Contour At The Movies

Today I had the opportunity to interview Penny Penniston, the author of “Talk the Talk: A Dialogue Workshop for Screenwriters.”  It was great to hear a perspective about how to write good dialogue from someone who thinks about it day in and day out.

We had a great time chatting about David Mamet, status, David Mamet, and why good dialogue is like wine.  And David Mamet.

This is the first of a series of podcasts I’m calling “MWP Authors Speak Out.”  Interspersed with my other subjects, I’m going to interview authors from the Michael Wiese Productions stable of writers.  If you don’t think you know who or what MWP is…well…you’re wrong!  You probably own several of their books such as “Save the Cat”, “The Writer’s Journey”, and “Your Screenplay Sucks” among many, many others.  MWP is also the publisher of my upcoming book, “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!”

You can hear my interview with Penny by CLICKING HERE or by searching for the podcast under the name “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!” on iTunes.  Enjoy!

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

I’ve been following an animator and filmmaker on YouTube for some time now named Patrick Boivin.  In terms of creativity and talent, he’s the real thing.

Patrick just posted a short video called IRON BABY.  In just over one minute he packs in more fun, action, and wonder than IRON MAN 2 did in over 2 hours.  CLICK HERE to watch and be amazed.  And then if you really want to be inspired, watch the rest of his videos, particularly the ones where he shows you how he does what he does.

Patrick…thanks for showing us what one guy with creative vision, style, talent, and a cute baby can do!

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

I had the good fortune today of interviewing the very gracious Chris Stevens, co-founder of Atomic Antelope, the people who have  single-handedly ushered in a new era in digital media with the release of the Alice for the iPad book app.

On the podcast, Chris and I chat about finding success as a writer in unexpected ways, satisfying the creative urge, and what it’s like to see Oprah Winfrey interact with something you created just a few weeks ago.  You can hear the podcast by CLICKING HERE.

Thanks again, Chris.  Sorry about the crack about wanting to milk you…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

P.S. As the podcasts are new, if you felt like rating them on iTunes and even saying a few kind words in a review, that would greatly appreciated.

Sure, I like film and television writing as much as the next guy, however the guys over at Atomic Antelope may have just shown us a glimpse of things to come for those of us who love the written word (aka “writers”), media (aka “screenwriters”), and technology (aka “geeks like me.”)

If you haven’t seen the video of the Alice for iPad app, CLICK HERE and check it out.  I know it’s an iPad app and not a film or a television show or a YouTube series, but it IS another way for people who are creative to create content and get into the hands of an appreciative audience.  And once the audience gets really appreciative, well, who knows where that will lead one’s career?

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

My first few attempts at posting My Story Can Beat Up Your Story podcasts are now available on iTunes.   You can find them by CLICKING HERE.

At the moment the format for the podcasts is an elaboration of some of the reviews posted here, starting with IRON MAN 2 and KICK-ASS.  They’re very similar to the printed review, only with a bit more, uh, me.

Please give them a listen and subscribe.  Also, please start posting some reviews and ratings on iTunes.  And if you have any suggestions either for how to improve either the quality of the podcast or ideas about content you’d like to hear, don’t be shy about letting me know.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – I’m not sure what liking this movie tells me about myself.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Dave.

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Become a superhero. Personal: Get Katie to love him. Private: Overcome the loss of his mother and the breakdown of his family.

Who’s trying to stop him? – The very, very evil Frank D’Amico.

What happens if he fails? – He and 11 year old Hit Girl will get killed, and the city will be overrun by D’Amico’s evil criminal empire.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Dave is a social outcast at school, who claims that his only super-power is being invisible to girls.

Wanderer – He decides that he wants to be a superhero and goes about trying to figure out how to do it and not get himself killed.

Warrior – He becomes an internet sensation, and struggles to keep everything together as he realizes that things are getting out of control.  In addition, he meets some real (and really nuts) super heroes, Big Daddy and Hit Girl.

Martyr – Realizing that he can’t hide anymore, he needs to believe in his own hype and risk it all to save Hit Girl and bring down D’Amico.

