This Savage Art

Brick opens today in Los Angeles and New York. Go.

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Nor should they be viewed outside of New York City, Brooklyn or the Bronx. Watching Abel Ferrara west of Staten Island should be punishable by law.

–Flickhead speaking of Abel Ferrara films in reference to the recent Abel Ferrara Blog-a-Thon coordinated by Girish Shambu.

photo by Rose Serra

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The progress bar can go to hell ya hear me!!! I’m killing this draft!!! It’s either you or me!!!

I’m not angry with my screenplay, really I’m not. I just want to finish it. Being in the final rewrite stage feels good but also tense. It’s right there in front of my face. The feedback has been good. I’m this (holding my thumb and forefinger together) close and I know it. I also know that it can’t be a sloppy run through. It can’t. So I’m being very brutal to make this a clean, polished screenplay that I can walk away from satisfied. The progress bar will not inch it’s way up to gauge where I’m at. It will remain at 99% until I do the final grammar/spelling polish pass that symbolizes all is well in screenplayland.

This morning I read John August’s latest blog entry where he lists ten things he hates about his own work. I guess if you can find at least one thing that you share with him, consider yourself in good company. This is mine:

9) WHAT’S YOUR WORST WORKING HABIT?Particularly when I’m re-writing a script, I suffer from what my friend John Gatins refers to as the line-painter dilemma. Here’s the short version:

A guy is hired to paint the yellow line down the middle of a country road. The first day, he paints five miles. His supervisor is impressed. The second day, he only paints two miles. His supervisor thinks, “Well, maybe he had a bad day.” But the third day, the guy only paints half a mile. The supervisor asks the guy what’s wrong — why is he getting so much less done?

“Well,” the guy says, “I have to keep walking back to the paint can.”

The screenwriting equivalent, of course, is that at the start of each day’s work, one’s instinct is to go back to page one and read-slash-revise up to where you left off. Which is a very counter-productive habit.

It’s truly a bad habit. You start to put more attention on the front end and the back end suffers. Here’s a different approach; when rewriting, start from your last page and read your way back. It will give you a totally different perspective of your story. Things might take on new meaning.

Check here for all ten.

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As I trudge forward to get this bitch of a screenplay honed real nice for the Nicholl Fellowship I found this interesting article regarding your character’s internal goals. If you want to follow that up with what goes on externally check this.

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So here I am, adjusting the progress bar yet again for my final pass on my current screenplay. This time hopefully for good with regards to what was Where Are You Seventeen? but is now Dyre Avenue. I got comments from those who have read it that the title reminded them of some sort of teenage dramedy. I can be one to say with confidence that it’s not. The street is located at the end of the 5 train line to the Bronx. This is the area where my story takes place and it blows my mind that I didn’t think of using this title before. I mean, Dyre Avenue, end of the line. Duh! I don’t think it could be more appropriate considering the tone of this story.

Props to Matt for pushing me in that direction.

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Been tagged by MaryAn at Fencing With The Fog

Four Jobs I’ve Had

Film/Video Editor
Livery Cab Driver
Liquor Store Salesman
Data Entry Drone

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over Again

Office Space
Fight Club
The Conversation
Taxi Driver

Four Places I’ve Lived

New York, NY
Brooklyn, NY
Old Brookville, NY
Pelham, NY

Four TV Shows I Love

Lost
Rescue Me
The Sopranos
The Wire

Four Places I’ve Vacationed

Aruba
Italy
Amsterdam
Los Angeles

Four of My Favorite Dishes

Don’t know if I have a favorite dish, I’m easy. Just push a full plate in front of me and I is happy.

Four Blogs I Visit Every Day

Gothamist
Cinematical
DV Guru
The House Next Door

Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now

Where I am is the place I want to be

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging

The Constipated Writer
One Slack Martian
Adventures In Storytelling
Chris Soth

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Sam Jackson is gonna fuck up some snakes! Hilarious.

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Nicole Holofcener has made her way in and out of the “system” over the past ten years as a busy writer/director. I think her first feature Walking and Talking is a fine example of one of the 90’s more relevant independent romantic comedies that had heart without being vapid and cliche. In this Hollywood Reporter interview she talks about the power of the “shitty first draft” and writing her new feature Friends With Money for Nicole the Director. It’s a nice little piece that rarely taps into that battle one has with writing a screenplay for oneself to eventually direct. I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for process. I really like reading about how other people “do it” especially those who are “doing it”.

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