Two Years in LA, Three Years for 12pt, and Stepping Backwards

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j0409425

Time flies.

Two years ago I packed up everything I owned into a ’94 Honda Accord and drove 2,118 miles to California in pursuit of a job in the film industry. I had $800 in my pocket (half of which I spent on gas and a couple cheap hotels). I knew two people working in LA, I had a couch to sleep on, and I was determined to make this shit happen.

It’s been two years to the day since I arrived in LA. I got those jobs. Worked hard. Made friends. And I moved from PA, to Producer’s Assistant, to Producer on a daytime talk show. I still drive that ’94 Honda, but I’m no longer sleeping on a couch. I have now upgraded to bed status. And damn it feels good. But I don’t feel like I’ve arrived.

The other day I went to a screening for a movie I worked on last summer. My heart was pounding as the credits started to roll. Then I saw it. For the first time. My name, in the credits of a feature film, in a theater. It was an eye-opening experience. This is what I came out here for. This is the pay off. Watching the film I helped create. This is why I went to film school. This is why I drove to LA. This is why I am here. My mouth agape, a lightening bolt hit me in the face. “I have to get out of daytime TV.”

I hate stepping backwards. I am a producer now. I have that title. But daytime TV and feature film development are two completely different beasts. If I am going to jump over to feature world, I’m going to have to get an assistant job. But the longer I wait, the harder it will be. It needs to happen before I get too comfortable. Before I get a raise. So I have to step backwards. And I have to do it now.

I would rather make the jump and fail, or find out I hate it, than never do it all. If I don’t try I will regret it for the rest of my life. And if it’s something I want to do, I guess it’s not really a step backwards. Maybe in title, maybe in pay… but I’d be working where I feel I’m supposed to work. And what is happiness if not the feeling you’re working towards your goals.

So as 12ptCourier.com turns 3 years old… this is where my adventure has taken me, and I’ve figured out where I need to go next.

Just Read: What I’ve Been Reading – Jan. 2013

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My new years resolution was to read more. It has gone very well. Too well in fact. I find myself getting into long series of books. Even worse than that, I am reading multiple series as the same time. It can get confusing. Here’s a little look into the pages I’ve turned in 2013.

228665I’ve always been a sucker for a good high fantasy novel, and I just recently started reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I always planned on reading this series, I was just scared to commit. This a long series, with the 14th book just being released on Jan. 8 of this year. These aren’t short books either, with the average page count coming in at 827. The books borrow thematically from The Lord of the Rings, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, as Jordan really holds his own in the genre. I’ve read through the first book, The Eye of the World, and just started the 2nd installment, The Great Hunt.  I’m not sure how long it will take me to finish the series, as I sometimes get burnt out reading the same books in a series back to back for too long. However, I’m excited to continue. The book follows a young farmer named Rand al’Thor who discovers he is a key figure in a plot to save humanity from The Dark One.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

68527As a huge fan of historical fiction, I have come to love Bernard Corwell over the past few months. I started his Saxon series in mid December with the first book, The Last Kingdom, and I was hooked after the first few pages. I am already on the 5th book in the series, and the only reason I’ve stopped is so that I don’t burn myself out. The 6th book was just released last year. Corwell really knows his stuff, and besides the main character, almost everyone in the book was a real person, and most of the events really happened. His battle descriptions are epic and gruesome.  I found myself lifting my eyes off the page at times, just picturing myself standing in a Danish Shield Wall, preparing to take a sword in the groin. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in awesome historical fiction.

In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England–and the course of history–depended upon one man, one king.

375802I just finished reading Ender’s Game the other day. It’s a super easy read, and I flew through it. I decided to pick it up since they’re making a movie based off it starring Harrison Ford. A lot of the science fiction I read is very dense. Like, I find myself sometimes re-reading pages multiple times until I figure out just what the hell they’re talking about. But not this one. It read like a Harry Potter book. You don’t even need to be a big sci-fi fan to enjoy it. The story tackles some pretty great social and political themes, without ever lacking in action and adventure. At 324 pages, it’s a short book, so there is no reason not to go pick it up and spend a weekend on it. The book is part of a Saga, but I don’t necessarily feel the need to read the rest of the series now, as the book works great as a stand alone.

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training … 

There’s a few more series I’m working on now. But I’ll leave that for another post. Go pick up some of these recommendations and read!

A Bitter Taste

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Fuck It

When I started working in this industry I noticed something. Everyone seemed like they hated their lives. I would run around as a PA, so eager to serve, and notice that all the grips, teamsters, and props guys were all really angry people. Everyone pretty much seemed like they would rather take a hammer to the eye than work another day. Don’t get me wrong, I became friends with a lot of them, but I noticed how bitter everyone was. As if their job was the worst thing on the planet. I didn’t get it. Why were they working in the industry if they hated it so much? I was overjoyed to be working on set. Watching how everything came together. Meeting a ton of new people. Making connections. Working on TV shows and movies! Living the dream and starting a life. A new adventure every day.

