Would you pay 50,000 dollars to make the mistakes that would ruin a normal career?

I once heard an explanation for why english has become the language of business throughout the world.  It had something to do with the amount of adjectives.  Adjectives....supposedly those of us that speak english have more ways to describe everything that any one who speaks a different language.  And yet, english fails most of us more than we’d like to admit.  

I was having dinner with my producer (who is Japanese) and my director (who is British) .  I am pretty sure that I intimidate my director, but he is such an egotistical bastard that he doesn’t back down. 

It is very hard to try to write something creative.  To then give it to a number of people and have it judged.  And then to have the judgements be so opposite that really the best solution is to ignore the comments.  But, sometimes the words fail me and the ideas I am trying to convey don’t materialize in the intended way.  But, if you happen to be giving anything to a british person it’s hard to not take it like some bizarre form of  chastisement. 

“It needs to feel more (hands waving indicating something bigger)....yeah.  You know what I mean?”

“That parts good... That’s good... (circling with a pen) What about this line?  It that real?”

“It’s a good first draft.  I can’t wait to the next one.”  Or more recently “It’s a good fourth draft, but it’s not the movie I want to direct, yet.”   

“You just need to work at it.”  

What the fuck do you think I have been doing?  

In any case... we were having dinner tonight. And I finally had enough.  I told the both of them that it’s done. This is the draft you are shooting.  My director last friday told me that he’s not going to do any preparation at all.  No story boards, no shot lists, nothing.  This is a guy who will obsesses about a single word in a paper and won’t turn it in until he gets it just right.  Meanwhile the paper gets no credit because it was late.  He starts to obsess about things that don’t matter.  

I think I scared them for about ten seconds. 

The whole group likes the fourth draft, including the director.  They just aren’t sure if it is film-able in the time alloted.  I asked the director to do some prep so that we know what needs to be cut for the shooting days.  And here is where communication is key.  He thought that I was stepping on his toes.  Of course I told him that I felt that he was “winging it.”  And being the obsessive person that he is, he didn’t like that very much.  

No film is ever perfected, the film-makers just ran out of time or money.   

But just in the blackest moment, I decided to talk to them about the outlines.  In reality at  this point, our Japanese producer couldn’t keep up with the rapid-fire english so I was really just talking to the director.  

I talked about how we hand three outlines that really did nothing for the story. I had 2 pages of writing that didn’t help me at all in the formation of the script.  And he wanted a third draft of the outline. It got to the point that the mentor had to say you can’t move forward with out a first draft of the script. The director wouldn’t have been happy with the 25th draft of the outline.  

This is where we were with the script.  The whole point of a film script is to have it filmed.  I write a blue print, or building blocks for something visual.  It’s time for the director to move forward in making the fucking movie.  And he finally agreed.

My mistake was to start to take it personally.  It I had made the allusion to the outlines in the first place I could have saved myself a huge headache.  And I probably wouldn’t have pissed anybody off.  To me this was one of those AH Ha moments that most of you have already learned.  Don’t take for granted that the director knows the usefulness of storyboards and shot-lists to a screenwriter with a contract through shooting. 

We are all trying to make the best movie that we can.  Isn’t it wise to test out a script in preproduction, with the screenwriter, before the actors have any ideas?  This is a medium that has evolved from the production line method to become more collaborative.  There is a gray line that a screenwriter can cross if you want to use him like an ally.  

"Someone will make it big in the first year."

I found out last night that one of the directors has dropped out of the program.  Not because it was too intense or they were having second thoughts.  It was because she was offered a feature deal.  She will be directing a feature sometime this year.  OF course she is super talented  and has worked hard to get where she was even to this point.  This is the short film she showed at the long night. 

Idiots with Zoe Saldana & Kate Bosworth from Zoe Saldana

For the screenwriting department there is always one person that will sell something and make it big in the first year.  At least, that is what one of the screenwriting heads said.  It is just a reminder that I need to push hard.  I am required to One Feature this year.  I know that I have to write two.  I also want to get an impression of my first two scripts.  Have them overhauled. If I can come out of here with 6 good finished scripts and a 1 hour drama pilot.  That would be awesome.  

