Writing Goals 2011

Hey folks, it's that time again.  Time to discuss how you did last year and how you intend to do better now.

I myself have done fairly well this past year.  My goal was simple in 2010 (as was my childish understanding of this business one year ago... oh silly, naive me).  Last year I wanted to complete five (5) full-length screenplays - also accepting two complete pilots to count towards a screenplay.

Here's how I did (in sequential order):

1. THE GILLIAM EFFECT (co-written with Spencer)
2. SEVEN GLADIATORS (co-written with Spencer)
3. THE FRIEND ZONE
4. DINNER TIME (co-written with Spencer)
5. LOST & FOUND Pilot
6. BAND OF THIEVES Pilot (co-written with Spencer)
7. SPIRITS Pilot

And that doesn't include all the really great projects that I pitched, outlined, and threw out mid-keystroke.

For 2011 - I want to go on record with my goals so I can look back and cry about not fulfilling expectations as I did last year.  Here's the lineup:

• 2 Features - One with my bud Jacob Parker and another with my oft-times writing partner Spencer Holt.  Actually, maybe three if I decide to do Scriptapalooza this year.
• 3 Pilots - Two Drama (I'm already outlining one drama with an element of sci-fi).  One comedy (probably with Spencer).
• 3 Short Stories - Two sci-fi(ish) and one dramatic.  Not sure where to place them once finished though - any ideas?
• Novel Outline - Only going to do the outline.  I have a project that I'm excited about and I've written a great deal already, so this should be a lot of fun to get through.

So that's it!!  What do you have planned?  Anything I should know about?

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Stacking Sucks, or How Scott Myers Ruined My Day

If you haven't already, I would advise you to go to Scott Myers' blog "Go Into The Story" and read the article he posted about "Stacking Projects."

The basic idea is that while you are working on writing a script, you should be outlining your next project so you can get right to work as soon as you finish a draft of the first project.  Then while you are rewriting, you can be writing the next project and outlining the next, and so on.

This is so much a great idea!  It kind of blew my mind (even though it is so simple).  I've spent the last 24-hours thinking of what to get going in the hopper and decide what to write next.  Good right?

Wrong!

Now I have too many great ideas flooding my mind with awesomeness!  I turned on the flood gates and have not yet mastered how to control it.  I'm a novice writer who has just found a new shiny toy and wants to play with only it forever and ever.

I've lost some sleep and I have been ignoring duties at work.  This is so bad.  What have I done?  We need some guidelines on how to control this great and mighty force.  It's Pandora's Box.

Similar to this, but not related to Scott's post - I've been having a flood of ideas come in ever since working on my current project.  It's as if the devil of ideas is on my shoulder whispering amazing things to me that I feel compelled to work on.  There are just too many!

In fairness, it's not Scott's fault in the slightest.  I just thought that would be a more dramatic title.  And many thanks and kudos to him for his website, and for that post that has awakened my senses.

How about it readers?  How do I juggle all these ideas floating around?  Should I concentrate on a set number of projects at a time?  How many?  HELP!

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"Don't Try."

"Too many writers write for the wrong reasons. They want to get famous or they want to get rich or they want to get laid by the girls with bluebells in their hair. (Maybe that last ain't a bad idea).

When everything works best it's not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It's when you're mad with it, it's when it's stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It's when there's no hope but that.

Once in Atlanta, starving in a tar paper shack, freezing. There were only newspapers for a floor. And I found a pencil stub and I wrote on the white margins of the edges of those newspapers with the pencil stub, knowing that nobody would ever see it. It was a cancer madness. And it was never work or planned or part of a school. It was. That's all."

- Charles Bukowski (via Letters of Note)

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Two Things To Think About

Number One:  Check out this great advice from Jen Grisanti posted on The Hollywood Temp Diaries.

Here are some memorable quotes:

"One of the biggest mistakes young writers make is their writing portfolio doesn't support their goal."

"Once you identify some universal life moments, you add some fiction to the story while coming from a place of emotional truth. This is where the gold is."

"I think that scripted writers can learn a lot character wise. If you study the back story of some popular reality shows characters, it could give the scripted writers ideas."

Number Two: Check out this great memo from Walt Disney to Don Graham from Letters of Note.

Here is one particularly poignant point:

"Comedy, to be appreciated, must have contact with the audience. This we all know, but sometimes forget. By contact, I mean that there must be a familiar, sub-conscious association. Somewhere, or at some time, the audience has felt, or met with, or seen, or dreamt, the situation pictured. A study of the best gags and audience reaction we have had, will prove that the action or situation is something based on an imaginative experience or a direct life connection. This is what I mean by contact with the audience. When the action or the business loses its contact, it becomes silly and meaningless to the audience."

