Screenwriting in today's market

Screenwriting in today's market is a bit different than it was a decade or two ago. You can no longer expect what you once could. Many of the myth's about get rich quick by writing a killer screenplay are from some years ago, as myths are wont to do, dwell on long after they happened and are no longer relevant.

As always but now more than ever, a writer needs, if they want to make it as a full time professional, to be a jack of all trades and master of all of them. Consider this:

When you see this kind of volume,and if you consider that even 10% of these scripts are good and going to get past this stage, then less of that will sell, well, okay even that may be high, but you get the idea. You are competing against a lot of talent and more importantly, a lot of volume. Because no matter whether all or none of these scripts gets bought, it is still a lot to go through. What we used to call in the IT (information technologies) field, security by obscurity. You can consider your item safe because there is so much to wade through to get to "the one", that you seemingly never find it. Yet, somehow, they do.

Consider your emails, what if you had to read all the spam that comes across every day without using any filtering software? I have had one of my email accounts since about 1995. I get a lot of spam. But if I didn't filter, I'd never see the important emails I really care about. It's much the same with scripts. You have to filter out the fluff and riff raff to get to the quality stuff.

And so, your script has to stand out. That first page has to explode.

You also have to diversify. There's two reasons for this. One, is that you have to be prepared to answer when opportunity knocks, whether it is for screenplays, or any other form of writing. Two, you have to be versatile. Versatility gives you more range in your screenwriting. That means, you have to not only write as much as possible, certainly on a daily basis, but you also have to read, as voraciously as possible. When you're not reading (fiction, books on writing, history), you should be watching movies, examining what works, what doesn't what you can use, what you shouldn't.

In the end, if you feel like becoming a screenwriter, and this goes for most writing areas, you have to stand out; and to stand out, you have to earn that standing by being extraordinary. Do more work than other writers. Do it as a profession, not a hobby. Do it as a Zen Monk, make it the end all be all of your life; at least until you get somewhere.

It took not only writing for years off and on, but contacting people over the years, giving me references to go back on, name drop, have an attitude of already being what I wanted to be, to get people's attention. Once you have done the work, you have to have a presence available for people to "see" you, know about you, hear about you. Then when you are in contact with people, you have to make them want contact with you, to hold that contact with you and to want to contact you again.

Someone said once that in pitch meetings you are selling yourself, not just your script. You have to let them know they will enjoy working with you, you can handle what they throw at you, you can persevere and produce again and again.

And if you can get all that done, you can make it. Just remember one thing, its a marathon, not a sprint.

FDR - President Franklin Delanore Roosevelt

In these times of how we look at and some say, disrespect our current US President, it is at times useful to look back at how some perceive our past US Presidents. Here are some items related to past US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, generally considered one of our great past Presidents:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. (FERA acquired 25 million dollars of land by mid-1935; the Resettlement Administration later bought many millions of Acres; FDR called for national land redistribution in his 1st inaugural)

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. ("...the duty rests upon the government to restrict such incomes by very high taxes." FDR, PPA 1935:274; 1935 Wealth Tax Act; FDR imposed a 90 percent rate on corporations and issued a decree that no one could make more than $25,000 after taxes - overridden by Congress.)

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. (1935 Wealth Tax Act with its confiscatory inheritance taxes)

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. (cf. 117,000 Americans of Japanese descent 1941 which the ACLU calls "the worst single wholesale violation of civil rights of American citizens in our history." FDR wanted to put ethnic Germans in concentration camps too, but there were too many.)

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. (Banking Act of 1935, gold confiscation by Proclamation 2039 in March 1933 and formalized in the 1934 Gold Reserve Act, etc.)

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. (Federal Communications Act of 1934, Railroad Coordination Act, ICC, FTC; FDR put private air mail carriers out of business and had the Army deliver mail in '34)

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. (TVA (FDR proposed 7 other TVA-like projects), Rural Electrification; the NRA was business and industrial planning; on 8/14/41 the House rejected FDR's Property Seizure Bill passed by the Senate which would have given him dictatorial power over all business and industry as well as confiscated all private arms; Resettlement Administration)

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. (CCC, CWA, PWA, WPA, etc)

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. (Subsistence Homestead Division, Rural Rehabilitation Division of FERA, and the Resettlement Administration)

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. (NRA)

From: WRH Articles

PublishAmerica.com

I had never heard of PublishAmerica.com before today. Someone posted on a facebook group for writers asking if anyone had experienced any difficulty with them. I looked around and found three sites regarding this right off. Not a good sign. Interesting to note, also that the first seven results on the Google page were for (and undoubtedly paid for by) PublishAmerica.com. In my book never a good sign.

• From Publish America is a scam (.com) - It takes some pissed off people to create a web site titled something like "I hate you".com
• True Stories from people who dealt with PublishAmerica.com
• From Here are the reasons we don't recommend PublishAmerica.com

I don't know but I would suggest staying away from them. Here is the first paragraph from that last URL by poster JennaGlatzer:

"Here's an analysis of some of the reasons I don't recommend PA. Below, other writers will tell you more...
QUOTATIONS FROM PUBLISHAMERICA'S WEBSITE:
--"The majority of our books that are sold retail are sold in physical brick and mortar bookstores."
I dare you to walk into any brick and mortar store and find even one copy of one PublishAmerica book. Authors have gone crazy trying to get their books shelved, but they can't (unless they find a sympathetic local manager) because the books are unedited, print-on-demand, overpriced, and nonreturnable. None of this is explained on PublishAmerica's site, of course. Authors are repeatedly led to believe that their books will be "available in bookstores nationwide," that they'll be invited for book signings, etc. Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble has sent letters to PublishAmerica authors to say that they WILL NOT stock PublishAmerica books."

Someone else there, Patricia, said this:

"Press release, if sent at all, rejected by most major and small town newspapers."

Short version:

Your book won't be on the shelves in any stores unless you go in person and beg. And not even that is guaranteed.

James D. Macdonald said:
"Here's why your local bookstores will be hesitant to stock your books:

• High cover prices
• Short discounts
• Non-returnable books
• Poor editing/poor production values

Here's why the stores you don't visit won't stock your book:
All of the above plus:

• No salesforce
• No catalog
• No trade advertising
• No major reviews"

I know the urge to become a published author, but stay away from these kinds of people. Find small press publishers, check book stores for their books. Research before you leap, is the key thought here. If it sounds too good, it is too good, is another prime contender. I know many authors are desperate to become published. I fully understand that feeling. But tis better to never become published than to be scammed. 


Before you ever do or sign anything, look them up on Google, or elsewhere, read what other people say, check with the Better Business Bureau, Writer's Guild of America, East OR West.

Always remember, think, research, look around before you Leap.

National Women's History Month - March

Yes, March, is National Women's History Month.

Visit the National Women's History Project.

Let's talk a moment about the state of women in the US today. Women make 80 cents on the dollar to men. The US is ranked 90th in the world for women in legislative positions. Seventeen percent of the House of Representatives are women. In Rwanda it is fifty-six percent. Afghanistan, Iraq, China and Cuba have more women in legislative positions. Three percent of fortune 500 companies are owned by women. Seven percent of the directors in Hollywood, ten percent of the writers in the top 250 grossing films, are women. Budget cuts are disproportionately hurting women. [from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newscom D.-Calif.]

Look at Family Planning, the most trusted agency in America, whose abortions are approximately three percent of what they do and who have been attacked by the Republicans by cutting funding, is going to increase abortions by 40,000 more new ones. Cutting their funding is not in any way going to save money, it is a religious agenda propagated by the Christian, mostly Republican, right and is a travesty and a horror. One out of either women have used family planning and so most women know how good Family Planning is for America.

And remember, we're not out of the dark ages yet. A low still on the books in Michigan states that a woman isn't allowed to cut her own hair without her husband's permission.

From the NWHP brochure:

∗ The Labor Movement which began as early as 1765 when women formed the first society of working women.
∗ The Women’s Suffrage Movement which was launched in 1848 at the first women’s right conference held at Seneca Falls, NY.
∗ The Civil Rights Movement in which women held a variety of roles from leader-ship to organizers to participants.
∗ The Women’s Rights Movement which was re-energized in the 20th Century with what is called the Second Wave.
∗ The Environmental Movement in which women played a key role from the early 19th century and which was officially launched on Earth Day, April 22, 1970

Test your knowledge of women with the NWHP quiz.

Now, go out about be nice to the women in your life. Strive to make their lot in life better, at home, at work, on the street.

Weekend Wise Words

Before I get started, I would like to bring you the words of Gloria Steinem on Real Time With Bill Maher, from last night. At first, I thought she was going to reference the 1991 Sheen vehicle (movie), "Hot Shots!" or '93s "Hot Shots! Part Deux", but no, she went one better:

"If Charlie Sheen had an Air Force, he would be Kadafi."

And now on to our regularly scheduled programming:

This weekend I bring you, the Wisdom of Charlie Sheen (also check out the Charlie Sheen talking head web site:

 Charlie and his "Goddesses", Natalie Kenly and Rachel Oberlin

• "I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available. If you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body." - Let's leave that to the side for now and let's not come back to it.
• "I'm Not Bipolar, I'm Bi-winning" - Yes, of course you are.
• "I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen." - What Chuck is saying here, is if you are going to be on drugs, you be the drug you are on. It goes further than that really, because you have to be a drug you would want to, or need to, be on. Obviously, Charlie is "crack" to Charlie.
• "I’m on a quest to claim absolute victory on every front." - There isn't much to explain here; this, is a good idea, do claim victory on every front, but achieving, but working at it, by, excuse me for saying this, winning."
• "Faith is for winners. Hope is for losers." - This is true in a way. Hoping is when you cannot do anything about something; Faith is believing the change will occur. The only issue here is that if you have Faith in something, you have to also work toward making it come true. Hoping it will come true infers a lack of effort.
• "I was banging seven gram rocks and finishing them. Because that’s how I roll." - This could explain much of what has been going on with him recently. To do that much cocaine is to do at least some degree of brain damage and could explain much of what is about to be said.
• "Got to dismiss these clowns." - True. When people are getting you down, but considering you are doing what you need to be, and should be doing, you simply have to dismiss the nay sayers, the haters, the ignorant.
• "I’ve got tiger blood, man." - Yes, indeed. One has to believe one has some kind of superiority and the blood of a tiger is as good as any.
• "Gnarly gnarlingtons." - Yes, uh, uhum, okay, well, now....
• "I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total, bitchin’ rock star from Mars." - This is a very useful thing to do, to believe you are what you want to be; of course, without the realms of delusion, not within.
• "I have a disease? Bullshit. I cured it with my brain." - I believe this is a misintended, but quite a partially true statement. He does seem to have a disease called Bullshit. Whether or not he has cured himself, is yet to be seen.
• "Resentments are the rocket fuel that lives in the tip of my sabre." - Yes, uhuh. Okay.
  
• "Work fuels the soul." - I suspect he's read this somewhere. And wasn't it music, that fuels the soul?
• "Apocalypse Now will teach you how to live inside of a moment between a moment." - Um, yeah, sure, how many grams of what? Really I have no idea about that one.
• "Winning. Everyday." - Nuff' Said!

We have had fun poking fun at Charlie, but really? He's manic, his thinking is grandiose, he's only stopped doing drugs for a short time which tends to lead to this kind of mania and grandiosity. He needs help, he needs serious hospitalization for months, six in fact, wouldn't be ridiculous. I wish him well. He made me laugh many times on watching his show "Two and a Half Men" with my own son. Maybe he has the strength to kick this, but we have many months to go to prove that.

All the best Charlie. Take care of your kids by taking care of yourself.

ID, Ego, Super-Ego using the famous as placeholders

Looking at the Freudian view of Id, Ego and Super-Ego, sometimes it's handy to view it by giving it handles, or short hands, symbols or something.

Consider the Id. Think, Charley Sheen, in his current metamorphosis.

Chuck Lorre (one of my favorite guys) with Charlie

"It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of that is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego." -- Sigmund Freud, "New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" [1933] (Penguin Freud Library 2)

Consider the Ego. Think, Dr. Phil

"The Ego acts according to the reality principle; i.e. it seeks to please the id’s drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bringing grief." -- Mead, Merrill (Feb. 1984). "Ego Development and Psychopathology: A Study of Hospitalized Adolescents"

Consider the Super-Ego.Think, Your Mom (yes, Mom, considering everyone has one, I'm stretching it to say, Mom's, are famous).

