Film Review: “Eastern Promises”

Directed by David Cronenberg, “Eastern Promises” jumps out of the gate with the most realistic, horrific throat slashing with a dull knife you will ever see. (How do they fake that kind of thing?)

You the audience have been duly warned and every scene after that is charged with pure danger. You don’t know what will happen because a character’s glance might be judged wrong and out will come an ice pick.

Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a part English midwife, who gets her last name from her Russian father, works at a North London hospital. We meet her as she struggles, but fails to save a young pregnant girl, Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse), who is brought to the hospital after hemorrhaging and collapsing at a pharmacy. The baby is saved, though.

Determined to find a relative with whom she can leave the baby, Anna takes the dead girl’s diary, which is written in Russian, to her Uncle Stepan (Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski). When he refuses to translate the diary, Anna takes a photocopy to a Russian restaurant owner, Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose business card was in the diary. Seemingly inseparable from his kitchen, Semyon offers meals of czarist luxury to his customers in his posh Trans-Siberian restaurant.

Anna and the rest of us gradually catch on that Semyon is the patriarch of London’s local Russian mafia family, the Vory-V-Zakone (“Thieves In Law”), who’re involved in everything from selling teenage prostitutes to running weapons to murder. Tatiana, we discover by degrees, was forced into prostitution and drug addiction by Semyon. She was trying to escape when she hemorrhaged and ended up in Anna’s hospital.

Semyon’s heir apparent is his son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) a vicious, out-of-control murderer. Kirill is the heir-apparent to the throne but his father doesn’t seem willing to acknowledge that. Moderating between the two family members is Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), a chilly, impeccably dressed “chauffeur” whose carefully groomed exterior masks a ruthless brutality. Bullied and ordered around by Kirill, Nikolai is being prepped to graduate from driver and enforcer to a mob captain with the tattooed stars to prove it. Semyon barely hides his preference for Nikolai over his own son.

Skillfully written by Steve Knight, we learn that Russian criminals have their careers tattooed on their bodies. Nikolai is covered with tattoos, but he needs two eight-pointed stars on his chest and tattoos on his knees to complete his body book that will show that he belongs to the highest rank of the Russian underworld.

Anna wants to find the baby’s relatives and agrees to exchange the original diary for a family address in Russia. When Anna finds out what is in the diary and who it implicates, instead of minding her own business, she steps deeper into the dangerous world of the Russian mafia and becomes entangled with Nikolai.

Assigned to “dissuade” her, it's impossible to guess whether Nikolai will add Anna to the collection of corpses he has already dropped in the Thames. Not once, but twice he warns Anna to stay away, though. But her need to discover who Tatiana was combined with her growing attraction to Nikolai makes it impossible for Anna to keep to a safe distance. And Anna forms an instant bond with Tatiana’s infant.

This is Mortensen’s second film with David Cronenberg. He was dazzling in Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” and has found his Martin Scorsese in the director. Mortensen, who can seem a little rigid and withdrawn, uses that stillness to create an unnerving presence. Nikolai says very little and displays an economy of movement. So what little he does say and do has even greater impact. Watts is best in the scenes with the actors playing her family--her mom, Helen (Sinead Cusack) and her disagreeable uncle Stepan. Cassel has the most difficult task as Kirill because he has to navigate the stereotypes of playing a character who is a drunk Russian and a closeted gay. Both groups might be offended with the role but Cassel is a good actor and he makes the character work within the context of this film.

“Eastern Promises” is written by Steve Knight, who also wrote “Dirty Pretty Things.” Knight again contemplates immigrant dreams that turn into nightmares. This time young girls made into sex slaves. Tatiana’s diary provides a view into how twisted those dreams can become. Knight also conveys little details that comment on the assimilation process of other immigrants whether it’s a Russian youth’s desire to go to a Chelsea football (soccer) game or Kirill’s attempt to explain that the slang “the coast is clear” has nothing to do with the beach or the periodic monologues from Tatiana’s diary that vocalize her desire to see the world and find a better life before she was forced into prostitution and drug addiction.

A key to the film’s success is the contribution of cinematographer and longtime Cronenberg collaborator Peter Suschitzky. The careful and precise composition of each shot, combined with the use of sound, insinuate something dark lurking below the often calm and polished surface. Suschitzky’s poised, objective camera records some of the violence with a surprisingly calm eye that makes the violence all the more disturbing. Violence on screen tends to be one of two things: so over the top it severs all ties to reality or so brutal it shocks. Cronenberg’s violence leans toward the latter category. The film’s violence stirs unease at the very least.

The ads for the film state “Every sin leaves a mark.” This draws attention to the way the Russian gangsters use tattoos to tell the story of their lives--each tattoo records something they’ve done. The tattooed hides of these Russian mafiozy is the surface they proudly reveal to others in their secret world and it defines them. Cronenberg also shows the surfaces the characters present to the outside world. Nikolai has two skins--his tattooed body which in turn is covered by slick Armani suits. He uses the outer skin to try and fool the public, while the skin underneath defines his rank within the inner circle of the gangster world. As the film progresses, we find that there is even another layer to his character. It’s appropriate then that in two key scenes Nikolai strips down to expose more than just his flesh. In some ways, Nikolai has much in common with Mortensen’s character in “Violence,” who hides one persona beneath another.

Anna may not have such obvious layers, but she also wears an outer mask--a pretty British midwife--who hides both her Russian heritage and her own baby’s death. Everyone in this film has one surface they want people to see as well as another one underneath. Semyon is the doting grandfather who harbors a much darker soul. And his son Kirill seems forced by the rigid codes of his mob environment to do a lot of macho posturing to hide the fact that he’s gay and a softie for children. Even Stepan, the bigoted old school Russian who disapproved of Anna’s past relationship with a black doctor, turns out to be a decent sort, who once worked back in the day as a KGB auxiliary against the Vory-V-Zakone in the Rodina (Mother Russia).

But then Cronenberg has always been interested in human surfaces whether it’s a body with parasites squirming beneath the skin (“They Came From Within”) or a blood-sucking phallus under Marilyn Chambers’ arm (“Rabid”) or bodies mixed with technology (“eXiztenZ”). These earlier films fall in the horror genre but both “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises” are more thrillers or violent dramas. Yet in a sense they too are dealing with horror, the horror of what people are capable of doing to each other. So although Cronenberg is not doing horror in a conventional sense, he’s still showing us horrors. The brilliantly staged fight in a Turkish bath house--where a naked Nikolai is assaulted by two knife wielding thugs--has all the horror and discomfort of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” shower scene. “Eastern Promises” is a horror film hiding beneath the more refined skin of a sleek Hollywood thriller.

Elegant in its ability to disturb, “Eastern Promises” demonstrates that Cronenberg is one of today’s top filmmakers. He serves up a twisted morality tale that flashes a fleeting and unexpected tenderness. His film gets better upon reflection and with repeated viewings. The more you consider the details, the more they add up to something smart and complex.

If there’s one quibble I have, the title brings to mind a mid-range perfume. This film is more a shot of blood with a vodka chaser.

Sit Rep

After some major hair tearing sessions from Monday to Friday of this past week, I finished what I think may be the draft of my SF short story that I'll send to WOTF. Woohoo!

It's titled "For Kimi." Previous titles were: "Law and Order," "Justice," "Honor and Justice," "The Way of the Peacemaker" and "The Peacemaker."

This is a story I've banged my head against on and off for longer than I ever expected. But I just had to keep working on it till I got it right. Masochism comes with being a writer I guess.

I'm letting this story rest for a bit, then I plan on sending "For Kimi" out into the world to brave WOTF and/or the short fiction marketplace. If the gods are with me, I'll be able to write up an account of next year's WOTF award ceremony and workshop.

I have new fiction in mind, but I've also got some screenplays calling for attention, too. The curse of being interested in both fiction and film...

On the AFF front, I was able to clear time away from work, get an airline ticket, book lodging in a dirt cheap place, and get my discounted (but still costly) all access badge for the Austin Film
Festival.

I will be able to mix with Hollywood insiders over drinks and BBQ (though I don't drink and don't like ribs). As one of my screenwriting teachers advised me, though, "Hope for everything and expect nothing."

I won't have a problem saying "hi" and talking shop, but it's all in the lap of the gods now.

Later.

Review: "3:10 TO YUMA"

The Western may be an endangered cinematic species nowadays, but every once in a while one comes along that’s good enough to make a body nostalgic for the days when they were churned out in droves. The ultimate American genre, a repository of frontier mythology with archetypal manly men who live by their own code of honor, James Mangold’s "3:10 to Yuma" shows that an Aussie and a Welshman can meet the requirements just fine. A remake of Delmer Daves' 1957 picture, the new version holds its own, operating on the border between chaos and civilization, law and abandon. The film is based on a story by Elmore Leonard, about a down-on-his-luck rancher who forges a curious bond with an outlaw as he takes the criminal to a railway line for transport to prison.

Mangold ("Walk the Line") has assembled a cast that has hardly a weak link and almost makes one not regret the absence of classic stalwarts like Ward Bond, Strother Martin, Jack Elam and Dan Duryea. Christian Bale plays Dale Evans, a sharpshooter and Union Army veteran who lost part of his leg in the Civil War. With the small pension awarded him by the government, he has moved his wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol, who somehow looks both luminous and careworn), and his sons, hot-under-the-spurs teen Will (Logan Lerman) and sickly Mark (Benjamin Petry), to a small Arizona ranch. A drought has nearly ruined Evans' livelihood, and the property's deed-holder, knowing the railroad is eyeing the land, hopes to drive him and his family off it.

