This Savage Art

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Don’t waste people’s time with that shitty screenplay you wrote.

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I think I’m a pretty smart guy. Not a Mensa member by any stretch but I have commons sense, can change a flat tire, know how to order a bottle of wine, can talk my way out of a traffic ticket and can count to ten in four languages. So I put this question to you fine readers, what is an MFA worth out there in the film industry with the state of things as they are?

I have been wrestling with the thought of going back to school and getting a Masters in Fine Arts. There are only two schools I’m applying to and I couldn’t have picked a better time. The deadline for both is December 1st. There’s the NYU Graduate Program — Tisch School of the Arts. World renowned. The film world elite have been students or have taught there — Spike, Marty, Jim and Oliver.  It’s a big program and the price tag is just as big. The other obvious New York City choice is Columbia, a school that has always been know for a solid screenwriting program and beyond. When I was taking some Continuing Education courses at NYU way back when, the general consensus was that if you wanted to direct you went to NYU and if you wanted to write you went to Columbia. Not sure how true that was then and how true it is now.

There are a few concerns here, money being one of them. There’s no way I could afford NYU on my own without any financial assistance and that doesn’t include making films, that’s out of pocket. Going through the bursars website I found out that a three year program, at about $20,000 a term, comes to approximately $150,000. That is including a modest budget for student films. Very modest.

The Columbia University MFA cost is slightly less. The first two years are all coursework, no film production at all, and it’s approximately $50,000 followed by thesis years which are about $3,000 a semester for a Screenwriting concentration. Big difference from the Tisch program but I know that NYU has invested a lot into their film department. I’m not sure how the Columbia Directing Program really stacks up.

I guess a big reason why I’m applying is maybe because I’m craving the need to be immersed in something I deeply care about and still want to improve at. I’ve spent the last year and a half caring for my son while Linda toils away in the coal mines. I feel out of loop and this could be a way to get back in. Besides, the film industry is in a complete state of panic and flux. Maybe now would be the time to do this.

I’m definitely applying to both. The decision of whether I go or not will be made when the time comes. The decision might be made for me for all I know. I would appreciate anyone who wants to leave a comment about their MFA/Film Program experience at either one of these two schools or any film school for that matter.

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So I’ve been gone for a while. Get over it and stop your blubbering.

Lately the balance between life and art has been a cross between not getting pulverized by oncoming traffic and screaming into an empty canyon. Yeah, that’s what’s it has been. Life life has been a constant assessment/reassessment of everything I thought I knew and proved to be wrong about. Pushing myself everyday and testing every nerve just to keep my boy happy and healthy. That’s a good thing.

The career, not so much. In order: no word from that producer I told you about. Project is cold and stiff as far as I’m concerned unless someone wants to tell me otherwise. Nicholl, dead. No surprise there. Sundance Lab, they told me to fuck off too. Austin is still up in the air. The funny thing about all of it is, I don’t think I’ve even skipped a beat. Maybe it’s age or just a thicker skin. I read the e-mails and I moved on which is what everyone should do.

All I want to do is watch Mad Men. I just watched the second season and was truly inspired. It goes without saying that it is one of the best shows on now or ever imho. Very rich in theme and character. My cup of coffee. That brought me to a fine little gem of a site after I Googled “Mad Men Scripts.” It’s called Writing The TV Spec Script run by “Colm” from Galway I gather. It gives some great insight into doing just that. I’ve played around with the idea of writing for TV. Chops need to be strong, really strong. Something to think about. It might be worth investigating. There’s a link to seven Mad Men scripts including the pilot available as PDFs for download. Check ‘em out.

So this is what’s on the agenda for this month. Continue working on the second draft of a previous screenplay I started a while ago. Then maybe spec out a Mad Men script. From there? Stay alive long enough to maybe see some of this come to fruition.

Oh yeah, what do you think of the sites new look? I added a Television section of links on the sidebar.

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I found this, forgot about it, then found it again by way of Scott Meyers’ Go Into The Story. Do it!

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You may or may not have noticed, depending on if all three of my readers are present and accounted for, that the posting on This Savage Art has been a little thin. Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve had some things in the works. Life doesn’t slow down when you want it to and when you add a child into the mix, well, it’s just a free-for-all.

Since I spoke of my brush with producer X I have gotten a full rewrite of Dyre Avenue out to his agent at CAA. It actually went out to that producer and a production company that is the shingle of a pretty well established and admired director. With that new draft I also got my screenplay into the Nicholl Fellowship, The Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the Austin Screenplay Competition. Crap shoots, all of ‘em but ya gotta be in it to win it, right?

So now we wait. Not really. We write and make stuff. That’s what I’m trying to do. As far as the site goes I don’t anticipate much unless there’s some incredible, mind-blowing news that I think you all need to know about. The spare time I have just isn’t what it used to be so I need to figure out where that leaves us, you and I. Until then the site will sit right where it is and might actually shut down for a period of time until I figure out what exactly I want to do with it. I’m thinking of updating it and making it some sort of hub. Until then, read the archives, go nuts. And thanks for hanging in there.

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Never underestimate the power of shameless opportunistic palm pressing.

The IFP Script To Screen Conference weekend two weeks ago started out dismally. I kept asking myself “Am I really at another one of these things?” It was all wrong. A couple of hundred wannabe writer/directors sitting, stumbling through a stifling room with no ventilation about to be told that it sucks out there to get a film made. Oh joy! I had to bail out of the second  panel, I was choking on the air it was so thick with desperation and duct filth. All is not lost though.

I got lucky. No not that way. As long as I’ve been going to these conferences/panels/punches in the arm I tend to walk away with something. Some piece of information that I didn’t know before or some pep talk that gets me inspired all over again. I mean, after all, that is why I went – to get back in the game after a year of sitting on the bench taking care of my boy. It paid off. Maybe.

I happened to come in contact with a producer, who shall remain nameless, who wants to read the Dyre Avenue screenplay. You know his body of work and he’s the right guy for the job too. After a couple of weeks passed by I had given up on getting a reply to the e-mail I sent him but yesterday he contacted me with the agency, agent’s name, number and assistant’s name. So there it is.

The plan, I take another full on pass then it goes out into the ether. I haven’t touched Dyre Avenue in a while and I need to get reacquainted. The window is small. You want to stay fresh in their minds before they move on to something else. I am realistic about how this can and cannot go. It’s something that comes with age. You do the work and what’s out of your hands is just that. But still…

The. Time. Is. Now.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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After reading about all the studio development news (or shall I say anti-development news) it’s easy to get depressed. Remakes, preexisting material (adaptations, sitcoms, board games?) and franchises are and will remain king. It seems that original specs are having a hard time seeing the light of day. The numbers would have you believe that in these hard economic times everyone is still going to the movies. Maybe they are but what is getting them there is a prior relationship with the material before seeing the film. Or maybe it’s just a new spin on an old show with current talent that makes it all seem so fresh. Whatever it is, Hollywood is betting on it.

I haven’t written a book or a franchise or a screenplay based on a soft drink. Now what?

Where does that leave me and everyone else like me? Back to the beginning. I think a big part of being in the film industry is being flexible. Adaptability is everything. This actually couldn’t come at a better time. I needed to change my game up. I was feeling a staleness coming to my writing. I felt myself reaching a point in my writing and never going beyond that point. Having a son forced me to step back a little and assess why after all this time I still want to put myself through this agony. I find myself caring less about the industry and the numbers and more about writing a better screenplay than my last one. I was in dire need of a new approach.

Part of this new approach is having a plan. Like writing a screenplay you need to figure out some of the moving parts before you get there. I’m still writing specs with no intention at this point to develop preexisting theme park material. Here is my plan, as in, this is directed towards me (your approach might be different):

• Make a list of my top ten writing projects with a little one-liner. Written, partial-written and unwritten projects. From that list deduct what to work on next. What will I have the endurance for? What is going to benefit me creatively? Will this help or hurt me in the long run?

• Get a HUGE cork board that can hold an entire screenplay of scenes. Approximately 40-60 index cards. Map it out all over again. Take a step back.

• Make a list the tools and techniques that work for me. I tend to lean on techniques used in literature – theme, allegory, blah, blah, blah. With all the moving parts it’s good to have some things laid out in front of you.

• Relax. Don’t write for the industry, it only leads to alcoholism. We all saw Barton Fink and what the industry does to writers. Seriously. Writing can be such a mind fuck that unless you are really in love with your ideas it can be a long, long painful haul.

That’s the plan for now. I’m sure I’ll add along the way.

So as I try to revitalize myself as a filmmaker by going to the IFP Script To Screen Conference this weekend maybe I can come up with some hard hitting questions for the panelists like, oh I don’t know, now what do we do? I’m sure I won’t be the only one asking.

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