About 5 minutes ago I realized I have turned into that bitter, angry, below-the-line ball of stress and nerves. I have become what I didn’t understand, and it only took 2 years.

So let me educate those who were once like me, eager and free. It comes from getting paid way below what you think you should be getting paid. From working 14 hour days making minimum wage — where overtime isn’t worth your time. From figuring out that working your ass off and hardly working yields almost the same result in pay, respect, and recognition. The eternal lingering sense that you’re not doing what you really should be doing to get where you want to go. It’s a real kick in the balls of motivation. But you need to continue. You need to work harder, and stronger, and faster. You need to show everyone how much they depend on you. But the harder you work, the worse it feels when you don’t receive the recognition you deserve. Which makes you angry. It makes you bitter. It makes you hate everyone around you. But you stay.

Why do you stay? Because deep down you wouldn’t rather be doing anything else. This is exactly what you want to be doing, you just want to excel at it. Make more money at it. Be better at it. Gain the appreciation and affirmation of your peers. So you stay. And you hate. And the more you try to change the world around you, the more it shits all over you. And when you clean up all the shit and become a reinforced blank canvass ready to take on the world, you get shit on again. And this happens forever and ever until your that 50 year old prop master with a permanent scowl. Ready to snap at any moment. But you still stay, because something about your job makes you happy, and keeps you going, and you’re not exactly sure what it is. But it’s there, rooted deep in some unyielding part of your being, telling you that you can make it. That you will be happy some day.

I now understand.

Neglect and Turning New Pages in 2013

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Books

You know you’ve neglected a website when you log in and there are 16 new plugin updates, security error messages, and a new version of WordPress available.

This past summer my life took a turn for the… busy. PA’d on a $50mil feature for the first time, which was amazing(my previous feature job was $1mil budget). Watching the production behind a movie of that scale is one of the reasons I got into the industry in the first place. I was able to do a bit of traveling, meet some great people, work with a childhood hero of mine, and gain valuable filmmaking experience.

After the film ended I had a brief stint on another feature and then I got the long job. I was given a choice. Keep freelancing — working my ass of just to find a job every month, yet have the possibility of working a ton of awesome jobs, OR go the steady route and take a year-long job on a non-scripted, non-union, production that doesn’t necessarily appeal to me emotionally or creatively. I took the safe route — a year worth of steady paychecks — the long job.

But something happened. I moved out of being a PA. I now work in Producer’s Assistant land, which, turns out I enjoy better than being a PA. So on one hand, I’m happy because I’m no longer a PA, but on the other hand, I’m not really working on the type of show that appeals to me creatively. My heart is in scripted. I’m still working long hours, but now it’s Monday through Friday, every single week, for a year. No down time — which is where the neglect comes in.

Not only have I been completely neglecting this website, I’ve been neglecting everything else in my life. I haven’t been writing, I haven’t been reading, and I haven’t been socializing, I haven’t been living. I’ve just been working, collecting a paycheck, paying bills, pretending to save money, and starting what I think might be a very unhealthy shoe addiction. Besides the occasional work on the dark pilot*, the last time I actually opened Final Draft was in July.

It’s the time of the year where we all make obligatory new year’s resolutions. I decided to start small. I’m going to read more. This past thanksgiving I did something I never thought I was going to do. I killed a little part of myself and purchased a Kindle. I finally succumbed to Cyber Monday. I love books. I love bookstores. I hate the fact that e-readers are killing things that I love. I want a massive library someday. I want to own every book I’ve ever read and display them on shelves so that people can stand in awe at their glory and shout, “This man is well read!”. But alas, I bought a Kindle. I read six books last year. Three of them after I bought the Kindle. Six books all year — 3 in the one and a half months I owned this little piece of library killing shit. And I love it. It’s a book store at the tip of your finger. Any book you could ever want. Just search, buy, download, in less than 30 seconds. Tap to turn pages. Be lazier than ever before. It’s Jan. 3, and I’m already almost done with my first book of 2013. My current goal is to read 15 books this year, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading a bit more. Thank you Kindle, I hate you.

After I started reading more, I realized how far I had swayed from my creative mind. I instantly wanted to learn more. I was falling in love with stories again, and it made me want to write. I have been stuck in the trenches of 12 hour production days for too long and my mind had started to slip into a level of mediocrity that only a boring desk job can bring to fruition.

I don’t know where this year will lead. All I know is that I’m going to read more books and put some honest effort into writing more often. Whether that is on this blog, a short story, a screenplay, or my thoughts on a napkin, I will write more.

If you somehow have stumbled onto this blog post, it’s probably because you either want to get into the film industry and are looking for advice on how to do that, or you someday would like to get paid by writing. Even though I’m not PAing, I will still dole out healthy tidbits on how to find and keep work in this industry. For those who want to write, don’t waste your new years resolution on a false hope of quitting smoking and joining a gym. Light up that cigarette and open a book — or use the gym money to buy a kindle. Either way, join me in reading more in 2013.

