Message Board

Walter and Randy

I think Snakes on a Plane is probably the worst movie title ever. It just seems so dumbed down. My sister and I had a great time dumbing down some of our favorites like, Jaws - Sharks in the Water or Star Wars - Fighting in Space or Braveheart - Scotland Fights the British. If you think about it the list is endless. Writers work so hard to come up with thoughtful titles, this just missed the mark to me in a comedic way.

Lisa

I heard today that the producers of SOAP (See I'm down too, Tito) won't allow the film critics to review it. That's never a good sign.

Randy, I was just in your lovely city of Dallas over the weekend, dropping the kid off to college. BTW, man oh man, there's no place for me to hide. Everywhere I go folks are asking me to be in their films. If I've told Ebert and Roper once, I've told them a thousand times to stop comparing me to Meryl Streep. Geez, hacks, the both of 'em. Lisa

Randy-

I learned early on, like you, never add camera angles, directions, etc. I work way too hard to create a compelling, interesting storyline, why would I take a reader out of the story by placing a C/U or W/S in the middle of everything? I want the reader's full attention, nothing less. The director will do his/her best to make the scene appear great on screen and doesn't need me to tell him/her how to do the job.

Lisa

Walter,

How 'bout Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton? I am embarrassed to admit how much I love that film. As crass as it is, the story about a guy who just needs someone to believe in him is right on target and was so very well written. Over rated? Crash! Badly written, over acted and melodramatic, pah-leeeese. Munich, the same year was much better written, acted and carried the theme of family successfully throughout. Best film that year, in my book.

Lisa

Hi y'all.

I hope you can help me. The members of this board seem to be very generous about giving helpful advice so here goes. Is there any other place beside Triggerstreet where a writer with some experience can read the work of other experienced writers, as well as, get credible feedback from writers who have developed their craft past beginning screenwriting books and seminars? A place where writers understand subtext, symbolism, metephors, etc. in the context of storytelling? I'm trying to improve my writing and need the help of more experienced writers and have found Triggerstreet to be wanting in this regard. Please y'all, throw me a bone. Thanks for reading!

Lisa

Laqueta and Paula

Thanks for the advice. I'm not necessarily looking for free advice, just competent advice. Someone suggested The Writer's Building, I think there is a fee to join or was a fee to join. I was told the writers there are serious about their work and they are maybe a little more advanced in their writing abilities. Have you heard of this website at all? It seems like there's tons of help out there for beginners, but, once you've moved past the beginner stage there isn't as much help available in the form of advanced instruction. Paula, thank you for the script website, I will investigate that avenue and pull what I can from it.

Thanks again for the help.

Lisa

Hi Everyone.

Thanks for all your input. I will check out all the websites you've suggested.

John,

Sorry if it came across that way, but, I know that a lot of members on this board are not beginners. That's why I knew I could ask a question here and get an expert answer.

Thanks again to all. The Lord bless you with words on the page.

Lisa

Paula,

I generally write about what ever intrests me at the time. I found over the years that I've ended up with a wide range of scripts, running from the low end, a short, I produced myself for about 30k to a feature script that would probably cost 100 million to make, and other scripts in between with varying price ranges and themes. I think when you write what you know and love, there will be a significant audience somewhere.

What about, "That Thing You Do,"? Seems that film might be close to the same genre and story line you're talking about. I think it did quite well at the box office, yes? I liked it a lot. I bought it.

Best wishes, Lisa

Tito,

What a wonderful story. Remember, we're all a work in progress. Next time, you'll have this experience in your heart and you'll be prepared and encouraged enough to act at the moment you're needed.

Lisa

I have a friend who was a reader this year, she's no kid and does know a good script when she reads one. For what it's worth I got passed on, as well. Maybe next year. Congrats to all who moved up. I've been to the Screenwriter's Conference and it's awesome, it's well worth the time to go.

Lisa

Are you kidding me? Russell Crowe and Christian Bale? I don't care how good or bad the script may be, I'm there. If it is a good script, that's just icing on a very hunky cake!

Lisa

Randy,

I have to concur with Elaine's post. I do appreciate the wisdom from members of this board, because I don't know the answers most of the time. As far as posers, I agree with your theory that it could be folks in the industry screwing with us, but you know, people who are about something are productive and try to be helpful, people who aren't, are destructive and well, just a little bit sad.