AND, IN THE END…

CLICK to hear the PODCAST

Yes, everything you’ve heard about the movie is true: there is an 11 year old girl who kills with abandon, get’s the snot kicked out of her by a 40 year old man, and uses worse language than I ever did, and I grew up in Brooklyn.  This movie takes your moral compass and spins it like a top.

And yet…and yet…KICK-ASS is overflowing with a sense of fun and irreverence.  It dares you not to take it too seriously.  But, is that possible, with cute-as-a-button Hit Girl bloodily killing people with the abandon of a heartless abattoir worker?

I’m confident that KICK-ASS wasn’t trying to inspire moral hand-wringing, but it is what it is.  And considering that the movie didn’t perform as well as hoped for in spite of the skill and originality behind it, perhaps this is a good example of underestimating what the market will tolerate.

I’m glad I saw the film, and fervently hope that it doesn’t inspire a raft of similar movies.  And I’m not sure what that says about me, either.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – More is sometimes less.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Tony Stark

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Keep his Iron Man suit from falling into various wrong hands. Personal: Make the ultimate connection with Pepper Potts. Private: Find a way not to die because his chest-mounted arc reactor is poisoning him.

Who’s trying to stop him? – A plethora or fairly useless villains, including bitter, revenge-fueled Ivan Vanko, jealous and egotistical Justin Hammer, and officious and misguided Senator Stern.

What happens if he fails? – The Iron Man technology will be used by the military who, presumably, don’t know how to use things that blow up other things.  The real problem is that if Tony Stark doesn’t come up with a new energy source, he’ll die.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Tony, knowing that he’s dying, is making himself more of a jerk than before, alienating those closest to him..

Wanderer – After narrowly suviving an attack by Ivan as Whiplash, Tony tries to come up some new energy sources (this is implied, more than shown).  Failing this, he shifts into uber-jerk mode and goes on a morbid quest to make himself happy (also, more implied than shown.)

Warrior –  Very, very weak.  Ivan is presumed dead so Tony’s not fighting Ivan.  Hammer is working quietly on his own mechanized robots, so Tony’s not really going mano-a-mano with Hammer, and the Senate hearings are over so he’s not going up against the Senator.  I guess Tony kinda fighting to stay alive, but he’s not actively doing anything until he bottoms out at the end of Act Two.  This section really dragged and was poorly defined.

Martyr – Tony realizes that he has to pull himself together in order to find the cure to his blood poisoning, defeat Ivan whom he now knows is alive, and save Pepper who somehow has managed to be able to command the NYPD and is in danger of being blown up.

AND, IN THE END…

CLICK to hear the PODCAST

I loved the first IRON MAN, and I have huge respect for Robert Downey, Jr.  This movie, however, in trying to humanize Tony Stark just seemed to play like a version of LEAVING LOS VEGAS as imagined by Stan Lee.

I remember looking at my watch as the first Iron Man fight occurred in Monaco between Tony and Ivan.  It was around 4:50pm (if memory serves).  The movie started at 3:10.   Give 20 minutes for trailers and commercials, and that’s well over an hour into IRON MAN 2 before the first Iron Man fight.  And it wasn’t even that good of a fight.  That’s some superhero story architecture math that just doesn’t add up.

In attempting to make Tony more human, they made his Raison d’être an appendage.  Even my very non-discriminating 12 year old son was shifting in his seat, waiting for something to happen.  I think it says a lot that one of my favourite moments in the movie wasn’t even in the movie: in the trailer to the movie, Tony and Pepper are in the back of an open airplane and Tony asks Pepper for a kiss.  She sensually kisses Tony’s helmet that she’s holding in her hands and then tosses it out of the back of the plane.  ”You complete me” he says as he jumps out the plane and goes after it.  Too bad that scene isn’t in the finished film.  More of this and less of Tony Stark dressed as Iron Man and drunkenly blasting watermelons tossed by buxom partygoers at  his birthday party, I say!

Meanwhile, the movie has made almost $330 million dollars since it opened overseas last weekend and in North America this weekend.  That’s a pretty good haul and a good indicator that Iron Man 3 is already in the planning stages.  It’s also the exact reason I maintain that if you want to learn what makes a good movie, you have to ignore sequels and remakes and only examine those non-sequel, non-remake, non-adaptations that come out of nowhere and excite the masses.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

It plays like a spoof, but it’s a brilliant move by George Lucas at keeping the Star Wars universe fresh, surprising, memorable, and relevant;  everything you want your creativity to be!

