Some crack for my fellow screenwriters. An hour long presentation by Michael Arndt, Oscar winning writer of Little Miss Sunshine.

With the Sly Sylvester craze starting to slow (speaking of, I just received the printed film stills this week and they look awesome – I’ll show you them soon), I’ve gotten back on my game in terms of reading scripts and watching movies. My goal is to read one script and watch two movies per week. Over the last nine days, I watched Easy Rider (weird), Saturday Night Fever (surprisingly entertaining) and Moneyball (one of my favorite films this year) and read the scripts for Pariah and The Debt.

Some thoughts:

1. After watching Easy Rider, I’ve conclused the drug craze of the 70′s was likely larger than I originally imagined… both because the film is filled with drug references and also because people must have been loaded to like this enough to make this a blockbuster success. My dad may disown me if he ever reads this.
2. John Travolta could move when he was younger. I think my wife and I were doing pelvic thrusts around the living room for 30 minutes after that movie was over.
3. Brad Pitt needs to be nominated for an Oscar for Moneyball. And Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin better be considered for Best Screenplay. Hi-five to Jonah Hill for the work he did as well.
4. After reading the script for Pariah, I’m a little worried it’ll come off as another, “Woe is me, I’m a lesbian and life is terrible because of it.” Feedback so far has been good, so I’m crossing my fingers.
5. I need to rent The Debt… like now.

- til next time – Kim

I mean, the man is responsible for E.T. That’s enough for me.

A week a half ago as I was perusing through the collection of screenwriting blogs I routinely read (when I should be writing), and I came across Steve Spielberg’s ‘Curriculum,’ which is rumored to be a list of 206 films that Spielberg believes to be required viewing of any aspiring filmmaker.

How many out of the 206 have I seen? 48. Sorry Steven, I promise I’ll get to work.

You can find the list, here. (found on Go Into The Story)

- til next time – Kim

Not a bad decision.

For the record, I only cut my wife out of the shot because she has a, “Don’t you dare put a photo of me on your blog,” rule.

Anyway, going to the Giants’ game always means we get back later than my bedtime. And of course now that I’m over 30, I can’t stay out past 9:30 and still be able to function the next day.

Today, I’m struggling.

I had extra motivation to get out of bed though. I spent the first half of the day with some high school students at the San Francisco Film Society Young Filmmakers Camp. I got to be a fly on the wall while they shot their short films. Not only was it fun to watch the kids collaborate , I learned a lot from being on set with them. It made me excited to start creating my own short projects.

Last week I sat in on a day as they learned about the editing. It was like taking crack, but minus the crack.* I was on a high. Too bad I have to be an adult, because otherwise I would have hung out with them for the entire two weeks.

- til next time – Kim

* No mommy, I’ve never done crack.

I’ve wanted to check out the book since it came out last year, but the $45 price tag kept me from ever pulling the trigger. Because the book is considered a “hot pick,” I have to have it back by next Saturday, which is great because it’ll keep me from slowly moseying through it like I usually do with books.

Yay for reading! Yay for libraries!

- til next time – Kim

+ Attended two classes/presentations hosted by the San Francisco Film Society.
+ Experienced The Foreign Exchange LIVE!
+ Participated in a youth filmmakers camp yesterday.
+ Got my morning writing time in every day.
+ “Just got paid, Friday night…”

This weekend I’ll be sleeping, posting myself in the sun, and hopefully catching a couple movies.

Hope that you all have a great one!

- til next time – Kim

Overall, I think it’s awesome. As a screenwriter, I have more opportunities to have my work produced. Plus, more people making films hopefully means everyone needs to step it up in order to make their work shine. But, I do have some concerns. Unless consumers feel they’re going to be blown away with an experience like watching Avatar in 3D, they now feel they deserve free content. So how the hell can a filmmaker make enough where they’re not eating only Top Ramen when they’re putting their work up for free online viewing?

On the other end, as a consumer, now that everyone and their mother is making films, how are you supposed to trudge through the crap to find the content you’re interested in?

Last night I hopped on BART and rode to the city to attend the San Francisco Film Society’s Film Arts Forum “How Soon Is Now,” which addressed the recent filmmaking revolution.

After a brief presentation by ITVS Senior Programming Manager Richard Saiz, who discussed the importance of recognizing the recent trend towards shorter stories, a group of four Bay Area filmmakers participated in an open forum discussion.

