Good points to picking names. Sometimes mine are too generic but then again I can spend too much time thinking of names that are unique. You can also add that the spelling of names changes according to region, like Bella’s name is Swann in the south but Swan in the north. Tell southerners that there’s only one “n” and they’ll stick an “i” in there and make it Swain because “Swan” just doesn’t exist down here except for transplants. (Yep, it’s a family name. :D)

MOON IN GEMINI

A while back I wrote a blog post with some good sources for character names. But how do you pick the right names?

Don’t underestimate the importance of names. Scarlett O’Hara‘s first name was originally going to be Pansy. Can you even begin to imagine a Pansy as the protagonist of Gone With The Wind?

I usually can’t even start writing a story until I’ve found the right names for at least my lead characters, though I have changed names mid-manuscript.

Here are a few thoughts on finding the perfect character names:

1. Consider names that have meanings that reflect your characters in some manner. Personally, I think Stephenie Meyer went a little overboard when she named her heroine Bella Swann, but if you’re a tad less literal, you can find a great name for your character.

For instance, Dorothy Gale, of The Wizard of Oz, is…

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Lost in Rewrite Hell

So here’s the first and most important lesson that I’ve learned about filmmaking so far; it doesn’t matter how many screenwriters you gather in a room, unless the planets line up and everyone’s holding their tongue just right while hopping on one foot, the magic you need may just not happen. Everyone’s got their own take on your ideas. Citing pop culture references may seem like a no brainer, but everyone adsorbs those references in different ways. And depending on what additional roles (if any) they want to take on, that will color the motivation they give the characters, both the ones you’ve already created and, heaven forbid, the characters they create for themselves. In other words… working in a team sometimes suuuuuucks.

As the director, I see the whole project in my head already. I know how I want the characters to look and act. I know what the flow should look like going from one scene to another. But with my hands juggling so many balls already I’d hoped to pass off some of the writing to other people. Mostly because we’re always in need of screenwriters so I want to be as encouraging as possible and give chances to work. The (somewhat) lesser reason is that I still have a lot to learn about making these ideas work on paper and I was hoping to learn from others. But sssshhhh! Don’t tell them I said that. I’m supposed to know what I’m doing, right? Either that or the reason they keep staring at me is that they’re waiting for confetti to come flying out of my ears.

Usually it’s great when inspiration hits me. But for the last two weeks the only thing hitting me has been a wall. Even though my head was the one moving back and forth, the wall should’ve totally learned to move by now. I’m gonna have to sue or it’ll never learn. But until the wall has earned the right to leave the time out corner, I’ll have to make some changes.

First, there’s no way to go “from script to screen in 2013”. It sounds great and is doable if we keep it at the level our movie group works at now, but it’s not realistic for the level I want us to be. As much as I hate to do it, if we take the time to write well, this series can be really funny and not just another YouTube clip I hate to have my name on. Secondly, I have to let some balls drop and take control of the scripts again, at least until they finally get what I’m saying. Who knew writing comedy could be so hard? (Cue a million comedians groaning in unison.) In the meantime, we have a meeting set up soon to try and find a short script to film so that we can get everyone working before Spring. The more projects we have for people to work on, the better.

So, it looks like I won’t have a shiny new show in my hot lil hands by the end of the year but there will be other, smaller, films to fill the void. I still say 2013 is going to be a great year. Lots of learning. Lots of doing. One month in and I’m still here. No plans to build that time machine yet.

This is relevant right now because my dog and cat’s need to be rubbed in the “awesome” range is hindering any effort to write. Yeah, that’s right, I’m blaming not procrastination but this sweet lovable mutt dropping a chew toy on my foot over and over and… ooooohhh you so cute. Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? Can I haz your toy? Awww…..

Spotts in the Valley of the Sun

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First script meeting, DONE!