I SO can’t wait for my GPS to break so it needs replacing…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – Inside this raunchy, foul-mouthed comedy is a sweet movie.  Somewhere.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Adam

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Get back to 2010 from 1986.  Personal: Be a good friend to crazed, alcoholic Lou.  Private: Pull his life together and learn that some things just can’t be controlled.

Who’s trying to stop him? – Blaine, the ski patrol jock (although Blaine is after Lou more than he is after Adam.)

What happens if he fails? – They get stuck in the past and Jacob, his nephew (who technically hasn’t been born yet) phases out (aka, dies).

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Adam’s girlfriend has just moved out, leaving Adam with a very nice but fairly denuded apartment.  He’s got his shut-in nephew staying with him and a couple of sad-sack friends whom he isn’t close with.

Wanderer – After a drinking binge in a faulty hot tub, Adam, his friends, and nephew end up in 1986.  There is the usual wandering around, first to figure out what has happened, then to figure out what they need to do to fix the situation, all the while prodded on their way by the mysterious hot tub repairman who knows more than he’s saying.

Warrior – Upon learning what they need to do, the three set out to recreate the events of their night together in 1986 that has supposedly led to their current state of sad-sackiness.  They each have middling and modulated success doing this, until finally they’ve defeated the ski patrol jock and prepare to get back to 2010.

Martyr –   Lou realizes that he can change his future by staying in the past (betting on games he knows the outcome to and inventing that ubiquitous search engine, ‘Lougle’)  and Adam, not wishing to abandon his friend again is willing to stay with him even though he doesn’t want to live through the same twenty years all over again.  Lou sacrifices having his best buddy around by tossing Adam into the newly repaired hot tub (time machine!).  Even the ski patrol has a little martyr moment at the end, giving up their revenge against Lou, Adam, et al in order to save someone’s arm in one of the most over-the-top comedy runners of recent memory.

AND, IN THE END…

And the winner of the most F-words in a single movie goes to…

It’s probably not the winner, but it’s gotta be in the top ten.  At the very least, an honourable mention of some kind.  And not to be prudish, but this was a case where the overuse of foul language didn’t punctuate the movie, it defined the experience of watching it.  The over-application of the F Bomb actually interfered with what could have been a funnier, more satisfying movie.

To compare, THE HANGOVER, with its 78 F-words and its derivatives (according to www.kids-in-mind.com) managed to make me laugh with guilty pleasure.   HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (191 F-words and its derivatives) just made feel guilty.  The unfortunate thing is that there really is a good, kind-hearted story in HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, however my first memory after seeing the movie is neither the story nor the jokes (those memories come later) but apologizing to my wife and the other couple with whom I saw the movie for not investigating it more carefully before suggesting we see it.

The odd thing is that the more I think about the movie, the more moments I remember liking.  It’s both a shame that they got buried in an avalanche of foul language as well as a cautionary warning to writers and producers.

I’m not the first person to compare HOT TUB TIME MACHINE to THE HANGOVER, and their respective box office takes are: after 13 weeks in release,HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is at $40 million dollars.  THE HANGOVER, at 13 weeks, was at $163 million dollars.  Obviously there are many different factors that explain the relative success between movies, but one certainly cannot rule out the possibility that the pervasive, unnecessary foul language is a much bigger turn off than a turn on.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

“My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!”, the book, is finally finished and delivered to the good guys over at Michael Wiese Publishing.  Early word is very encouraging.

I’m insanely proud of this book and I think people are going to be jazzed by the information in it.  It takes much of what I talk about on this site and in Contour and kicks it up to a higher level.  Much higher.  It includes chapters on theme, building a cast of characters that helps drive your story, designing the perfect Villain for your Hero (and vice versa), and it even includes an extensive business plan for launching a writing career.

The book is scheduled for publication in Spring, 2011.  A year off?!  I wish it could come out sooner.  Maybe if the publisher permits, as we get closer I’ll be able to sneak peek some chapters.

I’d like to thank all of you for the encouragement and kind words over the years, and I really can’t wait to hear what people think once the book is published.

The journey continues…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter