An Overlooked Aspect of The Writing Process

Some authors see writing as an exorcism.  They describe some nagging psychological haunt that won't go away until it's banished to a page.  The writing process can change you.  Think of all the discoveries you make in the process of completing a long piece of work, and all that you learn about yourself.  Ideas that drive and inspire you ripen in a script or a novel.  Inspirations can also get old and sterile -- or worse you can get sick of feeling, seeing, thinking, smelling and tasting them again, and again, and again... and again.

On top of that think of all the news, pain, happiness, and experience that transpired in your other, real life while you spent all that time traveling back and forth from your imagination...

When you complete your script, are you the same person you were when you started writing it?
 

Probably not, but it depends.  What are your writing habits?  Do you outline?  How many drafts do you write?  Do you write all the way through a first draft before you go back and look at your work, or are you a writer that re-reads and revises all of the previous days work before a new word is written?  Those preferences and superstitions combine into a long process or a short one; does it make you one of those blowhard writers who swear it takes a journey to write something worth reading, or one of those cocky crackerjacks who explode script faster than oil shooting into the gulf?  (or are you one of the other writers who fall somewhere in between?)

Give your preferences some thought, because they combine to affect how different you are at the beginning and end of the process.  How much time did you allow yourself to change?  What freedom did you allow yourself to question your perspectives, or potentially lose motivation in your subject?

It's possible that our consistency or our ability to change, is what ultimately distinguishes a good writer from a great writer.  You are not the same person you were when you started writing that first draft... How different are you?  And how does that affect a script?

Maybe its a good thing to change; like getting another set of eyes to scrutinize your work on the next draft, with the advantage of sharing the same intimate knowledge of the script.  Stephen King might agree when he offers the following advice in his increasingly seminal book, "On Writing."

"How long you let your book rest [...] should be a minimum of six weeks. [...] When you come to the correct evening [...] take your manuscript out of the drawer.  If it looks like an alien relic bought at a junk-shop or yard sale where you can hardly remember stopping, you're ready."

Divorce yourself from the material to get a clearer perspective, until you're less attatched to any line or section that doesn't serve the work as a whole.  Become a different person, with tweaked tastes and sensibilities who will approach the work with new found experience.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll discover that old-you's ideas are sophomoric and stupid...

Maybe there's an advantage to drawing a first draft out long enough for your views to change.  The tone of the work at the beginning will be inconsistent with the end, but in exchange you can attack the second draft with maturity, perspective, and new ideas.

Maybe it's healthy and even beneficial to change alongside your characters.

Then again, to let one person start a book, then hand it off to a stranger to finish it sounds like it could be a terrible idea...  What if consistency is the thing, and it's best to fight change however possible; to stay true to your original ideas -- to keep them vibrant and mysterious, and protect that they stay as close as possible to how you first found them.  Maybe this approach keeps the energy in a script, and one should rush through the writing process to avoid changing too much before he or she finishes?

Perhaps the mark of a great writer is his ability to change, but remain true to their original intentions on the page?...  What are your thoughts, fellow writers?

Charles Rhoads

You Gotta Watch This Movie: The Thing (1982)

 This is a new article series where we write about movies that have inspired us, driven us, left us speechless, or are just so well executed we have to talk about them. 

I’m going to kick this off with a movie I wish I had been exposed to years ago, but thankfully I finally watched in its incredible blu-ray release, John Carpenter’s “The Thing”.

Maybe you’ve seen it, but if you haven’t, hopefully we can expose you to movies you’ve never given a chance or one’s you’ve never heard of.  Either way, if it’s in this series, see if you can dig it up from somewhere, get it on blu-ray if you can, or at least throw it on your netflix queue (heck it might even be streaming).  I guarantee that whether you share our taste in films or not, for people who enjoy film, anything in this series will be worth your time.

-Nick Harris

 

The Thing (1982)

From the first heartbeat synth notes of Ennio Morricone’s haunting score, the atmosphere has already dug its hooks into you.  BUM… BUM-BUM… BUM-BUM… A lone helicopter flies over the vast, white expanse of the barren Anarctic.  The sheer scope of the landscape immediately claustrophobic; in a place like this there’s nowhere to run.  A gun shot echoes amongst the thrumming gravitas of the chopper blades.  They are hunting something – a dog.

It’s 1982 and a scientific research team has just unearthed an alien ship buried in 100,000 years of ice.  The pilot is revealed to be a shape-shifting creature; one that first takes the form of a sled dog, infiltrates the team, and soon begins to absorb them one by one in their isolated research facility.

