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Showing posts from June, 2006

Second Act Blues

One gets to a point - in the second act - when one hits the blues . Phil and I fear it as we write. As we edge closer to the midpoint. The second act is doing a lot of stuff. It's more than 60 pages long. It's the new world and its midpoint . . . the belly of the beast . That's if you wanna quote the Syd Fields, Chris Voglers or the Bobby McKees of this world. We prefer not to at this stage. So far we haven't hit it. Maybe it's coming - maybe not - but we are treading very carefully (p55) as we go . . . Everything seems to be in order. Katy is having some very interesting moments of self-discovery. She is certainly finding herself. That's clear. But where will she go next? We wonder (we actually know because this is a 4th draft not a rough draft - but we wonder anyway). We've nearly finished our synopsis. 3 drafts of that so far. 5 and it will be ready to send. The AWG want synopses by Tuesday. Later . . .

Short Films, Festivals and Feature Films

The more one plods along, the more one understands that the gap between feature filmmaking and short film production is one gaping big canyon. A Stone Throw was finalist in an LA festival this month called Moondance . But that has little or no impact on the feature film we were writing last night. If it had won an award, it would make no difference to what we are doing right now (there is only now , people). I remember Australian filmmaker, Shirley Barret's Love Serenade (Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man) winning the Camera D'or at Cannes in 1996 . . . "Notably, the stuntman used in the final sequences died while shooting the scene, and this scene was retained for the finished product: consequently Barrett, distraught, did not make another film for four years, and then it was the major disappointment WALK THE TALK" ( leask81 review on IMDB) What a thing to happen - and then to make Walk the Talk years after. It must have been heart-breaking. G

In Development

As a newbie, one may ask, "How do I get into the film industry here in Australia?" What do I have to do? Writing and organising a team of like-minded individuals towards the common goal of actually making a movie is being in the industry. All you do is write and put together submissions or proposals. Once you are writing - you are in the film industry . You don't need anybody else to tell you otherwise. Over 95% of your time will be spent writing scripts, auditioning for a gig or meeting with actors, producers and financiers. In the last two years, I have been lucky. I was actually on set, directing . . . for nearly two whole weeks! ( A Stone Throw and Streetsmartz ). The rest of my time was spent: Writing (I'm pleased to report . . . most wannabes talk about writing. Don't be a wannabe! ). Earning a living ( building websites ). Teaching others how to write, direct and build websites (at Curtin University). Meeting with producers and greater mortals who may

Characters leaping out of the woodwork

I'm writing with Phil. He's just popped out. We're planning our next screenplay. A traditional horror about a man who sees the error of his ways - just in time. The early draft of Beware the Stingray is so busy that we've managed to extricate three screenplays out of it. One of them - the short film, A Stone Throw - is doing the festival circuit as we speak. And as we write, more characters keep leaping out - threatening to muddy the waters of our existing screenplay. But we remain vigilant. As interesting as all our ideas are, only the story-oriented ideas should remain. Jot the others in a notepad, or do like we're doing and embark on a completely different screenplay. Why are you reading this? Stop it. Get on with your own screenplay. In this materialistic, cancer-ridden nuclear paranoid society - it seems to be the only reasonable thing to do. So - if you've come to Geoffrey because you've got a really good idea. Write it! I'll tell you this for n