Chicago, good blogs and other stuff

February 21, 2010

I am in Chicago and I just finished up speaking at the SEA (Self Employed Artists) Conference. It was great I had standing room only for one of my workshops and the other one was pretty full. A great conference and a great group of people, I am glad they invited me. I look forward to coming back next year.

I will be in Chicago all week doing guest lectures at Columbia and Northwestern. It should be fun.

I am booking for the Spring and still have a few holes in my schedule. Contact me at angryfilminfo@aol.com and let’s see what we can work out.

Here is a sample from my book The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film.

“When I first got into the business, my accountant gave me some very prudent tax advice in November: "tell your clients not to pay you until after the first of the year. Then take out a loan for 90 days and invest in equipment. Then after the first of the year, you can pay off the loans with the money you're owed. Take the tax deduction for the previous year, and you'll be in good shape." It made sense to me and everyone else I talked to
because we all went to art school! I almost went bust because of that advice!

Right after I bought all of that equipment, business dropped off severely. The film business can be seasonal, especially if you are outside of LA. In Portland, it usually dies off around Thanksgiving and doesn't start picking up again until mid- to late February. Sometimes it stays busy through the end of the year, but don't count on it.

A lot of the corporate and commercial people who hire us need to get things done and money spent before the end of their fiscal year. Then they take the holidays off. Why not? They have steady salaries. After the first of the year, they need to put together budgets and plan for the rest of the year. This is a cycle I have seen over and over. There have been exceptions to this, but rarely.

By the time I got paid on what I was owed, I had other debts that accumulated, and guess what, gang? Banks will not loan you money when you need it! They only loan you money when you have money. (Don't get me started here, I hate bankers.)

Anyway, I spent nine months in hell trying to pay my bills, and I had a bunch of equipment that suddenly felt like a burden.

The upshot of all of this is:

DON'T LISTEN TO BULLSHIT MONEY PEOPLE!”

The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part One: Making The Extreme No Budget Film. It’s full of things to help you make your film. So why haven’t you bought it!

Go to my site, (www.angryfilmmaker.com) and buy it for a mere $13.50 + $3 S&H. (It is still on special) You’ll feel better about yourself in the morning.

Go check out some of my friends blogs, there is some pretty cool stuff in them…

John Gaspard - http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/
William Akers - http://yourscreenplaysucks.wordpress.com/
Nic Brown - http://bmovieman.com/default.aspx
Jon Ashby - http://www.filmrogue.com/

I’ll add more next time, but if you’re not reading these guys you’re not learning anything.

Don’t forget to check out my tour sponsors, Show Biz Software, (www.showbizsoftware.com), Pollard Design (www.pollarddesign.com), Zoom Creates (www.zoomcreates.com), and Cheezy Flicks (www.cheezyflicks.com ). If you haven’t checked out their sites and their services, you better.

Film Slug, (www.filmslug.com) will be up and running soon, but more about them later…

As always, feel free to link to my site and you can subscribe to my blog. So what are you waiting for?

Talk later.

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com

Your Screenplay Sucks!

How many times have we heard that? But this time it’s different.

Your Screenplay Sucks is the name of a new book by William M. Akers. Actually its whole title is, Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways to Make It Great. (ISBN 978-1-932907-45-2 Go to www.yourscreenplaysucks.com.)

There are so many books out there on screenwriting these days it’s hard to tell the good ones from the bad. This is one of the good ones. William Akers walks you through so many common mistakes that all writers make, not just first timers. Akers book talks to the novice writer and the experienced one. He has information for people who want to make Hollywood films, and for Independents. In his book it all comes down to the same thing, having a good story and telling it well.

Here is one passage I found extremely interesting.

“You are asking upwards of $100,000 for said work. You’re asking someone to spend from $100,000 to $100,000,000 to produce something you just made up. You need to get this stuff right. You need scene description that sings. You need to have lively minor characters. You need to run your spellcheck. Like that. What I'm telling you is simple to execute. It has nothing to do with talent or mythic story structure or round characters. I'm not telling you “how to write a great script.” There are plenty of good books for that. What I am giving you are guidelines to make sure the reader keeps reading.

I once sat next to a producer on a plane and watched her read six pages and put a script down. That writer spent months and months on his script but, for some reason, blew his chance by page six. Probably for a long list of reasons”

In William Akers world it doesn’t matter what kind of a film you are writing and what you intend to do with it, you need to make it original and interesting.

Akers wants us to tell good stories, whether we sell them to Hollywood, or make them ourselves.

He understands the writing process because he is a writer. Akers has written and sold scripts, and he teaches writing and filmmaking at Vanderbilt University. He teaches the craft of writing every day. He knows what works, and what doesn’t. But the best part is that over they years William has seen people make the same mistakes over and over. He takes those common mistakes and he addresses them.

