tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36253199663147567522023-11-15T23:27:16.527-08:00Something new for today is...Elizabeth Atwater Menes is a television writer living in Los Angeles, CA. These are her thoughts about writing, television -- and pretty much everything else.eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-28132599925279882232011-03-02T11:54:00.001-08:002011-03-02T12:26:40.367-08:00#@!!%<span style="font-family:verdana;">Long time, no post. I have been crazy busy for the last few months. Anytime I had an idea for a blog entry, I scribbled it on a sticky note. There were quite a few notes stacked up before they all got buried in work. I have now managed to clear my desk back down to the sticky note level, so I guess it's time to start posting.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I was going to ease in gently with comments on successful sitcom titles and Oscar nominees, but last night I read a script so painful, I have to start with a rant instead.</span><span jsid="text" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Out of every 100 scripts I read for my agency job, figure 10% are easy recommends. They might have a few issues, but the problems can be fixed and the good outweighs the bad. About 80% of the 100 scripts have something of value, but also serious issues. One has to decide if the problems can be fixed, and if the amount of good is worth the trouble.<br /><br />Then there's the bottom 10%. These are the scripts written by people who do not grasp basic writing fundamentals. As in, people who have no idea what makes a story a story at a level one isn't sure can be taught. With these scripts, you want to tell the writer, "Stop now. You do not have what it takes. Do something else." Last night's script was one of those. And the f*cker had people and money attached.<br /><br />Looking up the production company, I don't feel too horrified by the state of the industry. The writer owns the company – and he's planning to direct, too! It's possible the money comes from mom and dad. (Though if they gave it to me, I could put on a piece of performance art called "lazing around in front of my TV writing blog posts for the next twenty years" that would provide more entertainment value than their baby's script. But hey, it's their money.)<br /><br />In honor of that script, and the Confidentiality Agreement that prevents me from going into details, I offer a new definition:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">plot prod</span> [plot prod]<br /><br />–noun<br />1. An occurrence in a script clearly manufactured by the writer to drive the protagonist into an action he/she would otherwise have no reason to take, and without which the script would come to a screeching halt on page 11.<br /><br />–antonym<br />1. plot point<br />The thing you should be writing instead.<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-71022996173719708682010-11-16T17:35:00.000-08:002010-11-16T17:37:34.399-08:00Another pet peeve<span style="font-family: verdana;">Dear Writer,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you find yourself typing the words "true to form," or "typically," or "as usual," or "as one might expect," or <span style="font-style: italic;">any such phrase</span> – consider that you might be writing a CLICHE. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then don't.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-30433842564928341042010-11-09T14:31:00.001-08:002010-11-09T14:41:09.438-08:00Look Who's Talking to A Beautiful Mind<span style="font-family:verdana;">Creeeeeepy baby...<br /></span><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IQdp9tmxGW8?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IQdp9tmxGW8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aS_d0Ayjw4o?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aS_d0Ayjw4o?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-88041302982918110722010-11-07T15:21:00.000-08:002010-11-07T16:30:01.478-08:00As soon as she opens her mouth, the movie is over<span style="font-family: verdana;">I love Cher. And I wish Christina Aguilera all the best -- yo, Staten Island! I also love Diablo Cody, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming and anything with sequins and fringe. But despite the fact that I have to be the target market for this movie, I am not going to see </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Burlesque</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> on opening weekend. And possibly, not at all. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Seriously, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">I am the target market</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. But I've seen </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PiPYAz7f0Q">the trailer</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> a few times and things don't look good. In the trailer, a plucky young ingenue heads to Los Angeles. She tries to get a job singing at a club. Cher, the club manager, blows her off. The plucky young ingenue gets onstage anyway. She's played by Christina Aguilera, so as soon as she opens her mouth, Cher is impressed. The girl gets the job and the movie is over. That's beginning, middle and end, right there in the trailer -- but not a compelling narrative filled with obstacles, conflict and stakes.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />This is a problem with the entire awesomely-talented-but-somehow-still-struggling performer genre. It's one of the reasons many reviewers found </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Secretariat</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> a bore. If you never saw the actual horse win the Belmont Stakes, watch </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5_nuIEgkw">the video</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> now. For two minutes and twenty-four seconds, it's a gas. But who wants to watch the run-up to that race for two hours? I am also the target market for every horsey movie out there, but I still haven't seen </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Secretariat</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. The horse won the race in stunning fashion, but not in dramatically compelling fashion. Secretariat was an amazing horse with previous victories and terrific bloodlines from a successful stable. Everyone knew he was going to win the Belmont Stakes. A few other horses entered because money was on the line for place and show, but we're not talking real obstacles. To make this story dramatic, one would have to saddle the poor horsey with a drug or alcohol problem, an abusive stable mate or recurring nightmares of childhood trauma -- you know, the stuff we writers shove in such movies to make the stories of extraordinary talent rewarded slightly more compelling.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Perhaps there are real obstacles in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Burlesque</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. There are none evident in the trailer, which seems to include the entire film. I hope this is </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/10/this-is-not-paris-runway.html">another case</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> of a marketing department screw-up and that the movie revolves around a different set of events never hinted at in the trailer. But I am dubious, and I will wait to see. Unfortunately, that might mean the film is gone from theaters before I make up my mind.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-50879943105248052912010-10-22T01:11:00.001-07:002010-10-22T01:20:36.941-07:00A great new use for Facebook<span style="font-family: verdana;">I've been happily buried in three different projects, one of which involves considerable historical research about the Civil War. The Facebook advertising engine picked up on that research – they're watching our every move! – and suggested I "like" the daily updates from </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.civilwar-online.com/">this site</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Damned if the advertising engine isn't right. I do like the updates. In fact, I think whoever came up with the idea of sending around a daily Facebook post on something of interest related to the Civil War that happened on the same day 150 years ago is freakin' brilliant. Way to go, unknown fellow historian!</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-3249798001413174162010-10-01T16:39:00.000-07:002010-10-01T17:45:59.536-07:00This is not a Paris runwayFirst casualties of the new season – <span style="font-style: italic;">Lone Star</span> on Fox and <span style="font-style: italic;">My Generation</span> on ABC. There were issues with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Lone Star</span> pilot, but I didn't hate it. I could see they might be headed in interesting directions. I would have given it a second look. And yet – though I Tivo'd it, I didn't get around to watching the pilot until after the series had been canceled. I still haven't watched the <span style="font-style: italic;">My Generation</span> pilot. I watch a lot of television, but neither show excited me enough to click play. Here's why –<br /><br />The posters that adorned every bus shelter and many of the buildings where I live were some of the worst I have ever seen.<br /><br />In the <span style="font-style: italic;">My Generation</span> posters, pretty people stare at the camera with no expression on their faces. In the <span style="font-style: italic;">Lone Star</span> posters, a handsome young man stares at the camera with no expression on his face. Why would I want to watch shows about expressionless people? If they aren't interested in their own lives, I won't be either. Not that the shows themselves – <span style="font-style: italic;">Lone Star</span> at least – featured expressionless people. An early line of dialogue specifically points out the importance of the lead character's awesome smile. And the actor has an awesome smile. Why didn't they feature <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> in the posters? I might have watched the show sooner to find out what he was smiling about.<br /><br />I think I know where the blank-faced trend originates. For some time now, fashion photography and fashion runways have featured expressionless models. Here's a note for television marketing departments: this is not because we like blank faces. It's because fashion designers want us to focus on the clothes alone. Most people don't watch television for the clothes alone. Not even <span style="font-style: italic;">Gossip Girl</span> – though how awesome were the clothes in the Paris episodes? And <span style="font-style: italic;">Gossip Girl</span> posters are some of the best out there.<br /><img src="file:///Users/eamenes/Desktop/15081_0.JPG" alt="" />eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-56590933388815614582010-09-28T20:32:00.000-07:002010-09-28T21:08:15.173-07:00Twenty four words you can't say in Final Draft<span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the last things I do before I consider a script ready to send out is run a global search for my personal list of proscribed words. These words are not forbidden because they are naughty – it's a script, fuck that – but because I use them too often.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />We all have such words. Most of them stand in for the pauses we add to our everyday speech. We want pauses in our dialogue, so we stick 'em in there too. Problem is, different readers use different words for their pauses, and most readers add the pauses in their own heads and don't need those words. Though we sprinkle our everyday speech with well's, oh's and you know's, a page of dialogue studded with those words causes pain. As I mentioned in a </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/09/dude.html">previous post</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, dialogue needs to sound like real people talking – only better.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Everyone has their own habitual vocabulary. That's one of the ways literary forensic types determine disputed authorship. Though you should make your own list of dangerous words, here's my version:</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Actually, usually, a lot, like, always, very, well, here, yeah, hey, ok/okay, maybe, just, oh, pretty, guess, more, quite, bit, you know, right, even, of course, so</span>.<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Though I search for every word, I don't remove every instance. People use these words. Dialogue without them might sound strange. But it's eye-opening to skip from instance to instance and realize how often the words pop up. Though I don't remove them all, I remove enough. Sometimes I get a page less script for my labor. Hey, that's actually worth it, you know?</span><br /><br />Here's another note. While running this search, do a quick scan of every incidence of your/you're and make sure you've got them right. No, you are not ignorant for mixing them up – it's something your typing fingers do without consulting your brain. But you LOOK ignorant if they remain wrong in your finished draft.eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-27544136493343788982010-09-24T13:26:00.000-07:002010-09-24T13:36:42.453-07:00Technological dependency<span style="font-family: verdana;">The ridiculously cheap </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-related-news.html">envelopes</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> must have been a Luddite Trojan horse, as my Internet connection has been down since I brought them home. I am now lurking in a Starbucks, sucking an ancient cup of coffee. Last night I circled the parking lot of a closed McDonald's, fishing for a signal. The Verizon folks say all will be well soon. But they said that two days ago. I now face a weekend without Internet and all is not well.