James Hutchison

Five Festive Holiday Films Ho! Ho! Ho!

December 11, 2016 by James Hutchison | 2 Comments

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

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Do you have a tagline?

February 16, 2016 by James Hutchison | 1 Comment

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:

Fargo – A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere.
Alien – In space no one can hear you scream.
The Matrix – Reality is a thing of the past.
Deliverance – This is the weekend they didn’t play golf.
The Social Network – You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.
Jaws2 – Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin – The Longer You Wait, The Harder It Gets.
Being There – A story of chance.
Jurassic Park – An Adventure 65 million years in the making.
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.

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Christmas is a bumhug!

December 22, 2015 by James Hutchison | 1 Comment

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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Who needs the Waltons? Thoughts about August: Osage County

December 8, 2015 by James Hutchison | 2 Comments

So, last year around the holidays I decided to watch the movie August: Osage County. Maybe I’d had enough of It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street and was in need of something a little darker. After all you need to balance the sweet with the sour – don’t you?

August: Osage County is a gathering of the clan to say farewell to the family patriarch, poet, and drunk Beverly Weston. It’s a gathering of the clan that brings up old wounds and explosive confrontations. You know – your typical holiday family gathering.

Anyway, not everyone liked the movie – it has a 64% positive rating from the critics and a 65% positive rating from the public at Rotten Tomatoes. I’m one of those 65%. I liked it. Loved it in fact. I read the play and I watched the movie and I think Tracy Letts did a fantastic job of adapting his play for the big screen. Although I saw it at home on the small screen. Which isn’t that small anymore. Do you remember when a 26 inch television was considered big? Do you remember how happy we were to get a remote control…which meant we didn’t have to get off the couch to change the channel? But you know what, now that I think about it, maybe the invention of the remote control coincides with the obesity problem I’ve heard so much about over the last decade. Maybe getting up and changing the channel was a good thing. Yes, clearly we must outlaw remote controls for televisions. There’s a logic to that. A dumb logic, but a logic never-the-less.

Anyway, I loved August: Osage County and what a cast. A cast that includes Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Sam Shepard. It was a terrific ensemble. And I think they’d be my dream cast for a big screen version of Gilligan’s Island. Can you imagine Meryl Streep as Mrs. Howel? Benedict Cumberbatch as Gilligan?

So, a few weeks after I saw the movie I went out with some other playwriting friends who didn’t share my opinion. They didn’t like the movie. They felt something was lost on the big screen. They felt the stage play was more powerful because the action takes place in one location. I didn’t agree. I’ve never been to Nebraska but it was an environment I knew. I understood it. It reminded me of my own boyhood when we’d visit my Uncle and Aunt in Salmon Arm during the hot Okanagan summers. But I think the main reason I connected with the film on an emotional level was because of how the characters were all coping with lives that were unhappy. How many people stay together as a couple when a relationship is dead or work at a job they hate or search for meaningful relationships and can’t find them or simply have to deal with the daily pain of being out of sync with life?

And that’s what all the characters in August: Osage County are doing – they’re coping. Some of the characters are taking action to change things – some of those actions are drastic – and in the end – well if you haven’t seen it I don’t want to give away the end – but I liked the ending. And I found it satisfying – I found there was an emotional journey for each of the characters and for me that’s one of the things that makes the play and the movie work so well. And in particular I liked Julia Roberts’ performance because it was through her character that I most identified with the story.

So, like all films that touch us on some personal level they do so because we can identify with them and they reflect some aspect of our own world view and or experience. Which surprised me – because I didn’t think August: Osage County was about how I felt about the world. But it is. Because it made me reflect on my life and and the choices I’ve made.

I just have one wish though…and that’s for the Lifetime channel to commission an August: Osage County Christmas Special – who the hell needs the Waltons – I’d rather spend Christmas with the Weston family – can’t wait to see them fight over the wishbone.

