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In the Spotlight
9 Tips to Avoid Procrastination
by Jaden
1) “THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD.”
– Edward Bulwer-Lytton,1839
Why procrastinate when you have the power to change the world right in your hands? Don’t just sit there text-messaging on your iPhone to some bimbo who you won’t even be talking to next year, write your screenplay and influence the world with your words!
2) “JUST DO IT.”
– Dan Wieden for Nike, 1988
I am not talking about just sitting down to write your screenplay, I am talking about doing whatever is on your mind that you want to do OTHER than write your screenplay. Feel no guilt — it’s research! It’s even tax-deductible. Use all those great reasons you found to procrastinate, go live and experience the world, and when you are done procrastinating, write a story about your adventure! Take a year off and be a vagabond if you want. Just do it! If you follow your heart, an award-winning screenplay might come of it.
3) “ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932
Don’t worry about writing the perfect story with the perfect characters and the perfect plot. Just get the general ideas down. Write as much as you can without worrying about how good it is, or if anyone is going to like it, or whether you will fail or succeed, or if the person you are writing about is going to hate you. Just get it written! You will be fortunate if anyone ever sees it. Things that are not immediately real should not be boggling your brain. The What-If game is going to do nothing but steal your time. Focus on your story and write it.
4) DON’T GET IT RIGHT, GET IT WRITTEN.
This is something you will hear a lot by screenwriters in Hollywood. Any successful screenwriter will tell you: Screenwriting is in the editing! Just write your story, get it down, and then go back to perfect it later. No matter what, you will have to edit and revise your screenplay many times. If you are so lucky that you sell it, then there will be other screenwriters, producers, directors and actors revising your screenplay. Get used to editing! Forget about perfection. Just get the story written!
5) CLEAN YOUR SPACE.
This one is personal. I cannot work if I see something else I could do. I need a clean environment in which to work. If you are like me, dedicate 1 hour to cleaning your space: dishes, vacuuming, laundry, making the bed, tending to the pets’ or children needs. One hour and one hour only, then close out the world, sit down at your workspace and write.
6) COMMIT TO YOUR FILTHINESS.
If you are having a lazy day, or that’s how you are everyday, succumb to the mess and forget about it. Heck, add to it! Make yourself a big breakfast (or dinner), coffee, and leave everything out, throw crumpled up paper and clothes on the floor, and enjoy your mess; let it inspire you. Tell your spouse or parents to take a hike; you’re inspired!
7) MAKE UP A STORY ABOUT YOUR CRAP!
“The Usual Suspects” clever plot was based on a detained criminal who fabricates an entire fictitious story from the words and images posted all over the walls in the questioning room.
You can use this technique in your very own messy home. Try this for a practice screenplay. If you are struggling for ideas, just start with what you are seeing in front of your face. Invent a story about each thing you see and then weave it all together. Whose things are these? How did they get there? What is the unsolved mystery? Is it a murder scene? An abandoned house? A deceased grandparent? The room of a runaway teen? From where did that earring come?
8) FROM HARDSHIPS COME GREAT STORIES.
Maybe your procrastination is based on serious hardships in your life. A bad home situation. A ruthless boss. Poverty. You have no time to yourself to write or maybe your head is in a dark place and you are stuck in a funk. During this time, just accept it and roll with it. Keep a notebook at all times and jot down your ideas. Make notes of interesting conversations and events or thoughts. When the time is right, which it will be someday, then you can write your masterpiece. Just be patient and have faith.
9) SIT THERE AND WRITE ANYTHING.
As exhibited in my favorite movie of all time, “The Shining,” Jack forces himself to sit at his desk and type, even if he isn’t saying anything at all. He tells his family to leave him alone, “Can’t you see I’m working?”
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” This is the famous line Jack writes for hundreds of pages. From this seemingly meaningless sentence comes a landmark movie.
Schedule certain hours of the day that you FORCE yourself to sit there and write, even if you are writing seemingly nothing. Babble, ramble, whatever, but something WILL eventually come to you. Free-write every single day. What did you see that day? What conversations did you have? What inspired you? What bothered you? What would you rather be doing? What ideas are percolating? What did you watch on TV or read in a book?
Heath Ledger and Wuthering Heights Live Long After Death
by Jaden
On January 22nd, a full moon lit up the sky; a moon full of bright souls stopping for a layover on their way to the sun.
“Is it true?” A production assistant asked.
“I don’t know,” I told her.
