The Master Says 320

Everything that moves on the screen is cinema. A film designed to teach children the alphabet as has much claim to be considered cinema as a grandiose production with psychological pretensions. In my view cinema is nothing but a new form of printing - another form of the total transformation of the world through knowledge. Louis Lumiere was another Gutenberg. His invention caused as many disasters as the dissemination of thought through books.

Jean Renoir

The Master Says 319

Discovering the truth about ourselves takes a lifetime, but it's worth the effort.

Mister Rogers

Giving the Dedicated a Little Hope

Stories like Melissa Leo's are inspiring. Someone that has worked hard got a chance to stretch a bit. Especially nice to see an older woman succeed in a culture concerned more with young ditz's with capped teeth and cleavage than the alluring beauty of artistry.

Grazie universo per una giustizia piccola,
Signore Direttore

Back in the New York Groove

Picked up Sway again after a two or three week hiatus. I was feeling a little off today, lacking a central connection. I read Chuck Pahlanuik's new novel Snuff after swimming a few laps in the pool. I ate dinner. Nothing seemed to satisfy my unsated appetite. So I said fuck it and opened my computer and started typing. I got a thousand words down. Not one of them seem worth a damn. I'm definitely out of touch with where I left off, but I'm not going to fret. Chuck's new book isn't great, but he writes it confidently. After reading it my work feels stodgy. I'm pretty sure I wasn't reading the hardcover first draft of Snuff. Besides, Snuff is in first person. That's almost cheating! Sounding clever and confident is much easier in first person. I've always found maintaining interest with the third person voice to be elusive. It is tough to keep it active and fresh. Overall I feel pretty fucking boring right now - too much practical responsibility going on. I buck at the reins of convention. Says the man who spent his morning buying appliances, sinks, faucets and heaters.
The groove will come back as soon as I stop judging.

Keeping the faith (really)
Signore Direttore

Made Crooked Theme

Vocals: Rose Stuart
Music: Mike Spicer
Lyrics: Neal Corl

Back in February, when we were getting on the plane leaving New York after shooting Joey's pickup scenes for Made Crooked, I had the idea that I wanted to write a song for Rose to sing that would express the film's theme. I quickly dismissed the idea as fantasy. But it ended up a reality. If you can dream it ...
I wrote the lyrics one Saturday evening a couple of weeks later. I've been working with the composer on the music and today Rose came over to "audition". I've heard she was a good singer but I had never heard her sing before today. I was very pleased with what she did in one quick take. This is very rough (though smoother than much of the film!), but I think it's great and I look forward to bringing it all together (the song, not the film) in the next couple of weeks. The film is getting closer. I think I've found an editor to do some work since Jordan's return from LA keeps getting delayed.

Grazie,
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 318

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

è chiamato lavoro

Down on my hands, well hand actually, and knees working non-stop this past week. Work, work, work. Frustrations of dealing with contractors, helpers, home centers, not enough time and an old fickle building. Della Court (don't know why it's called "court" since it's not a courtyard apartment) turns eighty this year. We've owned her since August of 1988. Going to great lengths to keep her looking almost as good as she was back when people didn't have televisions or even refrigerators. One of the apartments still has the old ice box.
It's a labor of love. I'm turning it over to a contractor to finish what I've started so I can get back to things more suited to me. We'll see how it goes. I'm trying to trust and let go of my perfectionism. I'm definitely looking forward to letting go of it a bit as I'm anxious to get all the units rented at full rate for the first time in four years. That income will allow me to return to writing Sway and other film projects. And to pay off the enormous debts we're taking on to finance these renovations.

Ciao,
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 317

I'm just smiling, thinking about all the poor human beings who allow themselves to love, whether they're artists or famous people or not.

