I'm On Vacation

Thought I was going to have another new Hitchcock entry up today, but it isn't finished because I've been goofing off. Sorry.

Okay, here's a link to PSYCHO.

- Bill

Lancelot Link Thursday

Lancelot Link Thursday! Now that PLANET OF THE APES has been #1 two weekends in a row, do you think all movies should be about Monkeys? OF MICE AND MONKEYS? FINAL MONKEY 5? 30 MONKEYS OR LESS? GONE WITH THE APES? HOW GREEN WAS MY MONKEY? MONKEYBLANCA? If so, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) All Of The Final Destination Deaths!

2) Police Blow Up Suspicious Screenplay - in case you missed it.

<3) Hunter S. Thompson doesn't like your work... and makes Josh Olson look like a pussycat.

4) Interview With The Writer Suing WME & other agencies for $8 Million Bucks.

5) World's Largest Stop Motion Animation (by Aardman).

6) Groucho Marx vs. Warner Bros lawyers.

7) CONAN writer on bad reviews.

And this week's car chase:



VANISHING POINT remake - Charger & Challenger.

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Nice Antagonists - Just because they are the antagonist doesn't mean they're not nice!
Dinner: All I Could Eat.
Pages: Working on the Action Book revisions... kinda.
Bicycle: No bike where I am.
Movies: Yes, I have seen FINAL DESTINATION 5...

Number 3!

Here is the Amazon Top 10 Screenwriting List for Kindle - 8/13/11:

Also #3 today (8/14) but the top two have traded places.
Thought for sure it would be #63 by now.

NEW!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!

Only $2.99 - and no postage!

Wait... There's more!

NEW!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)

Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!

Only $2.99 - and no postage!

Next up will either be Dialogue (#10) (which needs me to write 3 new articles) or one of the others that requires less work.

- Bill

Lancelot Link Thursday: The Final Thursday!

Lancelot Link Thursday! They are already planning a sequel to RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES... does this mean the apes have taken over our cinemas? If so, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you or the apes who are reading this blog. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are five cool links plus the car chase of the week...

1) Ian Fleming (James Bond) on writing thrillers.

2) Following The Cliche

3) JAWS in the style of PEANUTS.

4) John Sayles interview. (because I'm a massive fan, I must link every Sayles interview, sorry!)

5) All of the Hitchcock Trailers!

And this week's car chase...

LINK BECAUSE EMBED IS DISABLED... It's that good! One of Lancelot's *favorites*!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Always The Journey - if the hero kills the villain at the end, what's the use of watching?
Dinner: Baja Fresh Fish Tacos... black beans & rice.
Pages: Finished a script, and now working on a NEW Hitchcock blog entry for Friday... then on to the Action Book revisions.
Bicycle: Some medium to longish bike rides over the past couple of days because I'll be going on vacation... and no bike. Lots of eating too much and sitting on my fat behind. Better get some exercise in now!

NEW!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!

Only $2.99 - and no postage!

Fade Out

So, the original plan was to finish up this great blog entry that has been half written for at least a month, now, and post it for Wednesday... but I'm not sure I'm going to have time to get it done, so it's coming next week.

Instead I thought I'd mention that I finally got to FADE OUT on this new spec, and I did a read-through looking for screw ups today and I think I got most of them... and the script has some scenes that seem better than I remember them when I was doing the typing. I came up with a better ending along the way – the basic end in the same but the details are different – and overall I like the script. Now all I need is to sell the sucker...

But I finished it just in the nick of time, since I want to squeeze in a vacation (which is just working in some other city) and then head back to my hometown to hang out with friends and discuss the movie project... which has already hit a little bump. One of my co-horts – the guy whose *house* we're shooting in – is booked with work until the end of the year. So it looks like we won't be filming until *next year*. We'll have some meetings and beers and come up with a new start date and plan for the film.

The big plan at this point in time is to complete the revisions on THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING and get that sucker up on Kindle and Nook (hopefully by the end of this month) and then spend next month getting the Blue Books up there. I have another spec script that I want to write by the end of this year – and I might *just* be able to squeeze that in. This year is zipping past!

I am amazed that YOUR IDEA MACHINE is still hanging in there on the Amazon Top Ten for Kindle list. Over the weekend it dropped down to 15... and then rose back to #6 on Monday.

But I have a new screenplay! And hope to have some new blog entries soon!

- Bill

Lancelot Link Thursday: Lancelot Takes Manhattan!

Lancelot Link Thursday! Now that they've made BATTLESHIP: THE MOVIE, are you waiting for BARREL OF MONKEYS: THE MOTION PICTURE? If so, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) Pick Movies Based On The Writer - amazing idea!

2) 25 Ways To Become A Better Writer

3) The Overlook Hotel from THE SHINING is a house of cards... a tour. (Thanks to Brad!)

4) A Nice Little Article About Alien

5) Batman Villains - did poor potty training turn them into monsters?

6) And I am still worried about people bathing their taints in the Los Angeles water supply. That's why tap water tastes like...




And this week's car chase... is more of a foot chase...



DISTRICT B13 - one of those arty French films.

- Bill

Now on Nook!

Your Idea Machine (Blue Book #1) - for Nook! That was fast - I posted it to the site yesterday, the note said it would take 48 hours or more... but it's up today.

Your Idea Machine for Nook.

Same deal as Kindle - 160 pages (if it were a paper book) for $2.99.

And Kindle got my cover up. It was #3 on the sales list for Kindle Screenwriting books for a while today. Just think, if I had written a book about identifying ants by sex, it might *always* be #1 in its category!

Okay, you guys are tired of all of this crap, I'm going back to work on the screenplay - almost done!

- Bill

Shady Producers

So, today's Script Tip is on your first script sale with all kinds of warnings about producers who may seem a little shady. Like this guy...

Unlucky Producer? Or Fraud?

- Bill

Blue Book update

Okay, Nook ended up being easier than I thought it would be except for one minor cosmetic issue (it "page ends" after every sub-chapter - no big deal). It hasn't popped on B&N yet, but when it does I'll link it.

Due to some weird timing issue, I am locked out of uploading the cover to Kindle until tomorrow. I will fix a couple of cosmetis issues when I dfo that (two lines break in the middle of a sentence due to a stray bit of code, a couple of paragraphs didn't break - you probably wouldn't ever notice it.)

Though I'm finishing up a script right now, and next up is the Secrets Of Action Screenwriting, I may find a minute or two to get some other Blue Books up.

TUESDAY UPDATE: Nook version still in the grinder, will come out soon.

- Bill

The Blue Book Project

I hate my Blue Books. If you don’t know what they are - they’re these booklets I sell from the website, each on a specific subject of screenwriting and each 48 pages (including covers). There are supposed to be 20 of them, but I still have 3 that are in some form of “not finished” - in one case, the material is there but I just haven’t put it in booklet form.

The reason why the Blue Books exist is my friend Jim... When I was sending out preview copies of the Action Book to pro-screenwriters for cover blurbs, he asked me what I was going to sell in the book. I said, I don’t understand that question. He explained that my book would be in bookstores all over the place, and when people bought the book and took it home... what other products would I have listed in the book so that people who liked my book could buy something else like it? Okay, now I was understanding the question, but my answer was: Nothing. I didn’t have anything else to sell, and I only had the Action Book by accident: I had these xeroxed pointers on how to write an action script that I gave to my friends, which had turned into a 100 page booklet with a red cover, that turned into a 200 page book with a glossy blue cover, which turned into the 240 page version that I sold about 13,000 copies of and is now for sale on e-bay for hundreds of dollars because it has been out of print for so long. But every step along the way on the Action Book was just a reaction to whatever happened with the last version. The 240 page version was that original xerox thing with some additional articles added. I was never really trying to write a book... and I had no idea what I could use that book to sell.