Russell Crowe shines opposite Bale as outlaw leader Ben Wade. Crowe captures all the malevolent charisma of Wade, whose gang in a spectacular opening sequence, attacks a Southern Railway stagecoach defended by Pinkerton agents with a Gatling gun and a crusty bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), an old rival whom he lets live despite the bloodlust of his right-hand man Charlie Prince (Ben Foster).

Evans and his sons observe the attack. They rescue McElroy and take him back to town, where Pinkerton man Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) and Marshal Weathers (Luce Rains) are waiting for the stagecoach Wade and his boys just robbed. There Evans helps capture Wade, who tarried too long with barmaid Emmy Roberts (Vinessa Shaw) while his gang vamoosed to safety.

Butterfield and Weathers then decide to take Wade from Bisbee to a town called Contention, about three days’ ride, to board the 3:10 train to Yuma prison, where he’ll be hanged for twenty-two robberies of Southern Railway’s cash deliveries. Desperate to save his ranch, Evans agrees to be part of the posse in charge of getting Wade there for a land-saving paycheck. Coming along for the ride are Butterfield, McElroy, Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk of the lamented “Firefly” and “Serenity”), who must care for McElroy’s wounds, and Tucker (Kevin Durand), henchman to the town despot who’s dispossessing Evans. But Will, who’s been left behind, shows up just in time to keep Wade from escaping in the first of several instances in which he outwits his captors. And hovering over the entire journey is the knowledge that Prince and his comrades are hot on their trail. They want their boss and won’t spare bullets to get him back.

In Daves' version of the movie, Evans was played by a drawn, weatherbeaten Van Heflin; Glenn Ford's Wade was a gentlemanly, sinister operator. They're both terrific performances, but Bale and Crowe match them, reinventing the characters in ways that honor, without imitating, the men who first played them.

Crowe's Wade is the type of roguish romancer we've seen him play before--his manly-man demeanor charms barmaid Emmy in something under two minutes. But he doesn't downplay Wade's ruthlessness either. Actually, his Wade doesn't seem to see ruthlessness and charm as contradictions. His eyes can be gently mocking or icily appraising, but even then you can't tell exactly what he wants: He's a man who's simultaneously looking for ways to connect and betray, as if he can't tell the difference anymore.

Bale, looking gaunt and haunted, is Crowe's match in every way, playing the quintessential broken man who's responded to life's hardships by doggedly insisting on doing what's right. Bale pushes his role out without ever appearing to push it at all. He takes moments that could be corny or overbearing and scales them down instead of blowing them up. The effect is something both casual and meticulous, a way of paying homage to the genre's past and nudging it toward the future.

Crowe’s and Bale’s scenes together are like acting master classes. Wade knows he's a bad man, and he tells his decent captor so. But he's a smiling villain, and Evans senses there's something more than bloodlust beneath his body count.

Mangold and his screenwriters, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, have taken Halsted Welles' earlier screenplay and fleshed it out, adding some interesting details (Wade's battle scars, both emotional and physical, are their invention, and they were probably added to lend some present day topical relevance to the picture) and some superfluous ones (the posse runs into a group of railroad baddies, led by Luke Wilson, that feels like padding the movie doesn't need). And Wade has an artistic bent, sketching out people, birds, and other things that catch his fancy and we learn he’d read the bible cover to cover once as a boy as his mother vanished while buying railroad tickets back East.

The supporting roles also help elevate the new version and play with the cliches of the genre. There’s Fonda’s laconic bounty hunter, Tudyk’s soft but nervously heroic vet-turned-doctor, Roberts’ haughty eastern detective, Rains’ leathery lawman and Tucker’s thuggish deputy. Not least of which is Wade's psychotic right-hand man, Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), who has an unbridled, fury and dedication to his leader. Resplendent in a double-breasted Confederate gray leather jacket with brass buttons, his presence alone suggests bad things ahead. Meanwhile, the craggy rock faces and orange dust of New Mexico become characters in their own right.

Most important, though, is the expansion of the role of Will Evans, little more than a cameo in the original, who here becomes an important figure as the boy at war with himself--disappointed in his father, who he sees as weak, and seduced by Wade’s easy charm. His presence deepens the conflict at the center of the story by making the young man’s soul the prize that Wade and Evans are fighting for.

Mangold works throughout with finesse, paying homage to the old conventions without allowing them to seem stale and getting strong performances down the line. (The only exceptions are the women. Gretchen Mol barely registers as Dan’s wife, nor does Shaw make much of an impression, except on the eye. But this is a man-centered tale.) Technical contributions are top-notch, from Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography (showing us dusty, underpopulated towns and landscapes that hover uncertainly between bleakness and beauty, and even give us a stagecoach driver's eye view over the backs of a team of galloping horses) and Michael McCusker’s editing, which together mix energy and control, to Marco Beltrami’s score, supportive in both the action scenes and the quieter moments.

"3:10 to Yuma" hits a rough patch in the last reel, though, when the shift in Wade’s motivations remain as opaque as it was in the original, and the decision to go for a denouement both downbeat and uplifting doesn’t quite play. But those problems don’t take the movie off the rails. This is a great old-fashioned western that works in contemporary terms, a rousing demonstration that some people can make the kinds of pictures they supposedly don’t make anymore.

Austin Film Festival Results

Earlier this week, I got the results for the scripts I subbed to the Austin Film Festival (AFF).

"Stars and Stripes Forever" didn't advance to the Second Round.

"Heaven's Mandate" made it to the Second Round and almost advanced to the Semi-Finals.

I'm told that Second Round scripts fall in the top 10-12% of the 4000+ scripts submitted this year.

And I'm told that if I'm able to attend the conference this year, I'll get a badge that'll give me producer-level access to panels, parties, film viewings, etc. and that us Second Rounders and higher will be feted by the AFF and we'll get a chance to say "Hi" to major Hollywood players.

Nice.

Two sticking points are getting enough time away from work (Oct 11-18) and getting the money. Even with the discounts I'd get from the AFF for lodging and travel, it won't be cheap. After going to Taos, I hadn't been planning on going anywhere for a long time.

I'll have to see if I can swing this AFF trip.

But since I have the feeling that "Heaven's Mandate" is more of a foreign film project that Hong Kong would like better than Hollywood, I wonder how benficial going to AFF will be for me?

PAGE AWARDS UPDATE

I just learned that the finalists for this year's PAGE Awards Contest were announced.

I'm not one of 'em. :-/

Shigata ga nai.

I had a good run. At the very least, I can use it as a credit on a query letter. I'm told that some of this year's quarter-finalists and semifinalists will be approached by judges who're interested in optioning, producing, or representing them.

It'll be awesome if one of those fringe benefits spill over my way.

Anyhoo, I have ideas in mind for the next draft of my "Stars and Stripes Forever" script and I'm moving on with other stories.

Later.

Film Review: “The Bourne Ultimatum”

If Alfred Hitchcock were alive and directing action films today, they'd probably look a whole lot like Paul Greengrass’ masterful spy thriller “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Those who enjoyed the first two chapters (Doug Liman’s “The Bourne Identity” and Greengrass' “The Bourne Supremacy”) will have a ball with this third and final entry. Forget that it's a sequel to a sequel and ignore the fact that the film has next to no connection to its Robert Ludlum source material -- “The Bourne Ultimatum” still stands as one of the most rousing action movies in years.

Need proof that $100 million dollars worth of digital and CGI trickery isn’t needed to create an action spectacle that will have moviegoers cheering? Here it is. How novel to find an action film that delivers thrills and intensity through character and story instead of eye-candy and explosions. Simple to follow but just twisted enough to sink your teeth into.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is in constant motion, racing down streets and along corridors, leaping across rooftops. Intimate with many cities -- Moscow, Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid -- and, incapable of hesitation, he runs without a stumble though their mazelike neighborhoods, markets, and railroad stations. No office or hotel-room door remains impenetrable; no safe remains locked. Robert Ludlum created the character -- in his 1980 novel, “The Bourne Identity” -- as a black-ops assassin whose brain had been wiped clean before he was programmed to kill. The writers who adapted Bourne for the screen (Tony Gilroy has been a regular, along with various collaborators) took over Ludlum’s notion for the character; they enhanced Bourne’s locomotive skills, and gave him a soul. This Jason Bourne is so anguished by his crimes that he develops amnesia, but he gradually remembers the bad things he has done, and is haunted by them.

Because the viewer actually cares about Jason Bourne's plight -- and, like him, craves some big answers -- the action moments feel like natural extensions of the story, rather than a collection of stand-alone set-pieces that were wedged into the plot wherever they'd fit. It feels good to breeze along with an extended action scene and actually not know where it's headed. The Bourne series has already shown that it doesn't always play by the rules (recall the fate of Franka Potente's character in “Supremacy”), and that adds another layer of flavor to the mayhem: some of the characters you like actually could die.

Hats off to producer Frank Marshall for keeping this trilogy moving ahead in confident fashion. Along with Liman, Greengrass, Damon, Gilroy, and hundreds of other contributors, the producer has done the near-impossible: He has delivered a trilogy that has no weak entry.

The film’s plot goes something like this: London journalist Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) stumbles onto a hyper-secret CIA black op code named Blackbriar.

It's so sensitive the whisper of it on Ross' cell phone sets sinister surveillance technology abuzz an ocean away in midtown Manhattan.

There the Blackbriar leak sparks the attention of a Bush-league spook, Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), and Pam Landry (Joan Allen), the honorable but tough-as-nails CIA bureaucrat from 2004's “Supremacy” who, in the last moments of that film, told Bourne his birth name.

