Just finished my Screenplay!

[Tom Lowe]

Well it's been a year in the planning. Finally finished my screenplay for my first full-length feature to direct myself, to be shot on the RED late next summer. It's called Solace. Tons of reading, research, many long trips scouting locations and gathering ideas for the story. I definitely will say that I wrote the script slightly differently knowing how much the RED will free me up in certain ways to get spectacular images I would simply not be able to afford to get if I was shooting on 35.

There is always an odd, hollow feeling you get when you finish a creative writing project like this, in which you have been so heavily invested. On the one hand, you feel exhilarated to finish your labor of love, on the other, you feel kind of empty because the story is over.

[P Andersson]

congratulations

[Jeremy Torrie]

Well Tom, I can say the story is not quite over. It is good to step back for a week or more and let it rattle around in your brain. There is definitely a sense of accomplishment -I've finished three screenplays since last year and a Bible for a drama series. It's great to believe this particular step is done...

However, get coverage on it, and don't be too protective -i.e. believing the story is perfect...when I took creative writing in college (many years ago now) they told us we must be able to 'kill our babies' for the sake of making it better. I've had outside readers on projects really help refine the story even when I thought it was as good as it could get. But don't you know, one or two drafts later it is better than the script you thought was ready to go to picture.

I've written and story edited a number of scripts and it is really a long haul with the first or second draft still one or two away from being ready to shoot.

Even one of our best feature projects...the script was as good and tight as we could make it and been getting fairly positive reactions, until we were told by a major distributor that it would be much more saleable to incorporate a contemporary angle that I had been playing with...this script is a fantastic period piece along the lines of The Illusionist and The Prestige, but with the modern day angle, the distrib feels they can get the presales they need to invest in the picture.

[Tom Lowe]

Torrie, of course. I will edit this script a hundred or even a thousand times before shooting it. I'm a writer and novelist by profession, so editing is an obsession for me. I've got a bunch of writer/editor friends reading it right now.

I might also submit it over at Zoetrope's virtual studio, which is place where other writers critique your screenplay and give you feedback, and in exchange you have to critique the works of three others. I have found it helpful in the past.

[C.H.Haskell]

Congrats TOM...woohoo! Wow, well done...you have done what I have been trying to do for a very long time. PM when your ready to shoot cause you know I would love to help.

best

[Tom Lowe]

We'd love to have you, Haskell, I can tell you that right now!

I pm'd you about that timelapse thing. Anything you need for the doc, you got.

[Jason Francois]

Congrats Tom. Whether you've done it once or a hundred times it's still a great accomplishment.

[Rudi Herbert]

Tom,

Congrats!!! I had my script finished AND sold about a year ago, then I realized that with RED, if it was half as good as it appeared it could be, I could actually resurrect a lot of my "baby" scenes and retake a couple of subplots that I loved but were impractical. I've been in revisions ever since and close, once again, to finishing. And all I can say is that right now I envy you, I'm drained and still spending hours fussing over a single line or word... All hail the creative process!

Congrats again!

Rudi Herbert

[Thom Steinhoff]

Tom,

Congratulations! Now, could you finish mine?

[Dexter Gregoire]

We just finished doing a group reading with actors of a screenplay I will be producing next year.

A Group reading is the most powerful experience. Far more powerful than one person quietly reading then critiquing. So many things came to surface that needs to be corrected. I also recorded the whole session and also the discussion afterwards.

I learned that from a Hollywood Producer.

[number6]

Tom,

Similar circumstance as yours in re: shooting sometime second half of next year. Otherwise, have nothing on paper but can see practically every shot in my mind. I thought I pretty much had the story doun a while back but then later a scene came smack at me in a slightly different way. I always carry a recording device, so I committed my thoughts and dialogue to flash memory. Now its better.

Since there are so few characters in the first movie (which is actually the second one but I have to shoot and release it first because it will be cheaper to make) I'm thinking of acting out each part on one of those little flash mp3 players and give one to each character with the inflection and delivery I want for each line. Should make the directing part go much easier, and should also offer a template for how I want each character to project.