So Jim said I should think about some other stuff, and I thought it would be cool to have a book where you picked the chapters yourself - if you wanted to know more about characters and visual storytelling and great endings, you could just buy those “chapters” and make your own book. I jotted down 20 “chapter” ideas - and put a page in the back of the book announcing them. Except, the problem was, people *did* like the Action Book and *did* want to but the danged booklets! So that meant I had to write them. And they kind of came in batches - a bunch came out in 2000, and then in 2002, and then in 2004... and then a couple have come out since then and the last three...

But just writing them was only one of the problems. I had to manufacture them myself. At first, this was fairly easy - the place that copied my scripts gave me a great deal if I ordered about a zillion Blue Books - they would not only knock the price down, if they had nothing better to do they would fold and staple them for free. If you have ever priced folding and stapling (called “saddle stitching” for some reason) at Kinkos, you know this was the deal of the century. Kinkos charges folds by the page - and a 48 page booklet would cost a pile of money in addition to the copy costs. Then, my script copy place went out of business - and to this day that has caused all kinds of issues with the Blue Books, main one being the fold and staple thing.

The other wonderful issue with the Blue Books is that people order weird things. For instance, I suddenly got a bunch or orders for #12 and #4 - and ran out of those two booklets. The new place that prints them has a “bulk discount”, but when I only need some odds and ends, the price goes up and sometimes I basically break even. I might run 20 sets of 17 booklets and get a price break, then get 30 orders for #12 for some weird reason and it screws up everything. If next batch I get extra #12s, there will be a run on #6. You just can’t predict this.

But the biggest problem? Postage. If I mail a complete set of Blue Books to Australia, it costs more that half the cost of the Blue Books themselves - and people often complain. And they are right to complain - if you pay more than half for shipping, something is wrong. The books are heavy - they cost a lot to ship. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve tried to switch over to classes on audio CD - they cost much less to ship. Even with the $1.50 padded envelope, I can get more info sent to someone on a CD that weighs less than that same amount of info on *paper*. But I’ve had a couple of CD classes waiting for me to go into a booth and record.

So I have a possible solution... what do you think?

I’m reading more books on my Kindle than on paper... and someone gave me a link to an article that said 75% (or some large number) of Kindle books sold are technical and educational books with a niche audience. So maybe that’s the answer for the Blue Books? No expensive postage - you just pay for the book. And I knock some money off because there’s no paper involved. (There will still be the paper versions if people want them.) At first I thought I’d do a page one rewrite on every book - a lot of them were written *11 years ago* and could use some work (many have film examples that no one remembers anymore... or examples from films that stink). But a full rewrite would take a long time... that’s 816 pages! And you know, by the time I finished it would be at least 2,000 pages because I’d want to add more. The danged Script Tips from the year 2000 started off as 2 paragraphs and once I get done rewriting them they usually end up 8-10 pages!

I talked this over with some friends, who all said: If you sell them on paper as they are now, why would you need to rewrite them for Kindle/Nook/e-book? Just put out exactly what you have! Good question. But changing formats means I’ll be touching the words again, not just the paper the words are printed on... and I feel kind of compelled to rewrite them while I’m at it.

So look for the new Blue Books in about 20 years...

Or, dang it! What if I did a touch up on each Blue Book for now, and add 4-5 Script Tips on the same subject? The Script Tips pop up every year and a half on the website for free, and eventually it will be every 2 years... but they would be a “bonus” in the e-Blue Books, so I wouldn’t be charging for something you get for free. Does that make sense? And the older Blue Books will probably get a lot more touching up than the more recent ones - since they need it.

Eventually all of the Blue Books will get a more thorough rewrite, but this will work for now... and hopefully I'll get those last three finished and up as well. I will also code them for Nook and other platforms.

I am also *considering* setting up the paper versions on Amazon as a print on demand. When I looked into it, the main problem is that to print a 48 page booklet costs the same as printing a 100 page booklet. And if I charge less than $6.99 it would literally cost me money. So if I do that, I would make the paper Blue Books 100 pages and charge about $7.99 – which is $3 more than now, but for twice the material. I may play around and see if $7.49 for twice the material works. This would solve all of my printing problems – but kind of by passing on a price increase to you. I hate doing that, but sometimes I have too many things going on and this would take one thing off my To Do List.

What do you think?


PS: First one is done and up on Kindle right now - the Your Idea Machine Blue Book. I added about 10,000 words in the rewrite (new techniques to come up with story ideas), not counting the Script Tips. Total words = 40,052, which is about 160 pages. Paper price was $4.99 plus postage for 48 pages, Kindle price is $2.99 and no postage costs at all. Hey, there's even Kindle for your computer if you don't have the device... free. Nook version is on the way, and other platforms, too. This is the first, most of the rest should come out in September if all goes as planned.

Of course, it never does.

- Bill

PS: Due to a screw up the cover isn't up, yet.

Lancelot Link Thursday: Lancelot Goes To Hell!

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who want can't wait to see that documentary about the family who raised a chimp as their child (mom actually breast fed it!)... here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) The Brit List.

2) The DARK KNIGHT RISES poster.

3) Terrible Movie Taglines

4) Production Budget = $0, Income so far = $20k.

And this week's car chase...



The remake of OUT OF THE PAST.

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Tom Cruise Takes You For A Ride - Where?
Dinner: Panda - that garlic chicken.
Pages: Still screwed up - I'm way behind.
Movies: THE TRIP... weird combo of improv and fiction.

Book Reports #2

Okay, I actually read this book a while back, and a friend of mine wrote it... but he has a new wrinkle and I thought I'd mention it. If you've ever clicked on But The Third One Was Great! blog over there --> you've read some of Joshua Grover-David Patterson's work. His blog looks at the never-ending sequels to horror movies and has a good time making fun of the bad ones. He's an award winning film maker and has written for film related magazines like FILM THREAT and others.




Well, he wrote a novel called MERCY - a Kindle & Nook original - that is kind of LOST meets DAWN OF THE DEAD. A plane from Ethiopia crashes on a remote island and the survivors thought just finding food and shelter (and rescue) was going to be the worst of their problems... until the zombies began attacking. The zombie plague has broken out - and those passengers who went down with the plane, seat belted in? Once the seat belts rot their bloated corpses rise to the surface and come looking for flesh to eat!

Now, here's the interesting thing about MERCY - it's really a story about a mother (named Georgina Fulci - this book is fun) who will do anything to be reunited with her young adopted daughter (Mercy) and husband (Rob). The plane crash and zombies are the obstacles. So it's a story with lots of heart. Though there are plenty of zombie attacks, Josh doesn't go overboard on the gore - and that may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you like. I think by not overdoing the gross out stuff he makes the novel more human... and focuses on what makes us human. Those dead people attacking look like humans, but they aren't anymore, why?

The great thing about this book is that it never loses sight of the human side - Georgina's reason to live is to return home to her husband and daughter. Each of the characters is a real person with real problems, and the conflicts between the survivors form the real meat of the story. This, and specifically the character of Marshall (big guy, doesn't talk, deeply religious - reminded me of Tom Cullen) are the things that echoes Stephen King's THE STAND for me. On the island they must form a society and decide what's right and wrong and who lives and who dies - and some of the deaths are shocking.

One of the elements of the book is that Georgina becomes the surrogate mother for a child survivor, in a way adopting the kid the way she and her husband adopted their daughter. Motherhood, and that strength and power that comes from being a mother, are major elements in the story. That makes it more than just a zombie story - though it's a zombie story, too. A handful of people trapped on an island surrounded by zombies.

