A Interview with Blake Snyder

As some of you may know. Blake Snyder, the author of the immensely helpful screenwriting book Save the Cat, passed away one year ago.

In honor of Snyder his website has posted a full 45 minute audio interview that Snyder had done Robin Mizell, before his passing, for an article she was writing for Screenwriters and Playwrights Market.

Go here to read more about Blake Snyder and to download the interview.

No Budget Commandments

Good Machine has listed a series of rather brilliant commandments of making a low budget film that most of us should strive to follow.  Go here for the full list.  (h/t to The Frugal Filmmaker)

12 SECRETS TO PROLIFIC SHORT-STORY WRITING

Lots of good advice here which can be used for screenwriting or even a pulp novel or twelve. Go here for the how-to.

SOMETHING I LEARNED FROM RADIO SERIALS

Here are several things I have learned from listening to hours of radio serials thus far:

1. No matter how well you think the plan is working it will end up smacking you in the face. Murpy's Law is always in effect.
   
2. At the moment you think the action is over, or you are in the clear, the heat is will always be turned up more. This creates a feeling of action or suspense at every several minutes.
   
3. Things are not what they always seem to be.

RIGHT PLACE WRONG TIME

Here is a sneak preview of what I have been calling the Sock Puppet Mystery Project. This is the first two scenes or so of the script. Keep in mind that most of the characters are sock puppets. Comments and criticism is welcomed so don't hold yer punches, there Nancy.

Before you read on I feel that I should apologize for the terrible formatting job that Blogger has done. But one can expect such things when going from Celtx to Blogger using cut and paste.

Also this goes without saying (C) Tim Shrum, 2009 so Swiper no swiping! That is until I finish it at least ;) then you will see what cool things you can do with it on your own. Enjoy, schlock heads!

INT. SOMEPLACE BAD

Darkness surrounds everything.

OS are SOUNDS OF SOMETHING GRINDING AND GROWLING.

Everything slowly enters into blurry vision.

JOE - The hero - awakens in the middle of a pool of YELLOW GOO on a cold cement floor.

He sits up and looks ahead and discovers what the GRINDING sound is coming from a CHAINSAW skittering all over the cement floor.

To make matters worse, no more than five feet away, is a weird long and extremely thin HUMANOID CREATUREN who has been cut in half and is crawling towards Joe in the same pool of ooze.

Joe scrambles to his feet. He eyes the CHAINSAW again. But it's too far.

He takes a few slippery steps back.

The CREATURE continues to crawl towards him.

Joe takes a few more steps back - again both keep one eye on the Creature and the other on the CHAINSAW.

He almost trips over a BONE which has a end that is broken off into a JAGGED POINT.

Joe grabs it and like a knife points the jagged end down.

From the shadows behind Joe, CIGAR CHEWING DOC SAVAGE ERA/PULP HERO, enters into view. His left eye is covered with a RED EYEPATCH.

DOC

Great thinking, kid. Now, the way I see it, the only way to kill it is to-

JOE

How did you-?

DOC

Shut up and listen; you need to stab it in the head.

JOE

What!?

Doc

Now don't go pissin' yer diaper, kid. Look at it, the freak got cut in half with a chainsaw, and it still wants to kill you. These things probably don't feel a thing-like zombies.

JOE

Really?

Doc

How the hell should I know? Just kill it before it gets its claws on you.

Joe looks back at the Creature, and with trepidation, he approaches it.

JOE

I'm really sorry about all of this. Really, I am.

He slams the BONE, jagged end down, into the Creature's skull. It screams and hisses and even tries to grab Joe a few times. But soon the Creature is dead as Elvis.

DOC

Now the chainsaw.

Joe grabs the CHAINSAW and shuts it off.

OS is a LOUD BESTIAL ROARING SOUND.

He runs towards a SMALL WINDOW. Doc follows behind.

cut to:

EXT. SOMEPLACE BAD

A BLUISH AND PURPLISH GLOW bathes the STONE EXTERIOR and ODD SHAPED WINDOW of wherever Joe is trapped.

JOE

Oh, this can't be good.

cut to:

ESSENTIAL PLOT TWISTS FOR WRITERS

Here is a funny comic on 42 Essential Plot Twists for Writers via Boingboing.net. What's scary is some of these don't sound that half-bad in a pulp kind of sense. Check it out for a good laugh.

TRIOLOGY OF TERROR - A THREE PART STORY OF A HORROR FLICK BEING MADE

Screenwriter William Martell has a great three-part article* on a low budget horror flick that was made with people he knew. Well worth the read and be sure to put his blog in your RSS feeder for some great writing advice and tips.

*scroll down for the three links to the articles.

KURT VONNEGUT USES CHARTS TO EXPLAIN DRAMA

The master writer explains why we need a bit of drama in our lives. Full details and helpful charts can be found here.

BLAKE SNYDER HAS PASSED AWAY

This is a bit shocking news to me. I have read his book SAVE THE CAT and I thought that he was a brilliant writer who was on to something. He will be missed a great deal in the screenwriting community. I'm sure. Details here.

