My Blog

Glenn Lord, R.I.P.

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 20:56:22 -0500

I just learned that Glenn Lord, champion of Robert E. Howard’s writings, passed away on New Year’s Eve 2011. If not for the efforts of Lord then your favorite fictional barbarian may not even be known to you, if, of course, your favorite fictional barbarian is Conan the Cimmerian.

After Howard died, Lord compiled the pulp writer’s stories, which were primarily published in Weird Tales magazine and other periodicals during Howard’s lifetime and championed their publication into collections. He published a fanzine by the name of The Howard Collector during the 1960s-70s, and a final volume in 2011. Lord’s dedication to collecting Howard’s work and providing an outlet for Howard studies and discussion can only be measured through the growing interest in all of Howard’s work, whether it be poetry, letters, or fictional characters such as the swashbuckling Puritan Solomon Kane, King Kull of Atlantis, Celtic adventure stories of Turlogh Dubh O’Brien, the comedic boxing stories of sailor Steve Costigan, the tall tales of mountain man Breckenridge Elkins, the Oriental adventures of El Borak, and, of course, sword and sorcery tales of Conan.

Thank you, Lord, for all you did to preserve the work of one of the world’s greatest writers.

Caffeinated Screenwriting

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:09:13 -0400

Fans of script consultant Pilar Alessandra’s On The Page podcast will already be familiar with her new book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter, but those who don’t listen to this excellent podcast may not know about this great screenwriting resource and book.

The Coffee Break Screenwriter contains numerous short chapters that contain focused exercises to get your story ideas on the page. The exercises can be completed in consecutive progression, or the writer can skip around and do only the exercises that will be most helpful in your writing journey from ideation to final draft. The objective of all of the exercises is to get your thoughts out of the jungle of your mind and “on the page.”

The book starts with initial things that every screenwriter should lay down prior to writing a single word for a first draft, such as Main Character (MC) motivation, the premise of the story, the film’s logline, etc.

The book then proceeds to a brief chapter on Structure with three exercises to assist with structuring your story into a traditional film story structure. The worksheet for these exercises is good at assisting with breaking down the story into the framework of a 4-Act structure. Alessandra does not dwell on theory drama or screenwriting, and that’s a good thing. There are numerous other books, by McKee, Truby, Vogler, et. al. that are specifically focused on screenwriting theory, and go deeply into the theory of screenwriting. Coffee Break Screenwriter is not a screenwriting theory text.

Alessandra’s book continues with many chapters on various aspects of screenwriting. A couple chapters I particularly enjoyed were on Dialogue and Rewriting. They contain exercises and tools ,such as templates, to assist with organizing thoughts so that the screenwriter can march toward the ultimate goal of producing a final draft.

It’s a good, practical book that makes the screenwriter apply themselves to focused exercises that are meant to last no longer than 10 minutes, hence the title “Coffee Break Screenwriter.” I like the focused technique that the Alessandra espouses since a mere 10 minutes is the most that the majority of us can permit ourselves the luxury of creation in the busy, industrial world. The Coffee Break Screenwriter focused method is similar to the Pomodoro Technique of “getting stuff done.” It’s a method that, regardless of a fancy name, was used by writers of the pulps, whose primary motivation to write fast was the constant calls or knock on the door from a bill collector. It’s a technique that is used every November by thousands of aspiring writers participating in NANOWRIMO. But, it’s also more than writing at a fevered pace. It’s a series of structured mental calisthenics to allow the screenwriter to flex their storytelling talents into short, focused repetitions that build from ill-formed ideas into sharp dialogue partnered with a polished story arc in the form of a final draft. And I highly recommend it.

Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha Screenwriting

Sun, 1 Aug 2010 15:48:49 -0400

The thirty-seventh annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Convention recently concluded at the University of Mississippi. This year’s theme was “Faulkner and Film.” I'm excited that there is interest and a concerted focus on the film writings of this American writer. Perhaps it will assist in ushering a renewed interest in the films produced in the past based on scripts by Faulkner.

Faulkner spent many years working in and with Hollywood during the age of the studio system. He was beginning to be recognized as literary master and decided to write scripts for Hollywood due income needed to support his family.

He created scripts for director Howard Hawks, and for Warner Brothers and other studios. Faulkner began working in Hollywood in 1932 and finished his last film script in the 1950s. He also wrote for the emerging television industry.

The screenplays that Faulkner penned for Hawks were: Today We Live (1933), The Road to Glory (1936), Slave Ship (1937), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Land of the Pharaohs (1955). He helped write other scripts, but received no official credit. Additionally, Hollywood has produced numerous film and television adaptations of his original work.