But one of the interesting factors of this story is that Josh and his wife have an adopted daughter from Ethiopia in real life... so this is kind of "write what youy know" (except for the whole plane crash and zombie attack part). The early chapter of the book in Ethiopia has that authenic feel because Josh has been there... that's where his daughter comes from. In an online conversation with a bunch of friends, he told a fascinating story about a man from Ethiopia who went to college in the United States (San Francisco I believe) and returned to Ethiopia to get kids interested in reading. In Ethiopia there are no libraries where a kid can get a book... and really no books for children. This guy has changed that - travelling from village to village on a *donkey* loaded with books! His version of a mobile library. He has since built some actual libraries, and now has several donkey mobile libraries making the rounds. That's an amazing story!

Well, Josh's new wrinkle is that he's going to donate 10% of all of his book sales to this guy with his donkey-libraries in his daughter's home country. He has a blog entry about it here. And if you just want to donate without buying his zombie book, there's a link on his blog.

But the zombie book is a lot of fun... and only $2.99. And lots of great reviews on Amazon that *aren't* from me.

- Bill

Script Magazine - July issue is out!

On newstands, in book stores (if any still exist) and in your mailbox or in box!




Captain America: The First Avenger
By Aaron Ginsburg

When screenwriting duo Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely heard that Marvel Studios was rebooting America’s most iconic superhero, they chased the job … and got it. But re–imagining Captain America proved a daunting task, with over 70 years of material on the Man Behind the Shield. Markus and McFeely recount their journey from research to set rewrites on Captain America: The First Avenger.

Cowboys & Aliens: A Genre Mash–up With Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
By Tom Benedek

With Cowboys & Aliens, the graphic novel had no famous characters, no famous situations. Scribes Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby were thrilled with the idea and the chance to do a genre mash–up like no other. Here they explain how John Ford’s films and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind helped inspire this summer’s highly anticipated sci–fi Western adaptation.

From Script to Screen: A Better Life
by David S. Cohen

Through 22 years of development, two screenwriters, a title change, and a page–one rewrite, Summit Entertainment’s A Better Life still remained remarkably true to its original concept. Roger L. Simon (story) and Eric Eason (screenplay) share their experiences scripting the East Los Angeles drama.

Dread Ringer: Summoning Up The Devil’s Double
by Bob Verini

Latif Yahia was given an offer he couldn’t refuse: Become the body double for Saddam Hussein’s vicious elder son Uday, or let his family suffer the consequences. Scribe Michael Thomas couldn’t pass up the chance to delve into the terrifying world of the Black Prince of Iraq and the man forced to do his bidding in the upcoming drama The Devil’s Double.

Taming the Script: Stranger Comics’ Sebastian A. Jones
by Joshua Stecker

Sebastian A. Jones, comic book writer and founder of Stranger Comics, talks about the challenges and advantages he faces when translating his tales of modern fantasy from the script to the screen.

Writers on Writing: Road to Nowhere
by Steven Gaydos

Writer Steven Gaydos recounts his experience scripting Road to Nowhere, a meta–noir crime tale about a filmmaker determined to make a great movie from a crime story written by his screenwriting pal. The story echoes the longtime working relationship and friendship between Gaydos and director Monte Hellman, who realized Gaydos’ vision for the dark and complex film.

Chemical Dependency: Breaking Bad
by David Radcliff

Script rounds up Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Dean Norris to discuss the mad science behind their award–winning AMC series.

How to Sell Out!
by Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant

Everyone has an idea for a script, but most aren’t able to cash in on it. Comedy hyphenates Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911!, Night at the Museum) provide 10 easy tips for writers on the “art” of selling out to the Hollywood studio machine and scripting movies for profit.

Script Secrets: No Dramatic Stone Unturned
by William C. Martell

Film is a dramatic medium, so as writers we should always be looking to mine those tense moments in our scripts. Columnist William Martell encourages scribes—in any genre—to show their stories’ drama, not try to avoid it, and he uses the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall as a great example of dramatic gold.

Script Magazine homepage.

- Bill

Lancelot Link Thursdays: The New Blood

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if that crested black macaque in Indonesia would take *your* picture, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) Story Notes From Hell!