The genius of this movie, however, is that it’s not really about the alien.  The shape-shifting effects are terrifying and incredibly conceived, in fact they are some of the best from a time when these sorts of things were hand crafted (giving them a sense of being more visceral, I might add).  But, as the researchers (led by Kurt Russell’s “Mac” MacReady) discover this “Thing” could be any one of them, paranoia over who can be trusted crumbles years of friendship, camaraderie, and faith.  “The Thing” is the story of 12 desperate men, alone in the bitter freeze with nowhere to go… and so into the darkness they venture. 

On the commentary track, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell recall saying throughout production that, “if at any point we don’t treat this story with complete and deadly seriousness, we will fail.”

 And serious this movie is. 

I have long said that what I love about film is that it can take you to impossible places.  When I sit in that theater seat I like to go on a ride, an adventure; to see worlds and characters and conditions I’m never going to see in real life, but I want it to feel real. 

The reason this movie is so effective is because they managed to take a far out concept of the “body snatcher” variety, stick it in a setting that’s unique and alien, yet of this world; and ground it with strikingly real characters.  All of this and a trip into the darkness of man’s psyche make for something that you will never forget.

The cast and crew look back on the production as a miserable, grueling experience.  Glamorous Hollywood film this was not, they lived it for 6 months.  The clouds of breath in the air, the shivers from the extreme temperatures of an unforgiving location -- all are authentic.

The cinematography is perfect, the effects are bar none, and John Carpenter shows why he was once one of our most talented directors. 

You gotta watch this movie!

The Meeting Of Minds

"The meetings.  It's all about the meetings", he said with a light chuckle. "Ya.  It is", I responded with a smile.  At the time I thought I knew what the guy was talking about.  How else do you complete a production if you don't meet with your core crew and cast?  But a few years and a slew of meetings later I now know exactly what he was saying.  For the life of me I can't remember who the guy was who said it or what the situation was but for some reason his all knowing yet humble demeanor towards meetings never left my memory.

In the past 5 years my life has been nothing but a series of meetings.  Meetings to network, meetings to gather crew, meetings to find the right cast, meetings to follow up, meetings with potential clients, meetings to just make a connection, meetings to find the right mesh, meetings to build the rolodex, meetings to find the right lawyer, meetings to find the right accountant, meetings with people you just plain like, meetings to plan a collaboration, meetings to ask for assistance, meetings to find the next rung on the ladder, meetings to offer assistance, and meetings to catch up with people you haven't seen in a while.  Meetings, meetings, and more meetings.  They are the backbone of this industry.

There have been some really awkward ones for sure.  A guy looking for a production company but clearly not meshing with our personalities, a fickle indie producer acting like they knew what they were doing but having no answers, ideas, or respect for anything in the end, an actor looking to turn writer/producer but so overwhelmed they emitted fumes of stress, a scamming director claiming to have investors for a slate of films, a development producer refusing to want to find money or laugh at a joke, a director who threw out strange smiles that came and went faster than the speed of light for seemingly no reason at all, a producer/sales rep who didn't trust a word said and actually came off angry and suspicious at the first and only meeting, and a marketing guy who used such large words and threw in such random knowledge of everything it was hard to decide if he was as knowledgeable as he claimed to be.  And most of the above took more than one meeting to find out the end result was not going to be good.

But then there have been some great ones.  Looking for interns was one of the great series.  I ran into so many excellent personalities, eager to learn, talk, listen and help.  Some of those ran long and to this day we all stay in touch.  Talking to a film festival marketer who raved about our short (praise is always good!) gave us the much needed boost at the time.  A production company owner who came from TV offering up so much info in his quick producer speak my pen never stopped writing.  A few Canadian directors and producers with great ideas and professional demeanors at the level of short film production.  Getting to know a fellow alumni and studio guy over dinner and drinks that moved on to a friendship and trips to art galleries and LA hot spots.  Sitting down with an editor to discuss making the impossible happen in a damn near impossible time frame...and making it all work out.  A DP with clear knowledge and excellent work but very little overbearing ego over lunch and a beer.  Catching up with a couple producer friends over breakfast to see if all was going well in our worlds.  Meeting a San Diego man through commenting on pay vs. no pay in the entertainment industry on Craigslist that lead to referrals and a job opportunity a couple times a year.  And last but not least all those company meetings with anyone interested in helping us build our foundation.  What learning those meetings have accomplished! 

