Monday, June 30, 2008

THE PIRATE'S DILEMMA

The idea of piracy and the way it effects and even changes media greatly interests me. What I dig more is the idea that piracy in some ways can greatly help the indie guys get their products out there in front of more eyes and ears for far less than what a larger corporation would spend on advertising alone.

Keeping all of this mind let me point you towards this blog and the book that Matt Mason has written which deals with piracy and everything else in between. The best part you can either buy the book off Amazon and whatnot or just download it at Mason's site for free. If you feel guilty about downloading the book for free you can also set your own price.

UPDATE: 6-30-08

I am working on two scripts now. One that will probably be put on the back burner and another involving the spy genre and mutant monsters. I can't say more yet, but stay tuned at this same bat channel for more when it arrives. Stay weird!

Monday, June 16, 2008

KNOCKED OUT FIVE PAGES TODAY

I just knocked out five pages today which makes me feel pretty damn good. Keeping up the momentum is the real challenge.

Stay weird!

STAN WINSTON HAS PASSED AWAY

The word around the campfire is that special effects wizard Stan Winston has passed away. The word is that he succumbed to cancer yesterday, Sunday June 15th, but reports have yet to be confirmed. He was 62 years of age.

Stan Winston is probably better known for what he put on the big screen than he is on a personal level. He is the man behind the TERMINATOR, the guy who helped make dinosaurs come to life on JURASSIC PARK, and was even responsible for the effects in EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. The list of films that he had either worked on or gave a lending hand is far too immense to list here. Both his work and imagination will be sorely missed around these parts. (via AICN)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

WRITING FOR THE INNER GEEK

There was a recent interview with Pixar director Andrew Stanton over at Suite101 and Slash Film pulled this quote from the article:
“The day we start thinking about what the audience wants, we’re going to make bad choices. We’ve always holed ourselves up in a building for 4 years and ignored the rest of the world, because nobody are bigger movie geeks than we are, so we know exactly what we are dying to see with our family and kids. We don’t need other people to tell us that. We trust the audience member in ourselves.”
I believe that there is some truth to that statement. However on the other side of the coin I also follow Bill Cunningham's point of view in which as a writer we need to get back to our pulp roots and think in terms of what a pulp writer would create.

Writing for that inner geek inside of us all is brilliant and is what we should always be doing, but in doing so we are walking a fine line. We can easily see something in our minds a scene that we are writing as being the next most exciting thing to happen on film, but a audience may not see it with the same pair of eyes.

To me to appease that inner geek and the audience at the same time is the real trick to pulling off a great script. The challenge is to know when to listen to yourself versus how a audience may react. That my friends is how a good script can be made.

UPDATE: 6-11-08

That quasi-remake thing is not going to happen, I have to sadly say. It's a great idea and would be a bit humorous, not to mention ballsy, to pull it off. However, the timing and the money is just not there. Not to mention the fact that I hardly had any friends willing to give up some of their time to help out.

So I am back to square one. I do have a few ideas that I am kicking around that are a bit cheap to do and require less manpower. I'll post more about all of that when I can. Stay weird!

Friday, June 6, 2008

YES SCHLOCKHEADS THERE ARE REAL VAMPIRES IN THIS WORLD

It would seem that some scumbag asshole, who has been impersonating himself as a fan, has been leeching off actor Robert Quarry better known to us as Count Yorga. But now we can help Mr. Quarry through this difficult time by clicking on this link. (via Retromedia Forums)

Keep in mind that you don't have to necessarily have to buy the guy anything, but a letter of fan appreciation I am sure would be kind gesture.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

UPDATE: 6-03-08

I'm now in a groove of sorts. I've been doing some rough storyboards of the film idea that I briefly mentioned a few days ago. It is going to be crude but hopefully charming in it's own way. There is going to be some puppetry, green screen, and bad b-movie nonsense.

I can't reveal much right now. However, here is what I can say; it's a remake (sorta) and it will be done in the same attitude as a mockbuster. That is all I can say for now. If I keep progressing with this project then more clues will come together here. Time will tell, I suppose.