Carl Theodor Dreyer

What A Week

Getting through weeks like this one takes its toll. Coming through productively takes more of a toll physically than upstairs. I'll take the physical and emotional exhaustion. Gladly.
I didn't do any writing on Sway. I'm a little bummed about that and a little frightened about getting back to the lovely flow I was enjoying. Trust. But I'm very forgiving of myself for not writing. I was leaving the house well before eight each day and getting home between ten and eleven. I barely saw my family.
I had a lot of doctor's appointments for my wrist, including a new set of x-rays. There was a specialist in town yesterday for a conference that worked on it. He gave my doctor some insight and was able to unlock some of the tendons restoring about fifteen percent more movement. I'm now at about fifty percent.
I also narrowed our choice of editors for DW to two. I know who I want to go with but I'm giving myself the weekend to come to a final decision. It's been awesome watching the footage again. I think that movie is going to be very compelling; if I got all the pieces, that is. I'm excited to see it come together. Definitely going to defy convention.
I've been working away with my left hand and some helpers on our apartment building, running to the hardware store twice a day, getting bids from tile setters, painters and carpenters. I'm finally seeing the light and can now walk away until Monday morning.
I've also been prepping my first shoot for my new corporate client.
And I'm finishing the second week of a totally sugar, gluten, wheat and dairy free diet based on the results of a food allergen test I took a few weeks back. It's been tough, but I feel pretty good.
Late-nights, I managed to squeeze in a few episodes of Deadwood and I read a crime novel by George Pelecanos, one of the writers and producers of The Wire. Good stuff.
So I'm going to treat myself to a matinee in a few minutes - Baghead. Then it's home for a swim and off to a party with my family.
I might get back to Sway for a few hours tomorrow. We'll see.

Ciao,
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 316

Success and failure are equally disastrous.

Tennessee Williams

The David Milch School Of Screenwriting

From Something Awful dot com:
by David Milch


Hi there. I'm David fucking Milch. You may remember me as the creative tour-de-force behind Deadwood, a critically acclaimed HBO series that ended prematurely so that I could launch John From Cincinnati. Some people say that was like ending Seinfeld in season 3 to jump right into The Michael Richards Show, but those people don't understand the subtlety and nuance of ten annoying surfers in varying states of insanity wandering around and getting into pointless arguments with one another until there's a clumsy physical altercation and a pointless "mysterious" ending.

This is a summation of the lessons that I learned during my transition from Deadwood to John From Cincinnati. How I grew as a writer. The mistakes I made with Deadwood. What I was doing right all along. Hopefully it can help someone out there to get into the business of writing television that's half as good as the stuff I make.
YOUR FIRST STEP

Your first step is to think of what genre you want to work in. There's a lot of them, right? Seems like you've got a tough choice ahead of you, but you don't. The only genre you need to work in is "a group of loosely connected people stand on a beach and stare off into the ocean when they take a break from mysterious things happening to them".

I know what you're thinking. That's basically Lost, right? No. Lost was simply the first show to work within this genre. There have been hundreds of westerns and thousands of comedies. Is it right for there to be just one show about a group of loosely connected people that stand on a beach and stare off into the ocean when they take a break from mysterious things happening to them? I think not.

Working in this genre is great because, really, you can write whatever you want and you can make it fit since the show will be "mysterious". Let's say you want to write some sci-fi, specifically shit about astronauts and rockets and the like. Go ahead and write your astronaut story, then have those astronauts crash land on this crazy beach where things aren't as they seem. The astronauts can come across the sandswept top floors of the World Trade Center's twin towers. Punctuate even the worst episode with an ending like that and people will tune in next week, guaranteed.

Actually, no. Don't use that. That's my idea.
Another Step

Many young writers make the mistake of giving their characters actions that make sense within the framework of each person's motivations and personality. I was guilty of this myself while working on Deadwood.

See, if a character merely does what you would reasonably expect him to do, there's no real room for unpredictability. No way to leave your creative fingerprints smudged all over every frame of the show.

