Wordle

Came across an awesome site: wordle.net which makes a word cloud from text that's entered, bigger words are the ones used most. So I dumped in the script for "The Bet" and here's what it looks like. Click for a much bigger image.

My Splitapart

I was touring teh internets and came across two articles. One that address the sins of grammar (my lowercase ramblings are heretofore exempt, but open single quotes in place of apostrophes are not - and "an" should be used when word starting with "h" begins with an unaccened syllable as far as i'm concerned), and one about stupid math.

Here's the math one:

Too often, reporters trying to use numbers hedge so much as to make those numbers utterly meaningless. I'm talking about sentences like this:

An average caseworker might handle up to 100 cases a month or more.

OK, let's see: up to 100 cases a month, meaning it could be anything from zero to 100, but the upper limit is 100. But wait: "or more"! So the sentence says 100 is the most it could possibly be -- but it could be more. And that's just the "average" caseworker. And it only "might" be true. In other words, the sentence says nothing; it just wastes valuable newsprint.

Once my head stops spinning, I try to get the reporter to be more specific. If that fails, I usually change the sentence to something like this:

It's not unusual for a caseworker to handle 100 cases a month.

Not great (though I do like the sly Tom Jones reference), but it's safe and it conveys at least some information.

Revamping "Detox"

There have been some rumblings about the ending being "tacked on." I, myself, really liked the ending and, being stubborn, didn't want to lose a lot of the elements that appeared there. It was a decidedly thrilling ending, but I've had this feeling that it didn't really fit. I realised this fully as I was writing the synopsis. All was fine until I got to the conclusion and it became clear the ending really wasn't working. But changing it meant it became less of a horror-thriller and more of a disturbing drama - which I'm okay with. My fear was (and still is) that it wouldn't have the viscerally satisfying ending that I thought audiences would want. I've seen enough (not all - I've given up on him) of M Night's films to hate investing two hours only to walk out feeling let down. But I think we're onto something that may be both harmonious to the rest of the story and satisfying - though in a much different way.

Again, I'm being horribly vague, but I don't want to let the cat outta the bag - especially when the cat may not be a cat at all.

Either way, the poster is still gonna rock!

David Lynch for iPhone

Your needle or mine?

Here's the first iteration of the revised teaser poster for Detox featuring a syringe shot by Francis George. Comments are greatly appreciated (good and bad). This is to promote the script - not the film - hence the lack of real credits (like "directed by" or "produced by"). The credit block at the bottom reads "Rubbersquare in association with Abe Froman Productions presents "Detox" a feature-length screenplay from the creators of the acclaimed film "The Bet" Michael Dunn & Chris Smith" and then "detox.rubbersquare.com"

Click image for the make bigger.

FADE IN: & FADE OUT.

I love typing the words FADE IN followed by a colon. Usually, when I've committed enough to type that, I know where I'm going next and can usually fill about five pages in no time. The journey from FADE IN: to FADE OUT. (which I have to say the punctuation says everything; a colon means "here it is" and a period means "all done") is (often) a rather long one. By the time I actually type FADE OUT with a period, I'm already thinking about the stuff I need to go back and change and can't quite yet celebrate the "end." (I'm a punctuation whore!)

"A Lonely Place for Dying"(and Auctioning Off the Dream)

Not sure if I've mentioned already that I'm doing the marketing materials (website, AFM email campaign, EPK, postcards, etc) for the independent film A Lonely Place for Dying (link opens IMDb page). In exchange for the work, I'm receiving 2 participation points (and as a special "thank you" the director is also giving me free rental of a 3-ton truck for 3 weeks - awesome!). Yes, I'm playing the points game. But the way his business plan is setup is rather genius. I just hope he likes what I do.

Also, I just won an eBay bid on Eraserhead masks to promote the 1980 midnight screenings. Whee! I love/hate eBay. I wish I didn't know it existed. But at the same time I love that I can actually own the stuff I dream about. You might've read my posts about the Alien stuff. Well, I am now wondering how retarded and useless it would be to list "The Bet" on eBay - even possibly an autographed DVD. Yeah, kinda lame. But who knows, at $25, maybe someone would buy it. Makes me wonder if and when we actually make a feature, how much crap could I unload on eBay to actually get our money back? Get the cast to sign 10 scripts and sell those at $25/each? Who knows what kind of props we may end up using/making. Costumes (buy a shirt for $17, use it in the film and now it's a "prop" and toss it up on eBay for $50. Especially if worn by a "celebrity."