G'luck

[Jason Francois]

I'm thinking of acting out each part on one of those little flash mp3 players and give one to each character with the inflection and delivery I want for each line. Should make the directing part go much easier, and should also offer a template for how I want each character to project.



Uh yeah.....the actors will surely love this. :sarcasm:

[number6]

Uh yeah.....the actors will surely love this. :sarcasm:

The premise is that the "actors" will not be card-carrying professionals, so a little coaching could be helpful.

[Jason Francois]

The premise is that the "actors" will not be card-carrying professionals, so a little coaching could be helpful.

Got it. Sorry, I'm feeling a bit self-righteous and bitter tonight. Didn't mean to take it out on you. :)

[number6]

Got it. Sorry, I'm feeling a bit self-righteous and bitter tonight. Didn't mean to take it out on you. :)

S'o.k. I dish it out sometimes, so I guess I can take it too.:gun:

[liquidigital]

Congrats Tom!!

[Jeremy Torrie]

I finished one of my screenplays last month and have news today that we will actually be financed! So not only done, but money and distribution in place for the film to be made.

Considering my Red One should come sometime in January, we'll actually be in a good position to shoot at the end of February...and half of the shoot days are outdoors, which means we'll be able to put it through the most rigorous of cold weather tests. Somehow I don't think there will be a problem with overheating.

[Dan Blanchett]

I finished one of my screenplays last month and have news today that we will actually be financed! So not only done, but money and distribution in place for the film to be made.

That's awesome. I'm still laboring away on my screenplay. Looking at summer or fall 2008 now for production (mostly self-financed :unsure:), but I have a few shorts planned in early 2008. We'll see what happens.

Tom, good luck on your project! It sounds like fun.

[Randall Nott]

Congrats, Tom! Getting that first complete draft done is the hardest part, and like you say can feel anti-climatic.

The famous phrase, by the way, is "Kill your darlings," and was first said by William Faulkner. The irony is that it is one of the most quoted pieces of advise to writers (with all its variations) while Faulkner himself was hesitant to advise other writers. In his words, "Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him."

So other advise to take with a grain of salt, all actors are sensitive about being given line readings. The difference between pros and amateurs is that the pros are polite about it. The story goes that when Frank Oz was directing Marlon Brando, and gave him a specific line reading, Brando at first bristled, then politely read the line as told. He then politely called Frank Oz, "Miss Piggy", for the rest of the shoot. Now while that may be Hollywood legend rather than a true version of the facts, it's still a very real truth.

[number6]

So other advise to take with a grain of salt, all actors are sensitive about being given line readings. The difference between pros and amateurs is that the pros are polite about it. The story goes that when Frank Oz was directing Marlon Brando, and gave him a specific line reading, Brando at first bristled, then politely read the line as told. He then politely called Frank Oz, "Miss Piggy", for the rest of the shoot. Now while that may be Hollywood legend rather than a true version of the facts, it's still a very real truth.

Ha! Great story. Maybe I should not tell them that they are "actors" but just refer to them as the bricklayer or carhop or newsanchor or postal employee. That way, maybe they won't get their knickers in a knott.

[Randall Nott]

I used to have a director that would interupt actors to give the most obtuse and confusing description he could of how he would like the line read so that afte a minimal attempt at clarification the actors would say, "Just give me a line reading." Guess that's another way of fooling them.

[Jeremy Torrie]

I've worked with some big talent and found they will try to use their power to take the character in a direction they feel is right, but they actually like to be told what to do -provided you are clear and confident about your vision of that character.

[Tom Lowe]

Line reading can be helpful sometimes, if used sparingly. It all depends.

BTW, Torrie, what is your upcoming project?

[Jeremy Torrie]

It's a very cool horror film, based on the Windigo of Native legend and a very remote geographical area inhabited by malevolent spirits.

I am Ojibway BTW, so I've got some cultural background and inside info on the legend which helps make the whole story rather original, instead of simply derivative.

Funny, I was going back and forth with a distributor for a specific territory last night who was saying he sees 15-20 synopses a week for low budget horror, and he doesn't believe anything in this genre is original anymore. Of course, he hasn't read my script yet, but he did make me think: horror today is culture-less, so to speak. The genre itself is fairly derivative as far as what typically happens, and I have followed certain formulaic and structural elements but my reader notes are very keen on the cultural element and how it puts a new twist on what could be seen as very similar to say Cabin Fever...

And I was reading an interview by Bousman about the Saw franchise and he claims that without the blood he still believes there is enough of a story for people to want to watch...nice spin I guess, but I haven't been impressed with any of them (with the exception of my friend Mike Butters being in Saw 1 and Saw 4 -via flashback).

So I am pumped. I've also got a great make up guy lined up...he did plenty of work on X-Files many years ago and loves to 'play' with the yucky stuff.

[Bruce Allen]

Tom, congrats on finishing the script! That's awesome. BTW, did you mean "finished" as in "finished draft one to a state where it all holds together nicely" or as in "finished all re-writes"?

You'll have to tease us with the opening five pages ;)

Anyway, very much look forward to seeing your project progress further...

Going a little OT (I apologize)... Number6, be aware sometimes your actors blow you away with a reading that is tons better than what you had in your head. That's the best feeling ever - you feel like "wow, I am a better writer than I thought I was!" So try to leave that door open for them.

Also, every conversation is a listening game. If the actors learn their lines from your recordings, the scene might not work because they're going to be parroting out stuff AT each other instead of talking TO each other. Something in their eyes and subtle reactions to each other will die, and viewers can tell.

There are tons of ways you can get an actor to change their sentence emphasis that also promote listening.

For example, if you want Anne to say "I love YOU" instead of "I LOVE you" to James, get James to ask Anne "Who do you love?" just before she says it. Anne will find a reading that works with the emphasis on "you".

Vice versa, if you told James to ask "Do you really love me?" instead, then Anne will find herself emphasizing "love" instead of "you".

If your actor can't deal with this, then you should weed them out in the casting stage. Try to cast people who listen to other people (even if just in a subconscious way). Sometimes you'll see an actor saying a thousand things to the other one via body language etc and the other guy just won't react to any of it - very painful to watch.

Anyway, there are TONS of techniques for getting line readings. Learning those tricks are part of the fun of directing.

Bear in mind that if a good actor really can't give the right line reading, it might be a great warning that there's a problem in your script, with the character or situation, or with the actors' understanding of a character. Kinda like cracks in a house - you can paper over them but if they keep popping up, you might want to check for larger structural problems.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[number6]

T

Going a little OT (I apologize)... Number6, be aware sometimes your actors blow you away with a reading that is tons better than what you had in your head. That's the best feeling ever - you feel like "wow, I am a better writer than I thought I was!" So try to leave that door open for them.

Also, every conversation is a listening game. If the actors learn their lines from your recordings, the scene might not work because they're going to be parroting out stuff AT each other instead of talking TO each other. Something in their eyes and subtle reactions to each other will die, and viewers can tell.

There are tons of ways you can get an actor to change their sentence emphasis that also promote listening.

For example, if you want Anne to say "I love YOU" instead of "I LOVE you" to James, get James to ask Anne "Who do you love?" just before she says it. Anne will find a reading that works with the emphasis on "you".

Vice versa, if you told James to ask "Do you really love me?" instead, then Anne will find herself emphasizing "love" instead of "you".

If your actor can't deal with this, then you should weed them out in the casting stage. Try to cast people who listen to other people (even if just in a subconscious way). Sometimes you'll see an actor saying a thousand things to the other one via body language etc and the other guy just won't react to any of it - very painful to watch.

Anyway, there are TONS of techniques for getting line readings. Learning those tricks are part of the fun of directing.

Bear in mind that if a good actor really can't give the right line reading, it might be a great warning that there's a problem in your script, with the character or situation, or with the actors' understanding of a character. Kinda like cracks in a house - you can paper over them but if they keep popping up, you might want to check for larger structural problems.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

Bruce, all good points.
(Tom, avert your eyes for a moment while Bruce and I have a conversation on your thread)

And while the following is not meant to defend what I feel will be necessary, it is offered to explain it.