The forum panel included Shawn Bercuson, founder and CEO of the online movie distribution platform Prescreen, Carlton Evans, producer and cofounder/codirector of Disposable Film Festival, Jen Gilomen, filmmaker and Director of Public Media Strategies at BAVC, and Jonathan Marlow, the cofounder and V.P. of Fandor.

Despite some long-winded responses that caused me to doze off briefly, numerous good points were brought up, including ideas on how to not only adapt to these changes in the filmmaking world, but to use them to your advantage.

The most valuable bit of info I took from the event is the importance of first determining your goals for the film as well as how you would define it’s success. Are you trying to make millions? Maybe just enough to where you can create another film? Or are you simply trying to spread the work to as many people as possible? Then you can take a look at the available strategies and tools to organize and implement a promotional plan that’s appropriate to your goals.

- til next time – Kim

There were some difficult stories to digest over the weekend. The incidence in Norway makes me sick to my stomach and I was really sad to hear about the passing of Amy Winehouse. I hope that she’s finally at peace.

In my little world, the weekend was a positive one. We successfully replaced the belt on the dryer, played some hoop, ate an abnormal amount of goat cheese, bought a rug for the living room, picked weeds, planted some succulents, patched a few bare spots in the lawn, went to lunch and watched the somehow Golden Globe nominated film, The Tourist.

I have a busy, but exciting week ahead.

Tonight: Attending the San Francisco Film Society’s Film Arts Forum, “How Soon Is Now?”

Tuesday: Squealing like a little girl while watching The Foreign Exchange perform at The New Parish in Oakland.

Wednesday: Attending the San Francisco Film Society’s “What’s in a Movie?” introductory class.

Thursday: Finally getting a mother-freaking win in our local basketball rec league.

Friday: Putting the final touches on my submission to the Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest.

It’s going to be a sweet week!

- til next time – Kim

I met Julie about four years ago after I started to really dedicate myself to writing. I entered one of her single-scene contests she used to run on her site and she ended up selecting my scene as one of three finalists to be voted on by her readers. Since then we’ve stayed in contact and I’ve been lucky to get to know her a little bit.

You don’t want to miss the opportunity to work with her. Her constructive feedback and support has made an enormous impact on my quality of writing, as well as helped to build up my confidence as an artist. A few years ago, I did a one-day up and back drive down to Los Angeles just so that I could spend an afternoon with her and other writers.

I highly recommend taking advantage of her trip up to the Bay Area and participating in the upcoming workshop. There are a few slots left!

Character Writing Master Class

Saturday, March 26th, 9am – 5 pm, Berkeley, CA

Take Your Writing to the Next Level!

Dedicate a single day to learning specific tools and exercises to help you create characters that are as real as you are!

LEARN how not to fall in love with your character on page one, but rather, the new, improved self they will become by the end of the story.

SEE how to move your main character from an old way of being to a new one through a plot that unfolds because of your main character’s active flaws and vulnerabilities. 

PRACTICE a writing exercise that demonstrates that looking inward at your own wants, desires and fears gives you permission to be much more honest (and dramatic) about those of your characters.

 PLAY WITH new tricks to contextualize and ground great dialogue.

-and much, much more in this truly satisfying and fun all day workshop with Julie Gray!

Cost for the workshop is $125, but for WIF members, it’s only $99.

To learn more about Julie Gray.

Register for the class here.

Image: ©adamlopezphotography.com

I’ve taken classes, participated in workshops, and attended the Expo twice…

I’ve torn through numerous screenwriting books and continue to study produced scripts regularly…

My plot board is color-coded and looking like a rock star…

I ordered a special netbook and made sure it was appropriately accessorized with motivating stickers before writing…

… And I never learn. Instead of just focusing on writing my freaking script, I’m also participating in an online class by ScreenwritingU that started today and is titled, “Philosophy of a Great Screenwriter.” Luckily, it’s not the most demanding class ever. Every day for the next 30 days, I’ll be emailed a short lesson with a little bit of homework that is likely to take 5 to 10 minutes. (If you’re interested in participating, you can do so here)

At the same time, I’ve set a deadline for myself to finish the first draft of my current script. On February 14th the first draft will be completed. Yeah, I said it.

Oooh… on a side note, I had this pizza for lunch today and it was incredible: