Join the Hunt!

OK, everyone, I have exciting news!!!  This is it.  The crowdfunding campaign for The Hunter’s Anthology is underway!

So for those who may follow this blog and haven’t been showered by the social media posts, shares, and tweets, instead of a regular blog entry, I thought I’d explain to you what crowdfunding means for The Hunter’s Anthology.

We are trying to reach our goal of 40k to make our first 3-4 episodes of the web series.  Admittedly, this is not an easy task.  Anyone can donate from $5 all the way to thousands to enjoy some of the perks we are offering.

Check out the crowdfunding site.  Worst case, you can see all the videos we’ve just launched, such as my pitch video, starring me!  Eh, not enough?  Fine, how about the full 4 minute prologue starring David Lee McInnis as the demon hunter of NYC named Mac!  You can also find a summary of all the short stories within the anthology.  There’s a third video of a newscast with people on the street who claim to have SEEN him.  Not enough?  We’ve also just updated the site with a fourth video where David Lee McInnis talks a bit about playing Mac.

You could get a DVD with behind the scenes footage, a credit in the film, a day on set, or be IN the movie!  There’s other perks too.  Anyway, I don’t want to go to crazy with this, because this isn’t the usual place for me to promote my crowdfunding site, but I’ve got to do it once.  Our cast and crew really want to be able to make this happen, and we all very much believe in the concept!  We hope you do too and that you’ll JOIN THE HUNT at: http://igg.me/at/huntersanthology

I Shot Myself and Lived!

So this is kind of a part two to my last entry.  I went for it.  Fourth time’s a charm.  I made a pitch video to go up on our crowdfunding site.  Believe it or not, I think I nailed it.   I think.

What was my secret?  Here it is: I just went outside, pulled out a director’s chair, and planted the camera.  I didn’t have anyone there.  I also memorized what I had to say so I wouldn’t ever stumble and look awkward.  No pressure from anyone anymore.  I was on my own time, and I had all the time I needed.  I could relax.  So I set the camera down and just hit record.  That’s how I stayed comfortable.  I also had perfect lighting this time because I was outside on a nice day.  So many issues were already taken care of.  I also did about a million takes.  I did it over and over again a thousand different ways.  And I had a LOT of bad takes.  Bad ones.  I mean, awful!  But I also had some good ones and that’s all I needed.  Something I was dreading for weeks ended up kind of being, dare I say, fun?  It sounds ridiculous that I had to set everything up this way to do an even decent job, but let me tell you, it really worked!

In the meantime, we’re going to need all the help we can get when we launch our campaign.  It’s definitely going to be sometime soon this month, and when we do, we’ll be asking the four corners of the Earth to share, like, tweet, click, donate, re-tweet, post, tell, email… etc.  The Hunter’s Anthology can really look high budget with our low budget.  Check out the trailer if you haven’t already.  That was just one night.  Imagine what we can do if we meet our goal and have 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and if we’re crazy lucky, 6 weeks to film!

I’m going to try something different. I know this blog officially only has 12 followers, but I can tell from “The Road to Wrap” stats that many more do come here on a regular basis.  So, I’ll ask not only to have whoever reads this blog to please take the time to “follow” it, but to also make comments and ask any questions you’d like to ask me if you have time.  You can ask about The Hunter’s Anthology, Trust Us, my experiences in trying to make them happen, writing, directing, editing, etc.  Ask away!

Shoot Me!

I know they say directors should take acting classes to better understand their actors.  I get it and I agree.  But this isn’t about that.  This is about being you and not acting, but kind of acting while being you.  Lost?  Me too.

Basically, I need to make a video of myself pitching The Hunter’s Anthology.  One of the things I don’t think about, being a director, is how I really have to be able to sell myself.  Pitches, interviews, Q & A’s, announcements… I mean dammit, Jim!  I’m a director, not an actor!  Well, that’s sort of true, but being a director means you are the spokesman of your film.  You’re its poster boy… or girl.  You’re the one everyone has to like or they won’t want to see your film.  This goes for securing financing through investors, crowdfunding, and media.  You have to show passion for your movie or no one will buy into it.  If you’re not excited, why would anyone else be?  You have to convince everyone that your movie is worth making.  And you know what?  You’re alone!  In this case, for such a collaborative industry as filmmaking, unless you’re co-directing, you truly are alone.  No one can do this but you, the director.  It’s your baby, your vision, and in many cases your idea too.  No one wants to hear about your movie from anyone but you.  It’s up to YOU to draw people in… and honestly, it’s a lot of pressure and it kind of sucks.

So, for now I have to shoot a video of myself to post on the coming crowdfunding site.  Talking about my movie should be easy enough, right?  Who in their right mind directs a movie they don’t absolutely love and want to talk about?  No one! If you don’t love your movie, you shouldn’t be pitching it.  Hell, you shouldn’t be making it!  Investors know that.  Fans know that.  We know that.  So, logistically, shooting a pitch video of me explaining my movie is easy, because I 100% believe in every project I create or take on, right?  No.  Nope.  Nooooooo.  It’s so friggin’ hard!

Why?  Because I know I’m on camera.  It changes everything.  You know what they teach you first thing in acting class that can take many, many years to master?  (And some never do).  Not being self-conscious.  But I am.  I’m not trained in that way.  Most directors, heck, most people, are self conscious on camera.  You see, this is what’s going on in my head as I try to get my pitch video right: “The camera is looking at me.  Act natural.  Don’t stumble.  I’ve pitched this a million times in person.  I just have to talk about it ONE more time!  I’ll never get it right.  Why can’t I do this?!”

All this is kind of therapeutic for me as I try for the fourth time to get this right this weekend.  Look, I wouldn’t call myself a shy or self-conscious person.  I’ve done live Q&A’s, on-air interviews… all that.  They aren’t easy, but I get through them.  I’m not coming from a super-shy place.  But it’s something about the camera, knowing I have one take to get a lot of information right… it’s intimidating.  It’s hard!!  I have someone filming who just wants me to get it right.  I’m tired of all these takes.  I can’t remember what I was saying.  I’m losing steam.  I sound ridiculous.  I look uncomfortable.  I sound nervous.  I need this video to even begin to think of raising finances for The Hunter’s Anthology.  Push your fears aside and do it!  You’ve done it a hundred times off camera.

So my advice to myself (still need to take it), and everyone taking this on: Tell the camera what you are doing, as you would to anyone at a party or pitch meeting, pitch the damn thing ONE more time.  The way you always would.  I’m working on that.

I’m not an actor.  I watched an old pitch I did for Trust Us when we went on Kickstarter years ago and found myself, well… kicking myself.  I was overdoing it.  Don’t overdo it; be you.  To attract attention for our movie, we need to be the director that attracts backers, and when it comes down to it, they want to hear about your project from YOU and no one else.  It’s a lot when being in front of a camera is something you’re not used to.  No one can stand in as you.  So sit back, relax, tell your story, explain why you love it, and see what happens.  You might just realized you just had some fun when you’re done.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?  You can always delete it and try again.  And again… until you get it right.

Next time I’ll let you know how I did!  Four’s a charm??

THA trailer: https://t.co/1z8GmJlorc

THA teaser: http://youtu.be/Fcz5yHa4d9I

THA Official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Thehuntersanthology

THA on Twitter: @HunterAnthology

Fix it in Post!

“Fix it in post!”  That’s such a common phrase in the film industry.  People don’t like to hear it because it usually means something went wrong while shooting.  That can be true, but it’s not always true.  As an editor in NYC for many years, I’ve noticed one thing is soooo, sooo, sooo true: you can fix A LOT in post!!  Maybe not absolutely everything, but A LOT.  On top of that, every year that goes by, that list of what you can fix keeps going up and up and up.  I thought this would be a good time to discuss ways to tweak issues easily in post, whether these issues came about intentionally or were actual mistakes:

1) Size: Sometimes you decided after seeing the dailies that a shot is too wide.  Maybe something was at the edge of the frame you wanted to lose.  Want to fix it in post?  No problem, just zoom in on the frame using your editing software.  Now that we have 4k and HD, as long as you don’t go too far in, no one will even notice.

2) Speed: We have a really cool shot (spoiler alert!) of Mac’s boot in our full The Hunter’s Anthology: Prologue.  As you will see when it is posted, it’s a very specific and hard to set up kind of shot.  The slightest movement could ruin everything.  This is mostly because three things have to happen here: a camera tilt, a rack focus, and the timing of the boot itself.  If anything goes wrong, the whole shot becomes unusable.

Due to this, we had a lot of takes and only one chance to do it.  It was our first shot, and the precision necessary for it was holding everything up.  So in post I took the best focus (because that is one thing that you really can’t fix), sped up the movement and focus of the skyline, which was too slow, then slowed down the speed of the boot’s step, which was too fast!  Suddenly, poof, just as I imagined!  Check this off as a definite “fix it in post” event.

3) Shakiness: Another challenge was, due the type of permit we had to shoot in NYC, we always planned we’d go handheld the entire way.  No tripod allowed.  Because of our budget, we didn’t have proper permission to use one.  Most shots were fine, but it’s inevitable that the director of photography was going to lose some stability after 12 hours of shooting with a heavy camera in what feels like 5 degree weather all night.  So, in order to use some of the shakier takes, the “Smoothcam” filter for whatever editing software you’re using (in my case Final Cut Pro 7) can fix this.

4) Not enough shots: Sometime after shooting something, even after hours of prep, I realized we didn’t have enough visuals to cover our 4 page or so long voiceover.  To be fair, my DP did warn me of this.  Luckily, he knew to grab random shots here and there between takes to save my butt.  But as far as fixing in post, another thing I did was cover some space with a shot I found before a take.  You’d never know it, but one of my longest shots (and one of my favorites) was shot before I even said action!  Can you find it?  Hint, it’s in the trailer: https://t.co/1z8GmJlorc

5) Color Correction Perfection: Another thing I wanted to do was shoot a lot of random shots of the city to get us in the mood at the beginning of the prologue.  I wanted to set the mood of New York City at night, so my goal was to get skyline and street shots.  We really didn’t get enough of this.  Again, it was freezing, and we quickly decided that since we had our actor one day, we had to shoot all his takes, then save city shots without him for later.  By then we were done, and planned another day to just do that.  It was probably a good idea.  The crew was ready to call me a demon and kill me, and with David Lee McInnis all decked out as Mac carrying a stake, I didn’t want to test the theory.

Anyway, long story short, when we were ready to do the extra shots another day, we realized it would be a lot cheaper to use a different camera for it.  Yes, some shots in the teaser, http://youtu.be/Fcz5yHa4d9I, trailer, and prologue are not even from the same camera as the main shoot.  And trust me, it looked very different at first!  How did I fix this in post?  Color correction.  It’s absolutely amazing what you can manipulate while not being a professional color corrector.  I did that in Final Cut Pro 7 as well, and all professional editing software programs will do the same for you.  So that’s what I did:  I manipulated how much blue and red was in all the shots.  The brightness, the shading,  the saturation, everything you can think of… I matched it  Once again, FIXED in post!

6) Stock footage.  Another quick fix you can only do in post is using (and usually buying) stock footage.  We didn’t have a shot of the skyline.  I wanted one so bad.  I felt it was essential to open up with a strong shot of us looking at a far view of the city at night.   We had plans for different spots.  But no, no… no way.  A helicopter shot?!  We didn’t shoot it… but we BOUGHT it!!!  Yup, stock footage all the way.  I’m telling you, it looks like it came from the same camera!  Amazing what you can do.

So there you go.  Take it from an editor, you CAN fix it in post… unless you royally screwed it up.  If you royally screwed it up… hey, you’ve got reshoots.  There’s always that.

If I just stopped one person from panicking that there’s nothing they can do to fix the film they just shot, then I’ve done my job.  Remember, us filmmakers aren’t quitters.  Take my advice: fix it in post!

Please don’t forget to follow The Hunter’s Anthology here:

Official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Thehuntersanthology

Twitter: @HunterAnthology

The Light, the Weather, and the Wardrobe

Okay, so the 4-page script was set, the crew was hired, and I had my star.  We were ready to shoot it all in one night in January.  Simple enough, right?  Well, no.  We of course had many challenges, as always with a shoot, even if it was only one night.  Three things come to mind:

1) The Light: I had the natural challenge of having enough light for an exterior night shoot.  This was a low, low, low, low budget shoot.  Can’t tell by looking at the trailer or teaser?  Neither can I!  Awesome, right?  You be the judge... link to trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDrQR0FH_Zk To the teaser: http://t.co/pmquOaFaJW (See how I did that?  Did you look??)  Anyway, we only had a couple of small, bright lights.  Unless greatly lit, we could only shoot so far away until we lose our main light.  So, in advance we did some scouting and tests, finding the most lit up parts in our area of the city to compensate for that, and it worked!

2) The Weather:  Having a one-day exterior shoot, we were stuck with the elements for better or worse.  If it rained, this prologue would take place in the rain, if it snowed (which was a real possibility at the time), then this had to take place in the snow… and so on.  It was January at the height of the coldest winter we’ve had in NYC in years.  I mean FREEZING!   The shoot went from something like 6:45pm to 3:15am during a temperature of 17 degrees and wind chill of something much less.  It was awful.

The good news was no one complained, including David as Mac, (David Lee McInnis http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0570598/?ref_=nv_sr_1) who was stuck in his wardrobe that was warm, but quite honestly, not nearly warm enough for what we were in for.  We made sure we had a place to go to warm up between takes: a Starbucks, a McDonald’s, small shops still open… hey, that’s the advantage of shooting in a city: there’s always something open, right?!  Eh, once you get used to the cold, you forget about it.  That’s filmmaking, right?  Yeesh, I think I got the chills just thinking about it.  So yeah, we got through it like all film crews do.  My arm broke off the next day, but I was fine.  Kidding.

3) The Wardrobe: This was more leading up to the shoot, but it counts because the final touches were done that night.  This was THE night we had David, our actor.  And Mac’s wardrobe isn’t just some simple outfit.  It required a lot of thought.  His outfit is very specific in the script, and because there is no dialogue, I wanted to reveal much of Mac’s character simply by looking at him.  I had the complete outfit in my head: a long overcoat, big booming boots, a wooden stake hanging from his leather belt, and long, stringy hair popping out of a concealing, Western influenced hat.

Mac is old.  Real old.  But I wanted to have him wear modern versions of old.  Mac wears a hat because that’s what he grew up doing.   He’s also not an antique hat collector, so he doesn’t own anything from the past century.  In fact, his character is really always on the move, so he doesn’t collect anything at all.  Still, they allow this kind of thing in movies all the time.  The truth is if he kept a real hat that old, just touching it would probably make it crumble.

So what did I do?  I had about a month to gather things.  Did I go to NYC to shop in every thrift and antique store I could find?  No way!  As youtube sensation Sweet Brown would say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  So I did the next best thing.  I went to Amazon Prime and Ebay!  Through those two sites I got it all, even down to an 80’s mullet wig I never even saw in person.  When I put it on, I looked like a cheap 80’s rock star wannabe.  When we put it on David Lee McInnis (and hair and makeup gave it a trim), he looked like Mac!  Was I smart to order stuff I never saw in person or was I lucky?  Maybe a bit of both, but because I knew I would have hair/ makeup and wardrobe to help out, it gave me faith I could pull it off.  Turns out everything turned out just as I imagined.  Orders arriving last minute and making sure it was the proper size, that was much more the luck part!  I mean, I got the hat the day before shooting.  Yeah, kind of important!!!  Anyway, I think the results were awesome.

Next up: Post-production on The Hunter’s Anthology: Prologue and some of the challenges we faced after everything was in the can.

And if you haven’t already, please like us and share our page and frequent posts on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Thehuntersanthology  Also, please follow us on twitter here: @HunterAnthology

More exciting stuff coming as we get closer to launching our campaign!

The Mac Daddy

So you now know from my last entry how I came up with the idea for The Hunter's Anthology, and why this was a good, flexible, low-budget script I could use to show off my directing skills quickly.  Armed with this, my team met up and decided a good way to try and launch this web series/movie was to give potential investors a taste of what we can do and what this script was about.

Everyone who's read the script has really responded well to the demon hunter I created named "Mac."  I get why: he's cool, powerful, scary, and in control.  He's also a mystery.  Where did he come from?  When did he come from?  How did he get involved with this demon hunting business anyway?  I was amazed at how many people wanted to know his story.  This character was proving to be enough to keep people invested in this series, because I know in every season/movie I’ve planned to reveal just enough about Mac to keep us interested.  Juuust enough.

It was suggested to me to shoot a short film about Mac.  I went back to the drawing board and had to write something outside the script, maybe a day in the life of Mac.  Something where he can explain who he is and what he does through voiceover.  That's how The Hunter's Anthology: Prologue was born.  We decided to do a one-night shoot following Mac around New York City, just before he arrives to the first scene of the script: the subway.  I had a good, dark, film noir mood in mind.  I could dress Mac in his very distinct outfit, and bring the poster boy to the whole series to life to help raise interest.  Even though he stars in really only one of the six stories, he's the glue that holds everything together and the constant from season to season.  He's who we’re rooting for.  He’s our hero.  He's our demon hunter.  When we “join the hunt,” we join Mac.

So, with that settled, it was time to gather some dough and plan the shoot.  It would be simple: one night, limited crew, one actor.  But who would play Mac?  How would we find someone who was not only accessible but would fill the role perfectly?  The 'ol catch-22... how do we get a cast without money?  Great question.  The answer?  People we know.  Our producer, Nicky, had just finished a movie with an actor named David Lee McInnis.  She suggested him, I checked out his stuff, and he struck a chord that vibrated, “Maaaaaaaac.”  He's a wonderfully cool actor, in a way that's just perfect for Mac.  As I like to say to him, "He’s soooo Mac."  He’s got the look, the attitude, the sarcasm, the grit.

We were both so excited about him coming on board.  We got along great and he understood the role well.  In no time, he was in, and we had our lead.  We had our Mac.

Next time I can discuss the one night shoot, starting with how FREAKIN' cold it was that one January day in New York City, during the coldest winter in decades...

The Long and Short of It

So how did this whole The Hunter’s Anthology thing start?  I thought you were working on Trust Us.  Did you ditch that idea?  These are the questions that must be burning in your mind right now.  Okay, maybe not, but I’ll answer them anyway.  Yes, I am working on both.  Always better to have two things cooking than one, so I’m trying to better my odds.  You know the kind of people us filmmakers have to be.  We’re not quitters, remember?!

So anyway, here’s the story.  Even while working on Trust Us, I’m always writing and jotting down ideas.  Sometimes these ideas work best as short stories, and these short stories tend to work best as short films, and these short films turn out to be great for showcasing my directing skills.  So, how can I cover both options?  Easy, by writing a feature made up of a collection of short stories.  That way, I can do one, I can do two, or I can do the entire thing!  It all depends on how much money I can raise.

I love supernatural thriller anthologies like The Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt, and Amazing Stories. They’re fun.  It’s such good Saturday night movie marathon material.  You know, sitting on the couch eating popcorn until 3 in the morning type of stuff.  Thriller anthologies are made up of short, cautionary tales, and I find the best ones have clever twist endings.  Turns out a bunch of the ideas I jotted down fit this criteria.

So if I’m going to make some short films and put them together as a feature, I also figured they should be connected in some way.  What if a small group of people are trapped together somewhere, each starring in their own personal tale?  That’s how The Hunter’s Anthology really started.  I took popular supernatural plot devices and put my own unexpected twist on them.  For example, there’s one about a fortune teller, but it’s called The Fortune Maker.  Ah-ha… you see what I’m doing there?  I have one about making wishes, another about a love potion... you get the idea.  So many people like these common plots and so many people like to hear it a million different ways.  Without giving away my endings, I certainly did my best to break the archetype stereotypes of the genre.  (“archetype-stereotypes!” Can I do that? I just did!)

Finally, I just needed something to hold all these tales together.  What if one of these characters was evil?  Say one of them was a demon and the rest were in danger?  Well, there you go, now we’ve got ourselves a mystery for the main story wrapped around the others to keep everyone invested throughout.   Who is the demon?

As we know from various anthology movies and TV shows, our “wraparound” story is almost always run by a “storyteller.”  So why not make our storyteller a friggin’ badass demon hunter who goes around like a detective, sniffing out demons?  Well, that’s exactly how I came up with Mac, the main character of this story and the only character featured in The Hunter’s Anthology: Prologue we shot almost two months back.  Perfect way to set up a link to our trailer.  Please help support us by checking it out and following these links:

The trailer: https://t.co/1z8GmJlorc

If you missed the teaser: http://youtu.be/Fcz5yHa4d9I

Official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Thehuntersanthology

Twitter: @HunterAnthology

Tell the world… JOIN THE HUNT!!!

Next time: how The Hunter’s Anthology: Prologue was conceived…

Another Road, Another Hunt

Talk about a hiatus, right?  Still, the good news?  A lot has happened!  There's been some ups and downs for Trust Us.  That's OK; that's how it goes.  We were close, we weren't so close, up down, left right, front, back, side, side, diagonal...

So as that continues down the yellow brick road, I have come up with a new, parallel road and a new plan with one of the Trust Us producers, Nicky Akmal.  The plan is to try something smaller, something more attainable with a smaller budget.  A way to just get stuff out there and to further help Trust Us get made.  Maybe it's a web series.  Maybe it's a feature.  We're not sure yet.  My new script is called The Hunter's Anthology, and a lot of work on it has already been done this year as I patiently wait for Trust Us to grow legs.  Well, maybe it's grown legs, but I mean to start sprinting one day.  The one way to do that for a first time feature director?  Easy, by not being a first time feature director anymore.  A web series that could turn to a feature counts, even if it never becomes a feature exactly.  Hey, I'll give them whatever they want.

The Hunter's Anthology is something between the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt, not just in scare level, but also in concept.  Here's the synopsis on from its official Facebook page:

Six strangers find themselves trapped in a New York City subway by Mac, a mysterious man who claims to be a demon hunter. Insisting one of them is evil, he peeks into their souls discovering five eerie, supernatural tales: a desperate woman goes to a fortune teller, newlyweds discover a creature lurking outside their apartment, a young man visits an insane asylum, bullied twins discover a wish-granting coin, and a man lusting after a co-worker discovers a magic potion shop. It’s then up to Mac to solve the mystery and destroy the demon amongst them.

Sound cool?  Good!  It is, I swear.  Just a really fun mystery/thriller filled with some very different short stories that make up for a nice twist ending.  You know... if I do say so myself.  Did you expect me to say I hate it?  Exactly, so don't judge!

Anyway, a script has been written, a Facebook page has been made, and a very short, very tease-y teaser has been released on youtube.  There's a lot more to come.  The 60 second trailer is coming real, real soon.

Click on everything, read everything, watch everything, and please JOIN THE HUNT!

Info on Facebook page: (please like and share and tell the world): www.facebook.com/Thehuntersanthology

Teaser Trailer on Youtube:  http://youtu.be/Fcz5yHa4d9I
Watch it, then watch it again, tell your friends, then watch it again... again!

Twitter: @HunterAnthology ("HuntersAnthology" was taken?  Really?!)

If you want to talk about it anywhere, anytime, #jointhehunt and/or #huntersanthology

There's so much more to say, so please follow me once again, round two, on The Road to Wrap! 

Next time... how this new idea began...

Getting the Most Out of Your Script

It's already March and I'm finally writing my first entry for 2013.  There's a very good explanation for this: my writing mojo has been monopolized by the fact that I'm intensely reworking my script for Trust Us.  Never fear, this hiatus isn't a step back; it's without question a step forward.  I've said before there are many, many good scripts.  It's hard enough making it great, but now I'm learning about the last thing you have to do for screenwriting: getting the most out of your script.  What's the difference between "great" and "most?"  A good script you can show to a few close people who may take on the project because they know you.  A great script means turning a good script into something you can show someone you don't know to gain interest.  If all goes well, getting the most out of your script is when people can't refuse it.  It's when every line is so tightly cross-examined, you go cross-eyed.  There are four new things I learned during this round of rewriting.  It's stuff I've never covered here, really because I wasn't aware of it until now.  I love how there's always something new to be discovered in writing.  So this will be perfect... I'm updating where I'm at with Trust Us while pointing out some good stuff to watch out for when writing:

1) Repeating Yourself:

The Problem: I've just started noticing I tend to repeat myself in my writing.  You know, I say things a certain way and then say it again another way.  I tend to say something once, then repeat it again.  You see?  I'm doing it right now!  Worse, imagine not repeating yourself consecutively, but 40 pages later!  I could read my script 26 times and still not notice some of it because the repeating is so far away from each other.  You know what else?  A lot of it is in disguise.  I tricked myself without knowing it, along with everyone else who's read my script and didn't notice.  This stuff is really hard to find, and the fact that most people who read my script don't notice proves it.  The worst is, I like the four different ways I've written it.  Characters have a goal or a trait you try to show in dialogue or action, but you only have to say it once, unless it's something you really need to drive hard.

The Solution:  Find every time you say something more than once (that can be the hard part), and streamline it.  If you like one better and it's in the right place, then simply erase the repeat later.  If you don't like the place it's in but like the way you wrote it, move to where it's repeated and erase the repeat.  If you like both ways you've made your point, take your favorite line or two from each, find the best spot, and use the best from both.  Problem solved.  It works!

2) Do I Make Sense:

The Problem:  This probably isn't news, but making sense is important.  Some things that you don't think need to be explained sometimes need explanation.  I'm writing a time travel movie.  It's the most confusing subject you'll ever write on, trust me.  Do I think I make sense?  Ha!  Of course I do!  But you have to realize sometimes you don't.   I'm realizing I'm really biased about whether I make sense even though I'm sure I was being objective.  By nature, it doesn't work like that.  Sometimes when you explain something in dialogue it just makes sooo much sense to you, but that's because you're too close to the material.  Don't assume everyone knows how quantum theory relates to time travel.  It sounds obvious to you, but simply saying that's the case in the script isn't enough for the audience to know it.  Have you forgotten so quickly all the research you've done to this point?  I sure don't!  It took me forever to get all this time travel nonsense right!  Maybe you're doing a period piece where there's a custom that your average person doesn't know about today.  Maybe you're working on forensics for a murder mystery.  Does the average person know the trajectory of a bullet that would prove a suicide?!   Are you a cop?!  Don't assume everyone knows what you know, even if you never had to look it up.  Ask yourself, "Is this something most people would know?"  More than that, is the reader obtaining the information correctly?  Do your intentions come off the page the way it's supposed to?