Those of you who are eagle-eyed will notice that two characters from John From Cincinnati are essentially the same person. One talks to a bird and one talks to a stuffed bear, and when the bear and bird aren't around each man speaks to himself / God / ghosts. Everyone else on the show is equally crazy but in a general way that doesn't make sense or follow any guidelines. Do you have any idea how much freedom that gives me to be creative?

Characterization is a burden. It will only weigh you down.

Exercise:

While sitting at a stoplight, Scott's car is rear-ended by a teenage girl who wasn't paying attention. Scott...

A. Calls for a police officer and writes down the girl's insurance information. The girl is apologetic and has a particularly difficult time coping with her role in the accident because her own daughter was killed by a motorist who hadn't been paying attention. (WRONG)

B. Gets out of the car, lays down in traffic and begins singing a song about aliens as the damage to his car fixes itself. The teenage girl places a hand on her stomach and knows in that instant that she is pregnant. A Latino man holding a sing reading "The End Is Near" gets peed on by a magic dog and turns into an Asian. (Ding ding!)

Dialog Step

Perhaps the most important aspect of writing truly great television (and naturally something I've always been good at) is coming up with dialog that just barely resembles what each character is trying to say. When people have to work to understand what the hell is going on, they presume (correctly!) that they must be watching fine art.

I could explain this, but I'm not that good of a writer so I'll just show you through an example. Casey does not want a drink that his friend Adam is offering, but he does want to use his phone.

Adam: Want a drink?
Casey: No thanks. Mind if I use your phone, though? It's a local call. I'll make it quick.

That's horrible. Now let's punch it up by making that exchange harder to follow.

Adam: As I would offer to others who were in my house if they were here and desired it, what say you to a serving of this not-air not-earth not-fire element?
Casey: If I were to answer you in the positive I would be the embodiment of the title of that Henry Rollins Band hit from the mid-90's, and half the embodiment of the title of that Jim Carrey lawyer movie. How much of a strain on our friendship would it be if instead I asked for a rendezvous with one of your appliances which I hold close to my head and stimulate with my mouth?

Better. Not quite there yet, but better. As I learned from Deadwood, cursing is the ultimate hot sauce. It goes great with everything. Let's revise the exchange accordingly.

Adam: As I'd fucking just as soon offer it to others, I'm telling you that a glass of that liquid pleasure can pass between your cocksucking lips if you indicate in the affirmatory.
Casey: Much as I appreciate your gesture of motherfucking kindness, I'd like to communicate with another cocksucker via your telephonic voice relay device.

Now we apply the lessons learned from John From Cincinnati. Anger, insanity, mystery.

Adam: (to a chair) I'd offer it to him, but I doubt he'd... no, no. You're right. (long shot of the chair, with the camera slowly zooming in) Hey, you shitbird! Why don't you partake in this once in a lifetime offer of what some who appreciate potables might accept gladly?
Casey: (pushes Adam onto the ground and pulls out a gun) This is the cocksucking end. I wanted to ask of you a question that would possibly lead me to using your receiver and dialing pad but the device communicated with me directly from across the room vis-a-vis my left and right hemisphere. It told me... (an old scar on his cheek vanishes) These things cannot be undone unless we have fucking started them. All is Babylon.

Boom. Instant classic. That's all I have time for, as I'm off to get John From Cincinnati canceled so I can start a new show about angry, insane people who experience mysterious events as they comb a beach for buried treasure and bottle caps. Good luck out there!

(He just might have lost his mind. Or he's onto something the rest of us haven't caught on to yet. ciao, signore direttore)

Now Hiring

I started the face to face phase of hiring an editor for Dangerous Writing this morning. We've come up with a bit of money to pay someone. There are several interesting prospects coming through in the next couple of days.
It was very good to open up some clips from the film and watch them again. It's been awhile. One of the things that struck me in the six random clips we watched this morning was how good many of the performances are.
I'm looking forward to seeing it cut together even in rough cut form. Maybe sooner than later.