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Screenwriting Blogs

I think it's important for every aspiring writer to keep current on basic trends and news on the subject of writing.  University of Phoenix just posted a list of top sites that are important for a screenwriter to know and regularly read.

I follow a majority of these blogs, if not for the advice and tips, for the fun and camaraderie.

Some that I personally like are:

John August  - Famous screenwriter, amazing blogger

The Bitter Script Reader - Insight from someone who actually reads a lot of scripts
Amanda the Aspiring Writer - An aspiring TV writer and former agency assistant like me
Screenwriting Tips…You Hack - A tip each day to help you write better
Scriptshadow - Reads, Reviews (and sometimes posts) the latest feature specs

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The Bernoulli Principle of Writing

I was driving with the windows down one Saturday and I was using my arm as a "wing" creating lift by cupping my hand and having the air float my arm up in the air.  This led me to the internets where I looked up the Bernoulli Principle.  That was totally un-helpful because the internet is too smart.  But what I did gather from the kids version, was that the curve of the top forces air to move faster over the wing, so that the slower moving air on the bottom side of the wing helps create the lift and eventually force the wing upwards.

Seriously, why do I suck at science?

I would like to try and apply this principle to writing if I may.

The wing (or plane) is your screenplay.  The air is your writing (or physical exertion).

The pressure elevates your screenplay until you can eventually take off.

Now this is where it gets technical:

To write very fast, you glide over the screenplay so quickly that the screenplay has the freedom to lift upwards.  In other words - you give the screenplay an opening to take off.  Often when you get out your ideas quickly in a vomit draft (or quick draft), the writer is able to see what is working and what is not.

That's when the slow moving air comes in.  You go through the draft, very carefully.  Sometimes you rewrite the entire thing.  This process takes a long time.  Even the process of coming up with a great idea and "breaking" the story take the longest amount of time, but this is where you will be getting the greatest amount of lift.  At times I've simultaneously written my first draft while crafting the story - getting out the bad ideas while forming a great plan.  I think outlining can fall under this category as well, but if you never push the writing past outline you'll never get lift.

It also helps to have a better wing (solid ideas in the first place).

Spencer and I just finished the first draft of a pilot.  The idea was pretty solid and we came up with the characters and plot fairly quickly.  After writing the vomit draft, we rewrote.

We rewrote that darn thing four times in five days.  We had some pressure to get it done quickly, but mostly we just wanted it to be really good and the existing storylines just weren't working.  The faster we wrote, the better our ideas came.  Slowly but surely the great ideas were clear and once they were we incorporated them.  The script was able to eventually take off from the ground.

There is still a lot of lifting left to do, but I feel we've done the hard part - taking off.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

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Daily Pre-Script-tion

Many of you may know, my buddy Spencer and I started a blog a few years ago called Daily Pre-Script-tion.

We attempted to write a one-page script every day for a year (schemes!).  We were unsuccessful at this attempt.  We were able to accomplish 100 each.  That's like two feature screenplays.

The experiment was extremely fun and exciting.  We based each script around a particular theme, usually a picture, video or other random craziness.  We also had guest writers on Fridays.  The Pen script was my favorite to write.

As you might expect, this practice became very tiresome.  The experience was valuable, we learned a great deal about deadlines and coming up with material quickly, but we just couldn't keep up the momentum.  We  learned how tiring it can be to format and fix a blog post every single day.  It was made especially difficult when traveling or not being near a computer.

Although the experience ended suddenly and the blog was all but abandoned, the overall lasting effects were tremendous.  We grew as writers.

I have officially opened the blog back up.  The dust has been removed and we are now going to have new content.

Check it out for more details and read the first in a long line of great scripts to come.

You are more than welcome to help us out by reading and commenting, or if you feel you have the chops - contributing your own scripts. (Just email me if you're interested).

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Winner, Winner, Chicken Lunch

I realized when I posted the short story writing contest that I forgot to put a time limit on the entries.
For the official contest (of which the prize is a picture and bio on my blog), the deadline is right now. BUT I would like to hear any more stories you can come up with - either on these posts or on Facebook.

What fun eh? It's really hard to come up with a story in just six words. Hemingway was a crazy genius, so I'm declaring his hauntingly emotional story unbeatable in our hearts.

But as for the winner of the contest: [pause for effect...]

Scott Keller!

"Alien peace talks fail. Draft initiated."

Bio in Haiku
Best friend from high school.
Brilliant computer geek smarts.
Been too long since borscht.

I picked Scott's story because I felt it had a great beginning, middle, and end - plus you get an awesome twist ending.

This sort of writing exercise makes you think about how to organize and execute longer pieces. When going about writing a feature screenplay or a novel, it's good to think about how you want to set up your audience, grip them with emotion, then shock them with the final daring end.