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />As a friend posted on her Facebook wall, "I love my computer since all my friends live there..."</span> I want my friends back!eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-64873647579823578062010-09-19T16:10:00.000-07:002010-09-19T17:10:59.316-07:00In related news<span style="font-family:verdana;">I bought envelopes today for the first time in years. They were marked down to a ridiculously low price – two dollars and fifty cents for a box of two hundred and fifty resume-quality, rag bond, watermarked envelopes. I made the salesclerk check the price twice as I was sure she had made a mistake. She hadn't.<br /><br />The marked down price makes sense, as I will probably not use two hundred and fifty envelopes for the rest of my life. I'm sure there were similar sales of audio cassettes, VHS tapes and typewriter ribbons in the last few decades, but honestly – who remembers?<br /><br />In a burst of synchronicity, I will use those envelopes (okay, a few of those envelopes – seriously, two hundred and fifty?) to announce to the world my latest screenplay, <span style="font-style: italic;">Postal</span>. Though, in an even more synchronous turn, I'm announcing it <a href="http://www.eamenes.com/work.html">here</a>, first. 'Cause I'm a product of the Internet age, and I can't wait for my own virtual reality headset. Facebook in 3D? Awesome.<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-11245898839237319802010-09-17T17:33:00.000-07:002010-09-18T00:41:42.602-07:00Dude!<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here's a </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/new-york-tornado-excited-_n_720852.html">fun video of yesterday's storm excitement</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> in New York City. Several folks in the comment section suggest these young men cannot be real New Yorkers as REAL New Yorkers would never show that level of excitement about anything.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />There's truth in that.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Back in high school, I was on a harbor ferry when it was hit by a freighter in a dense fog. The boat tipped way over, one side was clearly bashed in and the PA system sounded like very nervous adults in a <span style="font-style: italic;">Charlie Brown</span> special. As far as any of us knew, the boat was going down.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />We tramped out on deck and yanked life vests out of their wooden racks. That was fun, 'cause you got break the wooden lath that held the vest in place. Breaking stuff is fun, even for blasé New Yorkers. Then we realized that the outside vests were filthy, and tramped back inside to retrieve nice clean vests from under the seats.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> And then... we all stood around holding our vests at dainty arm's length, pretending that nothing exciting was going on.<br /><br />Sure, the ship might be about to pull a <span style="font-style: italic;">Titanic</span>, but that's no reason to make evident one's distress by actually PUTTING ON THE DAMN VEST.<br /><br />I haven't lived in New York in some time, but I still have trouble visibly displaying the level of excitement in this video – even when I'd like to. I went to Comic Com and thought the people geeking out over their favorite stars looked like they were having fun. But I just couldn't do it. I am a fan, but I'm a fan who was born and raised in NYC. I scream on the inside.<br /><br />As for these guys, native New Yorkers or not, they are a perfect example of why writers should write realistic dialogue – but never real dialogue. DUDE!? A tornado is touching down in Brooklyn and that's the best you can do? Well, yeah, in real life, that is about the best anyone manages.<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-90903298152390991262010-09-11T15:36:00.000-07:002010-09-11T16:23:55.397-07:00Recessionary spending<span style="font-family:verdana;">I just read a </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >BusinessWeek</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195018489726.htm">article about the recent Burger King sale</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Guess what? The chain's "razor-like" focus on their favorite male 18-34 demographic has proved disastrous while McDonald's attempt to woo a new market has been a stunning success. What's that new market... ?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Women.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Apparently, women make money. And in the current recession, they're doing a better job of it than young men. Ouch.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hollywood, I hope you are paying attention.</span> McDonald's didn't just throw out a couple of poorly-prepared options to keep the ladies happy. The company reworked the menu, the marketing and the restaurant decor to the point where I am proud to tote my coffee around, in public, in a McDonald's cup. And why not – McCafé coffee is <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2223965/">pretty damn good</a>. It sure would be nice to want to watch a recent movie as much as I currently want a Mickey D snack wrap and fruit smoothie.<br /><br />Of course, the McDonald's market – even the new, money-making McDonald's market – just isn't sexy. Anyone coming to Hollywood in search of <span style="font-style: italic;">Entourage</span>-style sex, drugs and more sex and drugs probably isn't too interested in appealing to such a market. Though at the moment, I bet there's LOTS more fun to be had at McDonald's franchisee conventions than at any such Burger King get-togethers. Scary thought for the future, huh?<br /><br />Profitability. It's the new sexy.eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-63210891167898049032010-09-06T15:28:00.000-07:002010-09-06T16:10:17.536-07:00Please nobody tell James Cameron<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The waitress handed Precious Nephew a 3-D puzzle toy. We put together the puzzle and Precious gazed at it, perplexed. "Where are the glasses?" he asked. "How can it be 3-D if there are no glasses?" Uh... crap.<br /><br />I am not ideologically opposed to 3-D movies. In general, I am in favor of the March of Progress and all that. My sister recently found a 1950 shelter magazine that breathlessly suggested housekeepers could enjoy unexpected benefits from modern, office machines like... staplers. I have a stapler – and a 3-hole punch, tape dispenser and copy machine – in every room of my house in which I am likely to encounter paper. Though in a few years, the use of paper could mark me as old fashioned all by itself.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I like synced sound and color movies, too. My problem with 3-D movies is selfish. I am one of the 2-12% of the population who just doesn't see them in anything resembling 3-D. This makes me the annoying wet blanket on movie night. And for that, I hold Mr. Cameron personally responsible.