Thing is, that still hasn't happened yet -- “Ultimatum” actually kicks off in Moscow following Bourne's confession to a young Russian girl whose parents he murdered and his putting paid to Franka’s killer. Still racked by flashbacks to his vicious past -- filled with more post-9/11 imagery than ever before -- Bourne's search for his identity leads him to Ross and, consequently, to Vosen.

From here, Greengrass piggybacks jaw-dropping set piece on jaw-dropping set piece. When the ever-resourceful Bourne sets up a meet with Ross at London's Waterloo Station, he puppeteers the reporter through corridors and crowds to evade a rapidly-tightening network of operatives and video surveillance cameras linked via satellite to Vosen's hi-tech hub.

Yet the man unerringly pulling all the strings here is Greengrass, whose faculty for electrifying -- yet never disorienting -- chases and clashes is staggering. A mind-blowing mid-point chase over the rooftops of Tangier and an intimate hand-to-hand fight to the end that ends in stunned silence are among the film’s highlights.

Yet throughout, the director of “United 93” never loses his focus, or the emotionalism hard-wired into Bourne's search for both self and redemption.

By the time he locates his objective -- found amid the skyscrapers of New York -- we're as invested in finding the truth as he is.

And just as exhausted.

Bourne’s primary foe, Noah Vosen, who has a whittled honest voice, makes a devastating no-nonsense villain: he seems efficient, capable, a man born to lead people -- right off an ethical cliff. Landry has been involved with this Bourne caper long enough to know that Bourne isn’t a monster, just a ruthless assassin. She wants to hear his side of the story. True, he has a damaging tape that could blow the cover of a sensitive program. But, she reasons, “if he really wanted to hurt us he could have sent the tape to CNN.”

Vosen is forever urging and barking -- “He’s on the move, gimmee eyeballs on the street, let’s go”-- while his analyst Geek Squad storms their computers following Bourne around the world via surveillance cameras and intercepted phone signals.

In chasing the British reporter, Vosen orders, “I want his phones, his BlackBerry…I want to know what he’s gonna think before he does.” Half a second later, the thing is done.

A big pleasure is the fantasy that the CIA is a swooping, roaring, unstoppable force able to summon the darkest magic out of a clear blue sky -- when they need an “asset,” or assassin, at Waterloo Station in London, he’s there instantly, in just the right place, perfectly hidden, with his trusty sniper gear. Back in the real world, we have 50 years worth of reasons to suspect that the CIA is a place where bored nine-to-fivers in poly-blend shirts sit at crumb-covered desks silently calculating their pensions. Find Bin Laden? Track Al-Qaida activity Stateside? When?

The greatest of pleasures, though, is in watching Bourne work -- you can see him observing, thinking, planning, reacting, as CIA baddies swarm in from every direction. The script never cheats its way out by giving him a fancy gadget -- buying a prepaid cellphone is one of the smartest things he does -- and it doesn’t stop for jokey one-liners or cooing romance. Chasing the source who gave the reporter the story about him brings Boune to Madrid, where he again runs into the young CIA field support officer, Nicky Parsons, (Julia Stiles) who started to believe in him in the last movie. Emotions underlie the looks she gives Bourne, but shooting her a glance is as close as Bourne gets to undressing her. This budding romance may be saved for later if Marshall comes out with more Bourne films. I’ll watch ‘em if they’re all this good.

Bourne is no James Bond. Even though last year’s “Casino Royale” was a tremendously satisfying entry, 007’s films don’t stand up to the Bourne series’ brute velocity. As Greengrass thrusts his trademark shaky camera into his spies’ faces, stages gripping fistfights without music or unnecessary cuts, hurls you across the rooftops of Tangier or demonstrates the art of crunchily driving a stolen police car backwards off the roof of the Port Authority, he always makes you feel the temperature, and it’s boiling hot. A whiff of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo makes the film feel current, but Greengrass doesn’t quite dump us back in reality by overselling the parallel.

There isn’t a syllable of excess dialogue -- Damon seems to have about 10 lines in the whole movie -- and Bourne’s real-time scheming makes you smile with its brilliance, if not its plausibility. When a bomb exploded half an SUV length away, one wonders how Bourne bounds away without so much as a chapped lip? When he finally comes back to New York with score-settling on his mind and is trapped in a building overflowing with adversaries, Greengrass glosses over the escape plan and shows Bourne trotting out of the place.

Greengrass shoots the film’s scenes in tiny fragments, leading to an extraordinary gain in speed and power most other directors would have trouble matching. The camera trembles and shakes and hurtles in “Ultimatum,” as if we were trapped inside the moving Bourne, and yet, on the fly, we see what we need to see. Gathering the fragments, Greengrass keeps some of the chase scenes going for ten minutes at a time.

Summing up the first two films: the drama of “Identity” was existential (Who am I?), and the drama of “Supremacy” was moral (What did I do?). The drama of “Ultimatum” is redemptive: How can I escape what I am? This is illustrated when Bourne has a shot on a CIA assassin in New York who failed to kill him, but he passes it up. The same operative later comes back to hold Borne at gunpoint as he’s poised to dive into the Hudson River and escape. After asking why Bourne passed up the shot, the operative lets him jump.

The creators of the black-ops program that created Bourne are shown to have used such techniques as hooding and waterboarding to break down and remake his personality, and he wants to find them. Commenting acidly on current interrogation techniques, the filmmakers suggest that such games were played with Americans as well as with outsiders. This may be a fiction, but it’s a sinister thought.

Boasting more smarts, slickness, subtlety and character than all of this summer's action offerings combined, “The Bourne Ultimatum” (like its predecessors) is an anomaly in today's multiplex world. (The whole series has the “old-school” feel of John Frankenheimer's work around 1972 -- which is a good thing.) The flick builds on the foundation of its excellent predecessors and then ups the ante at every turn. “Ultimatum” may be the best of the lot. Probably the best Hollywood movie of the whole year. Greengrass has crafted a template for all future spy films and moved into the penthouse of top directors. If this is indeed the finale to the series, as Damon has suggested, the filmmakers have gotten out while the getting’s good.

PAGE AWARDS 2007 SEMIFINALIST

Hey all,

I just learned that my "Stars and Stripes Forever" script advanced to the semifinals in the "Historical Film" category for the PAGE 2007 Awards.

Finalists will be announced on 8-30-07 and winners will be announced on 9-15-07.

I don't know how to feel at this point. I wonder if semifinalists will get script read requests from production companies, agents, etc?

I'll learn soon enough.

On the flip side "Stars" didn't make it to the quarterfinals of Blue Cat, Scriptapalooza, & Nicholls. I'd subbed "Heaven's Mandate" to Scriptapalooza & Nicholls also, but it didn't make the cut neither.

Interesting to see how different contests have different responses.

Shigata ga nai.

"It can't be helped" as a Japanese saying goes.

Must get on with my fiction now.

Aftermath

Thanks to an impulsive decision to watch a few episodes on Geoffrey's, my roommate's, Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 DVD set, I got only 3 hours sleep.

The morning sky was really starry when I left with Scott, Saladin, and Geoffrey.

I dozed part of the way and chatted with the guys as Scott, the generous guy who gave me a seat in his rental, drove us to Albuquerque. We all split up outside the departure terminal at the airport.

After almost 7 hours of airport/jet travel hassle, I finally got back home. :-)

I was fortunate to go to Taos ToolBox 2007 when I did. Walter and Connie are fine writers and teachers who're also great to hang out with.

I received useful feedback in the critique sessions and had my understanding of writing and the business refined.

I also got to meet a lot of serious writers and kibitz with them. I'll look forward to seeing how far each of us goes down the road.

If Taos ToolBox 2007 will be the first and last to be held, it was a good one.

Thanks again Walter and Connie for having me.

On another note, being able to record an account of a writing workshop has been fun, especially since this will most likely be the last workshop I'll attend. The stories I could've told when I attended my other classes...

Having a blog then would've been nice.

I'm at the point now where I simply have to write and submit. If I do something else again, it'd likely be a film director workshop. Don't know when I can do that. I'll just have to see how the future turns out.

Ciao.

Day 13

The final day of crits.

I got up early, exercised, ate breakfast, then went to the crit session.

We had only 3 stories. The sessions went well around lunch.

Walter and Connie then talked about a few things like getting close to our characters, cultivating our story ideas, the good fiction conventions to go to, and how not to act around editors and agents.

I sent Walter my evaluation of the workshop.

I'm going to pack this afternoon since I'll be heading to Albuquerque airport at 5 A. Ugh.

Too bad the Snow Bear Inn proprietors neglected to make the laundry available despite being asked and left messages.

Two people have left already.

We hung out for a few hours, then headed to a nearby Bavarian restaurant. I got a chicken and vegetable dish. We all chatted about writing, WW II, and other miscellania.

When we gathered to leave, Walter's car battery died. We all pitched in to jump start his car, then got back to the inn. There we all said our final good byes.

Ciao.

Day 12

Busy day.

We critted 4 stories, then Walter and Connie talked about fiction careers.

Those who want fame and money should do something else. If one sticks at it long enough, one's career will go through more than one peak and valley. A body just has to keep writing novels.

The golden age of SF was the 1980s with Star Wars and Star Trek. Now there's fewer markets, publishers, etc. But it could emerge again.

A person just has to follow their passion--and keep their day job.

Some of us saw a Carey Grant film, "Father Goose". Funny. And we saw the first few minutes of "French Kiss." I'll have to see that sometime when I get back.

Oz, Traci, & Kim served potato chips, brownies, ice cream, etc. again. Couldn't resist. Damn. I'll be glad when I reestablish my regular diet.

Walter and Connie are the first fiction people I've met who use film examples to teach. Nice.

I have a final 3 stories to read and one last assignment: write a 100 page scene, character description, etc. with no adjectives and no adverbs. No problem.

Walter and Connie want to take the group to a nearby Bavarian restaurant. Hope I'll like the brautwurst.

Connie talked about showing "French Kiss" tomorrow night, but I have to pack early and get to bed in order to leave at 5 A on Saturday. Ughhh...

Later.

Day 11

Busy again.

We critted 3 stories today. Connie and Walter talked about where they get stories. Walter also gave us some rules on alternate history and using magic and aliens.

Much of it is instinctive, but it's good to have the principles articulated.

We had another movie night in which we saw Chinatown with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Great film--in a tragic kind of way. If the bad guy controls the cops and courts, the last option left is taking the law into your own hands.

Unfortunately, Jack's character was too devastated to do that.

Nichevo.

Now I have four stories to read and a little writing exercise in which I write the same scene three times with the same character, but in different emotional states.

Ugh.

Day 10

Full day today.

We critted 3 stories (all the writers were happy with their comments) and had lectures from Walter and Connie.

Walter talked about worldbuilding for SF and fantasy. Nice and concise. He also gave us a great handout for generating random worldbuilding sheets. He'd added a writing prompt I used in my recently critted teen fantasy: a bowling ball. :-)

Our most recent assignment was to turn in a worldbuilding sheet based on 3 random prompts. I just turned mine in before blogging. Interesting exercise.

Connie talked about the use of the "past perfect tense" and "foreshadowing" in stories complete with techniques and examples.

More tools for my toolbox.

We got out a little earlier than normal, but the evening was full.

I got my endorphin fix, ate dinner with 3 ice cream sandwiches, then attended a birthday party for fellow Taos ToolBox workshopper, Kelly Robson. I had a slice of carrot cake, two pieces of chocolate cake, and a few scoops of French vanilla & chocolate chip ice cream. Having a sweet tooth can be bad. Good thing I don't indulge too much.

Anyhoo, the party was nice, and we all chatted for a while before reluctantly going back to our readings and assignments.

I took care of one story, leaving just two to read in the morning. I'll be able to polish those off quickly.

Signing off.

Day 9

I woke up and critted 3 stories and squeezed in breakfast before today's lecture/critique session.

Walter kicked things off with a concise lecture and character. And he also gave us a great 4 page hand out on generating backstories for both minor and major characters.

We then had 4 stories critted. Mine was first: a teen fantasy about an ugly duckling girl who competes with a high school beauty queen for a Spanish exchange student with a love potion that's not a love potion.

Considering that I don't normally write YA fantasy or a lot of girl characters, the story went over well with a lot of people in the group. I got a lot of great suggestions on taking it up another notch.

The other 3 stories were also critted with five minute breaks and one 20 minute lunch. I'd say that today was the best session so far (probably thanks to the weekend break).

Hopefully people won't get too ground down as this final week goes by.

Connie capped things with a lecture on different character POV, like: 3rd person omniscient, authorial, stream of consciousness, etc.

Very interesting.

I did my fitness thing, but was a bit worn out when I did. Maybe the altitude's affecting me more than I realize. Being active for 7 of the last 9 days must also be taking a lil' toll, too. But one has to stay energized.

I've got 3 stories to read for tomorrow and another assignment: write a 100 word scene 3 times with the same character, but using a different POV.

I'll be curious to see what I come up with.

That's all fer now.

2007 PAGE Screenwriting Contest Quarterfinalist

I just got the news that my "Stars and Stripes Forever," made it into the quarterfinals of this year's PAGE contest.

I was told that 3,411 entries were received. My script made it into the top 25% (a total of 872 scripts). Because so many excellent historical epics and biopics were entered, the contest created a new Historical category; so my story is entered as both a Drama and Historical script.

It's an American "Master & Commander" tale about a real-life navy lieutenant who struggles to destroy an American frigate captured by pirates before it's used against the United States.

Incidentally, I wrote the first draft of this script in a Winter 2005 UCLA screenwriting class under Jack Sowards.

Thanks Jack.

Semifinalists will be announced on July 30.

I've also entered a bunch of other contests. I'll look forward to the reports. :-)

Boris

Day 8

Got up today.

Exercised, got some pancakes from Oz, Traci, & Kim, and did laundry.

We had a temporary electric shortage for 40 minutes. No biggie. Happens from time to time on the mountain, mostly during rain, snow, etc. It's been clear all day, though.

I went to Taos to with Walter, his wife, Connie, and just two other workshop people to catch a 12:30 P showing of the latest Harry Potter.

Can't go into detail for a review. It was OK. Pretty dark. But Ron & Hermione didn't have a lot to do in this film. I also had the feeling this was just a transitional film. Nothing much going on to forward the main storyline of the impending confrontation between Harry and Voldemort.

The book was compressed well enough into a 2.5 hour film, but some important stuff was cut, which would've explained why certain characters did this or that and what a portal or other object was. This was a bit more dependent than the other films on people having read the book beforehand.

It was still worth seeing once. I'll be curious to catch the next installment.

Afterwards, we went to a local pizza joint. Most of the rest got a huge pizza slice. I tried a calzone. It was OK, but had too much ricotta cheese for my liking.

I've been back at the Snow Bear Inn, taking care of chores, like a synopsis for an existing novel, which would be used to sell it. Then a case of fatigue hit. Guess I'll read the 3 stories Monday morning.

Later.

Day 7

Full day today.

Got up early and exercised, then had a surprise treat of pancakes with blueberries cooked by some workshop classmates--Oz, Traci, and Kim (3 cool ladies) in the ski lodge unit next to mine.

Afterwards, Oz snapped a picture of me. I don't usually pose for pictures, so this is a rarity, and here it is, courtesy of Oz. Thanks a million!

Once I got my mug snapped, I went into Taos with Connie and some others to sight see, eat lunch, and buy groceries. I stocked up on breakfast and lunch for my last week here. I also found two books in a bookstore for two film scripts I have in mind. And on the same shelf no less. I wonder what the odds are?

We got back to the ski lodge in time to wait for George R.R. Martin to arrive. He got delayed by traffic piling into the "Pow Wow," a local Indian festival.

When he finally made his way up the mountain, he gave a talk that covered the reasons why people read fiction (to learn about different subjects, escapism, etc.), about how there's fewer readers and publishers, and how authors who aren't New York Times Best selling writers are becoming an endangered species.

The fiction field seems to be entering rocky waters.

I then rode with Connie, George, and some other people in her car as the whole group went to Taos to eat at a New Mexican restaurant. Two good meals in Taos today--for a price. Good thing we won't be eating in restaurants for the rest of the week.

Small note: Before I rode back with Connie and George, George mentioned that HBO was developing his fantasy book series "A Song of Fire & Ice" into a long running TV series. I don't have HBO, and don't plan on getting it. I'll have to wait for the DVDs to come out then. George said he told his agent that if anyone would produce his books, it should be HBO since a TV series would do a better job than a trilogy of feature films and HBO has produced some good projects. "Band of Brothers" (based on Stephen Ambrose's book) is one case in point. I love it myself.

Several (me included) are planning to go into Taos tomorrow on Sunday to catch a noontime showing of the latest Harry Potter. Looking forward to that.

I just have to find the time to write up a 2-3 page synopsis of a published novel and critique 3 of 4 stories for Monday. One of the four is mine. I'm planning on doing my synopsis on the alternate history novel "Gettysburg" by William R. Forstchen. Newt Gingrich's name is on the cover also, but I feel it's Forstchen's story.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Day 6

Light day. No coyotes were scavenging through garbage and howling in the morning like yesterday (though I slept through it).

We had only 3 stories to crit, and I turned in a 4500 word teen fantasy story. It's about an ugly duckling teen girl who competes with a beauty queen for a Spanish exchange student with a love potion that's not a love potion. It's the third female protagonist story I've written, my third fantasy, and my first young adult story. Different from my usual work. I'll be curious to hear what the ladies in the group think.

Connie gave another talk on dramatic irony. Walter talked about literary contracts and outlines/synopses. All good stuff. Ironically, the dramatic irony wasn't something I'd had covered in my other workshops/classes. :-)

I exercised a bit, but cut it short to have a personal conference with Walter about my fiction plans. I was glad to hear I'd mapped out a good strategy for myself: get 3-5 pro short fiction sales, then go ahead with novels.

I've got an outline to do over the weekend, prepare to read some stuff for Monday, a George Martin talk to look forward to, and outings in Taos.

We had a grill cook out with hamburgers and hot dogs (along with brownies, potatoe chips/doritos, peanuts, and potato salad). I need to get more vegetables and fiber.

And we topped the evening with another movie night, watching a Carey Grant flick (forgot name) where we had things like clumsy exposition, raising the stakes, reversals, etc. pointed out to us.

Good times.

Jack B. Sowards Tribute

I just learned that Jack Sowards, my main UCLA screenwriting teacher, passed away a few days ago on July 8, 2007.

Jack was 78 and had Lou Gehrig's disease. He wasn't feeling well during my final quarter, and I was concerned for him. Looking back, his passing was foreshadowed.

He was an actor and a writer from the 1950s to 1990. His credits include episodes for Bonanza, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek TNG episode "Where Silence Has Lease."

He'd also served in the military during the Berlin Airlift crisis of 1947 and the Korean War. He's survived by his several children and grandchildren. He had a full life to put it mildly.

Jack was the most memorable screenwriting teacher I've ever had. I was lucky to have him for 4 of my 6 quarters in the UCLA Professional and Advanced programs. He taught both my first class in 2002 and my last class in 2006.

Not only did he give great feedback on people's stories, he was also a fount of wisdom, experience, and anecdotes about life and his time in Hollywood.

I'll miss you, Jack.

Thanks for everything you've given me.

The following quote from today's CS Weekly newsletter was something he'd said in class one day. I'll keep it in mind always.

"In Hollywood people don't fail, they quit."
– Jack Sowards (1929 - 2007)

Day 5

Critted 4 stories today.

There was no lecture, but Walter had us help plot out a partially done novel outline written by a person in the group. It took almost two hours.

The exercise was interesting, but the story idea didn't hook me, and I thought we could've completed it sooner.

I had to skip my fitness break today. C'est le vie.

I'm writing out my second week story right now. I think it'll be OK, but I'm a bit blocked now.

Oh, we're expecting George R.R. Martin this weekend. There was a little trouble finding him a room in the area since Bastille Day is coming up, and a lot of the local inns seem to be owned by Frenchmen.

Très curieux.

Later--

Oh!

I also turned in a summary of a restructured story. Walter bade us to do an exercise in which we identify a turning point in an existing novel/film, reverse it, and write what happened from there.

I chose Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

Here's my reworked version:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (Revised)

At the beginning of the film, Anakin and Obi Wan board General Grievous’ ship to save Chancellor Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious). Count Dooku confronts them. Dooku knocks out Obi Wan, but Anakin cuts off both Dooku’s hands, takes Dooku’s light saber, and angles both their light sabers at Dooku’s throat. Palpatine urges Anakin to kill him.

Divergence: Rather than kill Dooku, Anakin spares him and lets him flee. Anakin goes on to save Palpatine and Obi Wan and land Grievous’ ship when it crash lands on Coruscant.

Dooku escapes with General Grievous to a Trade Federation battleship. As they clear the Coruscant system, Dooku tells Grievous of Palpatine’s treachery and Darth Sidious’ original plan to lure Anakin to the Dark Side and let Grievous be destroyed along with the rest of the Separatist leadership.

When Sidious contacts Grievous, the biodroid general pretends that Dooku isn’t with him and the Separatist leadership. Sidious says that Dooku betrayed him on the ship over Coruscant, so Grievous must kill Dooku on sight. He also orders Grievous to lay a trap on the planet Utapu for any Republic forces chasing him and relocate the Separatist leadership on the planet Mustafar.

Dooku has droid prostheses attached to his wrist stubs and contacts Master Yoda. Dooku tells Yoda that Palpatine is also Sidious and that he wishes to renounce the Dark Side. He also warns Yoda that Sidious seeks to lure Anakin into the camp of the Sith.

Yoda tells Dooku to dangle Grievous as bait. He assigns Obi Wan and Anakin to go after Grievous to keep Anakin away from Sidious. Yoda bids Dooku to give himself up at the Jedi Temple, but Dooku says he must attend to other matters first. Yoda worries, but orders Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine after Anakin leaves Coruscant.

Before Anakin leaves to pursue Grievous, though, Palpatine has Anakin come to his office. There he tells Anakin that he’s afraid of Dooku and treachery from the Jedi. When Anakin disbelieves him, Palpatine says only the Sith have the power to raise people from the dead, playing on Anakin’s forebodings of Padme’s death, then reveals that he is Sidious.

Anakin is torn. Dooku then appears to claim his revenge on Sidious. Anakin watches as Sidious and Dooku battle ferociously. Finally, Dooku has Sidious at his mercy. But before Dooku can strike the final blow, Anakin cuts him down. Anakin then pledges his allegiance to Sidious in exchange for his help in saving Padme’s life.

At Sidious’ order, Anakin attacks the Temple with clone troops. Sidious also issues Order 66 to all Republic clone forces to kill the Jedi across the galaxy. Mace Windu sacrifices himself to let Yoda and Obi Wan escape with their lives. They make contact with Senator Organa, who takes them to Utapu. There Grievous shelters them.

Sidious orders Grievous to abandon Utapu and await further orders on Mustafar. Unaware of Yoda’s and Obi Wan’s location, Anakin goes to Mustafar to destroy the Separatist leadership. But before he goes, he assures Padme that he is all right and that he will end the war once and for all.

After Anakin leaves, Obi Wan contacts Padme via Holonet transmission and tells her that Anakin has attacked to the Temple and killed many Jedi there. Padme disbelieves him, but flies after Anakin to confront him herself.

Anakin arrives at Mustafar and goes to the bunker, where the Separatist Council hides. Instead he finds Obi Wan, and the two men fight.

Grievous and the Separatist Council meantime attack Coruscant with all their remaining ships. Under cover of the assault, Yoda confronts Sidious in his chambers and battles him.

Obi Wan eventually gets the better of Anakin and leaves him with his limbs amputated and set afire by a lava river. Padme arrives then. When she learns of Anakin’s injuries, she goes into shock and collapses. Obi Wan takes her with him.

Back at Coruscant, the clone forces destroy Grievous, the Separatist Council, and their armada. Yoda also fails to kill Sidious, and steals away from Coruscant on Senator Organa’s ship.

Sensing a threat to Anakin, Sidious hurries to Mustafar. There Sidious finds Anakin and takes him back to Coruscant, where he is transformed into Darth Vader. Sidious founds the Empire and begins construction on the Death Star.

Meantime, in a remote medical facility, Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia before dying of a broken heart. Yoda, Obi Wan, and Organa split the twins to wait for them to grow up in safety.

The stage is set for Luke, Leia, and Han to lead the Rebellion against the Empire.

DAY 4

Got up again and did my 3 crits. I was told that there was some rock blasting by a construction crew that happened to pick this week to come. I slept through it. Word is, the Snow Bear Inn proprietors told 'em to come back another week. We'll see.

Today's talk was about "irony" and how it's present in the best stories, whether fiction or film. Interesting.

After the crits, we had a breakdown of Samuel Delaney's "Nova" novella. Technically, it was written well and economically, though it wasn't in my taste. Generation thing, I suppose.

I've got 4 stories to crit for tomorrow. I hope to do at least one tonight and I have to start brainstorming on my 2nd week story. No movie night tonight. :-)

I suggested, and Walter seconded that the group go see the new Harry Potter movie. We set Sunday afternoon as the prospective day. I can hardly wait.

It was sunny earliery today, but we got a few scattered rain storms, so it's cloudy. That's not necessarily too bad since we have to watch out for UV rays in the mountains. The Snow Bear Inn is almost at 10,000 feet. I forgot to say that it hailed yesterday. All the snow is gone today.

Oh, this is also the final week for my film production class. I got the final lecture and articles. No assignments. Woohoo! Just final questions for the teachers on anything about the film biz. Now if I could only find time to read the material...

Later.

Day 3

Got up early, read 3 stories, and got some breakfast. Before the crits, we got a lecture on information flow in a story and plot devices. All useful information, even if I heard most of it before.

We critiqued 4 stories today, one of which was my Peacemaker tale, which I'm prepping for WOTF. I'd say I got a mixture of fair, useful, and unperceptive comments. On the whole, I got an idea of what to do with the next draft. It's true when they say writing is rewriting. But I'm on the right track with this story.

I've begun thinking about the second story I'll turn in for next week. I would've done more if I hadn't succumbed to a temptation to watch Casablanca with most of the others.

I knew how it ended, but I've never seen the whole thing till now. A lot of today's Hollywood execs, directors, producers, writers, etc. would learn a thing or two if they watched this film. I'd say Connie picked it to reinforce some points in the lecture, like "reversals," "character convergence" (when characters that mix like fire and oil come together, that is), "plot twists," and sundry other good storytelling things.

Great film.

But I still have to do some background work on my next story.

And critique 3 stories when I wake up tomorrow...

Later.

Day 2


Got up early, critted 3 stories, got some toast with jam, and showed up for an 11 A lecture on plot.

Connie and Walter brought up some good plot structures, many of which I'd heard elsewhere. The talk lasted for maybe 40-50 minutes. We then critted the 3 stories, with 5 minute breaks in between and a 15 minute lunch.

We wrapped up around 4 P. The people in the group offered the best comments they could, pointing out bugs and offering suggestions. Walter & Connie capped each round, each talking at length. The three writers seemed to come away satisfied. No one left crying.

I'm coming up tomorrow. I'll be curious to see how the session goes.

I'm getting used to the...unique layout of my half of the room I'm staying in: a bathroom light that has to be flipped down to turn on, a light switch by my faucet that turns on nothing I can see, a light down the hallway that turns on the faucet light, etc.

I just got a key for my room, but the TV in my half has no antenna or satellite box--not that I have time for it any way.

I did some active stuff to get my endorphins going, then chowed down on burned lasagna, rock hard garlic bread, and salad. I indulged in a little ice cream and soft drink, but I'll cut it out now.

Connie showed us excerpts of "Throw Momma From The Train," pointing out all the (slightly) exaggerated writer bits.

Now I have to crit 3 of 4 stories. The fourth's mine, so I'm off the hook there.

Later.

Day 1

Thanks to procrastinating till the last minute on my packing, I got a whole 4 hours of sleep before going to the airport and getting on my flight to Albuquerque.

I dozed a bit here and there, read a novel, and ate a sandwich every four hours though I didn't want to.

Pretty warm when I got into Albuquerque, but it's a dry heat. My bag turned up at the airport ahead of me. That's a first for me. I noticed when I saw it by a baggage office rather than at the baggage claim terminal, where I waited for ten minutes and saw other people from my flight collect their stuff and leave.