Signore Direttore

Jane Gallagher, please Demo | Teaser

It's been a number of years since I've just played around in Final Cut Pro. My friend, the one who's doing the music for Made Crooked, sent me a track to try out on some other shorts. So I selected one of the scenes from the JGp assembly and messed around with it.
I don't think it will fit the tone of the final story, who knows, but I may play around with the cuts to black that I tried out here.

Happy Get Drunk and Blow Off One of Your Fingers Day,
Signore Direttore

Folk Wisdom 040

Some people simply aren't happy unless they're unhappy.

(And I hope I'm not one of them, at least not perpetually)

Ripping and Running

I typed 11,000 words between Friday and Saturday night. This story is just pouring out of me. I haven't gone back and read any of it except for the occasional checking of where I left one timeline or another. It has totally earned my trust. I couldn't have planned the structure any better. There are plenty of places where it's going to need work. I'm bringing my screenwriting experience into play and just trying to get the first draft down as fast as possible. I can and will make more passes later. This method keeps me moving and allows the narrative voice to emerge without too much interference. I've never been able to sustain third person this long without having it start to sound painfully prosaic. I'm not sure yet, but I think rhythm has been the key. And the rhythm has come as a result of not being precious.

¡Viva!
Signore Direttore

Talk about steady

I've been kicking out 2500 words a day in about three and a half hours of writing this week.
I now know where the story is going and roughly where I'd like to end up. I have a couple of turning points or mileposts to hit but the rest I'm discovering as I go. I've found some real gold.
I don't want to talk about it too specifically just yet, but I'm trusting where it's taking me and it feels right in so many ways.
Today I was feeling very confident that I do indeed have a book in Sway. Almost immediately I fretted about the next one. I worried that the temporal shifts I'm riding are not going to fly in every book. I quickly told myself to stop it and went on with my day.
In other news, I'm considering buying a used Mercedes. I took the car I was looking at to get an inspection at a specialist that a friend recommended. It turns out that my mother used to bring her cars to the same shop. They remembered her when I said that my mother's real estate office used to be across the street from their shop. Funny thing was their shop used to be in a different location when they worked on her cars. It was a pleasure to speak about her in a neutral and friendly way. They were sad to hear that she had died and said they had wondered why she had stopped coming in.
Another happy coincidence, and may be responsible in part for the inspiration for Sway, is that my old friend Charlie Kohlmeyer sent me a script yesterday. I ran into him at Reed a few weeks ago when I was shooting a concert for the college. He was in town playing with a band from New Orleans. The band leader said Charlie's name when he introduced the band. My eyes traveled instantly to his feet. Sure enough he was playing in socks - it was the same Charlie Kohlmeyer. I knew him in New York when I was booking gigs for jazz bands. Very good guy. Not surprising that he was back in New Orleans where he's originally from. So many of the jazz musicians I knew in New York were originally from New Orleans or St. Louis. Turns out he'd written a screenplay. He said he was going to send it to me, but when we talked after the gig it was way past my bed time and I kind of forgot about it. He sent it to me yesterday and made me see the connection to my awakening to a period of my life that I reference only in passing. I haven't read his script yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I told him about Sway and he said he would be glad to help with any of the technical research stuff. It's going otbe fun for him to read and try to figure out who the characters are from real life and which one might be him. I think the drummer in socks might give it away. Actually I made the drummer in the band the solid good guy and roommate to the protagonist. Interesting, I wasn't aware of that until just now.
Another funny thing about that is the friend that introduced us, Ingrid Lucia of the Flying Neutrinos (who is also back in NoLa, had called him for a gig that day that we ran into each other. She only calls him a few times a year, he said.

