A New Approach for my Blog

Monday last week, Stacy Parks of Film Specific put a post on her blog about blogging for filmmakers.

I made a comment about some of the challenges of writing a blog and she suggested that if your film has a particular target audience, that posts about their interests would be a good idea. As I commented back, I should have thought of that myself.

However, when I started to look at the projects I have underway, I realized that it isn’t always easy to follow that advice. In part, I find it difficult to articulate who my audience is, and what kind of posts would attract them.

I started to think over how I could approach this with some of my projects.

The Doorman’s Sacrifice

A man’s fascination in a series of books leads him to the dangerous cult like following that has grown up around them.

There many books, TV programs and movies that develop a cult following. Many of these people could be interested in a story like this. I haven’t been involved with this sort of thing myself, so I would need to learn more about it.

My Detective Story

A troubled police detective is targeted by a nasty villain.

This would be a problematic story to target. Not so much that there are not a lot of people who are interested in detective stories, but because there are so many other detective stories around for them to watch. I think I do have a unique perspective, but it is only revealed at the end. The initial premise isn’t distinguishable from a lot of other detective stories.

Bright Freedom

A young lawyer seeks justice for abused women, but then has to face a past she thought she left behind.

I see potential to explore aspects of the story in a series of blogs. Certainly I know that I need to know more about these issues if I want to create a good story. It would be too easy to go badly astray.

Then the Phone Rang

A politician threatened with blackmail struggles to save his relationship with his wife.

I don’t see anything that sets this story apart from many others of the same ilk. The story needs something more. I could develop the project to be more about how the private lives of politician affect their political careers.

The Crying Woman

A chance meeting between two people leads one of them to confide in the other.

I want this story to be about building trust and learning to listen. I am fascinated by the idea of putting one’s own interests aside and devote time to listen, and there by help, someone else. I’m sure that there are others who would find it interesting too.

I only have a preliminary outline for this story. I don’t think I am quite ready to write it. I did cannibalize parts of it for Then the Phone Rang, so I need to either scrap one of the two stories or come up with new elements of the story to replace the ones I used.

Transportation Planning Story

I spent a long career as a transportation planner, so if I “write what I know” that would be the subject. I wrote one short story, The Glencoe Project, about transportation planners. So far as I know, this is the only story about transportation planners ever written.

Most people I met over the years had strong opinions on transportation plans and planners. So I think that discussions of these issues and how I incorporate them into a story could attract a lot of interest.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

How Long is “Then the Phone Rang”?

Someone who read my script Then the Phone Rang, told me they thought the script was too short to be a feature. I planned to get some actors to do a read through sometime to get a better idea.

This week I decided to try Natural Reader,  a text to audio program (http://www.naturalreaders.com/ to time it. The paid version allows you to create an mp3 file, but not the free version I have. After a little trial and error, I found I could record the audio with Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .

The audio file came in at 83 minutes. I didn’t clean up the script to remove things like the names of which characters were talking, so an actual film based on the script would be somewhat shorter. Still, I think it still comes to about a minute a page. At 71 pages, it is still on the short side for a feature.

One thing that caught my attention was that it was much easier to catch typos while listening. I had a character named Brian, and everyone else in the script kept calling him Brain. I didn’t try to make any corrections this time, but I want to go back to do that.

I would still like to make a trial version of the film with Xtranormal’s text-to-movie software http://www.xtranormal.com . I think that would give me a better idea how my script will translate to the screen. It might also help me come up with a more visual approach to the script.

I feel I should buy the paid versions of Xtranormal and Natural Reader, but I am not quite ready to do that.

Then the Phone Rang – Second Draft Done – Looking for Readers

I got the second draft of my Then the Phone Rang script done. I didn’t make too many changes and I liked what I had written before. Maybe I am still too close to the material.

My next step is to ask some people to read the script and tell me what they think. If you are interested in reading it, get in touch with me.

I added four pages to bring the total to 71 pages. I added a scene that I realized was missing. I’m not sure how I missed it the first time. I added some dialog and fixed some problems here and there.

At 71 pages, it is on the short side for a feature. However, when I did Line of Taxis and My Most Difficult Case I added more material during pre production, production, and postproduction. I’m sure I can add some flourishes and filigrees to this project.

I am tempted to dive into casting and production right now. Although, it may be better to try some script readings and test scenes before I commit.

Another thought I had was to use Xrtanormal’s text to script software to do a quick animated version. www.xtranormal.com I haven’t looked at it in too much detail yet, so I’m not sure it has the flexibility to do what I want. The actors are rather wooden, but it should at least give me an idea how long the film will run.

Then the Phone Rang

I set a personal record for writing a feature script this week.

Last Saturday morning before I crawled out of bed, I had an idea for a movie. I wrote some notes and left them for later. Monday I started to organize my notes into an outline. My plan was to go back to it later when I had time. Instead, I had some ideas for the actual script, so I started to write it. I worked on it every day and had the first draft done by Friday evening. It came in at 66.5 pages, which is a little short for a feature, but I think I can develop it further.

After I finished the script, I came up with this description for the story: “He had money, prestige, a beautiful wife, and a bright future in politics. Then the phone rang.” My working title is Then the Phone Rang.

The whole film takes place in one room and only four characters appear on screen. Two others appear only as voices.

I was surprised at how fast it all went. It took me three weeks to do the first draft of The Anger Trap, after a period of preparation. It took me eleven weeks to get the first draft of My Detective Story done, and that was after planning on it for four months before that.

I am going to leave the script for a week or so and do other things. Then I will do a revision before I ask other people to read it. I had the same plan with My Detective Story, and it has been five months since I finished the first draft and I haven’t gone back to it.

When I decided what I wanted to accomplish this year, I planned to finish three feature scripts. I had kind of given up on that, but now I think I might get one more done.

Right now thought, I feel very good about this project. I think it is a very doable project and yet I believe I can make it into a film that people will want to watch.