Kudos to ArtMar student Rebecca Gwynne, whose short film "Zoe's Day" starring Ruby Jerins and Michael Kelly has been selected as one of three films to compete in this week's Reel 13 Shorts competition (NY PBS). Please take a moment to visit the site and vote for the film. The winning short screens Saturday the 21st of June on Channel 13.
Rebecca workshopped the film in one of our private Finish Your Script classes, and we are so proud of her success.
Today, I had a meeting at 11:00. My clients arrived carrying open cans of Red Bull and in a jubilant mood. I looked out of my office window, and 71street was filled with red bull mobiles being driven by sexy blond women handing out samples. Considering that two weeks ago the entire street had been torn up for repairs, and was unusable, this plethora of advertising seemed a bit bizarre, but fun. The function of this “mobilization” was to promote a free event to attract people to witness the “Red Bull Experiment,” a world history making BMX Bicycle jump by a fellow named Kevin Robinson. He will be attempting to leap as high as a six-storey building by riding down a gigantic ramp. I hope he makes it.
What struck was the assumption of success, and the pressure this guy must be feeling. It wasn’t just that he has to win for himself, but for all of his corporate sponsors, his friends, loved ones and of course, parents.
We don’t know if Kevin will be successful in his jump, but we have to admire his intention. In the same way, writing a screenplay requires a desire as strong as Kevin’s because writing a screenplay is just as hard, and maybe even harder.
Our friend Katie McLaughlin, recently did a funny parody of the opening of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, substituting pizzas for little girls. The technique of substitution used by Katie in her adaptation is a great way to begin when you are adapting a story from one medium to another, and it reminded me very much of the adaptations I have worked on with my private students.
Jane May, a brilliant and hilarious writer I have the privilege of coaching, recently turned her screenplay, Hooked - a fairy tale about a Florida based yacht club employee, who falls in love with a girl way out of his league - into a novel. Jane used the Horowitz SystemTM when writing the original screenplay and so, it had a well-built foundation that allowed for an expansion of the story.
During the adaptation process, In order to expand the story to include all of the necessary subplots for the story to be a novel, we used multiples of the 12-Step Mythic Journey Map. But the reverse technique also works.
Here's the technique: If you have a book you want to adapt, break down a film which is similar to the story, then ask yourself how would this scene happen in my as yet unwritten script? For example, if using How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days as your model, you would mentally substitute a yacht club employee for an advertising executive.
You will quickly see how little of the book will fit into a screenplay, and then you can begin to refine the story so that you can effectively structure your first draft.
Following the phenomenal success of Little Women, author Louisa May Alcott penned the less successful Little Men, followed by the even-less-successful Little Pizzas.
Below is an excerpt:
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any cheese," grumbled Jo Pizza, lying on the pizza box.
"It's so dreadful to be poor-quality pizza!" sighed Meg Pizza, looking down at her old pepperoni.
"I don't think it's fair for some pizzas to have plenty of mozzarella, and other pizzas nothing at all," added little Amy Pizza, with an injured sniff.
"We've got Father Pizza and Mother Pizza and each other," said Beth Pizza contentedly, from her plate.
The four young pizzas on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo Pizza said sadly-
Now that the Stanley Cup has been settled, my Canadian assistant has finally started talking about something other than hockey.
Today, he told me about a Toronto-based band called The McFlies, which "un-covers" the music from the 1980s. They are obviously influenced by the film Back to the Future - their name comes from Michael J. Fox's character and the Delorean is a big part of their publicity material - and my assistant tells me they're quite good.
This made me think about what it takes to shepherd a film from script to production. Recently, I executive produced a feature film called Caleb's Door. It was a long, sometimes difficult process but not the impossible task that filmmaking is often made out to be. During the production, I was grateful for all of the help I received from my
This is the same newspaper that did a feature story on “Lights, Camera Literacy!” the Maryland-based middle school program that has adopted my own book.
I try to remain unbiased when it comes to news sources, but it’s very difficult when The Washington Post is so nice to the Horowitz family.
Today, I had a meeting at 11:00. My clients arrived carrying open cans of Red Bull and in a jubilant mood. I looked out of my office window, and 71street was filled with red bull mobiles being driven by sexy blond women handing out samples. Considering that two weeks ago the entire street had been torn up for repairs, and was unusable, this plethora of advertising seemed a bit bizarre, but fun. The function of this “mobilization” was to promote a free event to attract people to witness the “Red Bull Experiment,” a world history making BMX Bicycle jump by a fellow named Kevin Robinson. He will be attempting to leap as high as a six-storey building by riding down a gigantic ramp. I hope he makes it.