Whether bad or good meetings are what build those very important relationships.  They provide for referrals.  They create new friends and collaborators.  They let everyone know you exist.  They reveal your personal essence.  I don't care how skilled, how talented, how efficient a person may be, if they are not out there following up networking events with meetings or sitting down with people in the industry to form friendships or, as a producer/director, meeting all cast/crew who will be on a production, success will be difficult.  We have a million ways to communicate these days but in the end it's the tried and true meeting that secures a trust and a bond between people. I get what that guy was saying more than ever before.  It really is all about those meetings. - TKS

Be a 1st AD, Be a Better Filmmaker

Walk a mile in a 1st Assistant Director's shoes (you'll probably end up walking a cumulative 7-8 by the end of the day) and you'll learn a lot about directing.  By leaving your creative hat on the rack when you walk out the door for your 3:00 AM call time, you'll be liberated to experience (not simply witness) a lot about how a set breathes, beats, moves, and functions.  A recent project allowed me that great opportunity.

I remember directing past projects, standing there, looking at my watch, wondering, "Alright, why aren't we shooting?

I'd ask the DP, who'd respond: "I don't know, I'm ready..."

Suddenly you'd realize everyone was standing around waiting for someone to move production forward.  -- One of many situations where excess anxiety came out as visible sweat, while I tried to understand why in God's name things weren't moving the way the schedule said they would.

For the uninitiated, according to "The Everything Filmmaking Book," (yes, one of those generic Barnes and Noble specials out there -- don't lie, you've got one too) a first AD's job description is:

"[Someone who keeps] the balance between actual filming and the daily production schedule. [...] They track a film's progress, prepare call sheets, and make sure that everything is on time and within range of the schedule.  They also coordinate with actors and crew to maintain shooting schedules."

Simply put: Everyone on their set has their role.  The director, the DP, actors, make-up, production designer, etc. -- the AD coordinates every department to move through the schedule quickly, efficiently, and as seamlessly as possible (safely) without trading off too much quality in return.

That was a huge lesson: there is a real and distinct trade off between quality and schedule.

The day started off like this: grip and electric appear to be doing their jobs... check.  Make up is setting up... all systems go, extras, actors and director are staged and prepped.  The DP (Nick), was setting up the shot with his crew and I hadn't realized the director in me hadn't been properly exorcised:

"Give them time!  They need time get it just right.  You need some more time? -- Take it!  Have some more time, get it perfect.  How much time would you need?...  Alright you have 5 minutes... 5 minutes are up.  Not done, ok go ahead and take another 5 minutes..."

The director in me was way to sympathetic.  The AD wasn't driving, he was being driven over.  Thankfully Trina (of course, our resident producer/production manager, and once again savior of productions) pulled me aside and talked sense into me.

A DP can spend hours making a shot better, and a director can spend hours working with actors to achieve her vision.  Unrestrained, no doubt the perfectionists and obsessives among us would take another hour on top of those hours to "just nail it," but something inside (or the AD) has to tell them when it's time to stop.

That time to stop became much clearer for me after stepping outside of the creative realm, into the world of the 1st AD.  Things can always be improved, but at some point, less improvement starts taking more time.  Look at the convenient graph below to see what I mean:

When the AD reaches the above point, there's a judgment call -- give them a few more minutes to reach for that forbidden fruit because we're already ahead of schedule?  Take the time gain and save it for a tough shot coming up?  Or GO NOW because we're fighting daylight.

As a director or a DP, knowing that point of diminishing return is extremely valuable.  The trouble of course, is recognizing it and then forcing yourself to stop.  It's a discipline that can be improved the more you're fundamentally attached to it's importance.  If you can cut yourself off, you won't render the AD's job meaningless, but at least you'll be shaving even more precious time off the schedule, keeping moral high, getting everything you need, and making your producer very happy.

Other valuable lessons and practice:

• If the AD doesn't need to tell you what you should be doing next, you're saving even more time and probably doing your job better.  What should you be doing next?  The answer and the urgency to get to what's next is something that being an AD can instill (or a good AD WILL instill on set).
• This one's pretty standard, but it always bears repeating: think your production all the way through in pre-production.  The answers should come fast (a little extra bonus time granted for problem solving).
• Delegate, use resources in parallel, and keep it moving, keep it moving, keep it moving.

Execution is easy to overlook when you're caught up in the creative aspects of filmmaking, but when it comes down to budget, set stress level (and what that does to performance and safety), and getting everything you need before the day is out, execution is as important as it gets.

Charles Rhoads