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Of course, my insistence on good 'ole 2-D makes me a pleasantly cheap date. Though as an adult who buys my own tickets, that's not such a great argument.</span><br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-25150261776819959372010-08-22T18:46:00.000-07:002010-08-22T19:53:09.054-07:00No protagonist is an island, entire of itself<span style="font-family: verdana;">In a </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/05/blank-space-at-center-of-your-script-is.html">previous post</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, I described a common failure in the scripts I am asked to read – the script crammed with compelling supporting characters that features an oddly unfocused protagonist. I have since decided that an opposite problem also exists.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />I recently read a script in which the protagonist was a beautifully detailed creation with a gaping hole in his life and choices looming ahead. But despite all that lovely story-engine work, the script remained stuck in place. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">There were needs, but no real obstacles. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">There were choices, but no real costs. The writer was only interested in the protagonist and had only bothered to develop the protagonist's story. Without equally needy and choosy supporting characters, the story lacked all conflict.<br /><br />I would say this is an obvious point, but this is not the first such script I've read. Not by a lot. Perhaps it's obvious to me from my years as an actor. There's an old joke about the actor who played the doctor in the first production of <span style="font-style: italic;">Streetcar Named Desire</span>. The character is barely a cameo role – the doctor only appears in the final pages to lead Blanche DuBois off to the nut house. Before the opening, a reporter who knew nothing about the play asked this actor what it was about. "It's about this doctor, see," the actor earnestly replied, "and he meets this lady who wants to depend on him. And he really wants to help, but he's torn, because..." and so on. You get the joke. There are no small parts, only small actors, blah, blah, blah. Trust me, when you're in one of those small parts, this joke is funny. But like many an old cliche, it's also true.<br /><br />There are no small parts for writers, either – and we have to play ALL the parts. Every character must need something and must face choices. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> They must be the stars of their own little movies, so when the protagonist's movie gets in their way – hello, conflict!</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-2125842986361376902010-08-20T23:54:00.000-07:002010-08-21T00:02:57.445-07:00And... I'm back.<span style="font-family: verdana;">Been a while, huh?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">As a follow-up to the last post, my computer did not die permanently – but it was an expensive can of Fresca. My multiple keyboards and I soldiered on and the impossible deadline turned out to be possible. The draft is finished. The trusted readers have returned their verdicts. One more quick buff and polish and I get to put this baby to bed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">But first, THIS baby needs to go to bed. Tomorrow I will post something nice and long to make up for the drought. See you then.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-38910795932104505032010-07-27T20:40:00.001-07:002010-07-27T20:58:57.584-07:00When troubles come, they come in pretty blue cans<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkMwV3YF5NB2Xo-axLNpBAtAjeN5rcVpPwXmxRXrLjbyQbivBxadmA8i9AyvQhUaYxevhClUUBlpqptTd9Opqazjpsl5klRQbJXDFKnHRshu4kx91jwtjwNCe1g2gdIHisOR_Sg1PvZ7_/s1600/small_Fresca+101.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkMwV3YF5NB2Xo-axLNpBAtAjeN5rcVpPwXmxRXrLjbyQbivBxadmA8i9AyvQhUaYxevhClUUBlpqptTd9Opqazjpsl5klRQbJXDFKnHRshu4kx91jwtjwNCe1g2gdIHisOR_Sg1PvZ7_/s400/small_Fresca+101.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498801417731430162" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I haven't posted in a few days as I'm under an impossible deadline – which caused me to knock over a can of Fresca and soak my laptop keyboard, because that's the sort of crap that happens as soon as you have an impossible deadline. I do not blame the Fresca. I blame the deadline.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is every bit as hard as you might think to write a script without functioning DELETE and RETURN keys. The nice boys at the Mac shop were out of keyboards, of course. They swear a new one will be in tomorrow. In the meantime, I am the rock god of writing, with one keyboard plopped on top of another and hands everywhere. It's a terrible way to write, but I bet it looks cool.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I will be happy when this is over. And I may have news, to boot.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-61113542473203986752010-07-23T17:41:00.001-07:002010-07-23T18:07:18.552-07:00Darlings, dead<span style="font-family:verdana;">Way, way back in the day when I first spun the idea that turned into the script I'm currently re-writing, I wrote a single scene. I don't usually start that way: I'm more of a beat/outline/draft writer. But the scene came to me in an insistent rush while I was out for a run (and did not have a piece of paper handy – why does that always happen?) and it seemed to contain the beating heart of the movie I wanted to write. I raced home and scribbled it on a sheet of paper. That scene became my favorite thing on the beat sheet, my favorite thing in the outline, and my favorite thing in every draft since.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Guess what I just cut?</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Here's why I don't need that scene anymore: yes, it still contains the beating heart of the movie. But now, SO DOES THE REST OF THE SCRIPT. That once lovely scene is now freakin' obvious. Goodbye.<br /><br />Oo – this feels good. Let's see what else I can cut...<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-63185895380765651042010-07-20T10:02:00.000-07:002010-07-20T10:39:32.136-07:00Tour de narrative<span style="font-family:verdana;">If one can recognize – and sympathize with – the protagonist as the person who gets dumped on in Act One, then </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/422112-tour-de-france-stage-15-resultsalberto-contador-takes-the-yellow-jersey">Andy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Schleck</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is now the protagonist of the 2010 Tour <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">de</span> France. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEQYmLOUZXQ">Stage 15</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is a little late for Act One, but at least I know who to root for in the stages that remain. Ride, skinny boy – ride!<br /><br />Of course, the dumping upon is merely the situation that helps establish the protagonist’s status. We still need a story… </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >what will Andy choose to do next?</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Will he dig in and claw back those precious eight seconds? Will he accept former friend </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdOJLuePexs&feature=related"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Contador</span>’s hotel room apology</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">? Will he whine about it and drop further back – in which case, I'll stop rooting for him.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Speaking of which, someone should have offered Lance Armstrong a rewrite after his early stage disasters. He could easily have been the protagonist, but he ignored the clearly heroic choice laid before him. Lance might be out of contention, but teammate Levi <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Leipheimer</span> clings to a spot near the top. How wonderful would it have been if the great Lance Armstrong had declared, as his farewell Tour slipped away, "This one is for all the teammates I've had over the years." The world would have set aside any reservations they ever had about the guy if Lance Armstrong had pulled a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010YSD8Q?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0010YSD8Q">Bull Durham</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0010YSD8Q" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" height="1" width="1" border="0" /> during his remaining two weeks in the sport, and sacrificed his own glory to drag Levi onto the podium in Paris. Of course, that hasn't happened. And perhaps the sort of man who can win seven championships in a row is not the sort of man who will EVER sacrifice himself for a teammate. But hey, it would have been nice.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2252372">Slate has an interesting article</a> on our deep-seated desire to root for the underdog. Though the article offers several semi-scientific reasons, the writer suggests that part of our tendency to root for the guy who isn't winning actually traces back to the narratives all around us – a bit of self-fulfilling prophesy for us writers:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">When you think about horse racing, which comes to mind first: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Seabiscuit's</span> underdog victory in the 1938 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Pimlico</span> Special or Cool Coal Man's unremarkable loss at the 2008 Kentucky Derby? … And consider all the other underdogs in our culture—from the Bible, from literature, and from every sports movie ever made. It's no accident that we remember the Titans...</span></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-10868992552150711812010-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:002010-07-15T08:00:01.861-07:00Charitable horn tooting<a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqL1gXG3LbMizWVNlVgDC53eLtI137jhKFDXjBNfIC0qwJjt3HdLxJprvWpF_9djFGQjet3QiQT7GvHVsCEyAikEQnsdd2M3WWHrPo4dOAqLdFp7JFaFBth1q6ZqtcGkqvw-aAaJW0alm/s1600/Lily_3_small.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqL1gXG3LbMizWVNlVgDC53eLtI137jhKFDXjBNfIC0qwJjt3HdLxJprvWpF_9djFGQjet3QiQT7GvHVsCEyAikEQnsdd2M3WWHrPo4dOAqLdFp7JFaFBth1q6ZqtcGkqvw-aAaJW0alm/s400/Lily_3_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493914311148512018" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />I'll be helping out with the annual </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.larabbits.org/">Los Angeles Rabbit Foundation</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" > yard, gift, supply and bake sale this weekend, Saturday July 17, 10am - 3pm in West Los Angeles at 2499 S Barrington Avenue (on the corner of Pearl Street).</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Swing by, grab a cupcake, buy a MacGuffin or two, and chat about rabbits, scripts, or anything else.<br /><br />It's not too late to donate to the sale! Designer clothes, small appliances, furniture, DVDs, books, jewelry, whatever you've got is welcome. Please contact larabbits@earthlink.net to schedule a donation time before the sale. (<a href="http://www.larabbits.org/">Los Angeles Rabbit Foundation</a> is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to house rabbit welfare in the Los Angeles area. All the proceeds from the sale go to help the bunnies.)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />If you would like to know more about house rabbit pets, please visit the website or come meet the bunnies at Centinela Feed Adoption Days, 3860 S Centinela Ave, LA 90066 every Saturday afternoon from 12:30pm - 3:30pm. See you there!</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-87201967846512810522010-07-14T14:54:00.000-07:002010-12-01T17:56:13.012-08:00My day as a six year old<span style="font-family:verdana;">I played hooky like a six year old yesterday and watched <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span> in the morning, <span style="font-style: italic;">Despicable Me</span> in the afternoon and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Princess And The Frog</span> on DVD at night. I would say my brain went on vacation for the day – but, dang, those are some thoughtful kiddie movies.<br /><br />Now I'm going to make things worse by blogging about it all. So much for vacation. Minor SPOILERS ahead...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Despicable Me</span> is a hoot through and through and features a funny and moving performance by Steve <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Carell</span> as protagonist super-villain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Gru</span>. The performance is so good that... well, I'm not sure how much movie is left without the performance. Perhaps that's unfair. The end of the film is predictable – but there's nothing wrong with that. <span style="font-style: italic;">Macbeth</span> is predictable, too. We know where most moral lessons are headed, and most moral lessons are still valuable.<br /><br />Here's the real problem: ten minutes after leaving the theater, my mind was still churning over the movie I had just seen... three hours before: <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span>. Perhaps if I'd reversed the order in which I watched the films, I might appreciate <span style="font-style: italic;">Despicable Me</span> more. But not to worry: the target market for both films, Precious Nephew (age almost 5), was so thrilled by <span style="font-style: italic;">Despicable Me</span> he never touched his popcorn. So there.