Phew, another draft done.

Another draft and a loss of hair.
This has been by far the most stressful/ complicated script I've ever written. Much like the press release I wrote at Shorts International, I'm realizing more and more how to make every word count. Also how to say what I'm thinking visually. There's a whole new mindset from how I usually work when writing and I think that's why I had a mini aneurism. I feel like I've learned a lot already though. I had to re-watch films that were like my film and the two I chose both helped in different ways.

Watching Kickass was useful, because when I dove into the context, it was very similar to my script. Kickass is mostly about a boy who's passionate about being a superhero and how he reacts when it turns out superheroes are real. Then from there it's a breakdown of his character. It's very inspiring in the way I think, "Gee, I wish I made that film."

The second film was Drop Dead Fred. I don't really like this movie. I think it's all too over the top and then I realized that everything I didn't want my film to be compared to was this film. I want to show the difference of the worry dolls to imaginary friends. I don't want the worry dolls to be magical when they come in the world, it's an adjustment for them as well as Will. Also the humor is too over the top and so is Rik Mayall. I want the worry dolls to be quite human, they are almost a magical hired help. There should also be a slight ambiguity to whether people can see the worry dolls and how human are they. Drop Dead Fred makes it very clear what he is.

So the mixture of those two films with a WHOLE new way of thinking made this script easier, and I'm sure I can be more useful with a feature script if I keep thinking like this. It makes the characters more intriguing and you can see what they would do if they were real. This is unlike a lot of other stuff I've written where the characters aren't developed enough to make strong decisions.

Getting Things Off the Ground

Today is ground control day. The day when I start putting everything together and seeing where the end of this semester is. I've been typing up all my notes as I want everything to come off professional. I have an idea to wrap my whole presentation up like a present (PRESENTation) and then show that I have put the effort into the binder by printing everything, and then maybe drawing on pages and having cartoons and sweets around the whole thing to have a playful, child-like feel to the whole thing. We'll see if I have time for that at the end of the research section.

As I compile work there's an obvious gap of budget and business stuff. This is because of working with Caitlin and having a producer which is a new and wonderful experience. I really appreciate having someone devoted to my script and film to try and find funding and do work I don't have to worry about. She's been helping with the script, just having feedback and stuff like that. She's definitely above and beyond to help.

As for the script, I talked to Jeremy Routeledge from Calling the Shots and he loves the idea of the film and wants me to keep most of it, just tweak things so there's less narration and more character development for Will. I agree with this and will hear back from Izzie (the woman writing feature length scripts) before I make changes.

First Meeting with Abigail

Dun Dun Dun.....
Back to university after my two weeks internship and now it was time to catch up on what I was missing. It was an hour and a half conversation which got very personal and resulted in Abigail not seeing my vision for the script. She mostly said there was too much dialogue and that Will didn't grow enough. Then the heart dropping news that I "should rewrite the whole thing".

This was the first time I had to take a step back and see what's best for me. I've spent all summer on it, which could be why I think it's at least on the right track to something good and maybe I'm too close to it now. But in this summer, I've also had multiple people from Bristol-based companies mention only little problems in the script. It seems other people see my vision, or at least the way it's headed so I'm concerned that I need to get more advice from other people then my tutor to see if maybe Abigail just needs more explanation. I'm sending it to a woman who life work is in scriptwriting and writes work that gets big audiences. Izaskun Arandia-Richards is someone I met at a paella party while on my internship in London. I met her through Chris, who got me the internship in the first place and we really hit it off. I've sent the script to her and will wait to hear back before giving up on my script.

If anyone knows what to do with my work, I trust her the most as she's like-minded and could understand it more. I hope it is usable and that Abigail and I can work together even though we have different opinions on the script. It's a scary/odd feeling sticking up for my work so much. I usually thrive off criticism but to throw out the whole thing I strongly disagree with and I feel scared that it could be my mind just being too attached to it, and also passionate that this film can be something much more then Abigail realizes.

Making Money

Today Caitlin kicked me into gear with getting funds for Worry Dolls. She's been on it since the beginning and I expect her to be at my side the whole time. She's been amazing with ideas and getting me thinking of the bigger picture. We decided to go to Frenchay as it's the biggest campus in UWE and try to sell cookies that Caitlin made. She blew me away with her strategy of making cheap cookies (a batch for 64p) and selling each one at 60-80p! In the end we made 55 pounds for 3 hours of work. It's a great start for sure.
I've started looking at other ways to make moneys and have the following ideas.

1.) Offer people a credit in my film as producers if they pay 10 pounds each. If I get 10 people that obviously is a quick 100 pounds towards the film.

2.) Offer an IMDB credit for the film. Same process as step one, just sweeten the deal with offering them a CV boosting credit on IMDB.

3.) My friend Jeff Brink offered me a website called Kickstarter.com and it gives you the chance to offer your film budget and get anyone to invest in it. Apparently the success rate is quite high but you do have the risk of the money being returned if you don't meet your budget. So aim low and then work from there.

Anyways, it was a great start and started getting me on the fact I have little to no money to offer this year, so fundraising is a whole new tactic I never thought of.

Press Release

Man, work at Shorts International has been amazing. As well as going to events every night and meeting great people, the amount of knowledge I've gotten for future projects has been priceless.
Chris Tidman has given me great advice on shorts and features and certain ways to get budget and how to get my film out there.
Today was especially a great day, as I actually got practice in work I wanted to learn this year. How to write a press release is fundamental in giving the first announcement of your film to give to media people. It is great to give as part of a press packet and getting your name out there.
I was assigned to write a press release on the Shorts Scares collection being released in late October. Mark got me thinking of another way of writing. He said from the beginning to be emotionless throughout the whole 4 paragraph release. I've always written with a personality and it was fascinating on how the structure is so different.
You almost have goals you have to write in each sentence and have to find the quickest way to get to the point. One of the things I had to mention was one of the limited free release of the short, ROAR. Here is a link below to the trailer and I hope you watch it on vimeo. I had to watch it and give a sentence explaining the whole film.
By the third draft I got the mind-set of how to write as minimalist as possible. This has been one of the best things I could have taken away from this.