The rumor spread like wildfire on the movie set, one person telling the next. No one could believe it. Was it some kind of sick joke? Was young Heath Ledger really dead? Later when we all returned home to our faithful Internet bases, the rumor was confirmed true.
Heath and his sister Catherine, sources are reporting, were named after the Heathcliff and Catherine characters from one of my favorite novels, “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë.
“Wuthering Heights” is a dark story. One might guess that Heath’s mother, if she was the one who named him, liked complex passionate men and tragic love stories.
In one article I read, it said that Heath liked dark brooding roles.
The word on the street is that Heath was so disturbed by his role of playing the twisted Joker in “Batman” that he needed sleeping pills to fall asleep; the prescribed sleeping pills that may have killed him.
Isabella says of Heathcliff:
“Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? I sha’n't tell my reasons for making this inquiry; but I beseech you to explain, if you can, what I have married . . .” — Emily Brontë
Heathcliff to his true love Catherine as she is dying:
“You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry, and wring out my kisses and tears; they’ll blight you - they’ll damn you. You loved me–then what right had you to leave me? …Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart–you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” — Emily Brontë
Heathcliff to the ghost of Catherine:
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you–haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe–I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” — Emily Brontë
Catherine about Heathcliff:
” . . .he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” — Emily Brontë
Published in 1847, “Wuthering Heights” is about a love hindered by racism and wealth, a love that transcends time and goes beyond death.
It takes a unique and interesting person to name her child after Heathcliff.
A writer inspires a reader. A reader inspires an actor. An actor inspires a writer.
Whatever role we take in life, we are all connected and all affecting each other. Time is no matter.
Today’s teen girls will grow into women; some of them will name their beautiful sons after Heath Ledger, their favorite movie star.
After we die, we all live on through that which we have loved.
A book.
A person.
A movie.
A career.
The more love and passion you have to give to the world, the longer will be your life after death.
Moral Milk for Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn
by Jaden
Portraying a 1970s lipstick lesbian political activist, smoking to kill, I paid a little set visit to “Milk” directed by legendary Gus Van Sant.
Gus is the antithesis to Hollywood, and for that, he is beautiful. Humble, patient, quirky, and subtle, director Gus Van Sant is admirably everything that Hollywood is not.
In the spirit of the nouvelle vague (“new wave” of French films by filmmakers such as Godard and Truffaut), Gus is a whisper of the breath that challenged classic Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s. Gus is a master at recreating the natural world into fiction minus all the contrived fluff.
Seeing the 1970s vintage cars in a movie theatre is not half as exciting as running my finger along the side of the long waves of green metal and throwing myself nude on the hood for a candid glam shot. I didn’t do this of course; I only fantasized about it. Suffice to say, the vehicles were awesome!
With a ragamuffin mat on his head and loitering around was rugged actor Sean Penn who plays Harvey Milk, a gay politician who was assassinated by his co-worker. It’s commendable to see Sean take this role. Unfortunately, I am surprised to find put-downs on the Internet already before any footage of Sean has even been released. Gosh, give the guy a chance, you rancors!
My friend related a story to me about Sean Penn recently. One friend asked the other, “What’s so hot about Sean Penn?” And the other answered, “He was with Madonna!” Ooooooh. That’s how the whole Sean Penn thing started, didn’t it? Since then, Sean has picked up the ball and ran many touchdowns without the notorious virgin cheerleading on the side.
Also on the set was the real Cleve Jones who will be played by Emile Hirsch. The real Cleve plays the role of a political activist in Los Angeles.
Others in the cast are James Franco and Josh Brolin.
What a great screenplay idea that writer Dustin Lance Black brings to life! Historical. Relevant. Moral messages. Educational. Heartfelt.
One important topic in “Milk” is Proposition 6: The Briggs Initiative on the California State ballot in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in California public schools.
Harvey Milk made a public cry that all gay and lesbians come out of the closet and introduce themselves to their neighbors so that people would say: Hey, these gay people aren’t all bad, they’re actually pretty nice and normal, some of them happen to even be my friends! Who knew? A massive wave of homosexuality reared its head and changed everything.
Former Screen Actors Guild president and president of the USA Ronald Reagan, along with President Jimmy Carter, and many Republican groups all opposed Prop.6 which was overwhelmingly defeated.
Not a lesbian or a smoker, though sometimes I pretend to be, I support the long forgotten 332-year old Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness! Not just for some, but for all.
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” — Benjamin Franklin
Tipping my hat to all those involved with the film “Milk” due out 2009.
Some notable films Gus Van Sant directed:
Elephant (2003) story similar to Columbine Shootings
Psycho (1998) remake
Good Will Hunting (1997) award winning
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) from great Tom Robbins novel
My Own Private Idaho (1991) classic
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) excellent!
To learn more about Gus Van Sant or Sean Penn or anything else in the movie industry, you can go to imdb.com, the Internet Movie Data Base.
Also, I highly recommend reading the Declaration of Independence; it is an amazing piece of literature.
Tagged It! Top 5 Reasons Why I Love to Write
by Jaden
My dear friend Melissa from Writing Forward has challenged me to write the Top 5 Reasons Why I Love to Write.
1) I like working alone. It’s peaceful. These days, I would rather write dramas than live them.
2) I already talk too much as it is, so I need a place to go where I can talk endlessly without annoying anyone. That place is in my journals, novels, and screenplays where people can opt out if they tire of me.
3) My mind is constantly reeling with ideas and thoughts that I have to get out of my head. New story twists or character traits thrill me.
4) I like to help people. If someone can avoid a tragedy after reading one of my horror stories, that’s great!
5) Writing is my life log. The thing that pains me the most when old people die is that all their amazing personal and historical experiences are GONE!
Even the tiniest of insignificant details are interesting when time passes and everything changes.
I encourage ALL people I meet, young and old, to write! Some day, even the most boring life will become fascinating to those in the future. What is boring now is totally different than what was boring 100 years ago or what will be boring in 100 years in the future. Think about it.
Think about how bored young Anne Frank probably was when she was hiding from ignorance and hatred in an attic. And now her journal is one of the most famous journals of all time.
With retrospect, a simple life becomes fascinating.
Imagine finding your great-great-grandmother’s saucy teenage diaries! The language. The dreams. Did any ever come true?
What is Coverage?
by Jaden
You are 45 years old and you just spent three years of your life writing a screenplay about your mother who died of toe cancer when you were eight. You put your blood, tears, and coffee splatters into it.
You are so lucky because you have a step-daughter who has a friend who knows someone who works at CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in Hollywood.
Your script arrives on an agent’s desk who does not know who the heck you are or why he should care. The agent is running late to meet George Clooney for lunch to discuss one of his clients for a role in George’s next movie. The agent hands your precious script to his assistant and says, “Get me coverage on this.” The assistant hands the script off to his usual reader and requests coverage.
The reader is a 22-year old broke struggling screenwriter himself who knows everything there is to know about what is good — or so he thinks. He only likes Sci-Fi genre films and he is doing some serious text-messaging to get into the Matrix 7th Heaven Premiere Party that very night. He hates reading scripts about falling in love or death because he hasn’t experienced either.
The coverage lands back on the agent’s desk in a huge stack of broken dreams. Your script collects dust for three months until your distant connection follows up with him and asks about it. He digs it out of the Non-Priority stack (right under “Rambo, XXII”) and upon seeing “PASS” in the usual spot, he says, “Uh, oh yeah, we passed on that.”
The word comes back up the line to you. “Sorry, they’re not interested, they PASSED.”
You never see the coverage that came back from the reader to the agent. You can’t believe they passed and you wonder why. It was so good! You could see the audience getting all teary-eyed.
The agent would have actually liked your story because it would have reminded him of his recently deceased aunt. Still, had he even glanced at it, he would have passed because your formatting was all wrong; this being a red flag signaling that you, with all your unrealistic demands and inexperience, would be more trouble than you are worth. Your script wasn’t that good anyway; it was just ok.
What can you do now that CAA has you on record with a PASS script and your only avenue to Hollywood is a dead end?
RULE NUMBER ONE: If you truly believe in what you are doing and in yourself, NEVER GIVE UP!!! IF YOU HAVE THE WILL, THERE’S A WAY; it’s just a matter of finding it and taking all the right steps.
Make your script the best it can be before you get rejected. After rejection, there are other avenues you can take.
Click here for a Blank Coverage Sample.
RECOMMEND = This script is great! Let’s think about buying it.
CONSIDER = It’s pretty good, but needs a lot of work. Maybe we could use the writer on something else.
PASS = We cannot make money from this script.
LOGLINE = 1 to 3 lines, summation of story
SYNOPSIS = 1 to 2 pages, summary of story
ANALYSIS = 1 to 2 pages, comments about script’s strengths and weaknesses
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