Lisa

Colin,

Sounds like the culprit is someone that knows you really well. What's that saying? Keep your friends close, but, keep your enemies, closer. Please don't leave the board, new folks like me depend upon expertise like yours and others like you. I'm sorry this happened to you. Mourning comes only for a night. Your talent will, no doubt, bring you a bright future.

Lisa

Great book written by Dov S-S Simens called "From Reel to Deal." I read the book prior to producing my own short film and refered to it often during the whole process. It is good to get some hands on expericence before you start your own project. I took a, once a week, four month production class a few years ago. We divided into two teams with five or six folks on each team, picked a short script written by one of the members and each team produced their own film, pre-production through the first screening at a festival. Awesome expericence, couldn't imagine doing one on my own without this experience. Even with the experience, it's still difficult to take on yourself. But, it's very satisfying and worth the hard work.

Best of luck with your film.

Lisa

Don

I was one of the winner's of this competition in 2002. Back then, they requested ten pages. My script was read on stage by local Santa Fe actors. It was an awesome, overwhelming experience, since the screenplay was my first ever written. The screenwriting conference is the best, and I learned much about the film industry and had the blessing of a series of classes during the conference with Jeff Arch, "Sleepless in Seattle." I learned a ton of new writing skills from him, most I still use today. If you have five pages, I say, go for it. That early experience set me on a path to many wonderful experiences, professional relationships and I wrote and produced my own short film in 2007, "The Bare Foot Bull Rider," which is now making it's way around the festival circuit.

Best of luck with your script.

Lisa

I've not seen anyone discussing this show on the board, as yet. Has anyone here besides me watched this series? I might be sticking my neck out here (pun intended), but, I think this show has probably the best writing and directing of anything, anywhere on television this past season. And this sweet gal, Natalie Dormer, is simply fantastic in her portrayal of Anne Boleyn. If she's careful about her future roles, I think she will be very, very famous one day. I can't believe I have to wait another ten months for the third season. Anyone care to comment on the writing?

Lisa

Gene,

Thanks so much! Natalie, Jonathan, Maria and all the other fine actors on the show have a lot of loyal fans besides me. I've seen some blooper reels from the show on YouTube and it looks like it would be a fantastic job to work on that set and they film in Ireland, how much better can it get?

Thomas,

I think if you watch both seasons and keep an open mind, you will agree the show is one of the best written and directed this past season. You have to remember, the writer, producers, etc. who put together the two Elizabeth films are responsible for both seasons. They wrote and filmed the series very much like a 20 hour film, great dialogue, beautiful visuals, deep characterizations. It's not your average run of the mill television series. Let me know what you think.

Oh believe me JRM lights up the screen alright and so does Natalie. It's the two of them together that makes the show a winner. Along with the other fantastic actors in the series. Hope you enjoy it.

Lisa

Gosh, I sure missed the boat. I produced my 40 thousand dollar short in 2007, every dime my own. Who knew all I had to do was ask you guys on Moviebytes for the cash. And they told me the film industry was hard to break into. :)

Lisa

Paula,

No, shot the film on a rented HD camera. Twenty two minutes long. Four characters, very little dialogue. It cost so much because I paid everyone, and because I wanted to shoot the film in seven days, I paid for all the crew and actors to stay in a bed and breakfast on the location. I paid for some professional editing after I did what I could on my own and paid for a composer to score the film and paid for sound mix and edit. I did get breaks on prices, but, even at that, it all mounts up very fast. I figured I'd give myself one shot at this and do it right. This film is geared for the Christian market and I wanted to give it my best and hope someone will like it enough to distribute. We're in the BCIFF in Houston in August, the first festival we entered, so, maybe we did right to spend the money to make it the best we possibly could. Only time will tell. :)

Lisa

Randy,

Thanks so much for the advice. I wonder, since you were a screener for a mainstream festival, can you give me any idea what folks like you are looking for in a good short? Is it purely production quality and time? How much does story content weigh into your decisions to accept or not? I'm asking because, we would like to submit our film to mainstream festivals, but, have been reluctant to toss away entry money, if the mainstream festivals won't consider anything with a spiritual message. Our film does not have a super hard core message, but, the religious imagery and context are there. Thanks for any help you can give us. I wish you the best with your career as well. :)

Lisa

I attended a writing conference lead by Dave last September at Sundance. Part of the class was his written coverage for the first ten pages of any script we wanted to send him in advance. The coverage was excellent and the conference was even better. Dave is kind, helpful and made himself totally available to all of us in the class. He actually stopped his lecture in order to take questions and to have discussion with us. This in contrast to McKee's seminars where you are not allowed to ask any questions until the breaks. I'm not knocking McKee here, I learned so much, but, it is very nice to have a question answered on the spot. I'm postive his full script coverage is well worth the price.