I have hoped for many years for a published collection of Faulkner's screenplays. Here's my ultimate dream: a complete collection of William Faulkner's screenplays published by the prestigious Library of America to accompany the five volumes of Faulkner's novels which they currently maintain in print. It would be a great way to (nearly) complete Faulkner’s oeuvre in a beautiful Library of America volume. I say nearly because the LOA does not have a collection of all of Faulkner's short stories in print. (hint)

Sam Thomas, in the introduction to volume one in his three volume collection of “Best American Screenplays” stated that he believes the screenplay is just as important as a novel, short story or a poem. He sees the day when literature classes will study scripts as an art form on equal grounds with the recognized works of in the Canon of world literature. I completely agree.

A screenplay is just as important as the blueprints and architectural models created by an architect. The public is interested in exhibitions that display architectural drawings, concepts and models just as much as we are in the final structures themselves.

One of my favorite books on Frank Lloyd Wright is only about his drawings. A similar book I enjoy in the same vein is "Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters" by Robert Hale. In these two books the reader is presented with the sketches, notes, and unfinished drafts of master artists, architects, and designers. To me, the insight gained by looking at "blueprints" is, in a sense, more important than the final work. We are able to see the modifications, the erasing, the considerations and mistakes that the artist made while working out the details of the final product. It’s a rare glimpse into the thought process going through the artist’s mind as they worked out the final work of art (or building, in the case of architects). It’s simply fascinating stuff to behold.

A few years ago the High Museum of Art hosted an exhibition of the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Already enthralled by the art and engineering creations of da Vinci, I was thrilled to see actual drawings by the master. It was a chance to peer into the mind of the Renaissance genius, and to say I was enthusiastic was to say the least. I was mesmerized and ultimately enriched by the original drafts, sketches and blueprints on display. It was an enlightening experience and granted me newfound appreciation for his work.

I hold the same stance about screenplays. A screenplay allows us an opportunity to peer into the mind of the screenwriter that grants newfound appreciation for the final product, the film. It’s an opportunity that no writer should turn down, whether you are writing for film, television, theater, novels, or poetry.

Perhaps the Faulkner and Film theme of the annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conference will encourage scholars, publishers or other interested parties to publish a collection of the Nobel Laureate’s screenplays for us to examine, consume and study. We'll all be richer because of it.

“We’re off to see The Wizard!”

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:30:41 -0500

It frightened me as a child. I saw it on broadcast television nearly every year. It contained fantastical images of Winged Monkeys and the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West. The shriveling legs of her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, as the black-and-white stockings curled beneath Dorothy’s house, was a particularly scary scene. As I grew older I became less and less frightened of the images from the “The Wizard of Oz.” In fact, to this day, it’s one of my all time favorite films. I especially like the scene where Dorothy and her companions discover the “man behind the curtain” is really the Wizard. And, I’m now particularly fond of the Flying Monkeys. There’s something sinister behind their goofy guise that I like.

So it was with baited excitement and honor to have my family join me and hundreds of other Wizard cinephiles at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta for a special showing of “The Wizard of Oz.” The film was accompanied by numerous events that were headlined by a special ninety-one year old guest.

Karl Slover was the guest of honor at the Plaza Theatre’s 70th Anniversary Celebration. You know Karl as one of the Munchkins in the “The Wizard of Oz.” He was 1st Trumpeter, and also one of the flower petal babies.
He lead the audience in a sing-along of “We’re off to see The Wizard” He introduced the film and it was an honor to meet him.

“We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.
If ever oh ever a Wiz! there was The Wizard of Oz is one because,
Because, because, because, because, because.
Because of the wonderful things he does.
We're off to see the Wizard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”

The audience applauded when he appeared during the Munchkin Villages scenes. He was in his early twenties in 1939 when the film debuted. Karl also spoke about Margaret Hamilton and a conversation he remembered between he and film director, Victor Fleming, about her reluctance to have her young son see the film and his mother portraying the Wicked Witch of the West. She feared he would run away from home.

The film has a special place in my heart as something that once scared me and caused fitful sleep, but has grown to be a film I truly cherish and recognize as one of the greatest that Hollywood has ever produced.

“Aunt Em, Hate you, Hate Kansas, Took the dog. - Dorothy”

“Things haven’t been the same since that house killed my sister.”

A couple of bumper stickers on a car.

With Story, We Face the Infinite

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:00:28 -0400

In the realm of mathematics Georg Cantor and Kurt Gödel faced it. But what of creative types? What of writers? Is infinity part of the storyteller's world too?

