The Paradox of "Making It"

It doesn't take a Media Studies degree to realize that we're living in a culture of hyperstimulation.  This word, borrowed liberally from historian Ben Singer who used it to describe the barrage of stimuli that arose with technological expansion at the dawn of the twentieth century, applies even more so to the current new media landscape.  However, the promise of technology is simultaneously both a blessing and a curse for artists trying to emerge into the Art World.  To plant their flags in earnestness.  To "make it."

The notion of "making it" was seeded fairly early in my brain.  It all began with music; when I received a guitar at the age of 12 and my teenage years were spent desperately trying to be Noel Gallagher from Oasis (minus the massive blow habit).  I had the Epiphone guitar, the Adidas Samba sneakers, and when I sang (others will tell you) there was the hint of a Manchester accent in there.  I craved the role of the intelligent songwriter: the backbone of creativity rather than the rock and roll swagger of brother Liam.  That immersion into Brit-Pop finally led me to Radiohead.  Through Radiohead I observed that an artist could have it all: killer songwriting abilities / artistic credibility / on stage chemistry / a book club...while critics all but permanently stitched their lips to your asshole.

Music eventually gave way in my college years to film and filmmaking and this paradigm actually has a word that describes what I had been questing after my entire teenage life: auteur.  Hitchcock, Scorsese, Kurosawa, Kubrick, P.T. Anderson: their films are synonymous with their names; inseparable even.  Films, though entirely collaborative, are essentially little golden eggs laid by these artists - or so that is the impression we take away from them.

I've been making small digital films for a few years now.  They started off god-awful but I firmly believe that each and every effort is an improvement over the last.  This is on all levels: screenwriting, cinematography, editing, visual effects, acting, etc.  Note that the end-credit sequences of each film have gotten longer and longer.  It was beaten into me in an Introductory Psychology class that "correlation does not imply causation" but here it absolutely does.  These films are not only improving because I'm maturing within the art form but because I'm surrounding myself with like-minded individuals and together the final product is infinitely stronger than had I gone it alone.  Through my attempts at becoming an auteur, I have learned how impossible the idea ever was.

Screenwriting is ultimately how I hope to break into the business.  Unfortunately there is a catch-22 with "making it."  That is, it takes an agent to sell your screenplay but you cannot get an agent without having sold a screenplay.  There are always exceptions of course but hundreds and hundreds of query letters will eventually yield hundreds and hundreds of rejections: "PASS," "NOT TAKING NEW CLIENTS AT THIS TIME", "YOUR WORK DOESN'T MEET OUR CURRENT NEEDS."  It's enough to drive even the most determined insane.

And so in between screenwriting attempts I'll continue to make short films with the hopes that the film will hit just the right person at the right place at the right time.  But even this is impossible.  Why?  Because, as I wrote at the beginning - this is a culture of hyperstimulation.  Everyone has access to digital cameras and editing software.  Everyone can self-publish their book of short stories.  Everyone can learn how to write screenplays online.  The same opportunities that have allowed me the tools to make films also allows access to anyone else in the world.  How many other filmmakers posted films to Youtube today?  Frankly there is an ephemeral sea of media out there and I am but a drop of water.  Bite sized files of ones and zeros clog the pathways.  It is virtually impossible to rise above the muck. 

But this does not depress me.  How can it?  Through working with others I've found a collaborative of wonderful people who quest for and share the same desires that I have.  It doesn't matter if my films reach the west-coast, net deals, inspire millions: as long as they continue to make me happy there is a purpose to it all.  And on that saccharine note I'll beg of you:

Watch my movies!    ;)

Selling a Screenplay

So I've recently been infected with the desire to sell a screenplay.  When I started screenwriting seriously several years ago through the Film Studies program at RIC, I had written a few feature lengths (all admittedly terrible) and tried with my amateur naivete to conquer the world.  Alas, that dream never came into fruition.

Therefore, in order to better hone my skills,  I've spent the last number of years writing short screenplays to self-produce.  Films such as Contours, Videotape, Curiosity Delay, and The Kiss (currently in production) are all examples of shorts I wrote with the desire of self-producing.

But as of last month I've decided that I really want to get back on that horse.  I'm currently writing a feature-length script entitled Oldtown.  I've got my copies of the Hollywood Creative Directory and the Hollywood Representation Directory and I feel ready to play writer, manager, and used-car salesmen as I construct queries, pitches, and try my darndest to market this thing.