I then boarded a shuttle van to Taos, New Mexico, and ended up being the last of 7 people dropped off because the Snow Bear Inn was the furthest drop off point. :-/

I did get to talking with the other passengers, one of whom was attending a mainstream fiction workshop in a motel in town. Caroline Chung-Wipff. We exchanged e-mails and promised to exchange short stories. I'm looking forward to reading her tale about... two Korean orphans caught up in the Korean War, if I recall correctly. I'll send her my Richard Takashima tale I'm prepping for WOTF after getting comments from Critters and Taos.

Anyhoo, after about 3 hours, I finally got to the Snow Bear Inn. The temperature fell something like 20 degrees fahrenheit. Bracing, a bit like the Rockies in Colorado. I can imagine what this place would be like with snow...

I found my room, chatted with Walter, Connie Willis, and some other people, and ate more food.

We have three presubmitted to stories to critique for tomorrow. I'm going to crash, then write up my thoughts in the morning. Fotunately, I'd already read all the manuscripts before coming. I just have to refresh myself on each one as I get to it.

I'm curious to see what Walter and Connie have to share with us.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Sit Rep

Busy, busy, busy...

On the 4th of July, I managed to see: "Ratatouille," "Live Free or Die Hard," and "Transformers." Quickly, I'd say for each in order: "another cartoon classic," "better than I expected," and "glitzy pop corn fare." I don't know if or when I'll get a chance to write something more extensive about any of these, though.

I've completed the 5th week of a six week film production course. Big expense considering I was already going to Taos. I'm not complaining too much, though, since learning how to create one's own production company is handy. :-)

The class is offered by the ESE Workshops program. Two very knowledgeable producers/instructors are teaching it, Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis. I'd met Rona at an industry panel in LA last August, which helped prompt me to try her online course after she started it up.

I was able to get the Week 5 work done on Thursday after getting the assignments this Wednesday. Big contrast after spending something like 96 hours over the last week on my Week 4 assignments when I wasn't working and reading stories for my upcoming Taos workshop.

I wrote phone pitches for 5 scripts (though I needed to do only two).

Then for the two required scripts, I had to research for each 6 candidates for writers, directors, actors for two roles, all their reps, and prospective production companies/studios to submit to, their contact info, the list it all out.

Gods...

But I persevered and turned in my lists on Wednesday. And now I have a game plan for when I start marketing these scripts. :-)

This Saturday, I have to help out a bit at work, do some final chores, and pack.

I can hardly wait to go to Taos this Sunday. Assuming the wi-fi holds up, I expect to keep a daily blog of my Taos adventures from 7/8 to 7/21. So stay tuned.

Though I hope things don't fall apart on the homestead when I take my leave...

Trek XI Script Is Done

Sy Fy Portal has recently reported that the writing duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orchi have finished the Trek XI script. This film will dramatize Kirk's earliest missions.

Those who've read my other posts on this subject are aware that I feel it's a mistake to reinvent Kirk and the rest of the original series gang rather than to press ahead with new characters in a new century.

Also, I'm skeptical of director JJ Abrams. When I review his work to date, he starts out with some interesting premises, then jumps to another project rather than stays to develop what he started and take it to another level.

Alias fizzled after the first two seasons and I feel that Lost is losing it. Six Degrees and What About Brian both got cancelled.

And if this one Trek film turns out to be half-way decent, what will Paramount do with the franchise? Rehash Kirk's adventures?

IMHO, Star Trek, unlike Batman, James Bond and other franchises is about the future, which offers a wider tapestry for stories than franchises, which are set in the present.

I'll be curious to see how the films turns out when it's released in Christmas 2008.

Battlestar Galactica Tidbits

Sy Fy Portal recently reported on how actor Michael Hogan is unhappy with the decision of the Galactica producers to turn him and other characters in the Final Five. The Cylon gods.

I share Hogan's view of the direction his character was taken.

I feel that the device of revealing people to be cylons on the show has been over and misused.

That stemmed in part from the writing staff's inability to generate enough dramatic episodes in Season 3 because they had only the humans of the Colonial fleet and the cylons to work with. The ratings in the second half of the third season dropped with the filler episodes.

If aliens were introduced, actor James Olmos (Admiral Adama) would leave.

To work around this, I feel that the Colonial fleet could run into other humans over the course of their quest for Earth. That's a device the original series used with great success in its second season--before it got axed for being too expensive to produce.

I'd love to see what happen if the democratic Colonials, who were searching for another clue to Earth's location, were to wander into a sector of space controlled by an advanced human totalitarian empire that wanted to enslave them.

We'll never know since the fourth season will be the last, and I don't believe that the show's producers will go that route.

Nichevo.

Larry Hodges Critique

This past weekend, I got a critique on my "The Way of the Peacemaker" opus from an emerging fantasy writer, Larry Hodges. Someone whom I met by chance on Critters in 2005 and have had the fortune of dealing with. He's had several short stories published and is working on his first novel. I'm looking forward to seeing what he turns out down the road.

Anywho, Larry pointed out some strengths and bugs that helped me fine tune the story for Critters and Taos before I shoot it off to WOTF. A few small changes, and it's so much better. I feel really good about this draft.

Thanks Larry!

Sit Rep

Let's see...

I've recently finished writing the latest draft of my "The Way of the Peacemaker" short SF story for WOTF.

Woohoo!

It's 7900 words. I feel pretty good about this draft. I've sent it to Critters for critiquing and to Walter Jon Williams as the first story of mine to be read at my upcoming Taos workshop.

I'd also received a summons to report for jury selection on 7-13-07 for possible jury duty during the week of 7-16-07. Thing is the Taos workshop runs from 7-8-07 to 7-21-07.

So I faxed a letter explaining my situation and got in touch with the judge's clerk this morning. I've been rescheduled for either September or October.

Huzzah!

And I'm also coming up on the 3rd week of a 6 week course on how to create my own film production company. Very illuminating.

It's fun to see how one can begin to assemble the pieces of one's own fiction/film corporate entity devoted to one's own material.

Time to go back to the grind now.

Not Seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean 3"

Coming into the Memorial Day weekend, I was planning on seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End."

But I'd been hearing some bad buzz about the latest Cap'n Jack Sparrow adventure. And a nonwriter friend of a nonwriter acquaintance who stayed up late to see the film on Thursday night said it was "stupid."

IMHO, Hollywood has entered a phase where story quality is even less imortant than in the past, while squeezing as much money as possible out of a film franchise has become an even higher priority. I believe that when a story is well done, other things, like box office success will come as a consequence.

Disney and the other studios seem to believe that all they need to do nowadays is slap together some special effects, a fast-paced music score, action set pieces galore, offer it to the masses who're starving for entertainment, then sit back and rake in the dough.

I for one want to save my $$$ and time. I've got DVDs of "Heroes," some other good TV shows, and any number of good films I can watch over the weekend--when I'm not working, writing, doing chores, etc.

I know millions of people in the US and around the world will flock to theatres and set new box office records (till the next big blockbuster gets released).

It'd be interesting to see what'd happen if the masses didn't see POTC 3 and other blockbuster flops. I'd imagine that the studios would start caring more about the quality of the films they're greenlighting then.

Sit Rep

I've been busy...

I'm working on the latest draft of my space opera SF short story for WOTF. I spent about two weeks writing out the first draft of the current version by hand, now I'm typing it out (and making changes).

I'm up to page 15 and 2575 words. Feeling very hopeful.

I've also gotten my reading orders from Walter Jon Williams and Connie Willis to read the Turkey City lexicon for workshops and a bunch of short stories and 1 novella.

Here's the list:

"Nova," by Samuel R. Delany.

"Flowers for Algernon" (the original novelet, not the novel) in:
THE HUGO WINNERS, ed. Isaac Asimov
BEST SF 4, ed. Edmund Crispin
BEST FROM F AND SF 9, ed. Robert P. Mills
5TH ANNUAL OF THE YEAR'S BEST SF, ed. Judith Merril
THE MAGAZINE OF F AND SF: A THIRTY-YEAR PERSPECTIVE, ed.Ed Ferman
TEN TOP STORIES, ed. D.A. Sohn
SF HALL OF FAME, ed. Robert Silverberg (got this one)

"The Light of Other Days," by Bob Shaw.

"Lot," by Ward Moore in MY FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION STORY,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg

BEST FROM F AND SF 3, ed. Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas
LOT AND LOT'S DAUGHTER with a new intro by Michael Swanwick

"Light of Days" was available free online. I bought the rest off of Amazon when a search of my local library coop turned up nada.

I paid $1.48 for 4 books with $3.99 postage for each. Bloody postal increases.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to reading. On top of my other stuff, my story, work...

Ugh...

Looking forward to "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" this weekend.

I guess.

I expect to review that.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Laurie Hutzler Script Consultation

I just came off a consult with Laurie Hutzler on my Stars and Stripes script.

It was already good, but with the changes (so small yet so poignant) I have in mind, it'll be much, much better. There was an issue of making the protagonist more layered, which she helped me work out as we talked. Awesome process.

I'll look forward to sharpening the script, probably next winter since I have some fiction and film stories in the hopper to work on first.

The burdens a writer bears... :-)

I hope this script and my Chinese Joan of Arc tale will still do well in this year's contests, though. I'll see.

Review: Spiderman 3

More is less.

Speaking for myself, I thought the first Spiderman was OK. The second installment hit it out of the park. No question.