It's so hard to do this in just six words, but if you can't do it in six, how can you do it in a virtually limitless amount?

Honorable Mentions
Spencer Holt: "FORSALE:Typewriterwithbrokenspacebar" (I liked this a lot, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it somewhere else...)
Tiffany Anderson: "Disneyland at 25, a first childhood." (this probably would have won if I didn't think it was about me... sorry babe)
Phil Monson: "Double Rainbow, what does it mean?" (because I laughed out loud)
Josh Cobb: "Whoa! *SPLASH* "Help!" *SPLASH* "guuurrggggle" Silence." (nice sound effects!)

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Extremely Short Stories

I was looking into science-fiction short stories as a possible creative outlet - my friend Spencer has an idea that I think would be an amazing short story and it has a science fiction twist. I haven't told him this, and he probably doesn't know which story. Let's see if he can guess!

Anyway, I came across this article in Wired that was extremely fun.

They had taken the idea from Hemingway who said that the best thing he had ever written was a short story that was only six words long:

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Then they had several authors come up with some of their own six-word stories. It's surprising how many of them played with time travel using a sentance structure gag. Here are my top three favorite:

3.  "Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?" - Eileen Gunn

2.   Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses. - Richard Powers

1.   TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! ... nobody there ... -Harry Harrison

Now I want you all to come up with your own six-word short stories. The winner will be posted on my blog with a picture and a nice paragraph biography.

Here are a few of mine to get you started:

- No problems, no worries. Cryogenically frozen. 

- At first the numbing feels normal.

- Check arrived finally. No authorized signature.

- Cold. Quiet. Uncomfortable. Space suits suck.

- Approaching summit, no turning back now.

Have at it! And have fun. Post as many as you can think of.

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Time Perspective

This video is about ten minutes, but is well worth the time investment.

It is the famous Philip Zambardo discussing the economics of time and the powers it has over our minds. He also goes in to how these things effect our current cultures.

Also, it is pretty amazingly animated. So check it out and we'll discuss:

Discussion as related to entertainment:

A lot of what Mr. Zambardo is saying about how this effects the attentiveness and alertness of young people's minds translate directly to how television and film is being shaped.

I was listening to the book-on-cd of STORY by Robert McKee while on my way into work and Mr. McKee was describing three types of story plots:

• The Arc-Plot: where everything happens to the extreme - situations are life or death, the characters go through extreme changes and as a result the audience goes through extreme emotions (anger, elation, sadness, etc.). THE A-TEAM was a perfect example of this (very enjoyable in all those extremes).
• The Mini-Plot: where the characters go through only minor changes during the course of the film, but it is more impactful and dramatic. I thought that AN EDUCATION was a really great example of this one.
• The Anti-Plot: where the filmmaker is purposefully not allowing the audience the satisfaction of an overall character arc. Very subversive. Very 1960's Traffaut. I loved THE BEATLES: YELLOW SUBMARINE which very much follows this form.

I have to say, I'm a big fan of the Arc-plot. I love the Arc-plot. Most people do. It's the type of movie that I like to go see and that I will (hopefully) eventually write. In-between those great blockbuster films though, I enjoy watching the more cerebral and intelligent films every now and then. Not sure so much about the Anti-plot style, I just don't have that much time.

Quick side note: I am really in love with the show ADVENTURE TIME on Cartoon Network. I can't tell you how much I love this show (and how much my wife hates it). It is a lot like the Anti-plot, but if you dig deeper you see an inner Arc-plot.

Here's a great article that illustrates how Spielberg's JAWS changed how the movie industry began releasing films. "Hollywood had been happy to hit for average, spraying singles and doubles around the field; after Jaws it began swinging for grand slams."

In other words, they have made it bigger, faster, harder, and more intense.

Getting back into what Mr. Zambardo was discussing, this fast-paced forward thinking society of ours has turned our entertainment (and most specifically, the films that spend the most money and make the most money) into nothing more than an onslaught of explosive action, excessive comedy and jittery camera work.

Our Arc-plots have to become more intense and absurd as a result.

Thinking about recent history, a film that I thought was beautifully done and excellently paced was THE KARATE KID (the Jaden Smith one). Although it was done quite well and I felt the 140 minutes flew by, apparently it was incredibly slow for everyone else.

Around the mid-point of the film, several kids in the audience started to get very restless. One teen in the front pulled out his iPhone and was checking facebook during the majority of the film. One kid sitting next to us said, "when's it going to be over?" Even my wife got the fidgets during the movie, but we've long discussed how difficult it is for her to sit through a movie so that's okay - she at least admits it.