      We had our first official screenwriting meeting for the web series on Saturday. Joining us were two people I met off the ad on Craigslist and, yay, they weren’t sketchy! There were six of us total and everyone threw out some really great ideas that stuck. Which was good, I’d hate to have to throw them back. Might take out an eye. We finally nailed down the major points so heaven help me if I change ONE MORE THING about the plot or who a character is, or just plain add more characters, again, go ahead and smack me. No I mean really. Reach that hand through the computer screen and pop me upside the head. Not you. I don’t know where your hand has been. And not you either. Because I saw what you were doing earlier. Shame on you.
    I know I’ve already said that we figured out how to include a fan vote, but I really, really mean it this time. Every idea I had before sounded great but considering we were originally planning on kicking off a guy each week like every other reality show does, it usually involved filming some crazy extra things we came up with, and only playing the one that got the most votes. (Don’t ask why but it made sense at the time.) What a waste of film. And work. So now, on the “show within the show“, NONE of the contestants are getting kicked off. We still get to present our story the way we want to, but you the audience gets to vote throughout the season for your favorite Santa. Whoever one has the most votes at the end wins and we’ll announce the winner in a “live” finale to be filmed after all the episodes have aired. Simple. So why the hell didn’t I think of that sooner? Sheesh. Sometimes my ideas get too big for reality and you just have to pop them like a balloon. Shrink them down to what really works.
    So that’s what we’ve been up to for the last week. Hard to post much when the most exciting thing we do is type, type, type. But stay with us because it can only get better from here, especially as we get closer to shooting. Later!

I lost my best friend because he said that my making movies and writing books “weirds” him out. For me, trying to live a “normal” life makes me feel weird. Unnatural. I’m home here, creating stories. So who wins? I do. I have to.

I lost my best friend because he said that my making movies and writing books “weirds” him out. For me, trying to live a “normal” life makes me feel weird. Unnatural. I’m home here, creating stories. So who wins? I … Continue reading →

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Wait, I have how much time left? Argh!!

I can’t believe half of January is gone already. Really starting to feel the time crunch, but that’s mostly because I accidentally cut off a month of prep time. What?! Yup. The plan was always that we needed to start shooting in March. But looking back, that was counting on starting at the end of the month. I didn’t realize that when I started saying we were shooting at the beginning of the month. Big difference. *face palm* Oy. Since it’s a Christmas themed show, we should film while it’s still somewhat winter, which means closer to February, not April. But that may become a moot point as winter may not happen here. I mean, it’s January and I walked the dog the other night in nothing but a long sleeve t-shirt. Oh, well, and some pants. I don’t know the neighbors THAT well. We’ll have to wait and see how all the other prep goes I guess.

But for some good news, I finally nailed down people, place, and a time to meet and have our first real script meeting. Whoo hoo! Rick and I have been bouncing emails back and forth since mid November and it’s just not working for me anymore. We can hammer out in one hour of face time what it’s taken us two months of emails to do. From the start I’ve wanted to have an interactive audience even though, yes, this is a mock reality show and not a real one. And I think I’ve figured out how to add the fan vote! Which means there needs to already be a social media presence in place so there’s a start of an audience when we release the videos. And to that we say, hello Facebook and Tumblr. Together with Twitter and Word Press, it’s pretty much the same info across all the platforms, it’s just up to the people out there in internet land as to how they want to connect. *taps on screen* Hello? Hellooooooo…. Is this thing on?

Talked with the other director in the movie group and the editor about what I need to look for in a camera person, so I’m feeling a little better there. Still looking for the right person. After this weekend I’ll know more of what we need in terms of locations and props so I can begin that search in earnest next week.

So all in all some nice movement this week. A small snowball has been formed and rolled down the mountain. Let’s see what we pick up along the way.

Jam of the Day : Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat Wanz “Thrift Shop”

Starting to look forward to how we’re going to dress our characters so this song is playing on loop in my head. With this being being a no budget project, yeah, we’ll be hitting the thrift shops. Hard. Plus it’s just a fun song to bounce to. :)

Adventures on Craigslist: Or the troll that wasn’t

I posted a couple ads on Craigslist last week looking for film crew. The responses I got were what I expected, better than expected, one entry that was an odd random stream of images set to music, and… a troll. Kinda. Ish. I‘ll save him for last because he’s still got me scratching my head.

A while back I joined an amateur movie group made of people like me who have no idea get started in making movies. (Not to be confused with now because a clue has started to form. Shhh. Be quiet or you‘ll scare it.) There are two types of folks in our mist. Those that learned enough to leave us and move on to paying gigs, and others that satisfied their curiosity and went back to what they were doing before. But no one new has joined us so active membership is low. It’s become tough finding the right volunteers for projects. You really don’t want non-techy people holding the cameras. I mean, like, what does this little button do? *pushes button* *hears metal screeching* *smells smoke* Oh crap. *tosses evidence out window* *sees nice glow grow outside* Overheard: Nice bonfire on the lawn guys, grab marshmallows!