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August: Osage County (2013)

Directed by John Wells
Screenplay by Traci Letts
Original Play by Traci Letts

Meryl Streep – Violet Weston
Julia Roberts – Barbara Weston
Chris Cooper – Charlie Aiken
Ewan McGregor – Bill Fordham
Margo Martindate – Mattie Fae Aiken
Sam Shepard – Beverly Weston
Dermot Mulroney – Steve Huberbrecht
Julianne Nicholson – Ivy Weston
Abigail Breslin – Jean Fordham
Benedict Cumberbatch – Little Charles Aiken
Misty Upton – Johnna Monevata

Music by Gustavo Santaolalla
Cinematography by Adriano Goldman
Edited by Stephen Mirrione

Joe Morgenstern – The Wall Street Journal

“Family dysfunction has seldom been as flamboyant—or notable for its performances and flow of language—as it is in this screen version of the Tracy Letts play, directed by John Wells from a screenplay by the playwright. The cast alone is worth the price of admission: Meryl Streep as the cancer-riddled, drug-addled matriarch, Violet Weston; Sam Shepard as her alcoholic husband; Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis as the couple’s daughters; and Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Abigail Breslin as members of their extended family. The language, rich in invective, flows from kindred spirits who are rich in aggressiveness, both the active and passive flavors.”

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Endings: Buried – Hamlet – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

November 24, 2015 by James Hutchison | 1 Comment

I’m going to talk about a movie I saw a few years ago starring Ryan Reynolds called Buried. There’s a lot I like about this movie. The aggregate critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is 87 % positive. I had heard good things about it. I didn’t see it in the theatre I saw it at home. I watched it with my son. And it was gripping – well acted – had me totally immersed in the story and rooting for our hero to survive his predicament.

Now before I continue there will be spoilers. Big spoilers. I’m going to talk about the end of the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t know how it ends then don’t read on because the ending is what I want to talk about.

And I’m going to talk about the ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as well as Hamlet. You probably know how Hamlet ends so that’s not really a spoiler. But if you haven’t seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest don’t read on. Instead, go watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and then come back and read this blog entry.

The ending – the final image of a film before we fade to black – the final scene in a play before the lights dim – the last page of a novel – the final line of a poem – the final kiss from a lover – these are all endings. Life is filled with endings. And your story must have an ending. Cutting to black is not an ending. I’ll talk about the Sopranos another time – maybe. If your ending doesn’t satisfy the audience then everything you’ve done before that doesn’t matter.

Yes, you have every right to end your story the way you want. It’s your story, but once you release your work into the world it is judged. Some will like it. Some won’t. Some won’t care. And every audience member is going to judge your movie or play or novel. They are going to have an opinion about it. They are going to share that opinion with others. And that opinion is going to be pretty straight forward. They’re either going to like it and recommend it or say it wasn’t that good and you should save your money.

And there are a number of ways you can measure success. You can measure the success of a film by the critical response. You can also measure the success by the box office revenue. Sometimes a film can be an artistic success but not a financial success and sometimes it can be both. Certainly 2001 A Space Odyssey can be considered both an artistic and financial success. Animal House not so much.

Now, before I speak about the end of Buried I want to say that your hero can certainly die. Look at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Our hero Randle McMurphy, brilliantly played by Jack Nicholson, is lobotomized. He has been destroyed. Nurse Ratched and the system has beaten him. He’s lost. But the story doesn’t end there. No. The story continues because if you end the story with him defeated in a world without hope you would leave the audience unsatisfied and angry.

Instead the movie ends with his friend the Chief, played by Will Sampson, suffocating McMurphy. And then the Chief does what McMurphy couldn’t. He escapes from the mental hospital. And that’s when the credits roll. Not before. McMurphy’s spirit lives on in his friend. McMurphy’s life has made a difference. He has given his friend the courage to go into the world and so his death is not without meaning.

Look at Hamlet. The body count rivals that of any movie about a group of teens at a haunted summer camp. Hamlet dies. Polonius dies. Ophelia dies. Laertes dies. Claudius dies. Even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die. And Hamlet’s father – who I have it on good authority wasn’t such a good King anyway and had murdered his own father to seize the crown and his brother having found out the truth about their father’s death sought to revenge their father’s murder by killing his brother – dies. Got that? Well, that’s my theory any way. But of course Hamlet doesn’t know any of that. His father is just playing him – you know. And if Hamlet’s father can come back as a ghost then why doesn’t Polonius show up or Ophelia – or alas poor Yorick. Sorry I’m getting side tracked. The thing is your protagonist can die. But when he dies he must die for a reason. Otherwise there was no point to his life. Otherwise there is no point to your story. If your story’s point is to say there is no point then why bother making the film in the first place. I mean really, what’s the point. It’s pointless as far as I can see.