"The Super-ego works in contradiction to the id. The Super-ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self-gratification. The Super-ego controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially acceptable ways." -- Snowden, Ruth (2006). "Teach Yourself Freud" McGraw-Hill.

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, consider this, you are sitting in a room with Charlie Sheen, Dr. Phil, and yes, your Mom. A really hot girl walks by (okay okay, a really hot guy, if you're female, or gay, or bi, or confused, or whatever). 

Your Charlie thought is first and it is:

"Oh my God, Baby! Hmmm.... How can I have sex with that girl?"

(okay OKAY, maybe it's a guy, whichever! geez....).


But you're thinking, "I want", and "how do I get"; you are fully motivated to getting instantly what you want. 

First off, that is just stupid. If you could have every girl (guy) you wanted, instantly, well, how boring would THAT be? You'd be like that guy in the Twlight Zone episode who was a gambler and wanted to always win. After about one night he was ready to kill himself as he had no more thrill and he realized that it wasn't the winning, it was the thrill, the anticipation, the fear of losing, the many things OTHER things than the simple winning, or "getting", that turned him on. Sad, it was.


So, its about here now that Dr. Phil looks at you, KNOWS what you're thinking and says in that ridiculous southern drawl that goes in and out with his speech:


"You know, you should just go up to her if you want her, maybe straighten up a bit, maybe think about how you could get her just a little bit more; think, consider her feelings, you see, that will help you get laid. Be nice first off, engage in conversation. Talk about anything BUT sex. Entice her. Think about all the ways you can be clever and achieve your goal. Carpe Diem, Dude!"

Okay, no I didn't forget, same goes for if it were a guy. 


So what are we missing? Oh yes, Mom. So Mom says:


"No. You don't need her. Go find a nice girl, marry her, have a job, education first. Get engaged for a LONG time, let ME meet her and decide if she's right for you. Or just refuse to have sex or think about sex, or know about sex. Maybe you should go to church, or start building a nice jigsaw puzzle."


About just this time, you're probably losing your lust for the... person.


Welcome, to the Id/Ego/SuperEgo (I/E/SE) conundrum. Now you can understand why people are so screwed up, huh?


So, who is usually going to win out? 

Quite depends upon your make up as a person, don't you think? Your genetics, your evolution as a human being (no, not that kind of evolution, I mean SINCE you were born, socially, psychologically, etc.), who has been in your environment and what has that environment been to you; and, oh yes, let's not forget, luck. 

Why do I bring this all up? I don't know. I have watched a bunch of Charlie Sheen videos this week. It made me start to think about the I/E/SE thing. How nice it would be if we could be all Id, like Charlie, or House on, you know, the TV show, "House" (Love that show), or Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) on TVs "Lie to Me" (Love that show). Why do I like these shows? Because these are characters who do whatever they want, or think the want, or think needs to be done with no consideration for anyone else.

What a dream, yes?

But at House shows rather frequently, he wonders about the things he does, the pain he causes, but he realizes he is basically a sociopath, not so different than a serial killer, except that he is a doctor, sworn to save lives, and is oriented toward that; and so, he continues on.

God, what a relief that would be, don't you think? No concerns for reaction, or pain, or consequences.

Well, yes, but I am quite content with my pseudo safe, calm, quiet life. For now. But who knows what the future may bring. Charlie wasn't always like this. Was he?

Stewart Middle School Tacoma, WA - Fight Club

Wow, I happened to randomly turn on the local news before I headed into Seattle this morning about 5:30AM, and there was a news article about my old Alma mater, Stewart Jr. High, now Stewart Middle School.

It would seem that nine sixth-grade boys suspected of participating in a so-called "fight club" have been expelled ( first rule of fight club, for a reason, is "You don't talk about fight club" as is Rule Number Two). But these kids recorded it on their cell phones and there it was, on the news, images of two kids beating the hell out of one another in the boy's bathroom.

