Decisions, Decisions

I'm about to cave in and buy a subscription to either Creative Screenwriting or Script. I think I know which one I'm going to pick, but if anyone's had more consistent experience with them beyond the way I pick them up every couple months at Borders and can give me good advice about which one is better, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

More Orange Juice Trauma at Dunkin Donuts

Since I got back from church this afternoon, I have been parked on the couch watching hours and hours of the BBC's Robin Hood. It's wonderfully reminiscent for me because it was just premiering when I was in England. Isn't it funny, I probably wouldn't watch it if it came on week after week; I didn't watch it then (though my friend N. made the observation that Jonas Armstrong is ridiculously good looking). But I'm finding that this series is super enjoyable in five hour segments (however the commercials are getting tiring). But I'm so mad! They're not showing every episode, so we're missing quite a few episodes and bits of story in between.

Remember how I have that fear of falling down the stairs? It's the worst in my house. The stairs are already slippery, then if you're wearing socks, you can feel yourself gaining momentum as you charge down until you crash head first into the antique desk/glass enclosed bookshelf at the bottom. It's quite scary really.

So that idea I said I'd come up with? Well, I got an idea for a short. Nothing special, but there's a situation and a plot. I got a couple more cool situations/characters - if only I could remember all of them... However, a sort of cool concept is starting to grow moss (like a stone that's... not rolling). It's a bit out there, but with some serious world building, it's not so far fetched.

Movies I've seen the past couple of days:

NATIONAL TREASURE TWO: BOOK OF SECRETS - I really enjoyed this movie. I'm not sure it had the believability of the first one - they reach a little bit beyond themselves, I think - but it's still a fun adventure movie. I found myself highly entertained and even watching with bated breath sometimes.

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX - I saw this when it first came out in the theatres in the summer, but my family and I watched it again the other night (well, I skipped out for about twenty minutes to play Guitar Hero III). I enjoy the Harry Potter series, though the books are better and have so much that the movies are often choppy and off kilter, I think. But the thing that really annoys me, I think, is the fact that they have all this money and all these resources and they don't bother to get little things true to the book. Like Tonks? She's supposed to have short pink hair. I know it's little things and I'm nitpicking, but why do they make choices that go deliberately against the books?

PS I LOVE YOU - Well, I was sad for a lot of this movie, so maybe it accomplished its purpose. But, it was an alright movie. I did want to see it, but after seeing it, I think it would have been better for a girls' night in and our Saturday night movie ticket would have gained a better return from Atonement (which is unfortunately not playing many places near me) or Juno (which was playing the exact same time and same place as PS I Love You). But, it had an Irish actor, Gerard Butler (nice surname, huh) and a few scenes that took place in Ireland, which made me happy (and a little sad). I've been getting in touch with all my Celtic roots in the past couple of days. Mix that in with my English ancestors who repressed my Celtic ones, and you've got some sort of weird twisted dysfunctional family drama on your hands. [We did also talk about how amusing it would be to be the ticket seller for this movie and keep hearing random strangers tell you that they love you and how you could use that to your advantage. My friend L. told a story about going to see "Because I Said So," and the ticket boy replied, 'Well, only because *you* said so." Geez.]

(Just a couple of the) Movies I'm looking forward to:

JUMPER - I think it's a cool concept and it looks very exciting and well done for something with such high special effects needs AND Hayden Christensen is in it. This is the movie he was filming in my uni's town the day I was at my friend's wedding. The saddest day of my life...

GET SMART - I used to *love* this tv show when I was a kid. I'm not sure about Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, but I think Steve Carell will be great as Agent 86.

NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN - Saw the trailer when I went to NT. It looks, maybe not as good as the first one, but it still looks like bloody fun.

27 DRESSES - Huh. Somebody made a movie about my future. How funny!

Movies I will make fun even though I won't see them:

RAMBO - Really? Really??

THE WATER HORSE - So they finally made a Scottish Free Willy. If you watch the trailer, you can even see the famous shot of Willy jumping over the little hero boy.

MAD MONEY - Katie Holmes gave up an amazing character in an incredible movie that will be a sure fire blockbuster to act in this?

I just finished reading "The Portable Film School" by D. B. Gilles. Not a bad library read. I feel like it got my head in the right mindset for filming a couple of shorts next semester.

I pulled in another set of scripts from Zoetrope. Maybe the third time will be the charm, but I have yet to read and review one single script. I've heard Zoetrope is a great place to get feedback on your screenplays and I know a lot of very talented writers hang out there, but I just can't make it through the requisite four reviews before you can get feedback on your own. And reading the loglines for the scripts I have in my bin right now just made my heart sink a little. I'm sure once I get back at school, too, it will be a lot harder for me to find time to get into Zoetrope. Which is sort of why I wanted to get started while I was on holiday. Maybe after my screenwriting class this semester when I'll be giving feedback all the time, maybe during those first couple of months in the summer, I'll be able to get into Zoetrope. It's supposed to be good, no?

My, I do ramble on sometimes, don't i?