2) 5 free videos on how to make it in the biz.

3) Literary Greats... In Their Bathing Suits! - closest we're getting to a swimsuit issue around here.

4) Your Last Girlfriend's IMDB Page

5) Lawrence Block's new Parker intro... which is about titles and characters and first sentences.

And this week's car chase:



Yes, I hate shaky-cam. I think BOURNE 2 would have been much better with a different director, and gets a lot of flack due to the danged shaking camera thing. Story is fine.

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: When People Explode - You need explosions in your screenplay, especially the dramas.
Dinner: Hawaiian burger at Islands.
Pages: Totally screwed up - I'm way behind.

Lancelot Link - The Final Chapter

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if the new PLANET OF THE APES movie is based on a true story, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) Book Cover Paintings - fascinating artwork!

2) Crime writer Lawrence Block does the blindfold test.

3) Interview with director Nic Roeg (DON'T LOOK NOW).

4) The story behind Short Films at Palm Springs Film Fest.

5) Chart Your Star Or Director! (near the bottom of the pages is a radiobox - enter the star or director's name and see how they did on Rotten Tomatoes.)

Plus this week's car chase...



Michael Bay in all his glory! You will believe a cable car can fly! (even though they are attached to underground cables.)

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: On The Nose Scenes - And the STAR WARS prequels vs. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Dinner: El Pollo Loco - okay, here's the problem: I always order black beans because they're tasty. But now they have "premium sides" that are more expensive, and they put black beans on that list... except there is no listing for how much more expensive they are in a combo, and no one at Pollo Loco knows. So, it's impossible to order them!
Pages: Insomnia issues persist. I'm sleepwalking - and that isn't getting pages written.
Bicycle: Mostly short rides because I'm half alseep - though yesterday and Monday did longer rides to get the blood flowing in hopes that would wake me up. I think it helped... though still could be an extra in a zombie film.
Movies: Have seen both BAD TEACHER and GREEN LANTERN.

Mondays With Hitchcock... on TCM

Thanks to Richard for mentioning that TCM is showing 5 Hitchcock films from the 1950s on Monday June 27th. Here's the line up, along with links to the Fridays With Hitchcock blog entries and the screenwriting lessons:

STAGE FRIGHT - 08:00 PM - Flashbacks The Lie, Not My Problem (wrong protag).

I CONFESS - 10:00 PM - Character & Story Flow, Chess Dialogue, Misunderstandings, String Theory.

DIAL M FOR MURDER - 12:00 AM - Focus Objects, Suspense Triggers, Unlikeable Leads.

THE WRONG MAN - 02:00 AM - Passive Protagonists, Verite, Faith On Film.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN - 04:00 AM - Transference Of Guilt, Sound Triggers, Suspense.

- Bill

You Have Been Warned!

A couple of my films are invading the UK again...

6/23 Movies4Men Channel- 15:30 - Crash Dive - The crew of a nuclear submarine rescue supposed victims of a boat disaster, but the victims turn out to be terrorists intent on capturing nuclear weapons aboard the sub.

6/28 Movies4Men 2 - 1:05 - The Base - A US Army Investigator is assigned to bring down a drugs ring from within. Only when infiltrated does Major Murphy realise how high the corruption runs and now the danger he faces.

I am sorry.

- Bill

What *Everybody* Wants To See!

I am not a fan of IMDB's user ratings, and not just because they all give my films bad grades. Their Top 100 is filled with fan boy films and often excludes great films... and that's just strange. The problem is, people go to IMDB in the first place are film fans and fanboys rather than the general movie going public, and we have already learned from movies like WATCHMEN that you can have a film that seems to be the hottest movie ever made according to those on the internet... but it doesn't turn into the hottest movie at the box office. The avereage ticket buyer probably doesn't even know what IMDB is. The main purpose of IMDB is to list credits, and how many ticket buyers are interested in the credits in the first place? Most people don't even sit through them any more.