The Solution: This is something that MUST be pointed out to you by someone else.  We're usually too close to figure this out by ourselves.  You need someone to tell you, "Hey, this makes no sense."  Then you might spend the next few minutes explaining what you meant.  Then you stop and say, oh crap, I was supposed to explain this in one line.   Whoops!  That's when you know.  It's fool-proof.  Just find a better way to explain it in a shorter period of time.  Usually you can go to your one page, verbal explanation for help.

3) Descriptions:

The Problem:  I still admittedly haven't quite got the grasp of this yet, but it seems I tend to make descriptions longer than necessary.  Sometimes this causes the reading to slow down, and this is especially troublesome in instances where you want quick dialogue.  It also, and I think this is really important, makes everyone think your script is longer than it really is.  With excessive descriptions, a 120 page script can be 130 pages or more.  And trust me, coming from someone who always writes a tad too long, this fixes a lot of length issues.  Most people in the business don't like to read long scripts.

The Solution: Don't put every stage direction, every smile, every frown... All of that should be in there at times, yes, but only when it counts.  For example: "He walks past the door and picks up the book on the shelf, and glances at it.  He sighs, knowing it will take forever to read it.  He decides against it, putting the book back on the shelf.  He turns around and walks towards the door.  He opens it and leaves."  Can't this just be: "He takes the book, glances at it and sighs.  Deciding against it. he puts it back and leaves."  Bam!  Do we get any less of a picture?  No.  And, we just saved three or four lines of description.  No one wants to read where he sits, stands, turns, or every last thing he's thinking.  Let you and the actors figure all that out on set.

4) Get the Most:

The Problem: Tell me if this ever happens to you.  You read over a scene you wrote and just love it.  You read it a couple times more, feeling so proud of yourself!  But then you get a sinking feeling you can add more things to make it even better, you just don't know what! These are the scenes I find can always be given a little more because if you love it so much, you feed off of it creatively and may think of wonderful things to add.   A great example is a funny, high energy scene.  These are situations that you can easily have fun with, and even though it's already great, you feel like there's so much opportunity for new jokes, funny reactions, and sarcasm.  The void can become obvious, but you don't want to mess with greatness... or you maybe just can't think of anything better.

The Solution:  This one's tricky because the solution isn't really on the page.  You have to create it.  So often we've read a particular scene a hundred times, so nothing in your head seems fresh, and you just wind up telling the same joke in new ways (and as stated before, we don't want to repeat ourselves again).  My advice is to rewrite the damn scene completely.  Don't worry, you're not going to ditch your old stuff.  But this kind of free, spontaneous writing may conjure up a few new jokes here and there and relieve some of the pressure of fitting it into what you have.  I'm telling you, it works.  Then you can plug it into the old scene where it should be and enhance what you already have, sometimes in fun, unexpected ways.

Okay, I realize it can get redundant going over your script again... again.  You've been through so many friggin' drafts already, and sometimes it feels like it never ends. Just remember, once you're in production, there's no turning back.  You want to start out with a script that's the best it can be, and it'll probably change again after that.  Writing is never truly done until it's in the can, and even then things change in post with editing.  It's our jobs as writers to get it where we need it to be so the director (which may be yourself) has everything as prepared and ready as possible for shooting.  Oh, right, plus you need someone to actually invest in you and the script.  No money?  No movie.  And if you're a first-timer and you don't get the most out of your script, it's highly unlikely you'll get that money.  So, maybe it's time to kick yourself in the pants and get the most out of your script.  How else can you give 'em your best?

All Done? Good, Give Me One More Draft!

So you're all done, ay?  Good to know. Give me one more draft!

You'll hear that again and again when making a film, commonly even up through pre-production.  I'm so used to rewriting that it's tough to consider myself done with anything as a writer just about ever.  But sometimes it's time to truly stop and safely assume your script is ready to be shot.  My feature, Trust Us, has been through so many drafts over the years that I really think I've lost count.  It went from a 10 page play, to a 30 page play, to a 120 page or so script... to a billion new drafts of that script.  I have to say, though, every draft seems to get better, and when I think I'm done, there's always a way to improve it.  I'm convinced that fact never changes.  There's a point, however, when changes start to hurt a script.  I thought I might be at that point, but, as a few newcomers have come to help out the project with a fresh outlook on the script, I learned very quickly that's it true: there's always room for one more.

Trust me, I'm the last person on this project who thinks I need a rewrite.  So many people have responded so well to the script already.  But then I heard why some things could be tweaked and therefore improved.  Perspective is an interesting word when applied to writing.  When I finish a draft of any of my screenplays for the first time, I know there's work to be done on another draft.  I also wrote down what I thought was best at the time.  I know I need to step away and come back.  Suddenly, my perspective changes.  Man, I could really improve this.  This isn't what I thought I wrote.  This is a GOOD thing.  This means you're ready for your next draft.

In my case, I've done this several times.  But sometimes a new perspective is useful at the very end of the writing process.  It's not even about what's missing or wrong with the script at this point.  It's more about how can I really put this over the edge.  What things can be done that my team and I have been overlooking this whole time?  How can I explain this to those who don't know the script like the back of their hand?  Folks, we run out of new readers with fresh eyes over a couple of year's time.  Everyone you would show the script to has read it.  Everyone's comfortable.  This is exactly why that one last draft could be necessary.  You really know this when you start hearing of ways to improve your script, and you as the writer simply get excited.

I haven't touched Trust Us in over a year, so going back to it now isn't so bad.  It's one last chance to try going to some places you didn't go to yet.  Maybe two characters interact that you thought never would, and it becomes a cool scene you wish you always had!  Maybe there's a new way to explain information to make it easier for the audience.  Maybe one character needs to add one aspect to make him or her a hundred times more interesting.  Maybe it's better to flip the order of two scenes.  These places usually exist in the script, and as the writer of a million drafts, you may not be qualified to find them anymore.  Rest assured, when someone does, and it's good stuff, you're going to be salivating to get it in there and make last minute tweaks.