I claim, with boldness, that it is.

The action of translating fleeting, ephemeral thoughts into the corporeal words of story is an act of godlike agency. For when the writer is faced with the expanse of infinite possibilities of potential stories, it's then that the creative forces imbued in the Vulcan furnaces of the storyteller's mind dance in a revelry of celebration.

Story creation permits the writer a glimpse at the expanse of infinity. It represents possibilities, and we are a band of thieves on a quest lead by Prometheus to bring the jewels of great story to the written page, the spoken word, the cinema's screen.

The infinite ravelment is woven into the stories we create. Give two storytellers the same ingredients and out will come two very different stories. The infinite is universal, the stories we create are how we instantiate it. Alone against the infinite expanse, we choose the possibilities and share it with the world in the form of story.

Face infinity and create story!

Why I Write

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 21:54:50 -0400

Why I write.

The short answer is quite simple:

I have no choice.

But that's not the answer you're looking for. The long answer, since you asked, is complex, but not complicated.

I write because writing allows me to make sense of the world, of this existence. Writing is the one act that permits me the freedom to tell you my thoughts about the human condition, but more importantly, it allows me to tell "me" my thoughts about the human condition. I, like the rest of us, have a curious mind. I wonder why it is we are here. What is our purpose? What is the extent of our existence? And how best can we learn to live together with each other and with the other elements of the natural world.

If there's one thing we can count on, it's that life is full of constant change. I'm fine with the fact that everything is in constant flux. Growing up, I had the opportunity to call numerous places home. I had to learn to make new friends and understand the process of friendship. I don't claim to be an expert at it, hell, to this day I consider myself a novice with regard to relationships.

This world, the only one we have, has existed long before us. And it will probably exist long after we are gone. Even with all our technological wonder, all our advances in medicine, all our knowledge of natural phenomena, we still continue to marvel at the mystery that the world presents to us. There's so much we don't know, and it's out there for us to discover. We all wish to understand this world. To make sense of the joy and wickedness we experience, to live out our lives to their fullest.

Since the dawn of our existence, storytellers have been among us. Our stories once existed in the oracular tradition, and yet, today with multimedia stories, we still seek the same answers to our questions. The fundamental questions. The questions that get us closer to the answers we all seek.

I'm no different than you and seek the answers you want too. I want to make sense of the world, of our existence. For me, the way to do it is through expressing myself freely. Free expression is an inherent characteristic of humanity. We are all born with sucking, grasping and a desire to express our individuality. Our will. How we choose to do it is up to us. But the desire serves that same purpose. It's a mechanism for us to make sense of the world.

I choose to do it in writing. Whether I had an audience or not, I'd still write. I've also painted before, and I still take pictures. But primarily I write. It is my personal mechanism for gathering the troops and taking on the mysteries of existence. Why do we love? What are the many facets of love? Why do we hate? Why envy? I'm interested in these questions, and numerous more. I'm interested in the infinite ways that we respond to these questions. Why one individual's answers are distinct, and diametrically opposed to another individual's answers. Even maternal twins, individuals with exact copies of one another's DNA, are different. Encountering different viewpoints, encountering answers that surprise us, that scare us, and are different from our answers can help us figure out our individual answers. For, we may not agree, but through my interaction with you, I may strengthen my answers, or I may be convinced that my answer was wrong and see some truth in your answer.

We've all hear that writers have a "god complex." It's true. Storytellers enjoy creating lives that they can play with like Olympian deities. Characters let us present different viewpoints to the answers we seek. Their interactions in an imaginary milieu allow the storyteller to get those answers he seeks. Or if not the answers, then to get closer to the answers.

I want to be close to the answers. In fact, I need to make sense of the world. At times I feel that I'd probably loose my mind if I did attempt to make sense of it. And I'm not proud to claim that my answers are the truth or even remotely resemble the truth. But they are answers none the less. The adventure to find those answers is not an easy one. I've never expected the journey to be easy, or expect that it will ever get easy. Part of what we storytellers do is research. It's a requirement of the job. I'm not speaking of research like browsing the Web. Research can easily take that form, and it's often the starting point for us all here in the 21st century. I'm not even speaking about simply reading some non-fiction books on a subject or question we have which continues to nag us. Though research of this form is certainly enriching. I'm talking about the deep exploration that we storytellers must do by examining our own lives, our individual experiences, our tragedies, our hopes, our desires, and discovering the answers within our beings. The ugly, naked truths that are beneath years of calluses we've erected due to disappointments, heartbreak, or foolishness. We've all done stupid things in our lives; actions or decisions we're not proud of. It's typically not until many years later that we figure out why we actually did what we did in that situation. For writers, the act of writing is how we get those answers.