What is the deal people? Am I taking crazy pills? Am I the only one in this world anymore that has the patience to let a movie take its time?

Hopefully not, but still - it's good thing to keep in mind when trying to write a screenplay or pilot: Today's audience is easily bored. Keep them entertained and engaged or else they will start tweeting during your film.

(Next Time: A comparison of two dramatically different trailers, one from the 70's, one from the present - and matching them according to the same principles of attentiveness and forward time thinking.)

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Put it in Writing

Today I just wanted to briefly let you in on a tip that has been continually told to me, and one that I have found to be all too true:

WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN

This goes for every bit of an idea you may ever get. Which can be on several different levels, with several different methods and several different mediums. I'm going to discuss some of the more popular of them here, including my own process.

The reason why this is so important is because you will have ideas and inspirations for movies or tv shows or webshows or video games that could turn into something great someday. Maybe not now, maybe not in a few years, but some time down the line you will have the opportunity and will want to have a cavalcade of ideas to pitch or write. If you had the inspirations written down from the beginning you will be able to easily retrieve and/or remember them.

Many times I've had people tell me an idea* they have for a movie or show. They usually only have it in their head and nowhere else. I encourage them to write it down for two reasons: so you can remember it later, and so you can flesh it out more.

*I must warn you now that there are certain things you can copyright and certain things you cannot. You cannot copyright an idea. If you think in your head that a movie involving a grocery store clerk stealing the Hope Diamond is a great idea and you write it down on a napkin, and then a studio makes that exact movie...you have no legs to stand on. It was an idea that could have been thought up by any number of people or written down after the movie was released. I plan to discuss this in more depth on a later post, but for now just know that the writing of the idea is not going to protect it.

What better way to have all the emotions and visuals that you originally thought up on that fateful day than to have some sort of record to help bring it all back? Here are some helps:

Levels and Methods

• Word - they can bring up a quick thought or feeling that you want to portray somewhere.
• Comparisons - two or more existing ideas that you can easily compare your idea to, i.e. "The Bridges of Madison County meets Transformers."
  
• Loglines - quick summaries of your idea, i.e. "A small beach town is terrorized by a maniacal killer shark and it is up to the local sheriff to find a way to stop it."
• Bullets - this is my favorite because it's quick but gets my idea out. I usually just bullet the main points of the story from beginning to end. It isn't at all detailed or expansive, just something to get the ideas out.
• Treatment - this is much more involved and may take a while. Usually consisting of a few pages outlining the entire story and characters. It is best to break it up into four acts (Beginning, Middle A, Middle B, and End) and just fill in the details. A good treatment takes time and rewrites, but it can be used to pitch the idea more consistently.
• Outline - we're talking a massive list of every scene here, not just a paltry few lines. A typical film will be around 50-60 scenes, so you list them out one by one. You can include a quick synopsis of the scene too, but it eventually gets too long. This can bee one of the best ways to flesh out the story and structure. Very helpful, but a time commitment.
• First Draft - this is usually the goal and it takes time. You can't expect to have a perfect first draft. If you do, it either took too long or you're the perfect writer (who doesn't exist, therefore you're lying or stealing). Don't think too much about this, just get the feeling of the story out. If you don't know how a scene should go, just write it and eventually you can shape it into what you want.
• Final Draft - after many many drafts you can get to a point where you say to yourself you will no longer work on this project anymore. (At least not until you are being paid the big bucks to develop and write it further). There's no set amount of versions until you reach this state, but know that it still won't be perfect. Someone somewhere is not going to like it, but someone somewhere just might - and that's all you really need. One person to like it enough.
  

Mediums
Let's talk about where to write all this stuff down. Hopefully you have a moleskin or planner that you can write things down on quickly. I prefer the Moleskin method, I have a particularly big one that I tote around with me everywhere. On good days I can write a few things down on it before I forget them.
I've heard index cards are a really great method and I would love to give it a go sometime. Just take out a bunch of index cards, write the scene heading at the top, then explain the scene. You can mix and match and move scenes around. A good way of coming up with fun scenes and then being able to change them around.

Eventually you are going to want to get everything written down in a word processing program. Remember to backup often! Because the digital medium is so fickle, it's nice to be saving often and to backup your files as much as possible. A good flash drive, external hard drive or CD-Roms are good ways of protecting your data. Another good way is to get it onto the internet somehow. If I am really worried about a file I will email it to myself. Then if something goes wrong it's on there forever.

My favorite programs are MS Word for treatments and outlines, and Final Draft for writing in script format. Here is a preview of the software:
It's nice to write with a program because it recognizes the required template and formatting issues. I can just tab over to get a character or dialogue box. If you have ever tried to do this on a word or notepad program you know how frustrating it is to get the right formatting.