For the person you're missing

There's no one in town I know
You gave us some place to go
I never said thank you for that
'thought I might get one more chance

What would you think of me now?
So lucky, so strong, so proud
I never said thank you for that
Now I'll never have a chance

May angels lead you in
Hear you me my friends
On sleepless roads, the sleepless go
May angels lead you in

So what would you think of me now?
So lucky, so strong, so proud
I never said thank you for that
Now I'll never have a chance

May angels lead you in
Hear you me my friends
On sleepless roads the sleepless go
May angels lead you in

May angels lead you in
May angels lead you in
May angels lead you in
May angels lead you in

And if you were with me tonight
I'd sing to you just one more time
A song for a heart so big
God couldn't let it live

May angels lead you in
Hear you me my friends
On sleepless roads the sleepless go
May angels lead you in

May angels lead you in
Hear you me my friends
On sleepless roads the sleepless go
May angels lead you in

- "Hear You Me" by Jimmy Eat World

I dislike dentists.

I was sitting there today, the oral hygienist scraping away at my teeth and prodding my gums, asking me, "Is your mouth *sensitive?* Does this hurt?" I could not answer due to the pointed metal instrument that was making rounds between my teeth.

By the way, for those people who like free screenwriting software, I just downloaded Celtx's new version of its software. It's got a whole bunch of new features that I find incredibly delightful and good for both being productive and wasting time.

I've recently discovered Brett's blog, A Bucket of Love, which is fun reading because he's more involved in the industry than anyone I know in *real* life and because he's one of this year's Nicholls finalists (next year, I can see it...). Throughout the holidays he's putting up posts about his week in LA for the Nicholls ceremonies, but I found this one post in particular intruiging and not because of any reason connected with the Academy. In it he talks about meeting his agent, surprising them with a finished script, complete with catchy title and witty tagline, and all the various going ons that those of us without agents (yet) can only dream of. I think my favourite part is when one of his agents asks if she's given him the "20 Ideas in a Week" assignment and Brett responds by handing over a flash drive with 42 script ideas. Forty-two.

A question screenwriters get asked a lot (real screenwriters, of course) is where they get their ideas. And while I can see that sometimes prove to be more difficult for the creative mind, I'm finding that the real question is where *can't* you find ideas. In my previous post I mentioned that I was hanging out in the airport and jotted down four or five ideas for feature length scripts that I all really liked. Of course, I think almost all of them were ones that had been percolating for a while, but I think it shows how easy and simple it is to start coming up with ideas. I think writers should always be actively trying to come up with new ideas, regardless of whether or not they are currently working on a project. I'm going to try to follow Brett's lead by doing two things.

1. Centralize all of my story ideas in one location, in one file. This will also allow for easy manipulation of ideas until they're ready to be worked on seriously. Sometimes some ideas need a little percolation. I had an idea for a short for a long time that was only recently completed by a news story I followed. Some ideas are like that and need a little time before they can be moved along in the process. A word file is a great place for them to wait and percolate.

2. Come up with at least one or two decently fleshed out ideas each week. I use my writerly nature to excuse all sorts of unconscionable nosy behavior anyway. That combined with being alert to the stories in the news, in my life, and spending some time just sitting around thinking of stories should be more than sufficient to sustain this new habit. I chose a career where I get to sit around and think up loglines and call that a productive day. Isn't that beautiful? I'm starting this week. By the end of Saturday night, I will have one new, likeable screenplay idea. I will let you know how that goes...

I see a brightening horizon for my productivity on my screenplays. Why is this? I got a new MacBook for Christmas. Am I crazy happy? Yes, yes I am. : )

My Sweater in the Trash

I actually stole that from a friend who was talking about how random and irrelevant CD titles often are. The thing is, as I was pondering this and how I was going to plagiarize it for a blog post, I realized that there is a *huge* difference between "My sweater in the trash" and "A sweater in my trash." Possession of either the sweater or the trash creates a whole different story. Sure, probably only an English major (former English major, really) would pick up on the emphasis created by the possessive. However, any good story teller would pick up on the difference.

I flew home the other day. During my trip I thought of several things to blog about. With a computer finally in front of me, my mind is rather blank. And it's a crying shame, too. I keep telling myself that while this blog is instructional to no one, some people might find the adventures of a undergrad film student mildly entertaining. But how few those adventures have been. Next semester, I say, when I finally take a screenwriting class, what I am supposedly at school for, when I write and direct my own short, when I am more immersed in the program than I've even been before, then, *then* I will have some stories. But I find myself anxious still.

Does anyone know whatever happened to Julie?

I got to visit the Apple store today. They really need to rename it the Happy Store. Anyone else see the advantage for an emerging filmmaker to have an iPod video, or at least one of those adorable little new Nanos that have video on them too? Why yes, I have made a short - in fact, I have it right here in my pocket.