Lisa

All the more reason for writers to become directors and producers and make your own films. The festivals and distributors don't give a rat's patootie how old or young you are if your film is good and will make them some cash!

Janet,

The second season is even better than the first. You'll just have to take my word that the dialogue and story are fantastic. The second season is much darker. Jonathan and Natalie are even more comfortable with their versions of Henry and Anne. They have several scenes together that are so dark and sad and to watch their relationship spiral downward to such a tragic ending is heartbreaking. I love actors and it's amazing to watch these two actors go inside themselves to pull off the scenes.

I've got word that the series will cover the Pilgrimage of Grace next season and there will lots of battle scenes with Henry Cavill as Brandon and how hot will that be?

The fact the show was almost totally overlooked by the Emmy's is a complete mystery to me. Grey's Anatomy? Really?

Janet,

I'm so glad you've taken the time to watch. I think this show is a great learning tool for those of us wanting to improve our writing and directing skills.

The second season has yet to be released on DVD. I think I heard it will be sometime in December or early January. The second season is on Showtime On Demand. I've been rewatching some of the episodes to analyze how the writer and the different directors handled scenes.

JRM is signed on to play Henry this coming season and the next as well. The producers say they will finish the series up after four seasons. They say they will have covered all six wives by that time and are looking for other projects to work on beyond The Tudors.

The singer, Joss Stone, will be playing Henry's wife Anne of Cleves in the new season. Very interesting casting as Joss Stone is very beautiful and Henry VIII decided he didn't like Anne of Cleves after their marriage because she was too plain. No word yet on which actors will be playing the remaining wives, as yet.

Sorry to sound like such a fanatic about this show. It's just that there isn't much to watch on televison these days that has any depth at all and doesn't bore me to tears. The Tudors has been a breath of fresh air for me. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the second season when you get a chance to watch.

Lisa

Janet-

You are so welcome. I'm glad I'm not the only one watching. I have word that there is only about a month of filming left for third season. I'm sure the series is being edited during filming, so hopefully, we'll get some clips soon. The producers did this for us last season. I'll let you know about any I hear about. Not much, just something to carry you over until you can view second season.

If you go to Showtime's website there are message boards on the Tudors there. Make sure you get the message board and not the Wiki board. The Wiki board folks have a reputation of being a little unfriendly. The rest of us are on the regular message board. Good bunch of polite, respectful fans there.

Lisa

Lisa

I've used WAB for film submissions. So far they've been great.

They have some nice features on there at least with film, not sure about script submissions, but, they have a watch list and send e-mail reminders about upcoming festivals.

Another nice feature they offer is the opportunity for a filmmaker to upload your film's entire press kit, stills, press releases, you name it.

This is very convenient in that more and more of the festivals are asking for press kits up front, before they even accept you. That can get crazy expensive after awhile, with no assurance your film will be accepted. The festival can just download all your info from WAB. I don't think there is any charge for this feature, just don't hold me to it.

Lisa

Patrick,

I attended Dave's Sundance seminar last September. Go. Go. Go. Small group of people, you learn A LOT and Dave makes himself completely accessible. You can interrupt his lectures with any questions, comments, etc. and he'll happily answer them. It's a great time, in a great setting. I can't say enough good things about it.

Lisa

I've been very curious as to why so many people tell me there was no ending to, "No Country For Old Men." It had a perfect ending and could have ended no other way. The Cohen Brothers are genius. I loved this script and the film, it certainly deserved the awards. If anyone has the time, I'd be interested in an explanation as to why you believe it had no ending, could be an interesting discussion.

Lisa

Greg-

Wonderful news! Congratulations! Let your sucess be an inspiration to others on the board to do it themselves.

Lisa

Thomas,

How about this?

The moon hangs in the sky, bright like a polished bone, on jittery legs, he drops to one knee in front of the tombstone, runs a reverent hand over the decayed carving: RIP, John Doe, 1857-1887. A piercing scream, he whirls around...

Over the top I know, but, I've been laid up with the flu and I'm bored.

All the best with your work.

Lisa

Beautiful website. May it bring you tons of work. :)

Lisa