Among the 100 things in this book are:

You picked the wrong main character! We have no rooting interest in your hero! Your Bad Guy isn’t great! Your characters do stupid things to move the story forward, a.k.a., they do stuff because you make them! You don’t have enough tension! You haven’t cut the first or last lines from as many scenes as possible! You have Q & A dialogue! Too many of your characters have names! And, You haven't cut as many “thes” and “thats” as possible!

Akers doesn’t just point these out and tell you to do them; he goes in to great detail telling us why we need to make these changes. Then he spends time giving us examples of movies that have followed these rules. And he doesn’t use obscure foreign films or independent films that we’ve never heard of. He uses examples of movies we are all familiar with. He breaks it all down so that we can see why these writers did what they did and how it helped the story.

It is a known fact that in Hollywood, readers have to read entire scripts (they’re supposed to anyway), but producers and executives are looking for excuses to put your script down. If they can put it down before they finish it, then they don’t have to think about making it. I lived in LA long enough to know that no executive ever gets fired for saying “NO!” They get fired for saying yes. They say yes to a movie and it doesn’t do well at the box office, they’re fired. We all know the story of Verna Fields at Universal rejecting George Lucas’ script for Star Wars. And as the legend goes, she was promoted.

William offers insight in to the way readers, producers, and executives look at screenplays. He helps you avoid mistakes that would make these people put your scripts down without finishing them.

This book is am amazing resource for any writer and to top it all off, it’s funny! Akers has a great sense of humor. In addition to learning, I was laughing. He has an engaging writing style and although he takes his subject seriously, you can tell he doesn’t take himself seriously. He has fun with this book. He also reprints things from the web, certain scripts, and he recounts conversations with other writers and filmmakers. What were they thinking when they were working on something? What were the problems they encountered and how did they over come them?

Ultimately William gets you to think about the writing process, and he makes you take a hard look at anything that you’ve written and see what you could have done to improve it. I have written quite a few screenplays and made a few of them in to films, and I found myself learning new things with ever page turn, or being reminded of things I was taught so many years ago.

Akers wants to help you write something great from your title page to the end. He spends quite a few pages talking about titles, the very first thing people see when they read your screenplay.

“You haven’t spent enough time thinking up a fantastic title!

Is your title a good title or a stupid title? Does it give no hint about your story? Is it a title no one will understand and no one will care about? Is it so weird that it's going to be off-putting? Is it the main character’s name? Is it hard to pronounce or spell?

If you have a less-than-stellar title, change it.”

It is rare that I enjoy a book from cover to cover, let alone a book about writing. I blasted through this book and I’m keeping it next to my computer, the easier to look at when I am writing. I don’t want to give anyone else the opportunity to tell me “Your Screenplay Sucks!”

If you don’t believe me that this is a good book, maybe you’ll believe these people…

"A book about screenwriting that reads like a good screenplay. It is so full of great stories, examples and advice that I couldn't put it down." - - Tom Schulman, Academy Award winning Screenwriter: Dead Poets Society, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, What About Bob?

If you want a pat-you-on-the-back, feel good book on writing, read Chicken Soup For The Writer’s Soul. If you want the sucker-punch-you-in-your-throat, down and dirty truth about screenwriting for Hollywood, read Your Screenplay Sucks!. - - Linda McCullough, Columbia College Chicago

“Don’t take it personal, your screenplay does SUCK. Almost all screenplays suck until you beat them into shape. William M. Akers’s book is an excellent guide through the pitfalls and easy mistakes that first time screenwriters face. His advice is honest and simple. He will make your screenplay suck less... As long as you’re willing to do the work.” - - Larry Karaszewski, writer: Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man On The Moon

You can order Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways to Make It Great. (ISBN 978-1-932907-45-2) through Akers website, www.yourscreenplaysucks.com.

In my opinion, it’s a great fucking book!

Other stuff.

Internet Special!!!!

Go to www.angryfilmmaker.com and check out my films. Between now and August 1^st, 2008 if you order any 2 of my DVDs I will send you my Sound Work Book for free! If you want to know about the three types of microphones or what the most important element in Sound Design is then you need this book. It is crammed full of tips on Sound for films. Order any 2 DVDs and you get my knowledge and sound tips for free. Two DVDs will set you back $20 + $10 shipping and handling and for that you get the Sound Work Book (a $10 value) for free. Now that’s a deal!

And just a reminder, I am available to consult on your films.

What do you get out of the deal? You get the best value and advice in making your film. No matter what stage you’re in. I’ve been in the business for 25 years, working on everything from animation to live action, Independent features, Real Independent features, Hollywood studio stuff, and documentaries. If you check out my bio and filmography (www.angryfilmmaker.com/who.htm) you’ll see I’ve worked on award winning films, and films that never got distribution.

