Why haven't I been writing? What is the deal? I have been holding out waiting to see if we sold Wheels of Fortune. Then recently I have been waiting to see if any funding came through for the few script outlines I have submitted.
I keep thinking if I buy myself a new laptop I will then be ready to write write and write. Yeah right.
However, that is no excuse not to be writing while I wait. Hopefully I am done wasting time, and now will be more motivated to get some ink to the page.
Working in the Film and Television industry is a hard field to get a head in. Within that field probably the hardest area to work on is being a writer. Writers must be a self loathing group, why else would you try to make a living at it.
The big script sell that was building up for the last eight months for Wheels of Fortune has fallen through. At times it looked like a sure thing, then it sort of seemed doom. Then there was a glimmer of hope, but finally the producer decided to pass. Which was too bad.
We hit the ground running with that one and it looked like we were going to be very lucky making a sell on our first time out. Too keep my positive energy up, I do tell myself that I am lucky to have even gotten the script on to the desk of a big producer. let alone have discussions with him about it.
Wheels of Fortune isn't dead yet. The local producer who had been working as a go-between for us, still has a few ideas to milk some life out of the script. So we can only hope that something can be done with it.
The next step is to get an agent who can knock on doors and hawk the script for us. Its a strong story and can have a life for the right team.
Mean while I am working with my local producer to secure some development funds for a new script idea, or two even.
Is it a tell-tale sign that I haven't been writing in my blog about writing? Does that suggest to you that I haven't written any thing to write about, or does it say that I am not writing at all?
Or maybe it shows that I am too busy writing to write anything (in my blog). Wishful thinking.
When writing I respond best to using a muse. Even if its just a song, or a picture, I can be inspired to create entire scenes around that item. With my characters I like to use amuse as well. I cast the character in my mind and the persona of that actor to help develop the character. It works very well for me.
For my Ophelia story, now set in contemporary times, I have a rough idea of who I wanted her to be, besides what Shakespeare had already written. Ophelia is a teenager, so she is complicated as teenage girls are. Still a child in some ways, but struggling with adult issues in other ways. And of course so much of what affects the self esteem of a teenage girl is boys. Her boy being of course the older and dangerous Hamlet.
Ophelia's life is complex. Her mother is not in the picture. We can assume dead. Her father has questionable morals. Her older brother wants nothing to do with the family and got away as soon as he could. She is in love with the much older troubled playboy son of his father's (now dead) boss.
She is an innocent young girl caught up in a world of deceitful adults. Just like any teenager, she just wants to live her life, and is confused by the world around her. But there are time when she does feel free and is happy. Her life is full of highs and lows.
So I was on the look out for a muse to use on Ophelia. To inspire myself I have created a soundtrack in an iTunes playlist with songs that I feel reflect her best and emotes the tone of certain scenes that I listen to as I write.
Originally I was using Winona Ryder's character from Reality Bites as a template. Winnie has that sweet, confused, strong yet innocent persona that is very appealing. There are elements of that character and that persona which I will keep and use.
However, flipping through youtube I have come across a couple of videos that capture elements of Ophelia very clearly. One youtuber I found is a girl called mememolly.
Mememolly plays Ophelia better than I could have written. She is Ophelia. A beautiful teenage British girl who loves music and being creative. She loves her friends and lives a rich fantasy life. She makes little videos that are playful or moody or reflective. Ranging the field of emotions that makes some one interesting. Mememolly is a very smart girl. She has created this internet persona that has all the likable qualities about it. She is a youtube superstar in the youtube world with millions of views on her videos. I have never heard of her until now, but her popularity shows how appealing that 'character' can be. What is important to me is that it has all the elements I want for Ophelia. This girl (now a woman because the clips are old) could probably do a better job of writing the character of Ophelia than I could. So I will steal what ever I can.
The other is a clip I found that has a scene I want to recreate for the script. It is just a goofy 'girls having fun' moment that can show Ophelia in a good place of being happy. I am not sure if the clip is real or created. There are undertones that are a sexual, which plays well for Ophelia's coming of age and touches on her relationship with Hamlet. I don't think this second clip will play because you seem to have be logged in and over 18 to play. The content doesn't seem to warrant that restriction, but I don't make the rules.
The scriptWheels of Fortune that Dwain and I have have been working on for ages is done. Well, nothing is ever down if you keep it front of you, so we sent it away so we would stop writing it.
Lucky Dwain has been able to meet with a Producer we know, who is looking at the script and coming back with notes for us. This Producer (obviously I am not name dropping) is also sending the script with a great cover letter to some other Hollywood Producer contacts.
It's a nice step. Nothing to get excited about, but is a step. It's something. Better than nothing. More than others could say. So that is where Wheels is at.
There is still some tweaking I would like to do to the script. Add a few scenes that I think it is missing. Flesh out a few areas that's are still a little thin. With the notes we get back, that might be the case anyhow. We will see.
For now, we are on to the next co-writer script, JUMP. I am excited about JUMP. I like the story. I think it is a real catchy sell able idea. It has all the points: action, drama, danger, love story. All within a pretty fresh context.
For the last 6 - 12 months I have been kicking around and slowly developing BobbleHead James, a comedy loosely based on James Whittingham. It’s about a children's TV entertainer with anger management issues. At one point it was an animated series and then it was a sitcom. Once I heard that Corner Gas was ending I even thought about trying to pitch it to Brent Butt.
Then yesterday watching TV on my flight to Toronto, speak of the devil I see Brent Butt on Canada AM talking about his new TV series he is doing with CTV starring his real life wife Nancy Robertson as (get this) a children's author with anger management issues.
Fuck you!
I was actually pleased with how well the show bible and first script were coming along for this comedy series. In my fantasy world BobbleHead James was actually a show which I thought could be pitched and have a development deal come out of. There is a snowball's chance in hell of that now. CTV/Comedy Channel are not likely to want to finance a Law and Order franchise of child related professionals who have anger issues: The Angry Children’s Author, The Angry Children's TV Entertainer, The Angry Kindergarten Teacher, The Angry Crossing Guard, The Angry Pediatrician. But then again, I wonder what Dick Wolf is working on these days?
If a show idea falls in the forest and no network is there to hear, would it ever get made? The answer to that is pretty simple… Fuck you Brent Butt, fuck you!
