13 Links to 13 Things on Friday the 13th

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Here it is Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious? Well, whether you’re superstitious or not here are 13 Links to 13 Things on Friday the 13th.

13 Things Bad Screenwriters Commonly Do by Brad Schreiber

“Applicable to drama or comedy, these obvious faults aren’t any laughing matter. As a young screenwriter hoping to open doors with a script or your first film based on that script, you can metaphorically shoot yourself in the foot. There are simple mistakes that will say to potential investors, agents, producers, distributors, directors and others that you are not quite ready to enter the world of feature filmmaking.”

13 Things You Think Are True, But Aren’t by Adam Conover

There are a lot of “facts” out there that we think are true that aren’t, but as Adam Conover from CollegeHumor points out they all tell a good story and people like a good story. 

13 Funniest tweets about New Year resolutions by Helena Horton

My favourite Tweet from the list, “My New Year’s resolution is simply to remember to write 2017 instead of 2016.” [Read more…]

Calgary International Film Festival 2017

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Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

The Calgary International Film Festival just announced that Harry Dean Stanton’s last film, Lucky, has been added to the schedule.

That’s exciting news!

I’ve been looking forward to catching this film ever since I came across the trailer about a month ago. Hooray for last minute additions! But Lucky is only one of over 200 films you can see at this year’s festival which runs from Wednesday September 20th to Sunday October 1st. You can check out my picks for the festival below or head over to the Calgary International Film Festival web site and check out the entire festival line up of films, galas and behind the screen events.

Lucky

“Harry Dean Stanton is Lucky, an offbeat 90-year-old atheist in a small desert town, in John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut that focuses on mortality and loneliness.”

Reasons for wanting to see: Harry Dean Stanton – David Lynch – and a tortoise named President Roosevelt. Need I say more, ladies and gentlemen?

Joe Leydon from Variety says, “Everything Harry Dean Stanton has done in his career, has brought him to his moment of triumph in “Lucky,” an unassumingly wonderful little film about nothing in particular and everything that’s important.”

  • Wednesday September 27, 9:45 PM at Cineplex Eau Claire 5
  • Sunday October 1, 4:45 PM at Cineplex Eau Claire 1

AWARDS: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Locarno Film Festival

John Carroll Lynch recalls directing Harry Dean Stanton in his last film, “Lucky.”

A Day

“Two men must relive the most terrible day of their lives in this expertly written thriller from Korean director Cho Sun-ho.”

Reason for wanting to see: I like time loop movies like Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow or Source Code. Need I say more? Need I say more? Need I say more?

John DeFore from the Hollywood reporter says, “…the story pushes into themes of guilt, revenge and forgiveness, finding a resolution that is both unexpected and poignant.” 

  • Saturday September 23, 7:15 PM at Cineplex Eau Claire 6
  • Wednesday September 27, 10:00 pm at Cineplex Eau Claire 6

[Read more…]

Five Festive Holiday Films Ho! Ho! Ho!

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It’s the holiday season and that means it’s time to cuddle up by the fire, grab a mug of mulled wine or your significant other, or both, and watch your favourite Holiday flicks. And with the temperatures dipping to -26 Celsius here in Calgary a warm holiday drink is a welcome respite from the cold. And maybe that’s why we like holiday films. Mulled wine can warm our physical body but a good holiday film can warm our soul. And that’s probably because most of the time holiday films are life affirming. They’re feel good movies and God knows we could certainly use some feel good movies this holiday season. So here are five holiday recommendations. 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

[Read more…]

Do you have a tagline?

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Do you have a tag line for your story? If not, why not? A tag line is a great way to hook your reader, and a great way to get them interested in reading your story or play. You’ve got a title, now add a tag line.

You do have a title, don’t you?

The title and the tag line work together to intrigue your audience. Together they define some aspect of your story in order to create interest and desire.

