I am battling a migraine today and thus can hardly type, but I wanted to point out that screenwriter Bill Cunningham offered a concise response to my post about the b-movie writer's status in the world over at his site here. I'm surprised how much response this post has received via email, from fellow travelers. I suspect this is a sore spot with a lot of screenwriters; not only that colleagues think this part of the industry is so easy to do, but that the layperson thinks that as well.
For the record, I have never banged out a screenplay in a weekend. Though once I did a rewrite in three days.
I have never been drunk or high when writing. Though I like an RC Cola to get me through the rough spots.
I have thus far been able to stick with my long-ago promise to never use a psuedonym and be proud of everything I do. Though I do have one picked out--Buster Sampson.
Trying not to think about some other projects that might be right on the horizon. More later--until then, give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
7 comments:
So how did you get into the B-movie, D2D screenplay world? What was your first sale? How'd you get your break? As a fledgling writer, I'm interested in D2D as it seems friendlier to those of us not interested in relocating to L.A. Also, I would imagine that with D2D the screenwriter may be able to feel more of a sense of ownership, as opposed to being one of a half dozen writers wrangling out a Bad Boys 3. Thank's and I enjoy the blog. OK HW
Hi John,
One aspect of this entire "discussion" that hasn't been addressed are the actual credits of those persons involved. The people who were saying they could turn to B-Movies - do they have any produced credits? What are their bona fides in this matter? That's what I would like to know.
To Hal Weaver: you break in just as you do in the studio system:
1. You come up with a great concept.
2. You write a script.
3. You send it around.
4. Then, if it's good, they hire you to write their concept.
No, it's not any friendlier than the big budget world. Think about it: anyone can write a script if you know you can throw money at a problem. It takes real creativity to create mood and atmosphere and "entertainment" with no money and no time involved. Yes, you may be on the project for a long time, but that doesn't mean the checks get any bigger. The more time you have to spend on a project the more money per hour you are losing... You have to be brilliant on a budget and a schedule.
Hal,
Here's what I said when somebody asked me this before. Check out this post. http://johnoakdalton.blogspot.com/2005/03/it-came-from-mailbag.html#comments
Thanks for asking,
John
More advice:
http://johnoakdalton.blogspot.com/2004/12/du-bi-quan-wang-da-po-xue-di-zi.html#comments
http://johnoakdalton.blogspot.com/2004/11/ritorno-di-zanna-bianca.html#comments
A little more.
http://johnoakdalton.blogspot.com/2004/09/shattered-eye.html#comments
A little more still.
Thank's for the links John. Looking forward to the reading.
OK HW
Post a Comment