this is the long-belated third post in my series: The Journey So Far
you can read the previous posts here where i discuss the “release” of Rain Dogs and here, in which i discuss the three Black List reviews i purchased for Rain Dogs – this was almost two years ago, in July 2020
so what’s been happening? – asks no one
let’s see, let’s see ... perhaps the best way to start is to begin by addressing some of the stuff i mentioned in the last TJSF post
social media
so, i’m still dabbling around on facebook and insta (as teh kidz say) – but i’m not a fan
my involvement (which may be overstating it) is, when i come across something i think others may be interested in, i share it – and when i write a blog post, i share a link to it – in either case, i get a handful of likes, a comment or two (which often miss the point) ... and that’s about it
my hopes of “meeting” some like-minded people who i could have a conversation with has, to date, not come to fruition
with screenwriting groups, i guess i also had some vague hope that i might learn something from them – but this didn’t really happen – i may have picked up something, some useful snippet, but if i did, i can’t remember what it may have been
... now i think about it, i probably did learn about a couple of script hosting sites and stuff like that, via screenwriting groups – but i don’t think i learned anything about the craft of screenwriting ... but then, i have been dabbling for a long, long time
overall i find the screenwriting groups a tad depressing and tedious – you can only read so many posts or comments from Save-the-Cat fundamentalists, Final Draft evangelists and script-competition hustlers before you get seriously disillusioned with the level of discourse in many of the groups
and this is not a dis on the moderators (well, not all of them) who have the unenviable job of trying to keep things civil and on-subject – although, in their unending quest to keep things nice, they do sometimes stumble – like when i posted a link to an article inspired by Don’t Look Up which discussed how to write a story about a hyperobject, and it was taken down because it was deemed to be “too political” – like it’s even possible to write something that is apolitical
so what we end up with is question-after-question from people who have never read a script and, apparently, don’t know how to use a search engine – plus endless, useless debates over “we see” and “directing on the page” and whether it’s okay to type “FADE OUT” at the end of a feature script
arghh!
that said, i’ll be posting a link to this post on facebook and insta, so ...
producer/director
things have progressed with the producer/director who was attracted to Rain Dogs – however it’s still languishing in want of funding – so i did what they suggested, and wrote a (slightly) cheaper movie
The Last Discovery is a cosmic horror story set in the Australian outback – the producer/director praised the script, but said, “it wasn’t for me”
now i know what you’re thinking, isn’t IWFM code for “the script is shit” – well, yes, sometimes it is ... and, in my many dark moments, i thought the same myself – however the fact that we are now working together on an original screenplay suggests that they may, in fact, have been sincere
released scripts
since releasing Rain Dogs and The Last Discovery out into the wild, i have also released The Abbey and, most recently, Pursued
The Abbey is a hugely extravagant take on Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” set aboard a floating city in the near future – i love it, but am under no illusions in regard to it ever being produced in it’s current form
one option would be to make it cheaper, like animating it an anime-like style – this would also make depicting the orgy scenes less tricky
or alternatively, given the richness of the setting, we could go the other way and extend the story into a limited “event” series
Pursued is a story about getaway driver trying to escape across the desert while being pursued by murderous bikies, corrupt cops and a strange, ravaging monster – think Predator meets Mad Max ... but before society collapses and we all start wearing S&M gear
scripts in-progress
there’s the screenplay i described in TJSF - Part 2, as taking place in a unique, alien dimension – titled Oubliette, it is >this close< to getting done – but it needs some tweaks to a few character interactions etc, before i can share it with my readers – but given how expensive it would be to produce, i’m thinking my time may be better spent working on:
• low-budget creature feature – another spec script
• producer/director project – as noted above
• U.S. producer project – see subhead below: “Script Revolution”
of course, you can’t have been dabbling for as long as i have without having a few scripts mouldering away in a bottom draw somewhere – you often read how writers go back to their early screenplays and cringe at their awfulness and, I must admit, there are some cringey aspects to these old screenplays, but they’re certainly not that bad that they can’t be be saved
so, in addition to the above, i have: the one set in a Siberian diamond mine in which a spoiled heiress discovers she is “the one” – the one about the scientist who duplicates his consciousness onto a computer and then wonders if “he” can be trusted – and – the one with a marsupial super hero who learns that her creator is also the villain
in short, story ideas ain’t the issue – time is … oh, and money – money is also an issue
Script Revolution
this is a website where you can host your scripts for free, or you can pay a small yearly fee to support the site and get the extra benefits of being a “RockStar” (which i do)
i won’t spend time spruiking [1] Script Revolution here, so go to the site and check it out
it was on Script Revolution where my 3-page script You’re Early was found by Mark Hensley who turned it into a fantastic little short that has won a couple of gongs and got me a listing on IMDb – whoop! whoop!