The challenge is that many things cannot be accurately represented in words. Feelings. So there's the challenge. We use words as a primary form of communication, yet it's difficult to express what we mean with words. I know there are other forms of expression that serve the same purpose of granting us the channel to express the answers we seek: dance, music, art. But, words, written and verbal, remain our primary form of expression. It's the duty of writers to take these syntactic constructs and conjure works of art to marvel and amaze, to entertain and fundamentally provide us with the answers we seek.

This is what I aim to do. And this is why I write.

Hey, you asked for the long answer!

Now go seek out your answers.

Storytelling is Eternal, Great Stories are Timeless

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:11:20 -0400

Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms. We can surmise that storytelling was an integral part of our standard repertoire when our primitive ancestors sketched their hunting exploits on the walls of caves.

The storyteller, and storytelling, is a uniquely human affair. No other species on earth engages in this act. Tools don’t separate us from other species, for chimpanzees and crows are known to use them. Language is not unique to humanity either, for other primates are able to communicate with us through sign language. And, emotions are neither the signifying factor that makes us unique, for we can observe emotions in other animals. I’m not afraid to make the claim, with a hint of boldness, that storytelling is what makes us ‘human.’

Why Storytelling?

Storytelling and the storyteller are on a journey together. The journey is a simple one. At the outset, it will be difficult, and it has the opportunity to become easier over time, but that certainly I doubt. The obstacles encountered along the way are designated by the purpose of the journey. The storyteller is shackled with the singular burden of sharing the meaning of life with the populace. Why we are here? What is our purpose? Ultimately, these are the reasons we are drawn to stories. It’s a perpetual quest for all of humanity, and that is why storytelling is an will be a function of humanity for all eternity. Or at least as long as humans will exist in the Universe.

The Storyteller’s Obligation

The obligation that we, storytellers, face is not merely to tell stories, but to tell great stories. It’s our duty to the rest of the humanity that we attempt to interpret the world, the universe, the multiverse through tales that will transcend the limits of time. We house the exploits of heroes, heroines and their great deeds in our imaginations. It is our obligation to transfer these stories into storytelling mediums: comics, dance, screenplays, madrigals, theater, slam poetry, and other forms of story.

Write, write, write, but write well. Never be satisfied with your work, always strive to improve your writing by engaging your subconscious on a daily basis. Harass it, stimulate it, but don’t let it weigh you down, for it is at that point we encounter expectations and self-consciousness, which then lead to writer’s block.

Commit to writing as if your life depended on it. For what our audience desires is quite simple: great stories.

Now, follow your muse and fulfill your obligation.

Go write!

Why I Like Screenwriting

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:32:46 -0400

Many screenwriters have written about why they are attracted to the story form of the screenplay.

Now, it is my treat to bring you my thoughts on why I am attracted to this form of storytelling.

It’s the Architecture for a Film

It’s a blueprint. It’s the “architecture” for a film. Essentially, the screenplay is the framework that will support the creation of the film. Without the story, in the structure of a screenplay, there’d be no film. This is counter to the auteur theory, but it’s a simple fact. The screenwriter creates the foundation that a film is built upon; the screenplay, or to bring it to its essential form, the “story.”

It’s Collaborative

I previously noted that the screenplay is a blueprint. It’s not the final product that will be created. I’m used to working in a collaborative environment. My experience as a project manager in the IT world has granted me multiple opportunities to work in a collaborative environment with individuals and groups with varying backgrounds, stances and personalities. I’m comfortable with working in this milieu where concessions and negotiations are often required. It’s not easy to do, and I recognize that aspect of collaboration, but that is fine if the group is working toward the same goal.

It is Structure-focused

Architect Christopher Alexander created the idea of design patterns for building architects and designers in “A Pattern Language.” It’s a seminal book in architecture, and in film we have a similar structure to work with that starts with Aristotle and continues through the Monomyth of Joseph Campbell.

A well-known and proven “pattern” is established for screenplays. This is not to say that the pattern cannot be modified, it’s infinitely flexible. But it starts with a basic form that the writer must work within. And working within known constraints does not stifle creativity. On the contrary, constraints can be used by the screenwriter to stretch their creative muscle by forcing one to squeeze water from a rock. I see the constraints as a mechanism to focus creativity through a tightly-focused lens. Thereby allowing the screenwriter to get to the fundamental elements of the beat, scene, sequence, act, and finally the feature film.