1940s photo of Stewart Jr. High (now Middle School)

When I went to Stewart, it was grades 7-9, now 6-9. I was scared enough and got in enough fights as a 7th grader. I can't imagine what its like being a sixth grader. But back then I was fighting in Karate tournaments and it wasn't much for me to have a fight at or on the way to or from school, as I was fighting about five fights a night at the dojo anyway. 

Still...FIGHT CLUB in sixth grade? Give me a break. I never liked the middle school concept, nor the 9th graders in high school. But, I don't have any say over it. Then again, maybe kids are just maturing faster now.

But rather than these kids getting in trouble , they should simply give them a place to expend their energy. Like I said, I got mine out in the dojo and in tournaments. These were point fighting and even then it was sometimes terrifying. But it let you walk down the street with a sense of accomplishment, confidence and an ability to at least try to protect yourself.

I thought this was just the first time this had happened, but even doing a cursory search online I found others from previous years. Other Fight Clubs in Jr Highs over the years:

2005

2006

2008

2010: and again, and again.

All I can say is hey kids, THIS, is Fight Club....

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in 1999s Fight Club

What you're doing is Play Club. And if that's what you're really into, find a gym or a dojo, dojang, or whatever you want to call it. It seems like its fun being in charge of your fun, but chew on this for a while. You're a kid. If someone gets really hurt, you're gonna regret it.

Okay, I know there aren't any kids reading this. So I guess if I direct this at the assumed audience here, I should be saying that if your kid gets caught being in one of these surreptitious haphazard organizations, go easy on them. Don't punish the symptom, find the cause, and give it an appropriate affect. Find them a better outlet, and it may not be what you want or thing it should be.

My mother may be half crazy (or all crazy) but she did do some smart things while I was growing up that people raised eyebrows over at the time. I was gun crazy since very young, typical of many boys born in the 1950-60s and before.

 1958 on the way to Spain, this made media outlets all over the world

 Done as a joke, childhood best friend Dave and I, 1973 when he was on leave from the Army

Out for a day shooting: My buds when I was in the Air Force, in Spokane, WA, about 1977-78

Georgian Craig, Local Tony my civilian friend and California Dan

Before you think I'm some kind of psycho, I was raised during Vietnam, I studied a killing martial art Isshinryu Karate and during my University years in the early 80s I began to follow the Buddha Dharma as it was very close akin to Zen, Asian thought I'd grown into since Karate days and Phenomenology which I was studying at that time. I don't believe in killing, but I do believe its necessary at times, e.g., when its you or them, when someone is going to harm a child, or kill someone and its a trade-off, obviously, the innocent wins out against the aggressor at that point.

Anyway, mom got me into an "gun club" sanctioned by the Tacoma Police Department. I want to do dangerous stuff, she got me into Civil Air Patrol and we learned how to support and perform search and rescue, for real. This was no cub scout stuff. We were really hanging off of cliffs, getting lost in the mountains, learning how to get found, find your way out, find others who were lost. I landed my first small plane at Tacoma Industrial Airport (now Tacoma Narrows Airport) across the Narrows Bridge from Tacoma in eighth grade. What the photo below doesn't show you is that on the right, as you're flying into the landing strip, you are facing a shear cliff face that is daunting but fairly safe due to the updraft.

Tacoma Narrows Airport

I got into fights all through grade school and it was seldom me and another kid in a fight, it was frequently me against a group of boys. So she stuck me in Karate just before the beginning of sixth grade.

Yes, I ended up doing some crazy things like going sky diving for the first time at seventeen. This one my mom put her foot down on though. Whoever, when I got to the air field with a couple of friends one day, and found out you only had to be like fifteen (actually they were questioning if there even was a requirement by age at that time), I signed up and paid my fee and went home pumped up and proud after 5 hours of training and a 3,000ft jump (I hit the target, no one else did that day). Mom, wasn't happy, but she was glad I wasn't smeared all over a landing strip at Thun Field in Puyallup.

Thun Field, Puyallup, WA (now Pierce County Airport)

So, in summing up. Fight Club, bad. Kids wanting to do Fight Club, well, need an outlet. You're the parent. Get on it!