WEEKEND READ: THE CROW 2037

Here is the Rob Zombie penned screenplay to a film that never came to be, THE CROW 2037.

What makes this script so interesting, besides being the first script written by Zombie, it is how the story unfolds. It's such a fevered dream of wild imagery and set pieces that make you wonder how it would have been pulled off.

I almost wish that he had permission to do a graphic novel version of this or a animated feature just to see this script come alive.

The script can be found here.

WEEKEND READ: LETHAL WEAPON

If you have not had a chance to read the script to LETHAL WEAPON you are missing out on a great read. The whole damn thing screams pulp - it's even speaks the language. It is also a part of cinema history. Because of this script writers for a good decade or more begun to write in the same style. I still wish they did. Read the script here to see what the hell I am talking about.

THE BLOB LIVES!

There is a movie idea somewhere here.

SCRIPT SAMPLES

If you are in search of samples of scripts to learn from here are three of the best places to go:

Script-o-rama - the best place on the interwebs to find the script to some of your favorite films including rough drafts and unproduced versions.

The Comic Book Script Archive - a heavenly place for comic geeks or anyone interested in entering the field of comic book writing. Tons of scripts can be found here to learn from.

Old Time Radio Researchers Group - if you're interested in creating your own podcast audio serial then this is the place to go to download pdf versions of classic Old Time Radio shows and to learn how it's done. A brilliant site.

FOR FIFTY BUCKS...

I've long forgotten where I discovered this story so you will have to forgive me for not giving credit where credit is due. And even though I am sure I've shared this tale before, I read something that made think of it and I want to share it with you again.

The story goes as this; During the filmming of a film, a producer wanted to know how much it cost to do a visual effect shot of the Red Sea parting. The fx person thinks it over for a moment and says well for a million I can part the whole sea. For fifty-thousand I can part just one side, and for fifty bucks I can have a guy look at something off screen and say, "holy shit the Red Sea is parting!"

Take from this story what you will.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: CHOPPING MALL

Originally CHOPPING MALL, directed by Jim Wynorski and produced by Roger Corman, was at one time called KILLBOTS. However the film had a hard time testing in certain markets. According to Wynorski himself it was during a test screening with Corman where a electrician, fixing a light bulb or fixture saw a glimpse of the film and said "why don't you call it Chopping Mall." Wynorski and Corman both thought it over and agreed that it would make a greater title than what they had and recalled all the film's prints to change them to CHOPPING MALL.

Right after the change of name took place the film sold more tickets and did well on video. The morale of the story is that no matter how good your film is or how many cool visuals you have in it, none of that will matter unless you have a title that will make someone want to see your film. Don't be afraid to be exploitative. Go out there and be damn sure your film has a kick-ass title!

WRITING LIKE ED WOOD

There's this legend about how Ed Wood would type out a script on one typewriter while working on a pulp at a other typewriter while at the same time holding a chicken leg and a bottle of Vodka.

Yesterday I wrote pages for two scripts and a pulp novel all back to back. Just pressing alt+tab whenever I wanted to go to the other project. I'm feeling like Ed Wood just minus the chicken leg and Vodka. However, I wouldn't mind having both at the moment.

Now back to work. Stay weird!

SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN

Do you want to know what a script for the Sci Fi Channel looks like? Well after digging around on the intertubes I have found one. It's for the film DEVIL ON THE MOUNTAIN which aired on the channel as SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN.

Here is the link to a pdf version of the script. (big tip of the hat to Sci Fi Scripts).

Did you notice how the title change worked? That is a pure example of pulp filmmaking; always give the title of your films more kick and let it tell the audience what it's about.

If anyone is interested in writing for the Sci Fi channel check out their screenplay structure found here.

Also if anyone out there has any links to any more Sci Fi Channel scripts drop me an email at kidschlocko (at) yahoo.

CHEAP, CHEAPER, DIRT CHEAP

I'm thinking of taking the script that I'm working on and rewriting it two more times. This way I can have three scripts that can work with three different budget levels. It's not the first time it's been done. I've heard of other screenwriters doing the same.

My reasoning is that if I can't get the budget that I want I would have at least two back-up plans to make same movie but cheaper. I'll let you know how it works out in the end.

For those wanting to know more updates on the script or what I'm up to don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES...

I don't want to get cocky, but I gotta say that the first five minutes of new script are amazing! That's all I can say for now.

SURVIVAL HORROR

Started to crank out some notes and scribbles of set piece ideas for a flick that I would like to shoot either this summer or in the fall.

It's super cheap and the way it plays out is super awesome. The end project may even be chopped up into a serial with some alternate reality stuff thrown in to make it a bit more interactive. Nothing set in stone, really. I'm just allowing the noggin ramble on for a moment.

As per usual, I can't say much, but all I can say is that it's inspired by the survivalist shows out there on cable today-'nuff said!