JUST BLOWING OFF SOME STEAM

I haven't added anything to my blog for some time now and I always get nervous when I don't. This probably wouldn't be that big a deal to me, but I'm suppose to be existential which basically means in this context, this is a blog, therefore I should blog. Lacking anything incredibly meaningful to say, I thought I'd just write down what's going on with me and my life. You know, the sort of thing that I find boring and makes other people want to hang themselves.

I may even try to do it on a more daily, dear diary sort of schedule. Which means in addition to being existential, I'm also a tad pathetic. But isn't that the definition of a screenwriter in LA?

I've been a little frustrated this week because I'm suppose to be doing the next installment of a screenplay that I'm writing with a partner. The reason I'm frustrated is because the screenplay is actually going very well. I think we make a good partnership and the whole thing feels right. So it's just annoyingly maddening that I'm not writing my guts out.

My main problem is that I'm busy with work, which is a good thing. The Slamdance Screenplay Competition and Regent Entertainment/Here! Networks has been keeping me pretty busy. So I'm not complaining. Well, I am complaining, that's pretty obvious, but I'm trying to do it in a noncomplaining way because with the economy the way it is, I'm happy to have money coming in.

I was also suppose to have a staged reading of my screenplay Rough Trade in New York in October to start off a reading series for OTF (Out in Television and Film), but I couldn't find a director. I found this quite mind boggling, but there it is. However, it turns out it might be for the best. One of the reasons I was going first in the series was that the one who was running the series was having difficulty finding a script to read that he liked (which made me feel pretty pleased with myself, to tell the truth). But it no longer looks like that is a problem and instead I'll be kicking off the LA staged reading series beginning in January. The stress is off.

I'm also behind at doing my reviews of movies I've seen. In many ways, this is the area where I am most frustrated with myself. If you talked to my friends, they would all tell you that I can rarely shut up about the movies I've seen. But I still haven't put my thoughts done on such flicks as Flame and Citron and Inglorious Bastards, among others.

Well, no matter what else, I got it all off my chest for a little while at least.

What Happens Next, A History of American Screenwrting

I've been reading a fascinating book by Mark (Shakespeare in Love) Norman called What Happens Next, A History of American Screenwriting, which is pretty much what the title says it is. I've reached the 1930's, but I've run across a few interesting tidbits:

1. Most early screenwriters (during the silent films) were women, though no one seems to know why.
2. One, Gene Gauntier, was inadvertently responsible for authors of source material (like books and plays) being paid for the right to use their work when she did a 15 minute adaptation of Ben Hur and the Wallace estate sued.
3. Thomas Ince is responsible for the way a screenplay looks on paper when he wanted to make movie production to be as efficient as possible.

Also, a quote. In talking about the basic formula and structure that was started in silent film (though dates from Aristotle) and is still used today:

"This often monotonous narrative structure answered many studio needs. For an industry increasingly compelled to churn out products, it streamlined production; screenwriters learned to mold and hew their output to fit the template and save time; and it provided the front office with a basis to judge a writer's screenplay and a vague but finite vocabulary to use when it set out to change or improve it."

I.e., the reason that this formulaic structure (often seen in many books on how to write screenplays) was adopted was not because this was the only way to make a story work for an audience, it was because it was the most efficient way of churning out product.