Errg

I just got back from shooting a short film in Connecticut. Sadly, the writing was not very good. Even sadder, that's very common. Why friends? Why? I maybe should have turned it down once I'd read the script, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. "Maybe she'll be able to pull something out of it that I don't see" - I thought to myself. Alas, alack, not the case. It was actually just a trailer - which they're making to raise money for the feature. That always seems to be a dubious strategy.

I mean, if you can't sell a movie with a feature length script, then you probably need to re-write it. NOT shoot part of it. You need to be able to sell someone with JUST the script, because that's how a quality project is created. 

    However the actress playing my wife was totally cool. She was even cool enough for me to give her a ride back to the city. I know! High praise, but it was nice to work with someone I enjoyed. This is your shout-out Rebecca, your ten minutes of blogging fame! Don't say I never did nothing for ya!
    So there's that. But doing all of these not-so-well written projects does inspire me to continue my writing quest. I may not have any real experience screenwriting, but I do know recognize bad writing when I see it. because I see it so much. I've also been reading 'The Story' by Robert Mckee, which is so wonderfully insightful and incredibly helpful in it's breakdown of story structure. An idea occurred to me a few weeks ago, which I realized could be a feature - so that's going to be my challenge for the summer. It's probably not the best time to try and chain myself to a computer, but nonetheless.

    I also know that if I am going to travel down this road, my writing has to be good. I have too many friends who are writers that get annoyed when people have that 'anyone can do it' attitude. I don't think anyone can do it, but I think I can. My ability to recognize the things others do so horribly wrong has led me to believeI might be able to do things write. Puns!

-- Shawn Dempewolff