two other directors, one in Germany and one in India, also found You’re Early on Script Revolution and asked permission to produce versions in their native languages – to which i said, YES! – which reminds me, i must touch base and see how they’re going ...
Script Revolution is also where an American producer came across The Last Discovery – they liked it enough to ask if they could shop it around, to which i said, YES! [2]
then, after some back and forth, they then asked if i’d like to look at a short script they had, for the purposes of turning it into a feature – once again i said, YES! – over the next week or two, we bounced emails and texts back and forth until we got to the point where we were both happy with how the concept was shaping up – we are now at a stage where i can begin outlining the script ... once the paperwork is done [3]
ScriptHop
ScriptHop is another site where you can host your scripts for free ... with the added ability to create “packets” of pitch documents including character bios, visuals etc for a monthly (!) fee
i was an early adopter of ScriptHop [4], when it was ALL free and, as the new pricing structure is relatively recent, i’m not sure how many of the bells and whistles my free plan still includes [5]
the idea of script packets sounds interesting and worthwhile, but i found creating the packets very time consuming ... that said, structuring the info did occasionally reveal stuff i missed or suggest ideas that could improve the screenplay, so there is that
currently i have Rain Dogs, The Last Discovery and The Abbey hosted there – i will, when i get some time, set about creating the packet elements for Pursued
to date i haven’t received any nibbles via ScriptHop
impact
back in mid 2020 i saw that Impact had teamed up with Netflix and were looking for large scale action-adventure film for all audiences – i had something partly-written, that filled the brief and spent a week putting together all the info required ... needless to say, it disappeared without a trace
blog posts
not all my blog posts are dreary recitations of what i’ve done – some are actually about stuff – below are a few of them:
• Pulse-o-meter Analysis of Classic Horror Movies – in which i “analyse” seven classic horror movies and discover that they tend to get scarier toward the end – includes downloadable PDFs
• The Screenwriting Iceberg – in which i argue the screenwriting iceberg is an inversion of the classic iceberg
• The Screenplay Skeleton – a rant
• Horror Fans: A Taxonomy ... of sorts – in which i describe the six different types of horror fan
• Comparing screenplay structures – eight gurus and eight screenplay structures – who got it right? – includes downloadable PDF
• Alien Empress – my pitch for Part 5 of the Ellen Ripley saga
• In praise of partners – not screenwriting partners, the other ones: POWs (Partners Of Writers)
• the toxic myth of ‘Lord of the Flies’ – in which i wonder, is the Humans Are the Real Monsters trope actually causing HARM?
• Picturesque Dialogue – a neat little exercise to help you find your characters’ distinct voices
[1] spruik – (Australian) to sell or promote – from spruiker, the ladies and gents who used to (and probably still do) stand outside certain stores and yell about the high quality and low prices of the merchandise therein
[2] at the time of writing i’m awaiting for the paperwork, to make our agreement official
[3] see [2]
[4] i learned of ScriptHop through Script Revolution, who aren’t afraid to “share the love”
[5] ... ah, just checked, i’ll have access to the bells and whistles until January 2024! thanks, ScriptHop!