I dunno. Part of me so absolutely loves that whole world of props and autographed memorabilia, but I can't see anyone ever being interested in anything we might ever do. I can't even believe people are buying the DVD. Still, it's pretty cool to think someone I've never met, never will meet, owns the DVD. And how much cooler when someone actually bids on and wins something from the actual film?

If I wasn't a crazy obsessive freak who is a huge fanboy himself, I'd list the shackles The Girl wore in "The Bet." Or even the puppets, Donnie and Maree. But even at $1000, I'd rather own them myself. I've actually held onto quite a bit of shit from "The Bet" - the puppets, the shackles, I've got the numbers from Henry's door, the red square from the end of the hallway, the gag and binds used on The Girl, James' watch, Henry's chair, the clocks (a lot of clocks), a bagful of origami angels, the TV, some of the books from the shelves... not to mention a number of drafts of the script and notes on it and all sorts of paperwork and such from the film, including the storyboards and shit. I'd maybe be able to list and ask and maybe get a bid on $5 for the lot of it all. But, like I said, it'd take something massive to get me to part with all of it.

Embarrassing as it is, I actual was thinking about the props/wardrobe/items from Detox and the punishment cabinet and what they would be. Pretty dorky, eh? Detox would have, again, the binds and gags and restraints used on Julia, The Watchman's mask/wardrobe (very awesome), Matt's various t-shirts/wardrobe, there'd probably be a number of props/posters used to decorate the house, oooh - the syringe... might be about it. Even less on the punishment cabinet. Then again, writing "The Bet," I figured we'd have the puppets and that'd be it. So, who knows. Especially on a feature film.

Relax

Everything's going to be okay.

Onward with "the punishment cabinet"

After spending the weekend churning through a few dead end ideas for a new script - keeping in mind everything I'd been reading about creating a successful script - I finally decided to come back to the punishment cabinet, even though it doesn't exactly follow a lot of the rules for a "successful" script.

Let me backtrack a bit. Friday afternoon, after sending the script for Detox off to the Wildsound Screenplay Feedback Festival, I got sucked into a great site for screenwriters, Wordplay. I read the first 20 columns and realized how much work needed to be done with the script I had just sent out!

So, needless to say all those rules and guidelines and checklist were very much weighing me down and nothing I could come up with seemed strong enough to stand up to all that. Thing like "Does the film have roles that stars will want to play?" or "Who is the target audience? Would your parents go see it?" (which would always be a "no" since my parents still haven't seen "The Bet.") And it wasn't that the answer to the questions was "no," it was that there were so many of them, so many considerations, I felt like I was writing for a sequel to The Godfather and not a quirky independent film.

Now, you also have to take into account I was also trying to come up with something that could be filmed for pretty much no cash, which more than not meant a limited number of locations, few cast... Well, I pretty much had laid on so many restrictions that I couldn't do anything.

So, I went back to the punishment cabinet. It's fairly contained, fairly few characters and actually does address a number of the items in that checklist (yes, stars would like the roles; no, my parents definitely will not see it). What's interesting is that I had thought about changing the main part of the script into something marketable yet entirely at odds with what the script is supposed to be about... and decided to go back, hoping that something unformulaic and unique will be a bigger attractor than rehashing and retooling and renaming a relatively tired idea. How unHollywood!

But that's the point. I'm not writing a blockbuster. Not to say this is on par with the following films, but I'd rather write one of these than a remake of a horror film: Run Lola Run, Evil Dead, The Descent, Funny Games, Kontroll, Open Water... well, you get the idea. I'm not saying the punishment cabinet is (or will be) a landmark in cinema, I'm just saying that it breaks a few rules or bends a few guidelines or plays around with convention. And that's the way I like it.

Foreplay on IMDb

The short film I did for the AIGA Awards Show back in 2004 is now listed on IMDb. Awesome. Watch it below.