Welcome to the Machine

Over the last few weeks we have had social gatherings to try and get to know one another.  For the most part I have been friendly but I don’t know how many people I would really say I feel comfortable with.  This has always been a struggle for me but I am pushing harder and I know progress is going to be slow.   Part of the issue is that I don’t really like to brag about myself or talk about myself at all and that might be seen as a barrier to friendship.

 Part of the process of making a better writer.

It was really funny how the personalities break down within each discipline.  The screenwriters all tend to be a bit shy – but like to drink too much, the production designers all look like they should be covered in paint all the time, the editors are the kindest, gentlest mole people you will ever meet, the directors are pretty much all narcissists, the cinematographers collect by themselves and tend to talk in a tech language no one can understand and the producers are out-going, friendly, and trying to figure out how best to use you. 

How does that joke go --- A narcissist, an alcoholic, and a Producer walk into a bar…. The Screenwriter says:  “I want to make this movie. “ The Director says, “I like your idea but we’re going to do mine okay?”  The Producer nods happily and says, “that sounds great, I know you can write it.”  And thus a team is born.

So anyway, I write the script and I think it is pretty good.  I invited the team over and they read the first seven pages.  There were laughs at all the jokes.  A look of worry disappears from the director’s face and we go down to the beach and have a great time.

I turned in the first draft and all hell breaks loose.  My team decided to not read it until just before the meeting with our mentor.  Which turns into the vague list of complaints.   The first session of this was about an hour and 15 minutes.  The next with the mentor was another 30 minutes.  So I was sitting there being critiqued poorly for about 1 hour: 45 minutes.  I left feeling self-conscious and down right shitty about my grammar, my script formatting, and general story-telling ability.  Needless to say I needed a beer.   And thus I fell into my own discipline’s cliché. 

Imagine taking two years to climb this hill.

Of course all of this is happening before classes officially start.  The opening ceremonies included a brief run down of who graduated from the school, a nice speech from the director of the board of trustees and a history lesson about beginnings of The AFI.  What was missing was the mortal combat theme song and someone yelling, “Let the games begin!”   In the afternoon of the opening day, alumnus Edward Zwick, (Oscar winner) screened his new film, Love and Other Drugs.  Turns out his whole production team (screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and editor) all went to AFI within a few years of each other.   It made me feel better that when he turned to the audience and told them he cried himself to sleep for the first two months.  That anxiety is part of the business and you need to learn to control it.   It was exactly what I needed to hear.  

Screening and Pitching

So much has happened in the last two weeks I can’t even begin to focus.  The orientation was a blur of expected things: Papers being filled out, pictures taken, etc.  There are over 120 of us and it was very easy to pick out the personality differences between the different disciplines.   It was a great day of talking about movies, and introducing yourself, and hoping to go you remember everyone’s name.  (I didn’t. )  There are some people even now that I have been introduced to three times and I still don’t remember their name, but it is getting better.   What I do remember is the work.  On Friday August 20^th the entire class was sent to a screening room at about 12:30PM and we stayed there until 11pm watching each other’s reels. It was a really long day.  By the end of the night I was amazed at the quality of the work and also very intimidated.   I’m glad I didn’t show anything.  Abe Lincoln said something like - It’s better to remain quiet and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.  Yeah I was feeling a little bit of that on that Friday.

The following Monday was pitch day.  Being extremely nervous I was up until 1:30 in the morning refining and focusing my pitches.   The producers, directors, and screenwriters were divided into group and we each pitched two ideas.  I was surprised by how few people knew how to pitch or even attempted to.  In any case, I got up there and pitched my ideas, which were followed by a number of good questions and a round of clapping.  A few people came up to me afterwards and told me how much they liked my ideas.  Because of the way the teams form neither of my ideas were chosen, but I did end up on a really good team and I am two drafts into the cycle one project the director wanted to do.