Skip to main content

I've got a really good idea for a film . . .

Phil commented on that last piece. I forget that people actually read these things. I assumed you were all lazy and illiterate ;)

Yes . . . as Phil says . . . we have taken time to write this screenplay. And it's depressing to think about it.

Sometimes I feel like Marshall in Absolutely Fabulous. Marshall went to Hollywood 20 years ago to develop a screenplay with a studio. People in various episodes ask him how it's going. He usually has an actor attached, or a big producer, or an out-of-work director . . . No doubt Jennifer Saunders has met a few of these people. The industry is teaming with writers working on a screenplay. Until a screenplay becomes a film - it's only a blueprint - not considered an art form in itself. And yet it takes such a long time to write one.

When people ask me what I do - I answer web designer. It's my knee-jerk, "pat" response. It's also less problematic and gets me more $work than if I say, "filmmaker". But saying "web designer" feels like somehow I've lied - like I'm undercover - posing as a normal person.

A boxer called me up the other day (not the dog kind) and told me he had a really good idea for a screenplay. I called his bluff and asked to see the paper version. Really good ideas are two-a-penny.

Anything not on paper is royalty-free.

Legally, if you told a screenwriter (like myself) your really good idea and he wrote it - verbatum . . . it would then become his really good idea. He has legal proof of the idea and you don't. While writing is poorly renumerated, it is considered evidence in a court of law. It's why Production Companies ask you to sign a waiver before you submit your work. They also have really good ideas, but at least their ideas are in development (which means on paper).

"Have you written anything, yet?" I asked him, doubtfully. He stumped me by having a bit of a draft to show me (very unusual) . . . and it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

I had a spare couple of hours, So I did some notes on his screenplay. He was so chuffed, he offered me a couple of boxing lessons . . . I settled for a service testimonial.

So here we both are, working on a screenplay we started in 1994. Call us Marshall.

On the bright side - the story has held our interest for all those years and it has led to many other screenplay ideas. The learning curve alone has catapulted our abilities as writers.

Now that some time has passed between our Arista experience, A Stone Throw and working with Sydney-based script-editor, Duncan Thompson . . . the holes in our script are painfully clear. There are so many really good ideas flying wildly about on those 100 pages that we often lose sight of our main character . . .

Katy.

I think that if we can rope the story in - and really make it hers - we will, as some have already pointed out, have a masterpiece before us. In the meantime, I have 100 uni assignments to mark before Phil arrives (for writing session 2013466) . . .

If you'll be so kind as to excuse me . . . a pan of 2 minute noodles beckons.

Comments

GT said…
It freaks me out that I know exactly what you're saying here. Oops! Songwriting session #3491...

-Nel

Popular posts from this blog

The Three by Five Card Index System

Here's another approach to writing your screenplay. The screenwriter's friend. Introducing the infamous Three by Five Card Index System . Wow! How can I get one? In my case - I made it. What it amounts to is this: Three 90cm x 40cm sheets of chipboard hinged together so that the whole thing stands like a concertina on a table or floor. Every 5cm or so down, I have drawing-pinned small cardboard hinges (triangles if you will) made from old file dividers. These become placeholders for your cards. A couple of bunches of 3 inch by 5 inch index cards (available in packs of 100 at any newsagency) and there you have it. A sure fire way to make your screenplay bubble to the top of the pile . . . Not. But it's a tool and writers need their tools. Cool. How does it work? As you can see - each act has three mini-acts in it (fitting in with Australian script theorist Linda Heys' Second Act Story ). Or rather - going one step further and suggesting that all three acts have a begi

The Drug That Killed River Phoenix

This article was going to be about a new drug I'm on called Duomine , but as I knew very little about River Phoenix (aka the vegan Jimmy Dean ) I thought I'd swat up on what's really going on behind that brain-worm ditty. I'll talk about Duomine another time. The song line I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix is from Aussie alternative band TISM's tasteless 1995 single (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River - and it's a bit cheap, frankly. The single's cover shows a mock-up of River's tombstone and was released shortly after his death. TISM were well-known for criticisin Imperial Hollywood and US pop culture, but they were masters when it came to borrowed interest marketing. More about these guys later. River Bottom's Awkward Life In 1944, River's mother Arlyn was born to a Jewish family living in the Bronx. When she finished school, she married a computer programmer but quickly grew bored of her secretarial life. In 196