Now, there's always a time to stop rewriting.  Don't drive yourself crazy feeling like you NEED to rewrite.  You may not, and you'll know whether things work or don't work when you give it another go.  The only way to know this for sure is to stay true to the script.  But please, don't ever feel you're the only one who can improve your own script.  That's very far from the truth.  I've had people read and re-read my script and give comments, and if they're good, you'd better believe I'm fixing things.  I'd be arrogant (and foolish) to not listen to anybody.  Film is far too collaborative and complex for that.  Don't just take any critique that comes your way either, though.  Make sure it's the best thing for your film.  Stick to your guns when necessary if you think everyone's crazy, but if there's even a hint of logic in the consensus: they're probably right, you're probably wrong.  Just as us writers and directors need to scrap every bad idea that comes our way, sometimes we need people to scrap our bad ideas that come their way, too.  In film you're surrounded by such creative and smart minds, why would we not use that to our film's advantage?  That's craziness!  My script is so much better because I took the advice of people I trust.  At some point the film has to become even bigger than the filmmaker in order to make it work.  At the same time, as the filmmaker and creator of the project, I have to be true to myself in process.  I'm realizing now why we call our movies our "babies."  Once born, I have to put its needs in front of everything, even me.

So this isn't about the rewrites we do before we show our screenplay to people, it's about the rewrites you do after.  The kind that has to impress everyone involved: the producers, the cast, the audience,  the marketing, and in non-indie cases, the studio.  After all, aren't we out to impress everyone with our film?  We want the audience to love it too, so don't count them out because you think you have a monopoly on what's good.  Save that stuff for the old guy with the monocle.  That's not what filmmaking is.  When outside forces (NOT you) start to form ideas, opinions, and directions, you just may see things you simply weren't concentrating on: plot holes, character choices, logistics, the order of events... whatever.  Once pointed out, these things are hard to ignore, and you would have probably never seen them otherwise.  And my movie is about time travel!  If that's not something that would create questions, concerns, and needed explanations, I don't know what would.

I've had several drafts, but I recently learned there's room for one more draft of Trust Us. This is how I hope to turn what I think is an excellent idea, to a promising script, to a good script, to a great script, to an excellent script.  (We all think our scripts are excellent, can't I too?) Just know, one helpful way to be excellent is to be done... then have just one more draft!

Write What You Don't Know, Just Know It Before You Write It

People say, "Write what you know."  I'm not a fan of that saying.  I like to write about what I don't know but want to know so I can know it.  Writing is a process where you learn as you do it; that's where research comes in.  I prefer to say write what you'd like to know.  It's so fun that way!  I like to write the usual fiction, as well as the fantastical stories, and there's things to research in there too.  I've never time traveled, but it sure makes for an awesome story.  That's a big reason why I wrote Trust Us.  Writing a screenplay is hard enough.  We must create interesting characters, develop an interesting plot in the most unique way possible, while also having to write competent and clever dialogue throughout.  When we concentrate on all of these things, sometimes we miss a very important element to screenwriting: research.

You ever see a cheesy movie where someone gets shot in the heart, falls through a window two stories to the ground, and his best buddy, who happens to be walking by, decides to punch him in the heart while verbally abusing the poor unconscious man until he wakes up coughing for a second then feels just like new?  Fine, I haven't either, but I definitely have seen bad CPR save lives onscreen.  Come on, man, really?  Are we really supposed to believe that the dog handling expert in your script would run away from a growling dog in the middle of an open field?  I don't think so.  But you'd say, "No one would write something like this, would they?"  Ohhh, you'd be surprised.  Audiences usually catch these things without mercy.  The second a writer, director, or any filmmaker assumes the audience is stupid... well he/she has another thing coming.  If you think the audience isn't smarter than you, you're wrong.  In fact, we filmmakers are part of the audience unless dealing with our own work.  Audiences are not stupid.  No way!  In fact, they'll probably see plot and character mistakes better than even you, the filmmaker.  We're too darn close to our work to see everything.  Doesn't seem fair, does it?  It actually is though, because all writers should do their research to stay one step ahead of everyone else: the audience.  If you don't realize these kinds of problems in your script, you'll never sell it and you'll wonder why.  The answer will be there the whole time.  It's because you wrote some bogus scene where a regular, everyday, untrained person could hold their breath for 8 minutes under water.  It's not true!  See, I just had to look it up to figure this out.  Good thing I did my research, and it only took a minute.  If you were looking to put money into a movie and saw a mistake like that, you'd look elsewhere.  The writer couldn't even take the time to look it up?!   You can't survive a nuclear blast by hiding under a nearby table.  You can't!  So if you do that and you aren't doing slapstick, then you aren't doing your research.

Fine, maybe these examples are extreme, but I've still seen it happen in big budget, highly respected films.  Back in the day we may have gotten away with it, but not anymore.  I can use less extreme examples from things I've done where I had to do some real research.  In my short film, "Escape from the Night," I have several scenes in a psychiatrist's office.  But do you think I'm crazy enough to write that without researching what goes on in there?  I've never been to one.  What did I do?  I used some knowledge from a couple of college courses, read up on my character's problem, then read a couple of books about it.  Then I had a family friend who was a psychiatrist to proof my script, especially the dialogue, to make sure that's really what would go on.  I researched dreaming (a big part of the plot too) and how it would be interpreted in a psychiatrist's office.  What kind of theories are there for why people dream?  What would the patients commonly dream of and what anxiety would typically cause these dreams?  Already this story's going to be far better than me having unrealistic sessions of a shrink telling the patient the answer to everything.  That's just not what goes on.  Okay, I knew that from college classes, but not everyone does.

One of the things that really attracted the attention of one of my producers on Trust Us is the research I did on what we do know about time travel.  You'd be surprised.  Scientists are serious about it becoming a reality.  Without giving away my whole thing, I did tons and tons of research on modern theory of time travel: how it could work, how we could build a time machine, why these theories can't be disproven, and the scientists and fiction throughout history that has contributed to that.  And guess what?  It was so fun to research.  Pick something that really interests you and go to town.  I never understood how a writer can write about something that they aren't obsessed to know more about (or already know so much about).  Oh wait, I know... for money.  Well, okay... I get that... we all need to live.

If you're doing a script about space, research NASA.  Learn about where shuttles take off from... not everyone knows that Houston is NASA's communications center but Florida is the where we launch because it's closest to the equator.  I didn't learn that in school; I came across it when I was writing a screenplay involving space exploration.  Just because you're not an astronaut doesn't mean you shouldn't write about some.  I guarantee you Michael Bay is not an astronaut.  Neither is James Cameron.  Neither is George Lucas.  Chewbacca is, but he's not real.  If you are interested in space and don't plan on going to Space Camp anytime soon, I encourage you to still write about space.  Do your research, make it cool, and teach your audience something they may not know.  It's mutually fun, fulfilling, and your audience (and you) will get something out of it.  You have an advantage: by not being an expert you know what the general public would know, therefore you can amaze them with things you've learned here and there.  In writing, your knowledge of what you're writing about is power.  Awesome, two cliché quotes, one blog.  How about that!

