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Fun Joel's Screenwriting Blog

(OR EL DUDERINO IF YOU'RE NOT INTO THE WHOLE BREVITY THING)

-- On Screenwriting and Related Topics

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Location: Los Angeles, CA

I moved from NYC to LA in October, 2003. And though I still think NYC is the greatest city in the world, I'm truly loving life here in the City of Angels. I'm a writer, reader, and occasional picture-taker.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

And Now a Word from God

Just wanted to give a heads up about a new web series that just launched this week, aimed at teens of faith.

G-dcast aims to breathe new life into the old tales of the Old Testament, using fun and artful animation, hip storytelling and unique guests. Though produced from a Jewish perspective, and aimed at Jewish teens, the series should be great for any religious viewers, regardless of their specific faith, if the opening episode is any indicator:



Pronounced "Godcast," the title is written with a dash since that is how some Jews write God's name in English. I should also clarify that I don't think you have to be some kind of crazy religious fanatic to appreciate these videos. I think any spiritually-minded individual may find something of value here.

A new episode will come out each week, released on Mondays, and will feature storytellers from around the world, hip-hop artists, country western singers, and many more.

The opening episode has some nice writing with clever witticisms disguising some deep thoughts. The effect is to make them accessible to a wide audience, while entertaining viewers at the same time. Kudos to series creator and New Media maven Sarah Lefton on a clever concept, well executed!

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Get Schooled Now!

Some of you may remember a few mentions I've made over the years about my friend Brooks' feature film, Schooled. Since he developed the script within the context of our writing group, I got to see its development from its early stages, all the way through to final production and release.

Well, he has recently released the DVD for sale, and as a special promotion, you can not only purchase it at a discount of 20% off list price, but he has also rounded up a free package of extra "add-ons" that are valued over $100. These are aimed at related topics or interests, and if the film interests you, the add-ons should as well.

Starring Daniel Kucan (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), the film is a dramatic look at how we educate our children. It questions the mainstream education system and explores alternative ways of fully respecting children while also educating them. It's screened all over the world and gotten rave reviews, especially from the alternative education community.

Any of my readers who have school-aged children should consider watching this film for the questions it raises and the discussions it may spark. But any of you who enjoy supporting indie film should also be interested. I'm proud of Brooks' effort, and hope you'll consider supporting him as well.

To learn more about the special offer and DVD release, click HERE.

Here are a few endorsements for Schooled from the alternative education community:

"A RARE, REFRESHING AND AUTHENTIC LOOK AT THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF EDUCATION FREED FROM THE NEED TO MANIPULATE" -- Dr. Jan Fortune-Wood, Author, Winning Parent, Winning Child

"SO REAL AND HONEST. INSPIRING. AFFIRMING." -- Isaac Graves, Conference Director, Alternative Education Resource Organization

"IF YOU DON'T SEE SCHOOLED YOU WILL FOREVER BE FOOLED BY THOSE WHO MANAGE THE FORCED SCHOOLING SCHEME" -- John Taylor Gatto & Roland Legiardi-Laura of The Odysseus Group

"CHALLENGES YOU TO CONSIDER LETTING KIDS DIRECT THEIR LIVES" -- Sara Bennett, Co-Author, The Case Against Homework

"UNLIKE MANY OF THE 'TEACHER AS HERO' FILMS (DEAD POETS) OR 'ANTI-HERO' (HALF NELSON), SCHOOLED TAKES THE AUDIENCE TO THE HEART OF A TEACHER'S BELIEFS." -- Dr. Ken Alexander, Sr. Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Australia

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BUY Schooled HERE

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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Safari Picture Update #8

Time has come for my next Safari Picture Update. In my last official update, I caught you all up to the point where I delivered my first draft to the producers, and got their positive feedback and notes. Then in THIS POST I mentioned a bit of the work I did subsequently. Let me go into some more detail now, and also catch you up on further developments.

When I turned in my first draft, the producers were generally pleased, though they definitely felt more work was necessary. They gave me plenty of notes over the phone. After thinking those notes over, getting feedback from my writing group and reviewing the script on my own, I told the producers I would get them a revised draft in about a month and a half.

One of the major changes I was asked to make was the inclusion of three more characters. The producers all along have been pushing for as realistic a film as possible, and they felt that these were all characters who logically would be around for the events in the film. You may recall that the film was already longer than I wanted it to be. Adding in 3 more characters (and also figuring out how best to utilize them, without them simply being extraneous "dead weight") became the major story challenge for me in this revision.

The other major story challenge I encountered was that the producers were somewhat unhappy with the ending I had written (and rightly so, I think). As I mentioned previously, the primary focus of this film is on elephants. But in the climax I had in the first draft, though elephants were present and involved, the main action dealt largely with lions. This muddled the point of the film somewhat. Thus, I needed to really improve that climax.

A third challenge I faced had nothing to do with the script itself. When I first said I could finish the draft in a month and a half, I wasn't fully set on my summer plans. As it turned out, I ended up moving out of my apartment right around the same time that I was to finish the draft, putting my stuff into storage, and heading back East for the summer. This put a strain on my schedule.

The notes I got from the producers on Draft Two were somewhat mixed. They agreed that the climax was much more effective, and that I had generally addressed most of the notes they'd given me. However, they were unable to express specifically why, but they felt that much of the script (at least the first half) did not flow as well. I was confused by this note, but we each went off on our own to reread the script and see if we could better figure out the problem.

About a week later I came back to them with an analysis of the problem and a proposed solution. I felt there were a few issues that were significant here. The first was a largely mechanical problem. When I faced the addition of new characters in the second draft, I also looked at how to cut down on the length, both to get it closer to my target length, and to make room for these new characters. And despite the additions, I was still able to trim a few pages of length from the script. In doing so, however, I never gave it a good enough reread to make sure the transitions between scenes remained smooth. That was something i needed to address.

A second issue dealt with characterization. That is something that's needed work all along, and has improved bit by bit with each draft. But since invariably, most people felt the second half of the script flowed better and more quickly than the first half, I focused on how to make the first half more engaging. I suggested that a greater focus on conflicts between the characters could go a long way here.

Finally, the producers had always wanted the film's secondary purpose (in addition to the main story) to be exposing the audience to a somewhat typical safari experience. Thus, I had a number of scenes that while connected in some way to the story, remained somewhat ancillary. I suggested that trimming some of those scenes away might help the screenplay to flow better.

The producers liked these ideas, and I set off to make those changes. In the process, I also further focused on rearranging some scenes, cutting out others, and shortening still others. I took a week or two, and then sent it back to them. They were getting ready to shoot a short, however, and were very busy on that. Thus, I was going to have to wait to get their feedback.

That feedback finally came last week. They felt the flow issue was solved, and that it was in pretty good shape (though it could still use a bit of clean-up here and there). So my work for now is done. They are going to show it to some colleagues and get their feedback, and once they do, we'll move on to further revisions. Hopefully, they will soon begin looking for financing as well.

So overall, it has been a good experience. I do like the script, and hope things move forward. At the same time, it feels good to be done with it for now, so I can work on a few other things. These include a revision of one of my previous spec scripts, and an attempt to quickly develop and write another spec idea I have. It is somewhat timely (a satire dealing with the American economy), but after discussing it, I think I'd be better off taking it out as a completed script than as a spec.

I'll keep you all posted on all of these things as they develop. To my Jewish readers, Happy New Year! To everyone else, Happy Rest-of-2008!

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Friday, October 03, 2008

Will I See You at the Expo?

Just wanted to let you all know that I will, once again, be teaching at this year's Screenwriting Expo. I'm happy to say that the Expo will be returning to the LA Convention Center this year, after two (somewhat disappointing) years at a couple of hotels near LAX.

I'm proud to have been invited back to present my best-attended seminar from last year, "Effective Use of Flashbacks and Voiceovers." And I am also excited to be teaching a brand new, and timely seminar entitled "Writing in a Web 2.0 World."

In the latter seminar, I will be exploring what is unique about writing scripts for the web, as well as exploring the extensive opportunities to market yourself, network, and make money presented by Web 2.0 technologies.

I do not know whether speakers will be receiving discount codes, as we did in the past, but if so, I will certainly pass it along as soon as I receive it. And although the specifics are still to be determined, I will definitely be hosting my annual post-Expo Scribosphere Drinks gathering on Sunday night. This has always been a highlight for me, and hope it is for others too. Stay tuned for more details!

I hope to see many of you at the Expo this year! Be in touch.

UPDATE: You can use the discount code HABER2008 to get 10% off your registration. Enjoy!

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