It’s Succinct

I come from a journalism background. I was a member of my high school newspaper and went to a community college on a journalism scholarship. I primarily performed duties as a graphic designer, comics artist and photographer, but I my duties also required me to write news and feature stories.
 From journalist training I learned to write concise stories that effectively covered the five “W’s” and “H” at the heart of a story. I like concise writing. There’s a true mastery of the craft of writing when a writer is able to convey feelings, exposition and character development as succinctly as possible.

Don’t get me wrong. I do like sweeping prose and can appreciate novelistic forms that allow the writer to be unfettered with the strictures of grammar and style. William Faulkner comes to mind as an example of a great writer that was extremely capable of generating evocative prose within the constraints of English grammar rules.

It’s the Kernel of a Film

Being a lover of film, no, an obsessed maniac for film, and also a creative personality, it goes without saying that I’d be attracted to the screenplay form.

I’m a visual thinker, extremely adept at visual communication in it’s many forms, especially, photography and visual arts.

Film is the unification of the visual arts with the element of time. It’s visual, yet has as many similarities with works of art that are influenced by time: dance, music.

Essentially, the screenplay is the “kernel” of the film. And, the screenplay is a series of descriptions that will be instantiated in a visual medium; a medium that also integrates the element of time.

Final Thoughts

These are the reasons I am attracted to the screenplay form. I also write in other forms, and they each have their purposes, but I like the challenge of working within the strictures of the screenplay. It’s a form of writing that gets little or not respect from the writing community. The virtues of screenplay writing have never been recognized, and that’s a simple fact.

Beyond all of the challenges that screenwriting entails, I’m still attracted to the form, the method, the structure and thoroughly excited by the film that is finally produced.

There’s my answer. It probably wasn’t what you were expecting, or maybe I’m too self-centered, as most writers are, and it was exactly what you expected. Regardless of your reaction, it’s my answer and it matters to me.

Postscript

I’m particularly interested in reading Faulkner’s screenplays to compare their style with his novels and stories. Wouldn’t it be great if the Library of America published a volume of Faulkner’s complete screenplays as a sixth volume in their collection of Faulkner’s writings?

I’m an Alumnus of Robert McKee’s Story Seminar

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:41:03 -0400

On July 19, 2009 I had the honor of becoming a graduate of Robert McKee's Story Seminiar. After three grueling days I am well-versed in the fundamental principles of story according to McKee. I'm fortunate to be able to attend the seminar; it helped that I have family that resides in San Francisco, the location of McKee's Seminar. My family made turned it into a vacation while I was locked into the Holiday Inn conference room with a sold out class of 200 students that spanned various creative careers and professions: screenwriters, playwrights, directors, producers, editors.

The experience was one I will not forget for McKee is truly remarkable. He's nearly 70 years old and has the stamina of Hercules. His days filled to the brim with his monologue. Don't pity us poor students, for we don't have to pace the stage, speaking brilliantly about the essential form of story for 11-hours each day. The agenda for the last day included a 6-hour screening and analysis of Casablanca, so he did have a downhill run toward the end since he was able to sit some of the time.

I prepared for the seminar by reading McKee's book and by reading the screenplay for Casablanca in preparation for the six-hour "autopsy." The seminar followed Story and so was familiar to me as I listened to McKee's lecture.

This was the last seminar in the 3-day format. His upcoming sessions spread the material across four days and increased the cost to US$645-745.

The best part was networking with fellow alumni. We had a late dinner at the conclusion of the event at Modern Thai; the food wasn't spectacular, but the conversation and camaraderie of fellow filmmakers was exciting and inspiring. Among our group are people from Japan, Australia and Canada, in addition to various cities across the United States. We’ve committed to stay in touch with one another, provide feedback on writing and share experiences.

Film Review of “Times and Winds”

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:16:55 -0400

It doesn't matter what culture or society a person is reared in, childhood can be a brutal and horrifying experience for nearly all who mature to adulthood. Oftentimes, a child is faced with feelings of despair, cruelty and isolation under the authority of adults; a world filled with expectations and etiquette that children don't understand, try as they must in order to survive, in their attempts to understand the larger world in the process of "growing up."

The film "Times and Winds," by Turkish writer-director Reha Erdem, exquisitely captures the feelings of children in the vulnerable pre-teen years. The theme is universal. The tortured inner world of the child is faced with external forces from parents, teachers and the vast world of grown-ups. It's a beautiful story told with tenderness, woe and deep humanity. And it's not to be missed.