Ta,
Signore Direttore

Steady Positioning

After writing prose for an hour yesterday I spent several hours editing. In between I made a blog entry and updated my word count. I was very energized by both my continued progress and the joy of the work of writing. Hence my cocky banter in the face of balance. It was more an expression of separation anxiety from something that was giving me a lot of joy. I realized as I sat diligently cutting, even skipping dinner, that I was experiencing balance in my life to a greater degree than when I haven't been creative.
I received a comment to my post yesterday that was since deleted by its author . I read the deleted comment in the email that was sent to me alerting me of a new comment. I can see why its author deleted it. He or she might fear I could easily misinterpret the intent and the tone of the comment that expressed some concern about unfinished films getting the attention they need. I'm going to trust that the intent was meant to encourage both my new endeavor, albeit faintly, as well as to prompt my commitment to projects in progress especially as they relate to the mutual interest of my collaborators. Which is all fair and good. To be honest I would have rather heard something privately, but I know this party is busy and under strain in their own affairs. To be really honest I would like to have heard some genuine and enthusiastic support for my recent accomplishments with writing. There's no resentment on my part, I just have decided to take the opportunity to be very transparent about things.
A large part of maintaining balance is making oneself independent of the judgment and expectations of others. That sort of dependence will keep you down. I told this other friend I was writing a novel. He asked me the first line. Because that's the clincher you know, he added. I told him I didn't know because I didn't fuck about for three days coming up with a precious Call me Ishmael in order to avoid writing the first ten thousand words. I'm going to keep writing and iron out the kick ass opening when and if it presents itself. I didn't feel compelled to share much more about the project with that friend. Which is fine. I'm at a point finally where I don't live off of the approval of others. I might still like it or even crave it at times, but I can move forward on my own juice.
When it comes to finishing films I do hold an obligation to those that have given their talent, time and, in some cases, money to our projects. I want to make it clear that I remain dedicated to those films. I am working on them all the time. I am paying for them all the time. I maintain an office and the equipment on which they are being post-produced and archived. I provide endless favors to those that are working for “free”. I am working with actors, producers, picture and sound editors, compositors, musicians, composers, as well as mounting grass roots publicity with no budgets whatsoever. There's also a dearth of moral support. Inquiries regarding the projects' status are often tentative and sometimes even scornful. No one has ever said, Let me know if I can help. That's taking nothing from the many that have come generously forth when asked. Or from those that earnestly express eagerness to see them in their finished forms.
The previous paragraph outlines what I'm doing to finish the films I've produced and directed. Hopefully it reads as evidence of my determination to get these tiny little films out into the world in spite of the seeming Sisyphean nature of the process. There's something else though. Doing the aforementioned doesn't feed me in any way whatsoever. Seeing things come together in an edit or doing something creative like writing and singing a theme song offer me much joy. But most of the time I just want to make another film or blog or do just about anything than slog away at cleaning up the mess of shooting on a micro budget with a pro/am cast and crew and a tyro at the helm.

To offer a clear status report of some of my unfinished films in the order they were produced:

London Calling
I hate it and I often doubt I will ever finish it.

But a Dream
Finalizing edit with an editor that is on a job indefinitely in LA, looking for a new sound designer after the first one flaked repeatedly for three months, finalizing titles and promotional materials with graphic designer.
Projected completion date: August 15

Made Crooked
Finalizing edit with an editor that is on a job indefinitely in LA, working on music with composer, beginning publicity
Projected completion date: December 31

Blowing Up
Waiting for sound editor to finalize sweetening, waiting for compositor to doctor a few shots
Projected completion date: August 1

Dangerous Writing
Haven't touched it and don't plan to until Made Crooked is completed
Projected completion date: Summer 2009

The other 15+ shorts sitting un- or partially edited on my hard-drives:
I can't think of anything that I don't want to finish and I'll get to them as I can

In the meantime I will be working on my novel. I can get down a couple of thousand words a day and still leave plenty of time for editing or even for avoiding editing. The writing is filling a void in me and when that ravenous vacuum is filled it restores a lot of my energy. So who knows, maybe this writing distraction will actually prove to enable more activity on the post-production front than it will detract from it.