Some other good programs are discussed on John August's (a great writer) blog. I don't like a lot of the programs out there. Movie Magic is okay, but I have my qualms with it too.

The ultimate thing you can do to keep a copy of your script available is to print it out. I know, I know, that's a lot of paper and ink. It's anywhere from 90 to 150 pages. Poor printer, having to work so hard. If needs be you can put it on a flash drive and print it out at kinkos (which is faster but more expensive). But there is nothing like a nice fresh copy of the script, printed out and fancy-like. Remember the cover pages (you can use cardstock) and Acco brads (always get the 1 1/4" size).

Now that you have the tools -- get working! It takes less than a few moments a day to write your ideas down. Then later, when you have more than a few moments, you can expand your idea and start working on the actual screenplay.

Good luck, and good writing!

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My/Your/Our Writing Sucks

If you have ever had a piece of literary work that has been brought under close scrutiny you know just how badly it feels to get your guts ripped out from your inside. It is not the best feeling in the world.

We all want validation and we all want someone to tell us that we are doing a good job or that they genuinely liked something we have written.

Unfortunately there are realistic things to be said about your writing and if you don't go into it with this knowledge and become prepared for that eventual determination that what you wrote is maybe perhaps "flawed" or not essentially "good" then you are in the wrong business.

I have (and continue to have) many of my ideas and scripts torn apart and scrutinized, but I revel in it. Okay, maybe not revel, but at least I appreciate it. Whatever it is that I can learn from others about what I had written will help me in making said writing better. It will also save me from a great deal of heartache when I do lay the script on the line and get that feedback from the person(s) who I really want/need to like my writing (like managers, producers, and of course agents).

A few articles have been published lately, one a letter to anyone wishing to send a well-respected industry man their screenplay, the other a list of ten things that you want to try and avoid when trying to submit your work to such people. I hope these two reads help paint a better picture of what it is like to be in their position.

It's not about you, it's about politics and not putting these people in awkward situations.

Josh Olson's "I Will Not Read Your F---ing Script"
(Caution, NSFW - very strong language.)

Script Magazine's "Ten Big Mistakes..."

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Short Story: Part Three

Now the thrilling conclusion of my three-part series. The first chapter involved two young kids who sought a different future where they could be free and live as they wished. The second chapter was a short script that shared their exploits in robbing a convenient store.

The third chapter involves what happens to these two young lovers after the heist.
Play this song:

It is best to listen while reading, or just before if you prefer silence to concentrate.

The next chapter is called:

GETAWAY
Chapter Three: Consequences

The cold steel doors of the prison cell came to a close. Sheriff Johnson of the county Sheriff’s Department locked the door, and then put the keys back on his belt. With a crude smile on his busted lip he looked to Becky. Becky had a deer-in-headlights look and was on the verge of crying.

Trying to be firm, Sheriff Johnson spouted out what he thought to be comforting words, “We called yer pa. Should be here in a bit.” And with that he left to do whatever business that Sheriffs do.

This made Becky feel worse. Tears already formed.

Through the bars, she looked into the cell which held the unconscious James - splayed out on a bench. In a whisper, Becky attempted to rouse James from his bludgeon-induced coma - “James.”

James groaned and then shifted on the bench.

“James!” she insisted.

Only a few words could be muttered from the groggy young man.

“What?” she said in a panic. “James, are you okay?”

James slowly sat up. He held his head with his hands. His face looked worse for wear, several cuts and bruises lined his eyes and mouth. A particularly large lump rested on the left side of his forehead. He touched it with caution, reacting to the pain.

More groaning - then, “What happened?”

“You got knocked out by the sheriff’s department,” Becky said bluntly. “They got you pretty good. You were knocked out.”

“Well duh.” he replied to himself.

James got up slowly and headed to the door. He put his arms around the bars to prop himself up.

“Did they call our parents?” he asked not really wanting an answer.

“They definitely called my dad.” her words settled in the air for a bit. “I don’t know about your mom.”

“Great. Fantastic.” he said, not welcoming the news.

Approaching his cell, Becky resorted to her false courage routine, “James, we have to figure out what happened and get our stories straight.”

“Why bother, they know it was us.” he replied curtly.

Offended she returns the pessimism, “I’m not going to burn for this. It was your plan, you held up the store. Your problem.” she hesitated, but then added a particularly stinging comment; “Nothing you’ve ever done has ever worked. I don’t know why I went along with you.”

She knew this was too much, she backed off. James just stood there speechless.

They stayed in their respective cells not communicating for over an hour.

Soon enough, Sheriff Johnson approached the cells with unwelcome news; “Miss Van Neel? Your father is here.”