I've recently been reading posts on the wonderful blog http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/ which is run by screenwriter Ashley Meyers and who gives fantastic advice about the Do's and Don't's of trying to sell your screenplay.

Realistically do I think Oldtown will sell?  The answer is: I have no idea.  Though I'm very proud of Oldtown - and it's easily the best work I've produced to date - the script is a fairly low-concept character driven piece and these low-concept scripts are harder to push than high-concept hooks.  So we'll see.

For now, I'll leave you with the logline I've been pitching:

Ian Graham, a disillusioned rock star, quits his band before signing with a major label and returns to the hometown he fled as a teenager.  Complications arise when his father, ex-girlfriend, and an eccentric bluegrass musician begin to confront his values of love and music.

2009 - A Look Back at 24 Frames per Second

10) Let the Right One In – A Swedish vampire film that has all of the venom to conquer the recent invasion of bloodsuckers into pop-culture. The film is an antidote for those of us who cannot run from the Twilight series fast enough. The gorgeous cinematography takes a lesson from Bergman while the film’s two child protagonists find a haunting connection in a world full of ice and darkness.

9) Food, Inc. - Another must see documentary that explores the contemporary American diet, the evils of corporate agriculture, and the inhumane and unsanitary practices of food production nationwide. After seeing this film you’ll immediately plant your own garden for organic food…just don’t purchase your seeds from Monsanto.

8) Antichrist – director Lars von Trier has always been considered a provocateur. As a forefather of the Dogma 95 movement, he is a master of creatively thriving under self-imposed constraints. Here, in what is clearly the most controversial picture of the year, Von Trier refuses imposing any limitations to re-imagine the story of Adam and Eve as inhabited by a couple grieving over the recent loss of their child. The film’s graphic violence will unsettle many, the actions of unspeakable evil that drive plot machinations will unsettle even more. Still, this challenging piece, written by von Trier as he battled his own bout with depression, simply cannot be ignored.

7) Collapse – This startling documentary consists of a lengthy dialogue with radical thinker Michael Ruppert as he rails against our government’s handling of energy consumption, war, and espionage. This man successfully predicted our recent economic collapse a decade ago. Learn about “Peak Oil.” We can only pray that he is wrong about what lies ahead in America’s near future.

6) Tie: Where the Wild Things Are & Fantastic Mr. Fox – 2009 was a great year for family films and two of independent cinema’s biggest auteurs, Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson, each offered their own respective interpretations of classic children’s books. The former is a raw, animalistic film that wonderfully plays with the weighty emotions of Sendak’s limited prose whereas the latter employs all of the wit and whimsy of Roald Dahl’s book through stop-motion animation.

5) The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow’s visceral war picture follows a select group of bomb diffusing specialists enduring war time conditions and constant threats of insurgency. It is a very powerful glimpse of war that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

4) An Education – This British coming-of-age film chronicles the life of a young woman, played brilliantly by Carey Mulligan as she explore life in the 1960s and relationships with the opposite sex. The movie was written, in a killer script, by novelist Nick Hornby.

3) A Serious Man – Two years ago the Coen Brothers won the coveted Best Picture Oscar for their work adapting Cormac McCarthy’s blistering prose in No Country for Old Men. Now they turn their adept screenwriting abilities on themselves for what has been called the most auto-biographical film the Coen Brothers have ever made.

2) Up in the Air – Jason Reitman’s third film, following the wonderful Thank You for Smoking (2005) and Juno (2007) chronicles an ax-man as he crisscrosses the country firing corporate employees and facing his own impenetrable facade. George Clooney gives the best performance of his career in this subtle and very effective film.

1) Inglourious Basterds – Tarantino plays fast and loose with history in this B-movie inspired action-epic but it is his gift with words that situates gorgeous set pieces with dialogue that slowly builds in ways far more effective than most poets can conjure. The opening scene alone, set in a quaint farm village, is the best thing committed to celluloid this year.

Hot for Teacher

"Hot for Teacher" has been named an official selection of the 2010 San Diego Indie Fest! The Festival screened "Hot for Teacher" on Friday March 26th at 12:20 pm. It was the second film to play at the festival. For more information please visit www.sdindiefest.com