I feel that Spiderman 2 raised the bar so high that director Sam Raimi overreached himself and tried to tell a grand story by mixing in too many subplots and characters competing with each other for screen time. He substituted scope and scale for the warmth and wit that made those two previous pictures so memorable. This lumbering third installment finds a trio of villains jockeying for screen time amid several half-developed storylines and a darker, self-serious tone that veers into the overwrought.

The opening credit sequence does a beautiful job of showing highlights from the previous two movies and gets you ready for this one, which is set an indeterminate amount of time after the 2nd one. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is living his dream life - he and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) are going strong, he's at the top of his college classes, and much to the consternation of the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), Spidey’s become New York’s favorite celebrity. What could go wrong?

For starters all of this success starts to go to our favorite webslinger’s head. He becomes self-involved and doesn’t notice MJ's problems whose life is starting to go downhill after she gets fired from her Broadway show. To be fair, she doesn’t tell Peter anything. (One must ask why the critics hate her in the third film when she was loved in the second and was good enough to get hired in the first place?) Anywho, MJ gets jealous of Peter's platonic relationship with his colorless lab partner Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) when she gives Spidey the key to the city and gives him "their" kiss while he’s hanging upside down.

It’s a bad time to grow an ego, as there’s trouble brewing on several fronts. First, Peter’s former best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) has discovered his late father’s stash of Green Goblin super-soldier serum, and he’s suiting up for second-generation supervillian-hood with a personal vendetta against Spider-Man.

And speaking of personal vendettas, it turns out the man who murdered Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben wasn’t actually the guy we saw Spidey take out in the first film. In a strange little chunk of revisionist history, we see a bunch of reshot scenes illustrating that Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) was the trigger man. As if all this weren’t awkward enough, James Cromwell’s police captain calls Parker and Aunt May down to the station and explains it to them for no obvious reason.

The punchline isn’t only that Church just escaped from prison, but he also accidentally tripped and fell into a top secret science experiment out of Star Trek that, for some reason, was being carried out in the middle of the night—so suddenly he’s the Sandman.

Still not enough story points for you? Well there’s also the matter of this strange alien goo coming from a meteorite that lands conveniently close to the spot where Peter and MJ are stargazing in New York’s Central Park. The goo then attaches itself to Peter’s moped and hangs around inertly in his room for the first 2/3 of the film before attaching itself to Peter and spontaneously transforming into a shiny black costume. It’s a parasitic organism that makes Spidey a lot more aggressive, and causes Pete to grow his bangs out like he’s in an ’80s New Wave band and sway like he’s on Saturday Night Fever.

Then there’s Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a competitive freelance photographer, who’s trying to muscle his way into Parker’s gig at the Daily Bugle by Photoshopping forgeries of Spider-Man committing robberies so the people of New York will turn on their hero. And that’s before Brock gets up close and personal with the alien goo.

Whew! Raimi—who co-wrote the script with his brother Ivan as well as two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent ("Julia," "Ordinary People")-figures out a way to line up these events (sort of). For example, during the early fight between Spidey and Harry (the best action set piece of the film), Harry hits his head and comes down with short-term amnesia, so that he spends most of the movie being an amnesiac pussycat who’s nothing but sunshine and light. MJ hangs out with him for a bit to find some comfort from all her problems. Then Spidey figures out a way to stop the Sandman, but only for a little while. During these rest periods, Peter/Spidey can then deal with other problems.

On the bad side, the problems seem more artificial in Spider-Man 3 than they did in Spiderman 2. Each problem has less breathing room, less time to become organic with gray areas in the middle. The film eventually gets so tangled and top-heavy with its 20 million different plot threads, Raimi has to resort to Peter Parker watching television so news crews can helpfully recap at least an hour’s worth of off-screen events that set the final battle in motion. (Note to aspiring screenwriters: If your superhero needs to watch CNN in order to figure out what’s going on in his own movie, take it as a sign you’ve written yourself into a corner.)

There's the Raimi touch of having (Bruce Campbell) make another appearance, this time as a pseudo French Maître d' and the expected Stan Lee cameo (I'm not against him getting his due, but his cameos don’t seem to be adding anything). Then there's the typical moment where Spiderman does something in front of the cheering NYC crowd. Rather than get out of the way, the New Yorkers stand there and watch the battles when buildings and debris are falling around them. What would it be like to have Spidey fight ONE villain WITHOUT removing his mask in the middle of the brawl? It's amazing everyone in NYC doesn't know who he is by now.

McGuire seems to be a bit bored this go around. There's no spark or excitement in his performance except when he gets taken over by the alien goo and goes dark side—for Peter. He struts down the street dressed in black, accompanied by cheesy music, and women either give him the eye or look at him like he's a creep, goes to jazz clubs, and says "babe" a lot. Hilarious sequence.

Then there's the idea of bringing in the iconic Gwen Stacy, who many fans of the Spiderman comic book knows has a major impact on our hero's life. The problem is, Stacy's impact is felt early on in his career and introducing her into the film world this way and at this time makes absolutely no sense. If they wanted to introduce a woman to make MJ jealous then this character would have been fine, as long as she was called something other than Gwen Stacy.

I liked the Sandman character and the resolution at the end better than I thought I would, but I also hated the revisionist way they turned Sandman into the killer of Uncle Ben. The storyline was handled well, but it felt too much like the Batman origin story where they had to make the hero invested by saying "Hey, I killed your Uncle."

The stuff with Harry was actually very good. Here James Franco really gets to display a real emotional range. The new Goblin designs were real cool (in an edgy bad guy sort of way), everything from the black leather suit, to the mask, to the redesigned Goblin glider were fantastic. I had the feeling this was a guy who could kick Spidey's butt (and should have been the main baddie for the film). The main reason the 3rd film works is because of him.

As good as everything with the Goblin and the Sandman were, much about Venom was terrible. The way he moved in his liquid form, conveniently sat around inert in Peter’s room, to how he looked once it bonded with Brock. I like the cartoon Venom, but the film version got shortchanged and deserved its own movie. Why couldn’t Venom have been brought in for Spiderman 4? The studio will produce it after all, whether or not the original team stays on board. He's one bad guy too many. His introduction into the story causes everything to be crowded, rushed, and overlong. Spider-Man 3 feels like it should end around the 1:40 mark, but like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going...

The CGI in this takes a step back to the cartoony animation that was in the first film, Spiderman swinging around town looked like a tiny animated spec. The stuff with the Sandman was about as good as it could be. Focusing on the grains of sand and then expanding to see him reassemble after the experiment—very lyrical.

Considering how overloaded the film is, Raimi does juggle the characters and storylines fairly well. People will line up to watch the film and set new opening weekend box office records. But everything is just a little off, or takes a step back. The ending was touching, but I’m stumped on where Peter and MJ are headed now. People love trilogies because it's said that good things come in threes, but this series would have looked better and felt more satisfying had the filmmakers stopped at two.

Laurie Hutzler Script Consultation/Possible 1st Film Break?

Today I had a phone consult with Laurie Hutzler, the sixth I've had in about 3 years, the first I've had since starting this blog.

It was top notch as usual.

Laurie went over my Chinese Joan of Arc epic "Heaven's Mandate" and my rom com "Twice In A Lifetime."

I'll be restructuring both fairly heavily and taking them up another notch. I expect to get back to those next year, though, since I'm currently working on fiction and have other scripts to work on after that.

Laurie also mentioned that she knows someone who is starting up a production company in China and would be a likely person to send the rewrite of "Heaven's Mandate" to--provided it's up to par. She also knows someone who could help me translate the script to Chinese. :-)

When this script is ready, hopefully "Crouching Tiger" director Ang Lee will get attached and "Crouching Tiger" heroine Zhang Ziyi will be signed to played the heroine. :-)

I'll also look forward to sending my rom com out when it's ready.

I get the feeling something good started today.

Thanks Laurie!

Retro Review: "BATMAN BEGINS"

Hey all,

I recently rented the "Batman Begins" DVD from my local Blockbuster since I'd been meaning to and I don't care for the current theater offerings.

I liked "Batman Begins" when it first came out and it's only deepened since, which is nice because it's more common for me to not like something on DVD/VHS after seeing it in theatres.

IMHO, Director Christopher Nolan has hit it out of the park. Being a genius of mystery and intrigue (MEMENTO, FOLLOWING, INSOMNIA), it shouldn't be that surprising. For those who haven't seen MEMENTO, a unique, yet brain-straining feature; suffice to say that Nolan is great with thought and suspense -- but action? What an exciting risk to employ. Personally, I think these risks pay off in spades. This is a film that cares a great deal for what is going on inside the Bat-Man's head; the action is more of an accent.

Director Nolan did a fantastic job of directing this, all of the performances are top notch, the pacing is smooth as silk, and the atmosphere is right on target. If I had one complaint it would be that he plays it almost too safe, there isn't a single memorable shot in this film or a moment where you go "WOW!!!" or "COOL!" and the
action sequences were too pedestrian.

The fight scenes are shot close in; Nolan seems to have made a conscious decision not to compete with other more "martial arts" hand-to-hand action flicks. His action scenes are dark, the sounds and movement jeer a chill or more accurately -- fear.

Co-written with David S. Goyer (scribe of the mostly dismal BLADE trilogy), "Batman Begins" is anything but cartoony, this new film is serious, real, and most of all BELIEVABLE.

Never once do you not believe that this world exists, that Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is not a real person, that the young Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) isn't honest, that Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) isn't an idealistic, earnest Assistant District Attorney. The cast in this film all did an amazing job. They understood the material, and took it seriously -- the way it's meant to be.