Here is some dramatic proof... Every week IMDB prints a little chart of the new films users are most interested in seeing this weekend, and here's that chart from Thursday:



So, was JUDY MOODY the number one film over the weekend? Was TROLLHUNTER number two?

I have no idea how JUDY MOODY ranked higher than TROLLHUNTER on their interest list, doesn't seem to be a fanboy pick or a film snob pick... but maybe those film snobs have little kids? Whatever the reason, both of those films are freak picks.

I may have mentioned Cinemascore in a past blog entry, and that is a scientific poll. They poll *every* ticket buyer in cinemas all over the United States on opening night with a simple card that asks them to grade the film A to F and asks their sex and age range. Everyone in the cinema gets a card and responds, not just the fanboys and film fans. You end up getting not just the opinions of those with strong enough opinions that they're going to rush home, get on the computer, and say how much they lover or hated a film - you also get the middle ground. And the middle ground is where most ticket buyers are... and where most word of mouth recommendations come from. If you get every ticket buyer in the cinema, and cinemas all across the United States (a good cross section of the country) you get a realistic look at what ticket buyers thought of the film. Not just the fanboys and filmsnobs.

Cinemascore is also a good barometer for how many tickets a film will sell next weekend - though whatever else opens next weekend is a big variable. If a film gets A+ to A it will have great word of mouth. Even a B+ usually means that a film will keep selling tickets, like BRIDESMAIDS. When we get to a B grade we are in that gray area - the audience thought the film was good but not great, and sometimes that has their friends thinking they might wait for Netflix. And, yes, people do give films an F grade sometimes - remember THE BOX? But by polling *everyone* you get a much better idea of what people really think.

It's easy for us (screenwriters) to think that because we like a movie and everyone we know likes a movie, that the rest of the world likes that movie. But we know about IMDB, right? Chances are, we are either fanboys or film snobs - and often some weird extreme version because we are often literary people as well. We might see TRANSFORMERS and think it is the worst piece of garbage ever made (I did) but the average ticket buyer did not share those feelings. It managed an A grade from Cinemascore... and the box office showed that despite the reviews the word of mouth from the ticket buyers was good. That A grade meant they thought the film was great and told their friends to go see it. Often films that I think are terrible get great scores from the ticket buyers and are huge hits. On the website I have a Script Tip in circulation on the Two Kinds Of Good - quality good and entertainment good - and how as much as we may not like it, Entertainment Good is more important. People go to the cinema to be entertained.

This doesn't mean we have to lower our standards and start thinking that TRANSFORMERS is the greatest film ever made, but it does mean we are in a strange position as screenwriters: we are writing for those ticket buyers who thought TRANSFORMERS was "great" and yet we can easily see a million reasons why it was not great at all. Instead of hacking out some piece of garbage we think the stupid audience might like, we need to write something that we think is great and that they will think is great. Some *quality* entertainment. You know, those popular movies that *you* thought were great. And it also helps to stay in touch with folks that aren't film snobs and fanboys - those regular ticket buyers. Over the holidays I always see movies with my friends from back home and (over beers) discuss what they liked about the films or what they hated about them. This helps me to understand why they liked some film that I did not like, and vice versa. Usually, I am patient with a film... and they want the rollercoaster ride to begin as soon as they sit down and never let up. This is why I pay close attention to pacing when I'm writing a screenplay. I am fascinated by those films like TRANSFORMERS that I really don't like but my friends did like, and want to figure out what, exactly, made that film work for them. These are lessons that I can apply to my (hopefully more intelligent) screenplays. I do my own form of audience research, and am more interested in talking to people who disagree with my opinion than those who agree with me. I already agree with myself, I don't need that information.

Though I love movies and have strong opinions on which ones are great and which ones suck (and try to figure out why), I try to find the common ground between what I love and what that mass audience of ticket buyers love. I love fast paced films, they love fast paced films - so I can write a fast paced script that would be a film that *I* would love to see, and I hope they would, too. I love cool big scenes, they love cool big scenes. I love emotional scenes, they love them, too. My personal audience research has found plenty of common ground between a guy who lists AMARCORD as one of his 5 favorite films and all of those ticket buyers who have never heard of Fellini. I can write my scripts in a way that appeals to those other people... even the fanboys and film snobs!

