Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Writing Process: Part 4

The One Where It Takes Longer to Write the 2nd Draft than the 1st Draft

Immediately after Travis and I returned from Christmas break we started working on the notes. Since it had been two weeks since we took the notes, we had to sit down, go through what we already had in the script and discuss and develop ways to make it better. And we pretty much had to touch everything. All of the story lines, characters, scenes, we had to deal with. Obviously, we also found a lot of flaws and bad writing.

One of the things that was important to us was that, having proven that we could write fast, we now wanted to prove that we could take notes and turn around something that was even better, even if that meant taking a little more time to do it.

We found the first week of writing to be a real wash. Still on New York time, I found myself ready to go to bed at 9:00 PM and the requirements of our full-time jobs left us little room to write. Essentially, week two was about trying to find a rhythm to the writing, finding time to get together to work.

Which is the real reason why it ended up taking about four weeks to write the second draft. We were just strapped for time. We actually ended up spending a lot of time writing apart, which I guess will be the story of how this script was written.

I mean, the real lesson to take away from this stage of the writing, is the ability to take notes and rework them into your vision of the project (even if you really disagree with the notes). Also, proving that we could improve a script with the next go around.

While I'm writing this severely post-2nd Draft I think we ended up doing a really good job. There weren't really any notes that we weren't able to use. Also, we ended up taking an additional week to really read through it and make sure everything worked, that we didn't have any loose ends we'd have to explain in the next notes call.

So, at the end of January, we sent the 2nd Draft off to the producers and awaited word.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Tim & The Space Cadets - Superhero [Official Video]

Wow, seems like its been months since I shot this video...oh wait, it has been. We've been finished for a while but Tim wanted to wait until now to launch it. So, check out the official music video for Tim & The Space Cadets first single 'Superhero.'

Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Where Have I Been?


Well, I guess that's the question of the month, innit? Posting has been non-existent, my twitter feed silent, my Facebook just as quiet. Well, you should know that it's not because I lost interest, it's simply because I have been so busy that I literally haven't had time to write. And, when I get to the end of the day, I just haven't had the energy, nor the desire, to write something to write something. (And no, that's not a picture of me.)

I think a part of what happened was that I was posting everyday, and put a lot of pressure on myself to do it, that I just got tired of it. Honestly, this blog was never meant to be an everyday thing. I just posted very often because I had a lot of time on my hands. Obviously, that's not the case at present.

So, what have I been doing? Well...

1) As you know, Travis and I have been working on our latest script. We received notes from our producer over Christmas and set about working on the second draft. I won't go into detail here, because I will be posting The Writing Process: Part 4 soon. But last Friday we finally turned in our 2nd Draft to the producer after an exhaustive rewrite. We're excited to get the notes, we're excited to hear what they have to say, but it should be a week before we hear back.

2) I just finished up the final version of 'Superhero' for Tim and the Space Cadets and will be posting that shortly.

3) Travis and I had a great conference call yesterday with a CE over at a respected production company about our first script, a thriller, that we wrote together. They're interested in developing it further, with some minor changes that we're gonna make, and then take it to the studio they have a deal with, AND (pause) with me attached to direct! Huge! Very exciting. It's a script very few people have seen, one that we've held close to the heart since I've always wanted to direct it, whether it was my debut, or a second film or even a fourth down the line. What's great is that we put this on the table from the beginning, when we first met with her back in October. She loved the script, had some ideas that will probably make the script better, and told us that the studio they have the deal with is very open to working with first-time directors. Super excited. Of course, this is taking on another load of work, as we work on the other script but there's a huge incentive for us to take this on. Not only will we be 3 for 3 but we now have three projects set up at legit production companies around town. Of course, we're not getting paid yet...but that'll happen. Better to have people responding positively to your script then toiling for hours on something no one reads.

We're at that middle stage right now, before we officially make it as professional screenwriters but not really amateurs anymore either. It's a weird place to be in. Of course, it could all come crashing down tomorrow...who knows?

And so, Travis and I have been facing a lot of work recently and it's just been tiring and I haven't really had the energy to write about it. I'm getting my second wind though, especially now that I have more things to talk about.

So, keep checking back here for updates.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Avatar: Behind the Scenes

I loved Avatar. I though it did exactly what a movie should: transport you to a world you've never seen before, make you care about the characters, make you feel something. I really loved it. And of course, the 3D and mocap was amazing.

Wired has run a series of behind the scenes looks at the movie, and there's a cool video below showing how the mocap was done.