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">I enjoyed <span style="font-style: italic;">The Princess and the Frog</span> as well. It has a nicely nuanced moral message -- neither fully pro wishing-on-a-star, nor fully against -- and the film is beautiful. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">I should have caught it in theaters. I will have to remember that for <span style="font-style: italic;">Tangled</span> – Disney's upcoming Rapunzel reboot. <span style="font-style: italic;">Tangled</span> trailers played in front of all three movies yesterday, though the version that played in front of <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Despicable Me</span> was an oddly male-centric cut. Hm.<br /><br />The animation of <span style="font-style: italic;">Frog</span>'s <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Tiana</span> and the few glimpses of <span style="font-style: italic;">Tangled</span>'s Rapunzel, make clear that Disney animation still does better than anyone else the thing it has done better than anyone else since <span style="font-style: italic;">Beauty and the Beast</span>: animate female faces that are attractive, interesting and funny<span style="font-style: italic;"></span> all at the same time. Those girls might be drawings, but they are d*<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">mn</span> fine actresses, too. Nobody does female faces like Disney.<br /><br />And then there's <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span>.<br /><br />I can't say I walked out of this film happy, but at a full twenty-four hours later, I'm still thinking about it. It's clearly a great movie. Is it too deep and tragic for kids? Maybe... though I loved deep and tragic as a kid. Perhaps the folks at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Pixar</span> have simply decided to make great movies, and don't care if we call them kiddie movies or not. They've earned that right – and proved they can do it, too.<br /><br />The end of the film is absolutely the right end, but it's a tough one for me. I gave away my vast, beloved <a href="http://www.breyerhorses.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Breyer</span> horse</a> collection when I went to college, and I still feel terrible about it – though I know I made two little girls insanely happy. I certainly don't know what I'd do with a room-sized plastic horse collection now. But here comes <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span> to make me feel even worse about my decision since I kept my Woody – my very first <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Breyer</span> horse, who has spent many years now in a cardboard box in my dad's guest room. I hope he isn't too lonely. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Eesh</span>. I suck. Thanks, <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span>!<br /><br />Anyway, I found an early moment in the film particularly stunning. Teenage Andy must decide what to do with his old toys before he leaves for college. He scoops the entire collection into an attic-bound plastic bag. At the last moment, he pulls Woody alone from the pile and places him in a college-bound cardboard box. This is the moment that pays off Woody's extra burden of moral responsibility through the entire series. He secretly believes he's special – because he IS special. And as the special one, he will be called upon to make a sacrifice before the series can end.<br /><br />I am reminded of sci-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">fi</span>/horror gem <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001O3YC6?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001O3YC6">Pitch Black</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0001O3YC6" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /></span>. At the start of that movie, a space pilot played by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Radha</span> Mitchell punches a button to jettison her sleeping human cargo. The entire movie waves its hands around for the next hundred minutes to make you forget that you know Ms. Mitchell needs to balance that pushed button with a major sacrifice before the end. <span style="font-style: italic;">Toy Story 3</span> waved its hands around admirably. I really did not know how the movie was going to end – even though it ended where it had to end.<br /><br />And I'm STILL thinking about it. In fact, I'm starting to tear up again. Crap. I need a tissue. And then, back to work.<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-38626770236258593802010-07-08T11:17:00.000-07:002010-07-08T12:03:10.626-07:00Show and tell<span style="font-family: verdana;">Show don't tell, show don't tell, yeah yeah yeah – we are all good little writers. We know this. We have it tattooed on our wrists for easy reference.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />But here's a twist. Much of the time, when I watch television, I don't </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">watch</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> it. It's on, and I'm listening. I look up every now and then to check in, but I'm also sorting mail, washing dishes, reading magazines, or even – as right now – tapping away at my computer. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />I read an article once that had statistics on this sort of thing. The article claimed lots of people don't </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">watch</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> watch television, they only sorta watch. I tried to find that article for your reference, because I hate it when people say, "I read an article once" as if that meant anything, but when I googled </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">people who listen but don't watch television</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I got a lot of people bragging about how they don't watch television. I hate that, too.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Anyway... where was I?</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Right. Watching television, mostly with my ears. The television in question is the Tour de France daily coverage on Versus. Lance Armstrong's </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICQnGcjisgw">new ad for the Nissan Leaf electric car</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> plays heavily during the commercial breaks. Here's the voiceover script for the ad:</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />In twenty years of cycling, even when I was ahead, I was always behind. Behind cars. Behind trucks. Behind... those guys. Tailpipe after tailpipe, after tailpipe. Until now. The one hundred percent electric, no tailpipe, Nissan Leaf. Innovation for the planet. Innovation for all.