Unlike Tom who has a decent (HUGE in my mind) budget of around 160k (approximate amount he referred to in another thread) I will be working with a nello budget. And when you go nello, you have to take shortcuts.

One of my shortcuts is to hire people (for minimum wage and a 'success bonus') who I encounter and who's look fits my idea of the character. I hope to have two or three to choose from for each part, of which there are only three speaking, and I'm gonna do one (Brad Pitt was a much better fit, but I don't think he works nello). If successful, this will be a three movie franchise covering about a 40 year time sequence.

But anyway Bruce, if you've read a lot of the research done on political races, you know that most people make up their mind about a candidate immediately based primarily on looks. So, if I can get the right look, I think a character will work albeit with uneven acting skills. And I think if I can get them to say what I see in the way I hear it, everything will be o.k.

As you may can guess, I approach things in an uncomplicated way.

(O.k. Tom, you can look now. Thanks for the use of your thread.)

[Terry Delahunt]

Must be a great feeling Tom. Well done! Look forward to seeing this movie.

[Bruce Allen]

Number6, I'm going to PM you - you can get great actors, name actors, etc interested in working for practically nothing... But to return to topic, the way you do that is by writing a great script, pushing hard and having luck.

I think Tom has a 160k budget because some people with some money believe in him as a storyteller... That's probably how his idol Mr Malick got to direct too? (Malick is mysterious so I can only speculate?)

I think you and I have somewhat less of a budget because we haven't built that trust yet? I have a smidgen of such, but it's mostly among South Africans and the exchange rate doesn't exactly work in my favor (hence the whole HV20 thing...).

Tom, by the way, I read in another thread that you wrote a book that got picked up by Simon & Schuster? - congrats! Mind telling us the title?

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Ramesh Jai]

How does one protect one's screenplay from being plagiarised?

When you give your screenplay to another writer for views, etc., how can you be so sure they are not going to steal your ideas?

[Tom Lowe]

Well you can submit the screenplay to the Writers Guild of America, and they keep a sealed copy in their vault, in case someone tries to rip you off.

Another good idea is just to get it out to as many people as possible. Those are people who could testify in court if it ever came down to a court case.

[Jeremy Torrie]

I feel bad...my budget is a little over $1 Million not including P&A. 22 days of shooting. And you guys are talking about 160K...it's crazy. We have some some super low budget stuff -like shorts or local commecials- and the union members who work on these for cash always have a good time.

For example, we did three shorts for 15K all in (shot on DVX 100A back in the day), and the actors worked for credits. A week long shoot and people generally had a good time.

But for a whole film, I would love to try, but not something that has distribution and TV presales, etc. In some ways I guess the stakes are higher because there is more money at risk. Flawed thinking? Or a PM that is way too anal?

[Tom Lowe]

On a 1 million dollar budget, how does that work with SAG actors?

Obviously under 200K you can pay the actors $100 a day ultra-low scale.

[Jeremy Torrie]

Well, we're based in Canada so we go through ACTRA, and any SAG actors have to become signatories/pay dues...there really is no cheap way to get actors who are ACTRA or SAG to work.

While we have monster tax credits in Manitoba as incentive, we did have a situation where a prod co came up here for the free location scout (get this: the province of Manitoba pays for your stay at a four star hotel, breaks down your script for free and then drives you around town with a driver and ALM to scout locations, and they wine and dine you -at taxpayers expense- all based on the possibility of shooting up here)...when they ran our budget, they found it would be cheaper for the day players to fly in as SAG actors and pay them under SAG Indie than it was to pay local actors ACTRA rates with their 75% or 100% buyout daily rates. So, in the end, they decided to stay in Philadelphia and shoot there.

It really doesn't make sense to shoot up here unless you plan to spend at a minimum of $1 Million. THEN the advantages become worth it.

[number6]

Number6, I'm going to PM you -

Bruce, got your pm and answered you there. I trust that gives you a better understanding of my situation.


I think Tom has a 160k budget because some people with some money believe in him as a storyteller... That's probably how his idol Mr Malick got to direct too? (Malick is mysterious so I can only speculate?)