Part of me questioned whether my word count meter belongs on Finding Fellini. Would it raise suspicions that my commitment to filmmaking is wavering? Have I gone off in search of a new creative pursuit? Not at all. I'm still very interested in creating films. Unfortunately, I don't find being a post-production coordinator/PR officer/IT technician/bookkeeper/colorist all that creative. Fellini was a director and sometimes writer. He didn't produce or edit his films. He sure as hell didn't repair the Moviola when it broke down. Maybe if I were as talented as he I would have people clamoring to do those things for me, but I don't. So I'm going to keep doing my best with what little resources I've got. And I'm going to remember that this blog doesn't serve to chronicle my quest toward achieving what Fellini the director accomplished. Nor is it an apologia. It is about finding the maestro inside of me, my creative center that allows me to express myself freely. The closer I get to that, the more I understand what balance truly is.

Much love to you all,
Signore Direttore

Could this be love?

I'm at my office today trying to finish the edits of the scenes from Magnolia for class tonight. I spent too long installing necessary updates on some computer applications and just wanted to do a little writing on Sway before getting started on the cutting.
Two hours and nineteen hundred and some odd words later I'm not feeling like switching from Word to Final Cut Pro. From my crush to my battle-ax. Not at all. But the clock ticks forward and there's only three hours until class.
They might call it balance. They might remind you it's a verb. But you don't have to like it. I sure as hell don't.

Signore Direttore

The Great American ...

... Novel. At least I'm writing what I would like to think is going to be novel. Once begun half done, as it were. I've been all over the place lately in a fearful way trying to determine a new course for my life. Nothing drastic, like some big left turn away from making films, but searching for some complementary path that would provide some income, stability and structure. I decided for now to keep my head in the sand where money is concerned and stick to my strengths. Writing scripts always gives me the production jones, so I've been thinking about returning to prose after a seven year break. Then Friday I landed a job making some tasteful, albeit corporate, videos. I didn't think about it until now, but the influx of paid work must have cleared a little space for me to start writing.

Basically I just started writing, trusting that the story and the structure would reveal itself. Which may sound naive, but I'm not someone that has always thought it would be cool to write a novel and just sat down to do it. I've been writing for twenty-five years or more - thousands of pages of stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, journals/blogs. I've even written the first draft of a novel before. I've also been analyzing stories from the perspectives of an English and Spanish Lit student, actor, director and acting coach for as long as I've been writing. What's more, I'm a born storyteller. Some of my friends, especially those from the first twenty some years of my life, might have another name for my endless spinning of yarns.
Writing is something that comes easy for me and as such I've tended to take it for granted. Or perhaps there's some psychological aversion to pursuing something I'm good at for fear of actually being seen as good at something. Because as much as I might crave attention, I shrink from it at the same time.
Anyway, I kicked out 1500 words the first evening. Then another 6000 the next day. And another 2500 this morning, bringing my total to 10,000. Another 90,00o and I'll have a first draft!
It's called Sway. The protagonist is Eugene Morris, the singer and manager of a jazz band that plays weddings and tourist bar gigs in New York City. It's a world I know well and I'm stepping into it again with a new fictional friend leading the way.
I could have spent a lot of time reading books on writing novels or taking notes or joining a writing group or even taken a course, but I decided to just trust that I might know a bit more about this than I give myself credit. Besides it doesn't matter if it's good or it sells or anything like that. It only matters that I keep typing.

Signore Escrittore

Movies as of late

Some movies I've seen lately, graded academically

Ironman B+
Quai de les Orfevres A
Zodiac A-
The Birds C
Indiana Jones IV. D
Harry Potter I. B-
The Passenger A+
If.... A
The Killers (Siodmak) B
The Killers (Seigal) C
Killer of Sheep. C
Lilya 4-ever A
Dave Chappelle's House Party A
Casino Royale (2007) C-
Paris j'taime A-