Nolan's approach is born out in the title, taking Bruce Wayne back to his childhood before guiding him into the formation of his double identity. The film still resides in a nether world, one stuck in a comic book sensibility yet real enough to gain and hold viewer interest.

Nolan breaks the first part of his film into several story segments, as he relates Bruce Wayne's childhood, his eventual alienation and withdrawal from society, and his reclamation as a noble warrior and crime-fighting crusader. By using this framework, Nolan not only can draw an in-depth portrait of a troubled man confronting his fears, but he can also underline what the film is about, that is, Batman's origins and eventual transformation.

As a result, the film witnesses the evolution of Batman's costume, cape, car, cave, and more, all smoothly integrated into the story without calling undue attention. Nolan makes it fun, and darn interesting, to watch how everything comes together to make this new creature.

This early part also sets up Batman's eventual battles against Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), Wayne's early mentor who rescues him from an Asian jail and starts him on his warrior training in a league of shadowy ninjas, who fight evil-doers by being avenging angels.

Nesson, who has played the wise mentor figure several times in recent years, gives Wayne several great tips like: "Always be aware of your surroundings" and "To conquer your fear, you must become fear."

When Ducard and Batman end up enemies, it sets up the later, big battle scenes back in Gotham.

Everything shifts from Bruce Wayne's childhood and his eventual Asian travels to his return to Gotham, his exposure to the growing crime problem, and his integration into society as well as his father's corporate world. Nolan relies heavily on computer-generated effects for this second part, delivering a doomed vision of a dark city, populated by unemployment, corporate crime, corrupt police, crime
lords, and, of course, bats.

In the final part, doomsday arrives, as various forces conspire to overtake the city with only Batman and perky assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes to thwart them. This apocalypse befits the film's comic book origins, looking artificial but nevertheless harrowing.

Nolan's mood-setting with terminally ominous atmospherics are greatly aided by the often thunderous music score, supplied by two of Hollywood's most noted craftsmen, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. In listening to the highly complementary score, it's fun to try and pick out which composer did which scenes.

The nice thing about this film, is that it actually gives us a look at Bruce Wayne's parents. When they die we actually care, because we get to know these people. Bruce's relationship with Rachel is complicated, she was their maid's daughter and they were close friends as children, but grew apart after the death of his parents.
She becomes a crusading Assistant DA and doesn't like the fact that Bruce doesn't seem to care about the world around him.

Since he's not too well known to general movie audiences, Christian Bale works out passably well as the latest Batman, despite his near total lack of emotion and over-fondness for whispering for effect. The superb supporting cast adds strength to what could have been throwaway roles. Rutger Hauer, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, Linus Roache and Morgan Freeman inject believability if not prestige into their parts. Michael Caine plays dedicated servant Alfred with just the right amount of whimsy but never indicates he's doing anything but taking it all seriously. Katie Holmes was passable, but she won't be missed in the upcoming DARK KNIGHT. I can hardly wait to see who'll be the new Rachel.

In my lights, Nolan has breathed new life into the Batman franchise, which the last couple of flicks did their best to beat down into campy mindlessness. Here's hoping Nolan keeps the magic with the DARK KNIGHT, which is due out on July 18, 2008.

Kurt Vonnegut

On April 11, 2007, SF novel giant Kurt Vonnegut passed away from head injuries sustained in a fall.

Vonnegut, who fought in WW II, survived a German POW camp, and witnessed the Allied atrocity of the firebombing of Dresden, led a varied life to say the least.

Those experiences informed his fiction, which made him the center of the counter culture movement in the '60s and '70s.

His SF/F satires of the failings in American society bit deep and resonated with his readers. All who write should aspire to follow his example. I know I am.

Vonnegut inspired a number of storytellers in fiction, TV, and film.

When I learned this, I realized I'd been influenced by some of them. So in a way I've been touched by him.

I haven't read his stories yet, but I'm adding them to my reading list.

Taos Toolbox

Today, I got an invite from SF fiction giant Walter Jon Williams to attend his SF/F workshop in New Mexico this July.

WOOHOO!!!

Saying I'm psyched doesn't begin to cover things.

I can hardly wait to learn at the feet of another master. This is the workshop's first year. It might also be the last since Williams told me that he's not certain he'll offer it again. So I'm really lucky to have gotten in when I did. =)

I think I'll keep a daily record of this when the time comes.

Now I just have to find the money...

Client/Agent-Networking questions with a Novel Consultant

Here's the transcript of the Q and A event I had organized under the auspices of WeHo in which novel consultant Michele Wallenstein kindly fielded questions on networking in the film industry and the Agent/Client relationship.

Good thing is Michele answered my questions. Thanks a million!

Bad thing was no one else offered questions though the event was promoted and I'd sent messages out to people both on WeHo and off.

C'est le vie...

or Nichevo if I were Russian.

-------------------------------------------------------

Client/Agent Question

Hi Michele,

I hear that nowadays, it's recommended that a screenwriter obtain three reps:

1. a manager to provide career guidance
2. an agent to help submit scripts to producers/studios,
3. an entertainment attorney to help negotiate contracts.

If a screenwriter were to obtain an agent from a boutique agency that gives more attention to its clients than an agent from a huge packaging agency like CAA, ICM, and William Morris where writers aren't so valued, will the boutique agent serve the functions of 1 & 2?

Thanks!

Boris

Client/Agent Answer

Q: I hear that nowadays, it's recommended that a screenwriter obtain three reps:

1. a manager to provide career guidance
2. an agent to help submit scripts to producers/studios,
3. an entertainment attorney to help negotiate contracts.

If a screenwriter were to obtain an agent from a boutique agency that gives more attention to its clients than an agent from a huge packaging agency like CAA, ICM, and William Morris where writers aren't so valued, will the boutique agent serve the functions of 1 & 2?

A: Timing is everything. When a writer is just starting out and perhaps has interest in one script, all that's needed is an experienced agent.

Having a manager and attorney may be helpful when one is building a successful career with a few "credits" in one's work history.

The boutique agencies are quite well equipped to handle most aspects of a writer's career. They will know where to submit your material. They will know how to guide your career and/or project. They will know how to negotiate a deal and review a simple contract. In the event that you are lucky enough to have a very complicated deal, then the agent should help you to bring in an attorney to help close the deal and review the paperwork.

If you have an agent that is passionate about your work, you probably won't need anyone else. This is a strong statement, but one that I know to be true.

Moving from a small agency, that believes in you and gets your material read, to a large agency is almost always a mistake. I have never seen a writer's life improve by such a move. Invariably their careers sink into little or nothing.

Michele


Networking Question

Hi Michele,

Since the internet is more pervasive nowadays than it was 10-15 years ago, how well can it serve to help screenwriters living outside of Los Angeles (assuming they have marketable scripts that studios want) to network with major industry players?

Thanks again.

Boris

Networking Answer

Q: "Since the internet is more pervasive nowadays than it was 10-15 years ago, how well can it serve to help screenwriters living outside of Los Angeles (assuming they have marketable scripts that studios want) to network with major industry players?"

A: The absolute best networking is done face to face. Anything that makes working together easier is what one must strive for. Clearly, it is better to have a personal relationship, than a distant one.

That said, if the distance cannot be closed, than one has no other choices but to use telephones and internet.

Hollywood is not simply a state of mind. It is, indeed, a place. It is where the action is and where the buyers are situated. If you are lucky enough to have a "marketable script that the studios want," then it is imperative that you try to move heaven and earth to move to Los Angeles immediately. The expression "out of sight, out of mind" is quite realistic.

You wouldn't expect to work on the Alaskan pipeline while living in Detroit.

Michele

Sit Rep

Freedom...

That feels so good...

I've just stepped down as manager of the WeHo (West Hollywood) Online Screenwriters Group like I'd been thinking I would. Except it's taken me a lot longer than I expected since I tried to give WeHo the benefit of the doubt and didn't want to do any thing hasty and irreversible.

I joined WeHo in November 2006 when it was started and became its manager in December 2006 when the owner got too busy to keep it going.

I encouraged discussion on the craft and business of screenwriting organized seven consecutive group script reads, offered a 1st draft online screenwriting workshop, a rewrite class, and a Q&A event with novel consultant Michele Wallenstein.

Unfortunately, WeHo members didn't post much, leaving me to be the single largest poster than everyone else combined. The script reads got progressively fewer critiques as time went by. People either backed out of the 1st draft workshop or didn't respond to my offer. I didn't have the energy to run the rewrite class. And no one except me asked Michele questions about networking in the film industry and the Agent/Client relationship.

The non Q&A event turned out to be the last straw; hence my bidding farewell to WeHo.

I can imagine the reaction of the WeHo members when they wake up and realize I'm gone.

My goal is to sell my fiction/film stories and be produced, not run a comatose writers site.

Now I'm free to concentrate on me.

Free...

What a sweet word.

I did manage to finish work on my rom com "Twice In A Lifetime" in which a widowed man finds love a second time, but with an engaged woman.

I'll have that consulted on, along with my Chinese Joan of Arc tale and my American "Master and Commander" epic. I'm also moving ahead with entering the Nichols and Austin contests with at least two scripts this year.

I also plan on taking a course on creating my own production company either this summer or later.

Right now, I'm eking out the newest draft of my "The Way of the Peacemaker" short fiction story for the Writers of the Future Contest. It's like pulling teeth to write 500 words in 4 hours.

Ugh...

But at least I'm on the right track with this draft. Penning the pilot story for one prospective series I have in mind to be the next thing after Star Wars and Star Trek is no easy feat it seems.

I'm still gonna do it.

And without WeHo weighing me down.

Woohoo!