If you're writing a script about a policeman, maybe talk to one or visit the station.  You don't have to be a cop to write about one.  If you want to do a story about a fashion model, you better be sure you know what's going on in the industry and what it's like to be one.  Again, don't go overboard and start sending out headshots of yourself for the experience... you don't have to actually be a supermodel to write about one.  Maybe this all sounds obvious to you, and it is, but it's not as obvious to learn everything you can, beyond what you think you know, to improve your script.  This research may not just get you out of logistical problems in the script, but it actually may give you some key, unique aspects that separate you from the thousands of other scripts on the same subject.  It's also one of the best ways to prevent simple writer's block.

I've been asked at Q&A's at film festivals about the accuracy of my work and whether this tidbit here and there is "true."  You better be on it and know your stuff or they'll eat you alive.  Luckily I was never eaten, but I knew I could have been if I didn't do my research.  If you think you know everything, you don't.  You know why?  Because you're not an astronaut.  If you were a filmmaker/astronaut extraordinaire, I'd be really impressed, but you're not.  So save your script's life and do what you have to do to "know."  So go for it... write what you don't know, just know it before you write it!

You Down With OPP: Other People's Projects

I've said it time and time again, waiting to get your movie made is something that requires patience, a lot of waiting, and creative ways to stay motivated.  This is not something you learn in film school; it takes a skill of a whole other kind.  And I'm not talking about waiting a few months, a year, or even a couple years.  I'm talking about waiting five, even ten years and beyond.  How do you pass the time, survive, and still stay fulfilled?

You ready?  Here it comes... OTHER PEOPLE'S PROJECTS!  That's right, if you can't be creative doing your own project or having a key role in another's, then it's time to take on Other People's Projects.  You down with O.P.P.?  Yeah, you know me!

So many of us artists start off this way, continue this way, and even end this way.  Yes, of course many people are in a good enough position to at least to pick Other People's Projects that they'd like to work on, but there's even more people who just work on projects.  Whether they feel any kind of passion towards it is never a given, and we all have to work.

People do all sorts of things to make some steady (or not-so-steady) cash and still be in the industry.  That way we are still in the industry we love and can work on networking or just making some friends.  These people tend to have a lot in common with us, unlike those other people who actually dress up for work.  Imagine that!  But really, this is a great way to pass the time while waiting for your big break.  It may even contribute to it.  You can work on sets specializing in a skill you picked up along the way.  Many directors love camera work.  Do something in the camera department for now, you know... while you're waiting.  Maybe audio is a skill you picked up when the boom operator was out sick on set one day.  Maybe you want to be a producer and you want to work in a production office or in on-set production.  Maybe you want to be a grip or gaffer, learning about and using all the lighting and electrical equipment.  Maybe this all horrifies you.  Maybe you're more like me and love the writing and editing of Other People's Projects.  This might not be the dream job you've been hoping for, but it's actually really fun.  You'll learn about other parts of the process and make you that much more equipped in something when you are in the director's chair.  You may learn about a medium other than narrative film, such as commercials, trailers, documentaries, webisodes... whatever!  I know I'd pick these jobs over a lot of others, and it all may benefit you later when it's time to shine.

The one catch with a lot of these jobs is most are not full time, and even less are regular 9-5 hours.  Those who know what I'm talking about are snickering and shaking their head, probably bitterly and in agreement.  Those of you who are just out of college, that'll be you one day: snickering bitterly.  Hey, something to look forward to!  The real world is nuts, but you're young, right?  Freelancing is tough too, especially in production.  You wait for that next call, hoping the last person who hired you will hire you again.  Finding your first job out of school could prove to be even worse.  Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get paid.  But take those unpaid jobs... they do turn into paid ones down the road.  Then it's time to cancel your plans for the next month or however long the job is.  Can you make plans for the weekends?  Not always.  If you're lucky enough to grab full time work... alas!  You must be in post-production.  I eventually went to post myself since writing work is very, very difficult to find and editing is the other something I love to do.

The truth is only a handful of us actually get to do our own projects.  It's obtainable, no question, but it's always good to plan for otherwise, just in case the rest of the world has gone crazy.  Here's what to expect in your backup/survival career: In production you can go from Production Assistant to a number of things.  If you like producing, you can go from up the Assistant Director ladder to 1st A.D. or Production Manager.  You can also end up in the Grip and Electric/Camera Department as a film loader, assistant cameraman, to camera operator, or from grip or gaffer to Director of Photography.  I'm not 100% sure about this road, but I think I've heard the G & E track is easier than the Camera Department on the road to D.P.  You can also go into audio as a Boom Operator or Sound Mixer.  In post you can start in shipping, advance to the dub room, work as an assistant editor, and eventually become an editor, video or audio.  You can also work as a Colorist or Animator, which also starts in shipping and continues into assistant roles, and so on.  It all really depends on what aspect of filmmaking pertains to your skill set and interests best.

So waiting for your own project can take an obscene amount of time.  Trust me, I know.   So don't just sit there... make some money and build your backup career in the meantime.  The best way to do this is to work for those lucky people who have made it already or who are in the midst of making it.  You also may help your original goal by meeting other professionals on the way.  This all can be done on Other People's Projects.  So, you tell me: You down with O.P.P.?

Yeah, you know me!

You Have No Idea

Ideas for movies are easy to come up with, aren't they?  I mean, so many people have an idea for a screenplay.  But only some people ever even write the idea down.  Less ideas are ever written into screenplays, even less are finished screenplays, and even less ideas go into production .  Even worse, of the very few that are finished and released in theaters, a very small percentage are good and/or original enough to be liked.  I think we're all well aware this world is out of truly original stories, characters, locations, and whatever else.  It's not about having to be completely original.  It's about taking the familiar and making it as unique as possible.  I suppose every once in a while something truly different and original comes out, but when you actually break it down, it's really just a different take on something that's already been done.  It's usually the way in which we present these ideas that are original.  For example, the ultimate cliche plot for a romantic film is boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back (or doesn't).  We just can't get enough of that story (although at this point I think I have).  That's okay... everyone should write one in their lifetime.  Just make it different.

Okay, so how do we start to come up with a good, original idea?  This is the key part of writing anything.  The idea must really be awesome to yourself.  If it isn't, you're wasting a lot of time.  I believe only a handful of really, truly great ideas come in a lifetime, and that's if you're lucky.  But let's start with one.  There are many ways to come up with a good idea.