I've been having acute episodes of Paranoid Writer's Syndrome. I'm not even sure what about, really. One hit me in Borders today as I was flipping through various books about writing. There are so many great quotes from writers, but often times I read them, especially those that absurdly try to define who a writer is or what they do, and something cold squeezes around my heart when I realizes that, whatever kind of person they're talking about, they're not talking about me. Those writers who talk about how writing is like breathing for them and they can't imagine being happy doing anything else and how a writer is someone for whom, I don't know, writing is like picking flowers, just as happy and joyful, they make me want to throw those books to the ground and run away. It's not that there aren't also a plethora of quotes about how writing is hard work and how most writers do everything they can to avoid writing and how writing is like picking up a pen and scratching until it inks out blood. It's just that I'm afraid that those are not the really writers. What if the reason that writing is so difficult for some of us is that we're not really meant to be writers? For every quote about how beautiful writing is, I need three of how painful and hard it is to reassure myself. It's a painfully scary business, writing. If you don't know exactly how thermodynamics work, you can learn it through studying. If you can't understand how to tell a good story, well, all you can do is keep chasing after the lightning. There's no guarantee you're ever going to get it.

On the flip side, while I was hanging out in the airport the other day I made a quick list of all the ideas I have for feature length scripts. Within two minutes I had a list of five or six ideas, and any one of them I would be happy to pick up and start working on right now. In fact, the difficult thing come the beginning of my screenwriting class is going to be deciding which one I want to pursue. It will be my fourth script, so maybe we'll finally be approaching on something good. Really, I'm excited, albeit a little nervous, about finally taking a screenwriting class. I've waited a whole year to take this class (stupid prereqs). Hopefully it will teach me the discipline that I've completely lost since this summer, and I will finally be able to work in a peer-review environment. I'm ready for this.

I really am in love with that Snow Patrol song. I love songs that encourage people, even if there is a somber note in it. It's a beautiful bittersweetness. "Have heart, my dear."

Final(e) Week

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

- "Run" by Snow Patrol

I Need You

I've dug up miles and miles of sand
Searching for something I can't see
And I've just got bruised and battered hands
And a brand new void inside of me
Complete with walls I did create
From all the earth that I've displaced
A mess that I have made from what
I've just let pile and pile up
I have not been abandoned, no I have not been
Deserted and I have not been forgotten

I need You
I need You here
I need You now
I need security somehow
I need You
Like You would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause You're everything I need

Explore the cave that is my chest
A torch reveals there's nothing left
Your whispers echo off the walls
And You can hear my distant calls
The voice of who I used to be
Screaming out "someone, someone please
Please shine a light into the black
Wade through the depths and bring me back

I have not been abandoned, no I have not been
Deserted and I have not been forgotten

I need You
I need You here
I need You now
I need security somehow
I need You
Like You would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause You're everything I need

When my hopes seem to dangle
Somewhere just beyond my reach
You say You've heard my prayers
And read my words there on the beach

I need You
I need You here
I need You now
I need security somehow
I need You
Like You would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause You're everything I need

- Relient K

Social Experiments

I swear there was a girl doing one on me in the elevator today. I was riding down from the sixth floor, and she got on somewhere around the fourth, and she stared, not at the numbers above the door like normal people do, no, she stared at me for the majority of the time. It was creepy. I wanted to turn to see if she really was staring at me, but what do you do when you look eyes with someone who's staring at you in an elevator?

I'm working on a short script that will require a look alike. How do you go around trying to find a look alike? I mean, auditions only go so far. Do you just sit around and stare at people? And then, if you finally spot someone who would be *perfect* for the part, how do you approach them? "Umm, hello... My name is Amy. So, I'm not so good at this, I don't do this often, but yeah... I'm a film student, and I think you would be perfect for a part I have - what kind of film? Haha, no I promise I'm not hitting on you, but you would, literally, be perfect for this part. What part is that? Well, you'd be playing Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. Uh, why are you leaving? Oh, ok. Well, can I give you my email? How are you going to call me, I didn't give you my number. Oh, ok, well, have a good night!"

Yes, I do not see that going too extremely well.

Another great social experiment? When your friends are passed out on their futons and leave their doors wide open, steal their large appliances. Who would pass up a laptop and take a microwave?

No idea. : )

Percolation

I like to say that ideas percolate. It sounds like something's bubbling. Sometimes they need to percolate for a long time. "Mull" is another good word. I'm mulling it over.

I've had an idea percolating about a short on Facebook for some time now. The thing is, I could never get the story right. I had the themes and the vehicle set, but I couldn't find the right plot. And then suddenly, last week, it just fell into my lap. Right from the front page of our campus newspaper. Now I'm really excited about the project. What few ideas I had before were forced and would never make a good short, for various reasons.

Sometimes writing is like finishing a puzzle. You've got one piece, and you've got to collect the others. So really, it's like a very complicated, time consuming, requiring of a scavenger hunt puzzle.

Check out the song "Whistle for the Choir" by the Fratellis. They're English. It's goodness.

Brilliant Advertising

I was watching TV the other day, and this commercial came on for those stupid "heelies," the sneakers with wheels in them. And the tag line was "Free yourself. Free your soul."

Those 'tweeners are going to be all over them.

I'll Switch Your Foot

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you’ve broken
Don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you’ve got now
Yeah, and today is all you’ll ever have
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes

This is your life are you who you want to be
This is your life are you who you want to be

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

And you had everything to lose

- "This is Your Life" by Switchfoot