Okay, so in Buried we have this average guy named Paul Conroy who has gone over to Iraq to drive trucks and he gets kidnapped and buried alive with only a cell phone connecting him to the outside world. Will he survive? The stakes are high. And the film works on so many levels except at the end he dies…and the movie is over…and his death was pointless.

He deserved to be rescued. And okay, I get it if you want to illustrate how the warmongers and corporations profit from armed conflict. How they don’t give a damn about the average guy. And if a few civilians get kidnapped and killed – well that’s just the cost of doing business. But at the end of the movie I was angry. I had gone through everything this character went through and at the end instead of feeling angry about the corporate profiteers I felt angry at the film makers.

And I know it takes years of effort and hard work to get a film made. But once you make it and put it out in the world I get to comment on it. I get to judge it. I get to say how much I liked it or didn’t like it and why.

And let me say again – I liked the film – it was an amazing piece of film making but I think our hero should have lived. And I can’t help but feel that if the ending had been different maybe the box office would have been different. Maybe the film would have made a hundred million or two hundred million? But according to Box Office MoJo, Buried only made about a million bucks in North American and just over eighteen million in foreign markets.

So, was it an artistic success? You could say yes. It won awards and the critics liked it.

Was it a financial success – not so much.

Although, IMDB lists the production budget at three million which means if the movie made almost twenty million at the box office it made money. And we’re not even counting DVD sales, Pay-per-view revenue, or Ryan Reynolds bobbleheads. So, if you measure financial success by whether or not a film makes a profit then I guess Buried is both a financial success and a critical success.

Damn.

So, what am I complaining about?

I guess I’m complaining because the film makers actually achieved something that is rare for me. They made me care about that guy on the screen. I wanted him to survive. And as a little guy myself – sometimes I feel like I’m the guy buried in the coffin. Not literally of course but figuratively. And so maybe this movie cut too close to home and that’s why the ending bothered me so much. Maybe I identified so strongly with this character that his meaningless death makes me feel like my life and death will have no meaning.

Now I’m really depressed.

Thanks a lot Rodrigo.

Is it any wonder I write comedy? Is it any wonder I read self help books and listened to Ted Talks. I’ve tried positive thinking. I even hired a life coach, but the first thing he did was trade me for a better prospect. So, when a movie ends without hope I don’t like it. I think life has meaning. And if the film maker isn’t going to give me a happy ending well then – through the power of fan fiction – I’ll simply go ahead and write one myself.

INT. BEDROOM OF LINDA AND PAUL CONROY – MORNING

LINDA CONROY wakes up in bed. She seems disoriented. Confused. She hears the shower running. The door is ajar. She slips out of bed and crosses to the bathroom. She approaches the shower and pulls back the curtain. Her husband PAUL CONROY is in the shower. PAUL looks at her and turns off the shower.

PAUL

Are you okay?

LINDA

I had the weirdest dream. You were in Iraq and got kidnapped and buried alive and…and there was a tin man, and a scarecrow, and a cowardly lion.

PAUL

Hey, hey it’s alright. I’m here. I’m home. It was all just a bad dream.

LINDA

A dream…of course. Thank God. I don’t know what I’d do if anything every happened to you Paul.

PAUL

Nothing’s ever going to happen to me muffin.

PAUL and LINDA embrace.

MUSIC SWELLS

I don’t know something seems familiar about that Auntie Em. Anyway. I’m done. It looks like Paul and Linda have their happy ending. And that makes me happy.

And if you need a laugh then why not download my play 500 bucks and a pack of smokes. Yeah, there’s a death or two in that play. In fact, out of the eight characters in the play five of them die. Granted it doesn’t equal the body count of Hamlet but then I was writing a comedy not a tragedy.

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BURIED 2010

Directed by Rodrigo Cortés
Written by Chris Sparling

Ryan Reynolds – Paul Conroy
José Luis Garcia Pérez – Jabir (voice)
Robert Paterson – Dan Brenner (voice)
Samantha Mathis – Linda Conroy (voice)

Music by Victor Reyes
Cinematography by Eduard Grau
Film Edited by Rodrigo Cortés

Roger Ebert 3.5 out of 4 stars

“Rodrigo Cortés, the spanish filmmaker behind this diabolical, Hitchcock – influenced narrative stunt, makes merry mischief with camera angles and lighting.”

Scott Mantz of Access Hollywood called it “a brilliantly twisted suspense thriller that would have made Alfred Hitchcok proud.”