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />The ad is quite clear – when you see it. Tailpipes spew smoke and Lance coughs and one understands that "until now" refers to the tailpipes and the smoke and that Lance is still behind the cars, they're just not spewing smoke in his face anymore. But the first time I saw the ad, I didn't really see it – I only heard it. And I heard something quite different.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />THE AD QUITE CLEARLY STATES THAT THE NISSAN LEAF IS SO DANG SLOW THAT A GUY ON A BICYCLE WILL NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT RIDING BEHIND IT AGAIN.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />I think this is not what the good folks at TBWA/Chiat/Day had in mind. These are the people behind the Justin Long/John Hodgman MAC ads. These are good writers. And the Leaf ad is a good ad, as long as you <span style="font-style: italic;">watch</span> it.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Which I didn't. And according to that article I couldn't find, a lot of other people won't either.<br /><br />So definitely </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">show</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, but make sure you aren't telling something completely different at the same time.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-79163862467277714832010-07-02T14:02:00.000-07:002010-07-02T14:37:06.872-07:00Weekends? We don't need no stinkin' weekends!<span style="font-family:verdana;">I dropped scripts off at the agency this morning. I dropped a friend in Manhattan Beach later this afternoon. At both locations, people wandered about in t-shirts and flip-flops with happy smiles on their faces. The sun shines brightly – June Gloom ended right on schedule – and everything seems in place for a glorious three day weekend.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">During which, I will be chained to my desk trying to make the words happen good and stuff.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I have never experienced weekends and holidays the same way other people do. All the way up to high school, I toured with a children's theater company. We worked over the holidays – who doesn't want to see a puppet show on Easter, Purim, Halloween or Christmas? In college, Thanksgiving break got reserved for building sets and costumes. That happened a lot after college, too. I opened a Christmas show on the last weekend in November once and was stunned to learn that the other actors planned to skip dress rehearsal to head home for some kind of meal or something. Hello, priorities?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And now of course, free days are writing days. But you know what? I like writing. I also liked the puppet show, and building sets, and even dress rehearsals. Looks like I'm taking my holidays just the way I want them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th as well!</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-41012524873654666192010-06-29T18:21:00.000-07:002010-06-29T19:12:24.281-07:00Yo-ho-ho and a really good point<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here I go </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/boardgame-movies">linking to John August</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> again. I was planning to comment myself on the not-exactly-upside but not-entirely-downside of Hollywood's rush to develop non-narrative property titles, be they board games, toys or theme park rides.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />A title is not the most binding straitjacket around. A title might specify a genre or setting, but the story remains wide open.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">A movie based on a toy might seem silly, but it will only BE silly if the creators make it so.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />For a master class on how not to make silly movies, listen to the writers' commentary track on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N6UERA?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000N6UERA">Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000N6UERA" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" />. The final pair of writers explain their process in great detail and one understands why the movie turned out so well – and how it could have gone wrong so easily.<br /><br /></span>Even if you aren't interested in why it was the superior choice to make Commodore <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Norrington</span> a priggish good guy – but still a good guy – listen to the track anyway. Seriously, how <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">freakin</span>' awesome is it that <span style="font-family:verdana;">a movie based on a theme park ride includes a writers' commentary track?!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >[I've linked above to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Blu</span>-ray edition. Amazon no longer lists the 2-disc DVD version on which I listened to the commentary track. Anyone know if the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Blu</span>-ray version includes the same tracks?]</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-84822146388778919692010-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:002010-06-28T09:00:03.664-07:00Ouch<span style="font-family:verdana;">I just realized I took the same easy road I've inveighed against </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/05/blank-space-at-center-of-your-script-is.html">time</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/06/crying-all-way-to-bank.html">again</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. The original sketch of my current project called for the hero to make a disastrously wrong choice at the end of act one. I backtracked almost immediately from that I idea. In my defense, I was encouraged to remove the disastrous choice to make the hero more "likeable." Screw that; I have no defense. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-stories.html">I know better</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Woody in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030IIZ4M?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0030IIZ4M">Toy Story</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0030IIZ4M" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is not likeable because he's a good guy; he's likeable because he does something terrible – and fights like hell to fix it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Every comment on my script since the change has involved some form of, "I don't get what the protagonist is fighting for." Of course you don't. He's fighting to fix the idiotic mistake he was supposed to make in act one.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I have now fixed the outline and I feel so much better... now that my protagonist feels so much worse.<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-35235612255097098022010-06-25T16:03:00.001-07:002010-06-25T18:18:43.134-07:00Crying all the way to the bank<a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/on-protagonists">Short and sweet, via John August</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">:</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> "The protagonist is the character that suffers the most."</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I'm going to add my own footnote: emotional/existential suffering counts more than physical. A lot more – though it is nice to give your hero a good Indiana Jones-style beat down every now and then.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I've </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://eamenes.blogspot.com/2010/05/blank-space-at-center-of-your-script-is.html">commented before</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that many otherwise talented writers seem unable to apply this to semi-autobiographical protagonists. In the latest flurry of script reading, I've noticed a corollary. Many otherwise talented writers seem unable to apply this to characters written for stars. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I recently read a buddy cop script in which one of the two leads was written for a particular attachment. The star role was clearly intended as a weightier, showier, more memorable part than the second lead – Riggs, not Murtaugh. Unfortunately, unlike </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Lethal Weapon</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> writer Shane Black, who dumped piles of crap on Riggs, this writer tiptoed daintily around his star. The character got all the great lines and stood up bravely for all the right things, but nothing ever got to him. The villain threatened the star with a gun, but never with deep, heartfelt, I-just-can't-go-on-style loss.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The guy got beat up a few times, but he never really suffered.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Go ahead and hurt your stars. Give Mr. or Ms. Above The Title something to love, then take it away. Be merciless. They won't hold it against you. Heck, actors love that stuff anyway.<br /><br />And if you need extra incentive, remember how much they're going to earn from all that suffering you endured writing the thing.</span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3625319966314756752.post-8901197496615534362010-06-22T17:15:00.000-07:002010-06-25T18:25:42.011-07:00Power elbows<a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZISkh-kbprECs4tMQxy_kV7wOtGd2g6ljZzCQvCn8M31vQKmvpULCsnTRWpRUXP8uQ3goh_UdhI3C2YdbZcrWSQlRvhYryTRpJf9mTkQCTp-lGeFzhbMMlb3IgzrqBdOa7cSauXKutBM7/s1600/article-0-01C349440000044D-996_468x586.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZISkh-kbprECs4tMQxy_kV7wOtGd2g6ljZzCQvCn8M31vQKmvpULCsnTRWpRUXP8uQ3goh_UdhI3C2YdbZcrWSQlRvhYryTRpJf9mTkQCTp-lGeFzhbMMlb3IgzrqBdOa7cSauXKutBM7/s400/article-0-01C349440000044D-996_468x586.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485268932892671202" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />In an interview on the </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R349HU?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000R349HU">Prime Suspect 7 DVD</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000R349HU" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; font-family: verdana;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /><span style="font-family:verdana;">, Dame Helen Mirren thanks a senior policewoman who advised her against smiling or folding her arms while in character as Jane Tennison:<br /><br />"You can watch all 22 hours of </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Prime Suspect</i><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and I never fold my arms. It's a defensive act and while you might think folding your arms looks strong, you're actually putting up a barrier to defend yourself... For Tennison to have used such basic body language in her own incident room would have betrayed her instantly."</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802772404?ie=UTF8&tag=somethinewfro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0802772404">Michael Shurtleff</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=somethinewfro-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0802772404" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> gave us similar advice in class once, though with less nifty psychology and more straight-up ego. "Keep your damn elbows from touching your body," he said. "It makes you look small. On stage, you want to look big – so people will look at you."</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I wish someone had given Joseph Fiennes that advice before he starred as an FBI agent in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >FlashForward</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. I like Joseph Fiennes. I'm one of the few people in Hollywood who thinks </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Shakespeare In Love</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> deserved to win over </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Saving Private Ryan</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> – and will say so out loud. But I hated Mr. Fiennes' performance in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >FlashForward</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Dude had his arms clamped in front of his body – elbows touching shirt – in every scene. I wound up rooting for the slimy guy from </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Pirates Of The Caribbean</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> to run off with Penny from </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Lost</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. That can't have been right.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Joseph Fiennes' character was the series lead; I should have been rooting for him. I'm not blaming Mr. Fiennes for the death of the series... but these elbows didn't help.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HgOPhUXjKyiJhDvMhbIGVVFpjIKvKgtJLKlAK7QR76FQB8Lnj7PT0QUuhT5Aq6AzXystjJah9B57zwwNZ57TUsf9ISD7CwFjttBva7t8sN0auFXclVjGqXGCSNspc8McmVv1TVotMaas/s1600/FlashForward07.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 380px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HgOPhUXjKyiJhDvMhbIGVVFpjIKvKgtJLKlAK7QR76FQB8Lnj7PT0QUuhT5Aq6AzXystjJah9B57zwwNZ57TUsf9ISD7CwFjttBva7t8sN0auFXclVjGqXGCSNspc8McmVv1TVotMaas/s400/FlashForward07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485270364075720978" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Okay readers, where are your elbows right now? Think about it – then MOVE THEM. Do this in interviews. Do this any time you want people to take you seriously. And if you've got an actor on whom the survival of your entire precious series depends, tell him you want to see daylight inside those elbows, now!<br /></span>eameneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14828062299832151311noreply@blogger.com0