(WATCHMEN is on IMDB's Top 500 List, AMARCORD (Oscar Winner) is not!)

So, how many of you were most interested in seeing TROLLHUNTER over the weekend?

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Cool World - Is the world your story takes place in interetsing and unusual?
Dinner: Ruben at Togos.
Pages: Getting back on the horse... 4 pages.
Bicycle: Mostly short rides.

Lancelot Link Thursday: The Revenge

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who want can't wait to see that documentary about the family who raised a chimp as their child (mom actually breast fed it!)... here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are six cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) Intelligent comedy vs. the other kind.

2) The top loglines at Amazon Studios.

3) Film School Thesis Generator.

4) The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema doesn't want you to talk or text during the film.

5) Actor Richard E Grant on development hell.

6) My friend Jonathan King isn't only the brilliant director of BLACK SHEEP and UNDER THE MOUNTAIN, he is also a talented cartoonist... and here is his new comic strip THREAT LEVEL. Enjoy!

This week's car chase: Maybe it's just because I grew up in the Bay Area, but is there a better city for a car chase than San Francisco? Lots of variety, lots of hills, lots of things to crash into...



And you thought it was going to be BULLITT, didn't you!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Adaptation - and what I learned adapting a New York Times best selling novel for a producer at MGM.
Dinner: Italian Hoagie.
Pages: Nope - still snotty.
Bicycle: Nope - went to the movies.


Movies: THE DOUBLE HOUR - Italian. A twisty thriller about Sonia (Kseniya Rappoport) a hotel maid in her early 30s who meets ex-cop Guido (Filippo Timi) now working as a security guard, at a speed dating thing. Both are emotionally damaged. At first they decide not to go out with each other... but they have sadness in common, and start dating. He works as a guard at a huge country estate while the owner is away - watching monitors all day. She cleans up after messy people and is learning Spanish from CD classes. Because she loves the country, he invites her to hang out with him at work, and they go hiking around the country estate... on the day a violent crew of thieves comes to rob the place. They steal all of the antique furnishings, all of the paintings and ceramics and sculptures... and then the couple is shot.

But who is killed and who is alive is a mystery, as Sonia wakes up in the hospital alive and goes back to work at the hotel. But is she really alive? And is the ex-cop Guido she grew to love really dead? Or is it the other way around?

This film has a great triple twist that has your questioning what is real... And at its heart is a sad romance about people trapped by their past mistakes.

- Bill

Lancelot Link Thursday...

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who want HANGOVER 3 to be that monkey getting married and the four guys have a bachelor party for the moneky and go to a monkey strip bar and then wake up the next morning and... here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...



Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...

1) How about a free Film Festival Guide?

2) How to tell if you're a writer.

3) Totally cool retro movie posters - I love the one for ROCKY!

4) Did Robert Redford write ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN?

5) Pencil art... *unusual* pencil art!

6) And this week's car chase...



Cool! Reminds me of the stuff I was doing when I was a kid.

I'm suffering from an awful summer cold, so the planned new entry in the Fridays With Hitchcock series will be next week. Sorry! There will be a rerun tomorrow... but it'll be a good one!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Genre Is Emotion - and why the audience liked HANGOVER 2 and the critics hated it... with cameos by Hope & Crosby!
Dinner: Panda Express - sweetfire chicken & orange chicken.
Pages: I wrote 2 pages - I am fighting a head cold right now and my brain is 93.7% snot. I'm sorry I had to share that with you.
Bicycle: Short bike ride.
Movies: PIRATES 4 on Monday, because the cold was starting to take hold and I didn't feel like working. More on that later - but mostly I thought it was bland and had boring action scenes and wasn't as fun as previous films.