The movie industry understands the importance of the tag line. A good tag line catches us – it makes us think – it reveals something about the story in a clever or interesting manner. It gives context – tone – the promise of adventure, drama, or laughter.  Here are ten of my favourite motion picture tag lines in no particular order:

  1. Fargo – A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere.
  2. Alien – In space no one can hear you scream.
  3. The Matrix – Reality is a thing of the past.
  4. Deliverance – This is the weekend they didn’t play golf.
  5. The Social Network – You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.
  6. Jaws2 – Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
  7. The 40-Year-Old Virgin – The Longer You Wait, The Harder It Gets.
  8. Being There – A story of chance.
  9. Jurassic Park – An Adventure 65 million years in the making.
  10. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe – You are cordially invited to George and Martha’s for an evening of fun and games.

Your job isn’t just to write your book or your play or your poem. That’s half the job. The other half is marketing. If you want people to read what you’ve written then you have to market what you’ve written. And one way of doing that is by picking a good title and tag line combination.

I do that for my plays and you should do it for yours. It helps you sell. It’s the shortest and easiest way to create interest in your story. What are you waiting for? Get tagging.

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Here are the titles and tag lines from four of my plays which can be downloaded for free here on my website.

  1. What the Dickens! – Even Scrooge got a second chance.
  2. 500 bucks and a pack of smokes – How much is your life worth?
  3. Death and the Psychiatrist – Even Death could use a friend.
  4. A Christmas Carol – Every man has the power to do good.

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Christmas is a bumhug!

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Christmas is a bumhug! Well, at least according to Scrooge in my play – What the Dickens! – the story of the Pine Tree Players disaster prone production of A Christmas Carol.

I love A Christmas Carol. The Alister Sim version is one of my favourites and I’ve always wanted to tell the story in my own adaptation. So, when I began my life as a playwright I decided A Christmas Carol would be one of the plays I’d write. But I wanted to do something new. Or at least something a little different.  So, I ended up using the play within a play concept to create a romantic comedy that brings something fresh to the story while still giving audiences a chance to see the original story – even if it’s filled with falling sets, missed cues, and pie fights.

The funny thing is once I’d spent four years working on What the Dickens! I finally knew the story well enough that I had a clear vision about how I would do a straight adaptation of the story. I added a couple of characters and I made Bob Cratchit a more fun and lively dad instead of the downtrodden person he’s always portrayed as. And I wanted to spend some time showing how Scrooge could have chosen a different path. And that if he’d chosen love instead of security maybe his life would have been different. After all in my play What the Dickens! one of the characters says that every story is a love story – even A Christmas Carol.

You can download both What the Dickens! and my adaptation of A Christmas Carol for free. Just follow the links.

It’s always fascinating to look at adaptations. The biggest challenge for film, television, and stage when adapting a novel is figuring out how to handle the inner voice of the character. In a novel you can go deep into the subconscious mind of the character but in movies and television you generally have to reveal inner thoughts through narration and dialogue.

Why do you think Tom Hanks had Wilson in Cast Away? It was a device in order for us to understand what his character was thinking.

Did you see the more recent Robert Redford film All is Lost? All is Lost is about a man on a boat in the middle of the ocean trying to survive. It’s a good movie. I enjoyed it. I watched it twice. But it is missing the inner dialogue of the character. We never know his thoughts. It’s mostly us watching him trying to survive and that struggle is well worth watching. But we never learn how he feels about his family or how he feels about life or how he feels about death.

As I was watching the film I thought – hey, he’s in the ocean – why not have Wilson float by. After all, if he did, the two of them could strike up a conversation. Wilson could tell Redford’s character all about the years he spent on a desert Island with Tom Hanks and Redford’s character could reveal something about his inner world. And my guess is, his character would probably say how much he enjoyed seeing A Christmas Carol by the Pine Tree Players that Christmas he took the whole family on a skiing holiday to Pine Lake. The Dickens you say!

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