Becky ran up to the doors as quickly as James ran back to the benches. The Sheriff unlocked her door and opened it.

In walked Becky’s father – Mr. Van Neel. Mister corn processing plant owner and millionaire. He stood tall in his cocky manner, dressed in his night clothes and trenchcoat. He did not look pleased with his daughter, but more than that, he did not look excited to see who she was with.

Becky ran to him and hugged him tight, “I’m sorry daddy. It was all a big mistake. I’ll never do it again.”

Mr. Van Neel looked her in the eye, “Did he force you into this?”

James rolled his eyes.

Becky looked back at her ex-love. “I had nothing to do with it daddy. He didn’t force me into anything.”

This didn’t convince him, so Mr. Van Neel approached the cell and stared down at the young man.

“I think we can safely say you will never talk to my daughter again,” he said coldly. “If you so much as approach her…wave hello to her, I will make sure you go away for a very long time.”

James didn’t flinch. He didn’t move. He sat there and stared right back at the pompous man.

“So then it is agreed.” Mr. Van Neel turned back to his daughter and escorted her out of the room. “Sheriff, I think the young man needs to think about his decisions,” he said vaguely. “Keep him as long as you need him.” The Sheriff nodded and smirked at the permission.

Becky looked back at James with pathetic eyes. She had either made the smartest, or the dumbest decision of her life.

James looked back at her. Those great big blue eyes piercing her soul.

Outside of the station, Mr. Van Neel escorted his daughter into the lovely Mercedes parked out front. He opened the passenger door and made sure she was seated safely in the car. He then turned to the Sheriff and began to discuss the releasing of his daughter from the incident.

Becky sat in the large luxurious car. Leather seats with silver inlay. Her attention was distracted by a pair of shiny keys that her father had left in the ignition. They swung back and forth, tantalizing her imagination.

Inside the jail, James bundled up from the cold. He had lost everything in a matter of a few hours. His heart was so heavy that he couldn’t cry. He could only sit there and wonder what had happened.

In Mr. Van Neel’s car, Becky was starting to realize how big of a mistake she had made. Did she really love him? How could she tell? She looked up to her father and the Sheriff who were busily arguing about something important. She looked back at the keys.

At this moment, it suddenly became clear who she really was. She had been fighting so hard to do what was pleasing to other people. She had gone along with James in this crazy fantasy of a plan; she had complied with her father unquestioningly. She had wanted to please others so much that she had forgotten what had made her happy.

Slowly, she slunk from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat. She started the car. Mr. Van Neel and the Sheriff instantly stopped arguing and stared at the young woman behind the wheel. She locked the doors.

With a flick of the wrist, she had put the car in reverse. The car peeled out and lunged backward into the parking lot. Mr. Van Neel ran after the disobedient child, “Young lady come back this instant!” but it was too late. She had put the car in drive and revved the engine. Mr. Van Neel approached the car and tried the door. He smacked the window, “you stop this car right now!”

Becky looked up at her old man. She was no longer his young baby girl. She was a free-thinking, beautiful, rebellious teenager and she was going to do what she wanted.

She let go of the brake and slammed down on the gas. The car fishtailed out into the open road. The Sheriff stood there in wonderment while Mr. Van Neel cursed under his breath. He turned to the Sheriff and instantly became upset, “Well go after her!” The Sheriff jumped into action and they both hopped into the squad car. They sped off towards the young runaway.

In his cell, James was lying down trying to get some sleep. This had been the worst day of his life and it’s not that easy to fall asleep after such a one.

As his mind drifted off to vacant places his eyes began to droop. He had just touched upon a restful state, when a faint honking started to grow.

Lights started to flash into the cell, bouncing off the walls. The honking grew louder. James opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. He climbed up to the window.

In the distance, a large stolen Mercedes Benz started to barrel down a field towards the prison.

“Oh shi…” he couldn’t finish the expletive before having to jump out of the way of the speeding car. He grabbed onto the prison bars and braced for impact.

The heavy vehicle plowed into the walls of the Sheriff’s Station, spitting brick and mortar into every direction. James screamed like a little girl as the debris rained upon him.

The vehicle came to a stop and the dust settled in the small cell. The tinted window of the car hummed as it was lowered. Becky sat in the driver’s seat - smiling large.

“Are you freakin’ crazy?!” James said in shock and relief.

“Need a ride?” she answered coolly, “I’ve got a full tank of gas.”

Without a second thought, James jumped down from the bars and slid on top of the hood to the passenger side. He hopped into the seat.

A group of people from the station came to investigate the loud sound; a few Deputies realized what was going on and scrambled to get out their guns and keys.

Becky slammed the car into reverse and hit the gas once more. The car didn’t go anywhere, it was stuck on debris. She revved the engine, the tires spun in place. James used his weight to rock the car back and forth, trying to break free. One of the Deputies had found his key and had opened the cell door when…

The tire connected with the ground projecting the car out of the jail and into the field. Becky adjusted the wheel to correct and then threw the stick into drive. They zoomed out of the grass and onto the road. They left the Sheriff Station in the dust.

On the road once more, the two rogues sat and smiled. They didn’t say a word until…

James turned to Becky and gave her the biggest kiss of her life. Becky smiled and tried to concentrate on the road.

James squeaked out a pathetic “Thank you.”

“Do me a favor,” Becky said firmly. “Don’t do anything stupid like that ever again.”

James sat back and laughed, “Okay Becky Van Neel, never again.”

“Unless it involves a wedding ring.” she retorted.

He nervously chuckled in response. She noticed his squirming.

“Not now!” she said to his relief.

They sat in silence once more as she approached the interstate.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Now?” he calmly stated. “Now we live.”

They sat back and focused on the road ahead. The car sped down the interstate into the rising sun.

THE END

There are several things I learned while doing this little exercise:

- It is extremely hard to switch between different forms of storytelling. Script/short story, first person/third person, stream of consciousness/narration. It is all very confusing and difficult to switch between writing styles.

- Characters do what they want to do and say what they want to say. Sometimes I will write a line that I think is perfect, but when re-writing I will discover that the character doesn't want to say that or wouldn't say that. It is very interesting to see what personalities come out of the characters we create and to see what they want to say.

- I love to write. I kind of knew this before, but it was solidified in my trying to write something new. It made me appreciate the screenplay form for its familiarity, but also the short story or novel form as well because it is much harder than it seems.

Thank you all for being willing to read and I hope you enjoyed this little story. Please feel free to leave comments on how you felt about the story or what you think should happen next.

Until next time, keep those ideas moving!

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Short Story

A while back I was thinking that I should post a short story on my blog. Then today while trying to come up with an idea for my script on Pre-Script-tion I came up with a great idea that I wanted to explore further than a one-page script.

So I decided to do a cross-pollination of my ideas. I will be posting the first part of a story here on my blog, then I will post the second part in script form on Pre-Script-tion by the end of the night, and then finally I will post the conclusion on my blog tomorrow.

This way you can get the full story and enjoy it in three different ways.

Each chapter of the story will be accompanied by a song that I was listening to while writing. I think that all three stories fit very well with the songs that I happened to be listening to at the time so I will post them along with each part of the story. Hopefully this will add to the ambiance and mood of the story.

Here is the first song. Play it, read and enjoy:


The story is called:

GETAWAY

Chapter One: James and Becky

JAMES

The future.

Depending on your situation it could be optimistic and wide-open, or bleak and discouraging. I’ll give you one guess which one mine is.

Fifteen minutes until the bell. Mrs. Flack is giving me the stink eye again. What did I ever do to her? Sure I slacked off in class, argued with her every point and protested every assignment. But at least I never skipped class! All damn year I have come to class on time and prepared. Never missed an assignment, no matter how poorly presented or useless they may be.

Becky is handing me a note. That’s why I’m getting the stink eye. Not now Becky, we’re going to be talking to each other in like thirteen minutes. Put a lid on your horny self. I’ll just text her.

“James. Put away the cell phone please.”

Shoot, I thought I was being covert enough.

It’s okay, I’ll give Becky the old ‘hang on a sec’ nod.

What was I talking about? Oh ya, I’ve been plotting my escape from this ridiculous one stop-light town for a few years now. There’s really no future in it. What are my options? Loser teacher at Cornbread Podunk High School, labor slave for one of the nearby environment-destroying factories, hermit? I like that one. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about the constant buzzing of the bland townsfolk and their mediocre lives. Problem is I would most likely end up blowing myself up with homemade fertilizer bombs from sheer lack of something to do.

London. I need to get to London. Becky says they are always looking for new talented musicians in London. Plus, all the greatest bands in the world have come from the depths of the UK. Beatles, Clash, Sex Pistols, Stones, Smiths. I could go on.

Okay so now that we have a plan, what should we do? Beg our unsupportive parents for money? Get a summer job and end up forgetting our plans? Rob a convenient store?

BECKY

Just one time I would like to get his stupid ADD attention. For one second you hummingbird! This is really really important. I’ve been trying to tell you all morning that I was accepted at Cornell.

Ugh. Don’t pull out the cell phone, you’ll get Flacked again.

“James. Put away the cell phone please.” Told you sooooo.

A nod. Classy. Whatever, I’ll just wait the twelve minutes for the stupid bell.

Ten.

Five.

RING! Finally!

