So after a fun family-filled holiday weekend, I am always raring to get back to work and get pages out.Of course, there are lots of steps that need to happen before I get pages out – brainstorming, character development, treatments… I thought I would share one of my favorite writing exercises with you all.
Basically, I write the trailer for the movie I haven’t yet completed the script for.For me, as a director/writer - I dream visually, so it helps to do this before I’ve finished all my scene breakdowns and character development.If I can create poignant glimpses into the story for a two minute teaser, it helps me stay on point through the rest of the work. It helps me visualize what Act Two is all about. It’s also a great reminder that (duh) the film has to be compelling: dynamic in the individual moments as well as in the big picture.
I actually pulled out the trailer script to THE LAKE EFFECT when we were cutting the trailer after the movie was finished to remind myself what I originally felt were the trailer-worthy moments in the film – what would bring people into a theatre?
Anyway, here’s a rough trailer script for the CYNICS.Hope you enjoy it!
So this week, I was given a powerful reminder of how affecting film can be and also how very talented
and amazing my friends are.
Last week, my friend Zack Mathers created a video of his sister shaving his mom’s head. Zack’s mom Rene is fighting cancer. Even the rough cut of this video had me racing to find the phone in tears to call Zack to tell him how beautiful it was – how touching and funny and inspiring… how he had captured his family at a crossroads, facing their battles with laughter and love… and I was desperate to see and hug them all. My words can’t compare to the actual work, so please take a second to check it out.
Then on Saturday, my friend Lynette Howell had the LA premiere of her Oscar-buzzed-about film Blue Valentine and I was proud as punch to be there cheering her on from the red carpet to the after party. I can say again, even the rough cut of this film was a marvel – but now that I’ve seen the big beautiful final version flickering up on the screen at Grauman’s, I promise that it is worth all the buzz and it is worth all the many many years she fought to get it made. (A side note: The MPAA has given this intimate portrayal of a marriage falling apart an NC 17 rating; meanwhile, the most violent films are given PG-13 ratings. Our American hang-ups about sex and our comfort with violence is another blog altogether, so I’ll just quote Amy Poehler and say to the MPAA, “Really?!”)
Finally, last week, my phenomenal cinematographer husband Brett Juskalian was in Vietnam shooting a music video for a Vietnamese boy band. He sent me a clip of the shoot on a night that I was feeling really low because he knows that I am a complete freak for dance videos, dance movies. I had a copy of Girls Just Want to Have Fun on VHS that I watched so much, the tape finally snapped sometime in the late nineties. Anyway, watching this Vietnemese boy band do a hip hop dance off with girls from the future in front of their cryogenic time machines was AWESOME. Film doesn't have to change the world to change your world if just for a couple of hours or a moment.
Here's the vid:
If that doesn't work, here's the link to it (my lack of tech savvy will not stop this blog from being posted on time!)
So basically what I’m saying is I have really cool friends (and an extra super cool hubby).
No, that’s not what I’m saying. I mean, yes they are cool but more importantly, these people (and so many more of the ridiculously talented people in my world) remind me what this funny little thing called cinema is capable of. Whenever I’m sitting at my desk scribbling away through a nap time and feeling thoroughly disconnected from the Universe, these people and their greatness remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing. They inspire me to be my best self and my best artist.
I hope to reach all of you with more of the work that they helped inspire soon.
Maybe next week, we’ll do a revival of some of my old short films while we’re waiting for The Lake Effect to bubble to the surface.
Alright, it’s drizzling in LA. It’s been overcast for an hour and (along with the rest of the city) my seasonal-affective-disorder is kicking in.
In my cynical state, I thought I would share a little metaphor that I was discussing with some filmmakers at an artists’ club in SoHo in the wee hours.
What is the value of niche/art film if no one ever sees it? If you’re making obscure little indie films that no one ever sees but which you really enjoy, are you really just doing it for your own pleasure? And isn’t that kind of like masturbation? Moreover, if art film is masturbation, then that would make their opposite, studio tent pole event movies… prostitution?
Picasso's Les Mademoiselles d' Avignon
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not placing judgement on what kind of films people choose to work on. I have friends who write tent poles and friends who make movies for an audience of one… and I’m mighty proud of all of them actually. Hell, I’m proud of anyone who gets any sort of movie made. Lord knows it ain’t easy.
I’m just trying to figure out what the balance is, if indeed there is a balance. Maybe there’s a different answer for everyone. Film is art, film is commerce. There is a large gray area between those extremes and I think that they have a lot to learn from each other.
The studios spend lots of time and market research developing films in the hopes of reaching as large an audience as possible. Films for everyone - it sounds like the perfect marriage between communism and capitalism – ideally hit all four quadrants of viewers: men and women, young and old. I would argue that these films are less about individual expression and more about their ability to please, their broad appeal. Unless of course they are made by Pixar. Talk about balance. They’ve managed to support artistic vision and reach the masses. Bravo, Pixar.
Alright, so that’s the model of successful balance on the top tier – what about for us indie folk? How do you create film that pushes the limits and is a true creative expression of your yearning little artistic soul and ensure that lots of people are going to want to sit in the seats munching popcorn for two hours of it? We can’t hire Tom Hanks (or let’s face it, even get a read from his agent’s assistant). As an independent filmmaker, how do you balance?
Finding the balance as an indie filmmaker -- using cinema as a tool for artistic expression while also getting people to actually SEE the films that I am pouring my heart and soul into… that’s the goal. So, maybe there is compromise on the road to independent distribution. What that is, I have no idea. I get the sense that I’m opening a can of worms here… maybe I’m just trying to incite someone to comment on this blog!!!! I guess really, I’m hoping that somewhere in the large gray area between masturbation and prostitution is… making love.