Tom hasn't said so, but I wonder if some of the proceeds from his book you refer to below aren't his main source of funding. Also wondering Tom, is your movie an adaptation of your book?


I think you and I have somewhat less of a budget because we haven't built that trust yet? I have a smidgen of such, but it's mostly among South Africans and the exchange rate doesn't exactly work in my favor (hence the whole HV20 thing...).

I've decided that tools (REDs) are my most important investment. I can McGyver all the other stuff.


Tom, by the way, I read in another thread that you wrote a book that got picked up by Simon & Schuster? - congrats! Mind telling us the title?

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

I'm thinking we'll just have to buy a ticket, like everyone else. G'luck Tom.

[Tom Lowe]

Yeah, Brewer who made Hustle & Flow did his first on DV for like 20 grand. Also, I believe Nolan and Aronofsky made very small pictures to get started. Memento was 5 million, I think, in terms of second films.

Recently there was the UK film Once, done for 160K.

[krd]

Yeah, Brewer who made Hustle & Flow did his first on DV for like 20 grand. Also, I believe Nolan and Aronofsky made very small pictures to get started. Memento was 5 million, I think, in terms of second films.

Recently there was the UK film Once, done for 160K.


Aronofksy would go in the first category: <$100K. I believe Nolan's first was actually <$10K. "Once" was done for $50K, all of it Irish arts council money. I've seen that $160K figure too, but it's wrong. The director said 30,000 pounds.

But you caught me on Memento: that's one $5 million movie that hit the jackpot. However, it's ain't really arthouse (though I believe I saw it in one).

[Tom Lowe]

I would call Memento arthouse, but reasonable people could disagree on that.

Maybe the 160K number was the result of some added sound design, etc, after it was picked up? I really enjoyed Once. It had its flaws, but it was impressively made.

[donatello b]

just saw Quinceañera on DVD and in the extra's they state it was a 250K budget ...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0451176/

[Dan Blanchett]

Where there's a will there's a way-- particularly if you have a solid story. I'm making my film for around $100K, a Sci-Fi feature no less, but I'll own all the equipment. I'm short on cash, but long on time, and will likely end up doing all the post and some FX myself. Then it's off to the festivals and hopefully some kind of distribution. I don't have unrealistic expectations of a big theatrical release or selling for millions at Sundance (highly unlikely) but if it gets picked up and seen, even just on DVD, I'll be happy for my first attempt. Meanwhile I'll be working on my next feature and trying to keep the train going.

[krd]

Where there's a will there's a way-- particularly if you have a solid story. I'm making my film for around $100K, a Sci-Fi feature no less, but I'll own all the equipment. I'm short on cash, but long on time, and will likely end up doing all the post and some FX myself. Then it's off to the festivals and hopefully some kind of distribution. I don't have unrealistic expectations of a big theatrical release or selling for millions at Sundance (highly unlikely) but if it gets picked up and seen, even just on DVD, I'll be happy for my first attempt. Meanwhile I'll be working on my next feature and trying to keep the train going.

Have you seen Primer? It's a Sci-Fi film done very cheaply, maybe $7K shooting expenses (on film!) by an absolute novice, and won the Grand Prize at Sundance a few years ago - one of those cases where the jury made an effort to give the award to a real independent rather than a corporate-funded one, even if the craft wasn't of the highest order.

It's very smart and very well conceived, for what it is. Had a brief and unprofitable theatrical run, thanks to the Sundance award. Don't know what the guy's doing now.

[Dan Blanchett]

Have you seen Primer?

I did in fact. Very cool little film. Breakthroughs like that are possible, just not probable. I would be estatic with that level of success for a first film.

[Jeremy Torrie]

I was at the Sundance Institute a few months after it premiered there and they told us the golden story...he storyboarded everything -and you can tell in the opening sequence that he did- but of course Carruth starred in it with one of his buddies and they did beg, borrow and steal every way they could. For what it was, very commendable -the idea worked well enough that you wanted to see how it played out.

I know he's at WMA but beyond that I don't know if he's done anything else. I'm sure there is some script in development land somewhere for his next project.