I will look at your work honestly and objectively. If there are problems, I’ll point them out, in a constructive way. No one wants to hear, “This sucks!” My goal is to guide you through the process, so that you can see what the problems are, and we’ll come up with ways to fix them. Check out (www.angryfilmmaker.com/consulting.htm.)

My Masters Class, Making the Extreme Low Budget Film has been re-scheduled for August 18^th thru September 5^th in Franklin, Indiana. Check out www.independentcinema.net for more information as it becomes available.

Oh and Your Angry Filmmaker tip?

Buy William Akers book, Your Screenplay Sucks! Trust me, it’s worth it.

As always,

Talk later,

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com
www.myspace.com/theangryfilmmaker
www.youtube.com/theangryfilmmaker

Mid-West Weather/More Writing/New Stuff/other thoughts

First and foremost I want to say that I have been reading the news about the bad weather in the mid-west all weekend. I hope that my friends out there are doing okay. I’ve sent some e-mails to check in. I can’t believe all the bad weather you have been getting back there. Take care of yourselves.

And to my friends in the Franklin, Indiana area, (home to the Indy Film Co-op), I heard your town was really hit hard. I am so sorry. It was a beautiful town and I hope the flooding doesn’t have lasting effects. Good luck with the clean up, whenever that can start. I understand that you’re getting more rain later today. I hope you are all safe.

Take care and know that I’m thinking about you guys. I wish I could be back there to help.

From my previous blog.

Writing continued…

When I give my scripts to people I trust, I also give them a questionnaire so I can find out specific things about my story and characters. I want to know who they like, and why? I want to know if the story drags anywhere, does anything not make sense. I want them to put their thoughts in writing. That way I can compare their thoughts with others. Does more than one person have the same problem with a character or plot point? The more people agree on certain things within your script the more you know what is working, and what isn’t.

After talking to everyone, I go through all the notes and make comparisons. That usually tells me what I need to work on. I will do another draft or two and then hand my revised screenplay to the second group of people. They also get a questionnaire that usually contains the same questions that I asked the first group.

I want to see if I fixed the problems from the earlier drafts. I also want to know if I have created any new problems. Depending on the response tells me how many more drafts I will need to write.

The group that I have put together over the years is very important to me. They come from all walks of life and have all sorts of different points of view. Only one of them is a filmmaker. He is also a novelist. I rarely have other filmmakers read my scripts. Why?

Most filmmakers can’t separate themselves from their craft. They always want to talk about how I’m going to shoot something, what kind of gear I’m going to use, or they will compare my script to something else they’ve seen. (Film Geeks are even worse in this aspect.) That doesn’t help me at all! I want people who like films, but are more interested in character development and plot then blood, special effects and explosions.

I also want people who will be honest with me about the script. When someone says your script “sucks”, walk away. You will never learn anything from that person. If a person tells you they had some problems with your story and they have some questions, open your ears. You are (hopefully) going to be told honestly about problems with your story.

Many people have their own agendas when discussing your work, and that’s fine as long as you are aware of that. I always tell people that your parents and your friends will always tell you that your scripts (and films) are great. They don’t want to disappoint you.

I don’t have that problem. I can tell people that I have problems with their scripts and WHY! Why is a big thing. You need to explain why something doesn’t work for you. That helps the writer to understand where your criticism is coming from.

When I was at USC they would rip our films up one side and down the other. It was some of the meanest criticism I have ever seen and experienced. The faculty there wanted to know how badly you wanted to make films. We had a 50% drop out rate with the group that I started with.

I now have extremely thick skin and I’m smart enough to know that someone may not like my work but that doesn’t mean they don’t like me. It just means that I made something that they don’t like. That’s fine. You can’t please everyone all the time. (There are a lot of people who don’t like me or my work, trust me, I am not losing sleep over it.)

More on writing next week.

Your Angry Filmmaker Tip.

The Gospel According to Arthur: "Don't ask. Don't get!"

- - from The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide (coming really soon)

Other thoughts.

I am not sure what’s going to be happening with my Masters Class in Filmmaking this summer through the Franklin Film Institute. Let’s see what happens with the damage in the town. Go to www.independentcinema.net and we’ll post details as we know them. I’ll also post them here as well.

Find out more about the Angry Filmmaker @ www.angryfilmmaker.com. There are a lot of great tips contained in my work books. Buy one and see for yourself. You just might learn something.

I have also posted some new stuff on the site. Check out Odds & Ends, and the new page, The AF Speaks. Links to both are on the Home page, www.angryfilmmaker.com.

Take care, Bill, Josh, and all my other friends back in the mid-west. - - Kelley