So back to Craigslist and the ads looking for new hopefuls. I shook the CL tree as hard as possible and a few people fell out. One woman said she’d be more than happy to start on the ground floor and would we please consider her? Well, since we are the ground floor, welcome aboard. Because yes, we are that picky. Mixed in with the other fellow amateurs were a couple tech guys with nice demo reels. Yay! They’re not Hollywood worthy (yet) but you can tell they know what all the buttons are for and how to use them. No risk of fire with these guys. Welcome to the sand box boys, we promise to play nice.

And then, there was a troll. Kinda. Ish. Mixed in with the emails was a one line response from a stranger insulting me. You see the signs everywhere on the ‘net, “Don’t feed the trolls.” It’s good advice. That I didn’t follow. Even though my cursor hovered for a few seconds over the “trash” button, I instead responded back, trying to fill in a little on what I was working on hoping he’d… I don‘t know. I don‘t know what I thought he‘d say back. But whatever it was I wanted, it didn’t work. His second response was as rude as the first and I changed tactics, fought back, and spent the rest of the afternoon firing off one dismissive reply for every email he sent. I’d hit send. Wait. Get his new email. Read. Get madder. Type, hit “send“. Rinsed and repeated in a losing cycle. But then the craziest thing happened. I got my point across. He APOLOGIZED. And offered for us to film one of his scripts for free. Turns out his beef was that one of the ads said I was looking to work with a screenwriter for free, so he assumed I was a “deadbeat” looking to steal some work and credit. But sometimes, having no budget really does means you have no money, even with the best of intentions. But regardless of money, we always give proper credit. What’s followed since are some pleasant emails back and forth, sharing stories, laughs, advice, and encouragement. Somehow the troll turned out to be not a not a troll after all but a fellow filmmaker trying to protect his craft. “Keep me posted” he said. “Let me know how you’re doing”. So here’s the lesson for today kids: Don’t be quick to judge someone. We were both wrong. But we both apologized and now, I think, both of us made a new friend. Who knew?

6 Steps to Avoid Shelving A Script

CJ's Corner

With the year in full swing, screenwriters are typing at a maddening pace to create their greatest story to date. Their compulsion and passion will drive them to create yet another story that will sit on the shelf – An unread masterpiece that doesn’t fit any need of the 1,000 cable networks that are desperate for good stories.

I heard that last year over 10,000 scripts were considered in Hollywood for the silver screen, but less than 400 were given a green light to be made into motion pictures. Add to that the numerous scripts written for cable and syndicated stations that didn’t get produced and you start to wonder why screenwriters tend to write complete scripts to shop around instead of pitching a quality treatment.

Disney is known for approving films based on a three-page treatment, handful of storyboards and an art board or two that captures the essence…

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Crossing fingers, toes, arms, etc…

After a two week hiatus for the holidays my writing group met back up tonight. Finally. It’s been so weird to just go home after work instead of to the library. Can’t tell you how many sentences I’ve had to re-type because “He opened the door” became “He opened thekhsdklh” when my dog dropped his toy on my laptop. And good news! One of the writers published her book recently and brought in a few copies to sign and sell. She’s been working on it off and on for three years but said she was only able to finally finish it because she joined my group. I even got a shout out in the acknowledgements. Aww! I feel like a proud mama bird watching a baby fly out of the nest. Now we’ll see if the others catch on or if I’ll have to put my foot on their keesters and push. Mama loves ya, but really wants to turn your room into a sauna.

In movie news… Lots of people in the movie group say they want to write but it’s like pulling teeth to get them to actually do it. But I can’t really say anything because I used to be one of them. It’s nerve wracking to write for any audience. But to write something that will be filmed in living color and displayed on a giant wall is scarier than the time I rode with my mom down a steep mountain road in an ice storm before the town realized that, hey, there’s this wacky new invention called guard rails. (Seriously, back in the day they used tree stumps painted silver. They were constantly tipped over. Snow drift or no snow drift, I’m walking.) But tonight I got an email from a guy who was not only was the lead actor in our last movie but helped write it. He wants to pitch in and act/write again! (Say that out loud fast, it sounds funny.) Smart move for him because he can help steer his character into whatever he wants to play. Smart move for me because I’d get the help I need on the script and get to tick TWO jobs off my list. Crossing everything I can in hopes that that it’ll actually work out.