Cheesecake

Saw “The Hateful Eight” the other day through the amazing wonders of finally getting cable installed at home. It was…it was okay. It wasn’t quite up there in my favorites for Tarantino films but it certainly was beautifully shot. Holy cow some of the frames were just stunning!

It’s Been a Struggle…

I’ve struggled with wanting to write lately. I’ve lost that fire I had at the beginning of the year as life’s bullshit just wants to keep piling on. T—p exhausts me. Republicans exhaust me. Discovering someone close to me “supports” T—p exhausted me beyond comprehension. Starting to get the wedding planning in full swing is exhausting me as I start to realize the cost of it all. School is boring…

INT. OFFICE – EVENING

Our weary screenwriter sits at her L-shaped desk, her ever faithful cat, Bones, curled up on the floor near her. She opens up her laptop and starts up her MovieMagic screenwriting program. She skims, only for a few seconds, the previous pages she’s written. Satisfied that she’s caught up, she cracks her knuckles, places her fingers on the keyboard like a pianist ready for rehearsal to start, and…

Casting…

Sometimes it seems as though roles taken on by actors were made especially for them. Marlon Brando in The Godfather, Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise, Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, etc. etc. etc. When I’m writing, it helps to imagine who I would cast in the roles of my screenplay. I don’t have any knowledge of the above actors being thought of by the…

Nasty Women (and Men and Kids)…

Yesterday morning I woke up at 3am. I barely slept (though my fiancee will tell you I slept just fine). It was the kind of sleep you get as a kid Christmas Eve. You’re asleep but all of your senses are awake. The excitement and nervousness about what the next day will bring runs through your veins. My sister met us at our place before heading off for our Rallybus meetup that was to happen at…

Got up early (7:15ish). Coffee. Atkins bar. Laptop.  Wrote 5 pages. Placed two scene cards on my cork board as well – the opening scene and the final scene.  Progress. 

INT. OFFICE – MORNING…NIGHT…AFTERNOON?

I always see little blurbs about writing habits. Habits like getting up early to write before the day really starts or staying up late, etc. I hear stories about successful scripts being written during breaks at work and I think… WHY can’t that be me? I’ll tell you why. The one big thing holding me back. Well, maybe more than one thing. I don’t have a habit. I don’t have discipline. That’s what…

Character Sketches…

So my current assignment with ScreenCraft is essentially a character sketch. Just fleshing out some backstory in order to create characters that are multidimensional. Nobody likes a flat character. If we want a solid story, then we need solid characters. I don’t mind doing very brief character sketches…the type that reads like an old school AOL chatroom: ASL (for you youths out there this means…

Writer’s Block

Ahhhhh, writer’s block. We’ve all been there and experienced that dreadful stall in our minds. It’s that feeling that you want to create and write and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) but something stops you. It’s as if some invisible force, some wall, has come between you and the creative force you know you are! You stare, mindlessly, waiting for the wall to break…for those words to…

Virginia Screenwriting Competition (2015) http://www.film.virginia.org/for-virginians/how-to-get-involved/virginia-screenwriting-competition/ Screenplay: Far From Home Status: Winner Blue Cat Short Screenplay Competition (2012) http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/short-screenplay-competition Screenplay: Sunrise on a Cloudy Morning Status: Quarter-Finalist Amazon Studios Screenwriting Competition…

I’ve added a new resolution for 2017. I need to start watching movies weekly. At least two a week. I may or may not post a thorough review…but I will post, in some shape and form, of the films I watch – for better or for worst. So far I have seen: Men, Women, and Children If I Stay There Will Be Blood (I’ve seen this before, made my fiance watch it) The Fundamentals of Caring Blue is the Warmest…

So, I signed up for ScreenCraft’s 60 Day Screenplay thing. After a bizarre snafu of not receiving emails and getting that cleared up by the wonderfully helpful staff at SC, I’m up and running and starting Day 3. Days 1 and 2 were pretty simple as it just tasked us with coming up with films/tv shows that we love. Then we write a few short one sentence (loglines, essentially) ideas for what we…

INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

It’s probably absolutely ridiculous but I just sent a script of mine (the one that won the 2015 Virginia Screenwriting Competition) to ScreenCraft’s Screenwriting Fellowship…as well as signed up to take part in their online guidance towards writing a screenplay in 60 days. It stretches my goal of finishing the rough draft of this story by an additional 30 days BUT I feel as though it’ll help me…

New Year…New Me…Blah Blah Blah

One of my resolutions is to write and create more. Since I also want to limit my facebook activity (it’s a place where I tend to argue over public posts about what a shithead Trump is or call someone out on their bigotry and racism…it’s become less and less of a good thing), then I guess this is the place I should utilize. My main focus is to finish my next screenplay. A romcom. I know I know……