1) Fantasizing and what ifs: Going back to the first stuff I ever wrote, mostly as a kid, the earliest ideas I can remember are ones of fantasy, or in some cases "what if" scenarios.  I don't want to be in the fourth grade, I want to be a superhero fighting crime!  This is a very typical fantasy of a 10 year old boy.  Okay, maybe I just want to be the best athlete in school.  What if I was able to get that girl I've had a crush on?  Maybe I can have an imaginary perfect friend I can travel with on adventures.  I wish I could travel into space.  What if I was pulled into the video game I was playing!  I know these were some of the first ideas I ever came up with, and I really did write all of these ideas at, well, literally at the age of 10.  Maybe not the most unique of ideas, but written correctly, they can be very original.  What do you fantasize about now?  Write it down and turn it into something interesting.  My current film Trust Us fits into this category.  What if I could go back in time and change things?  Would I?  Should I?  Can I?  Although I'd like to think this is interesting, I'd be pretty foolish to say nothing like this has never, ever been done.  That's not the point.  I can promise it's never been done this way.  That's where all the originality can come in.  Without Flash Gordon and The Hidden Fortress there may have never been a Star Wars, but Star Wars is very, very original.  No one knew what a Jedi was before those movies... but we've all heard of samurai and knights!  Without James Bond, there may never have been an Indiana Jones (and I'm not saying that just because Sean Connery is Indy's father).  Without the Time Machine, there may have never been a Back to the Future.  That movie's very original, but it surely wasn't the first time machine story ever.  We can go on and on, but this is a blog meant to keep you awake.  I really don't believe anything was made up completely on its own... one thing always affects another.

2) Real Life: Everyone has had monumental things happen in their lives: the good, the bad, and the really unusual. Of course, some have lived more interesting lives than others.  But, if you meet someone who doesn't have an interesting story, no matter how trivial, that person just isn't looking hard enough.  Even a great day out with your friends, a crazy ex-girlfriend, a vacation, something from when you were a kid, or even an ill loved one are all enough to create a story if... here it comes... you write it in an interesting way.  Okay, so maybe some stuff is too personal, right?  Shake it off, change the names, and go to town!  If you know some people who, when reading it, catch on to your personal story... deny, deny deny!  If there's no denying... don't let them read it!  They can see the movie when it's out, and by then, who cares, you made a freakin' movie already!  I find these stories really can be a fun emotional release too.

3) Dreams and Nightmares: I can't begin to tell you how many dreams or nightmares have made awesome stories to write.  From short scary scripts, to full length features, there's some real golden nuggets in our own subconscious.  Okay, there are two problems with literally dreaming up ideas.  One, if you don't write that crap down ASAP, you're going to forget most of it, so hurry up no matter how tired you are in the morning/middle of the night.  Two, sometimes a great idea when you wake up becomes a "what the hell was I thinking" bunch of nonsense!  Hey, it happens... but when I wake up from a dream that I feel could actually make a good story, 25% of the time I'm right!  Suddenly I can form a story about something that's usually pretty weird.  Another strange thing when dreaming up ideas is I tend to go through a crazy thought process; I feel like I didn't even consciously come up with the idea.  Then again, the idea came from my subconscious.  My conscious and subconscious are me.  Therefore, I came up with the idea.  Hmm, guess I did think of it.  Oops!  Weird, right?  Anyway, some of my best stuff came from nightmares, including my short film, Escape from the Night, which is about... you guessed it... a guy tormented by nightmares!

4) Pick a Genre and Go Nuts: I've said it before and I'll say it again... there aren't too many genres I don't want to explore as a writer/director.  Because of this, I'll take a look at which genres I've never done before and try use that as a backdrop to spark a new idea.  Sub-sub-genres are the best.  You may want to write a whodunnit, a movie about con-men, a serial killer, an amnesia movie... these more obscure kind of sub-sub-genres are really fun to explore, and you may find you come up with a thousand ideas already.  My time travel movie is an example of this... it's a genre within the science fiction genre.  Maybe think about the movies you've liked over the years, think about why, then tackle something like that.

5) You Met This Really Interesting Dude: Not only can you exploit your own life, but what about someone else's?  I'm kidding, don't do that.  But, at the very least, remember that weird guy you spoke to on the street who was looking for his lost dog who had three legs?  Okay, this may be the start of a bad movie, but you know what I'm getting at.  One little event in your life or someone else;'s could jump-start a crazy idea that just may work for a script!  Maybe there's someone at work who you just can't believe does what he or she does, and you're ready to try your own psychological evaluation of them.  You may be making it all up, but these kinds of "characters" in your everyday life can really get the fingers typing.

6) The News: It's the oldest trick in the book.  The news, current or historic, has some damn good stories in there.  Whether you go for fiction or "based on a true story," the news (or newspaper, internet, etc.) is a great place to find ideas for stories.  Maybe Octo-Mom sounds like a great movie to you.  It doesn't to me, but you know.  Crimes, war, scandals, politics, underdog sport stories, conspiracy theories... all of these could make good stories... if (you guessed it) it's all written in an interesting way.

7) Obsessed: When I was in high school, we used to get nailed every year with a something called an "I-Search."  It was a huge report we could do on anything.  We would research the heck out of it and then do a huge presentation.  What sounded pretty awful ended up actually being quite fun.  Some people did theirs on pollution, energy saving, baseball... I did my four (one each year) on hypnotism, dreaming, space exploration, and George Lucas.  Hu-hey, folks!  I guess I wasn't your everyday kid.  Anyway... fun topics, right?  At the time I could have written a script after what I learned doing this research.  In fact, I probably have written something that touched on all these topics (minus George Lucas).  Get obsessed with something and go to town: Why do people lust?  What was pirate life really like?  What do we know about alien abduction?  Neanderthals interest me.  I am obsessed with the history of Paris... all these make great obsessions for movies.  It could be more specific things: love of shoe-making, ant farms, insane asylums, Voodoo, clowns, weddings... the list goes on forever and ever.  Not all of these may seem like good ideas to you... but whatever... if written well... you know the rest!

8) Remakes:  Duh-duh-duhhhh!  I tread very lightly here.  First and foremost, try not to do another remake.  We're all so sick of these... ask anyone.  Come up with something original, for you and us.  With that said, I admit it, I'd like to do it once.  I have one franchise I'd love to do up my sleeve, but I'm not telling!  Seriously, if you go here, at least have an idea what you can bring that's different while also respectful to the original material.  To me that's so key.  Bad remakes don't resemble the original while good remakes do, while adding something else to it.  Tie everything together better, maybe make longer material more concise, and maybe also modernize it for a new generation.   But please, don't insult the fans.  You were handed the reigns, so don't disappoint them or the original creators.

Good ideas are tough to find, but they are also everywhere.  Try to find something that you're passionate about and that interests you, otherwise writing really is impossible.  So reflect on life, have a dream, get obsessed, read the news, or wonder "what if" so you're through having no idea!  Get the idea?