I’ll need to intercept him from Flack, they can argue for hours. I need to get him out of here, otherwise he would get distracted by something shiny.

JAMES

She’s never going to buy this.

“I had an idea.”

“First I need to tell you something.” Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good at all.

“I need to tell you something about our plans.”

“We’re still going to London right? Tell me you’re still going to London Beck.”

“Well, see it’s not that easy anymore. There’s my father… listen, we had a dumb dream and we thought it would be fun, now reality is setting in and there’s not much room for that sort of thing.”

“Beck, what are you talking about? We had a plan.”

She can’t be serious. What is she doing? There has never been any other plan. I would die without her.

Tell me you’re dying of cancer; tell me you’re secretly a lesbian. Just don’t tell me that you don’t want to be with me and change the world.

“I’ve been accepted into Cornell and I plan to go.”

Shit.

BECKY

Don’t give me that face, I hate that face.

Oooh, you jerk. What am I supposed to do? My father went there, my grandfather went there. I have been getting the ‘Cornell would be good for you’ speech a thousand times in the last few months. Besides, I would pretty much be disowned by my parents if I just ran off now. They are counting on me and they want what’s best for me…I think.

“Say something.”

“Two-thousand, three hundred.”

“What does that mean?”

“That’s how much we need to make it to London. After that we can probably just wing it. Find a job, crash at someone’s place. Get back on our feet you know.”

“James…”

“We could work during the days and then at nights I can play and you can go to art school.”

“James…I don’t think it’s a good idea anymore. Where are we going to get that kind of money?”

Don’t be silent again. I hate that. Whenever something bad happens or we get in a fight you just close down. TALK TO ME!

“We’ll steal it.”

“Dammit James. We can’t do it.”

“No…we can. I’ve got it all figured out.”

Don’t hug me right now. I don’t want to be near you right now. Okay, maybe just a little hug.

“This is our life baby. We only get one shot at it. Do you really want to look back and say that the only thing you ever did was follow what other people said you had to do?”

“…no.”

“We have got to do this. We need to get some money and then get out of here. We need to start living our lives.”

He’s got a point. I don’t care about Cornell. That’s my dad’s dream, not mine.

But it’s just so stupid. Isn’t there something else that is equally freeing but not as equally stupid? I mean, we are only seventeen for hell’s sake. I can’t let them run my life anymore! I want out just as bad as he does, but I’m not sure I’m prepared to go through with something as stupid as this.

Maybe it’s not that stupid. Maybe we can get in and get out and never be seen again. We’ll be in a whole different country. And it’s not like they would prosecute minors for something as small and petty as this. If anything they would just charge our parents. And they deserve to pay for the way they raised us. Generation Y my ass. They just didn’t know how to handle a bunch of kids who were faster and brighter than them. It’s the technology’s fault. With information so easily accessible, we were bound to become smarter.

Screw this town and screw our lives.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

“Really!”

“Really. But only once. We’ll get the money, and go. But you must promise me that we will never turn back. Never miss it. Never want to come home.”

“What home?”

To find out what happens next, visit Pre-Script-tion...

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Exposition

Recently relived the glory days by watching the pilot episode of Sliders on Hulu. I loved this show! Usually my brother and I would dominate the television for primetime when it was on.


There was a moment in the pilot where they had to wrap up a few storylines but didn't really have the time. How did they accomplish this seemingly impossible task? That's right -- EXPOSITION.

Exposition is that funny little agreement that we all make with film and television to let certain lines of dialogue slide. No one likes it, but everyone will excuse it from time to time. Writers will completely deny the use of it, even to the death. And no one will recommend it, unless that person's job is Executive or Producer.

Soap Opera's are notorious for using exposition to float along their wild and exotic themes and push their over-run storylines along. Here's some great examples we came up with in the car today:

When something needs to happen that they don't have the money to film, they use powers of exposition to create a picture for the audience. For example "You know I can't leave the house, not after the terrible car crash I was involved in last month."

When they need to change a storyline because of a missing castmember or because of current events, they just change the dialogue to incorporate it. For example "We can't make love right now, Jimmy is stuck in that well and that's all I can think about."

When they switch castmembers because an actor quits or gets something better, they change their sex or say that they died. For example "I am Johnny, I became a woman from a sex change operation that I purchased with the money from my dead wife."

But is it really all that bad? I admit Soap Operas are pretty bad. I can't stand to watch more than a few minutes at a time, if anything. In the case of Sliders it wasn't inadmissible, in fact it fit right in with the rest of the show. We didn't need to see all that stuff, it was perfectly okay for us to just hear it from the characters.

Sure we should avoid writing it into our scripts at all costs. But when the chips are down and we have no time to present our readers/viewers with the complete story - exposition is our hidden ally.

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