* The Dark Pilot – I can’t remember if I talked about this before, but I’m working on a pilot based in dark historical revisionism. Work has been going slow, but I’m in love with the characters, so I haven’t let this one go.

Summer Lovin’

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First day of Summer is tomorrow!

Summer used to be the best shit ever. No school. No responsibilities. Kick back. Party. Something about those hot summer nights… they were dangerous. One could have too much fun.

Now when I think of summer, I think of having to sit in hot traffic on my way to work. I think of sitting in an office filled with fluorescent lighting and the never ending ringing of phones. And when I’m in said office, all I can think about is going to the beach. Which is funny, because I live near the beach… and I never go. But when I’m in the office… I think of the fucking beach.

But anyway… the reason I’m posting.

I remember back when I was an avid reader of TAPA’s blog it came to a point where he would stop posting very often… sometimes months on end. This made me sad. I was scared he had been ousted and forced to stop posting. Or had died. Or was going to abandon his website… (which he eventually did). So, even though this site is not nearly as popular as his (but for some reason I am still receiving over 100 hits a day) I don’t want to leave any of my readers thinking I’m dead. So here I am — making this obligatory post telling you that I am alive.

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been working non-stop since the end of March. Hopped on an Office PA job for all of April and now I’m out of state working as an Editorial PA… which is pretty awesome. I get a little break from the HELL that is production. I’ll be back in LA mid July looking for my next gig. Just in time for 110 degree weather on the 405! *Stabs neck repeatedly with pen*

I wasn’t able to finish my screenplay in time for the Nicholl Fellowship due to work… but fear not. I have some other things on the horizon. Hopefully I’ll be able write back with some good news soon. If not… I’ll try… and try again.

We’re currently in that time of the year when screenplay contests begin announcing their winners. I want to wish all you budding screenwriters the greatest of luck… and if you don’t become a finalist, I leave you with this quote.

“Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure.” – Charlie Kaufman

Screenwriting Tips from Legend Billy Wilder

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Real quick. Stumbled across an article you may find helpful. You can read the full article over at Flavorwire.

Billy Wilder’s tips for screenwriters:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you’re going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.
8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10.The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then — that’s it. Don’t hang around.

timthumb

Deadlines and Job Finds!

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Sweet April! many a thought Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed; Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought, Life’s golden fruit is shed. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Briefly — I jumped on a pilot as an Office PA until the end of April. I have 36 days to finish my screenplay if I want to drop kick it into the Nicholl Fellowship on time. I have acquired over 400 screenplays via internet deviance. Perhaps I will read and review a few?

Until next time…

Midpoint Land and Fuck March.

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I’ve had Final Draft open all day and literally haven’t written a god damn word. I open up the program periodically  (between aimlessly scrolling thorough my Facebook feed and browsing Reddit until my eyes bleed) hoping that the exact moment my screenplay pops up the gods of wit and humor will shove a lightening bolt up my ass and my mind will spew greatness all over the place. It hasn’t happened yet, so now I’m writing on this blog for the sole purpose of not going completely insane.

Remember back when I said I hope March doesn’t end up being a bad month? Well let me break it down for you. March has been fucking horrible. I’ve worked 3 out of 19 days. I thought this was the busy time of the year? Last month, in fucking February — the shortest month of the year — I was working a feature pulling out 6 day weeks and turning down multiple jobs. Who killed all the job fairies? Work for me is like having a girlfriend. When you’re single, no one fucking cares. When you’re dating, every girl and her mother is checkin’ you out with husky and buttery eyes.

The only good part of not working is the fact that I get so incredibly bored (yesterday I watched the ENTIRE season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, wtf) I start doing crazy things like actually working on my screenplay. Which so far has got me to churn out a wonderful 49 pages.  *Pauses and sips cold coffee out of a bowl* That’s right. I started drinking coffee out of bowls. I’m just going to blame it on Food + Lab WeHo. I know, it’s kinda weird at first. You’re all like “Coffee in a bowl? How do I drink this?” You drink it like soup without a spoon, and it’s awesome. Maybe when I ate at Food Lab they were just being lazy and ran out of mugs, I don’t know. But I feel like this is what it must have felt like to discover the wheel. Maybe not as important, but somewhere in the same realm of awesome. Now I’m rambling all because I –

– am hitting midpoint land in my screenplay and am dreading writing the next scene. There. I said it. I enjoy writing scenes that have to do with people hunting zombies in the woods, or the awkward hilarity that ensues when a couple must break into a morgue to steal a dead lady’s finger. But I have now come to the point in this particular story where my lead obtains a false victory by falling in love, exploring new freedom, and doing what every modern-day couple does on their first date — get trashed off wine and have wild sex. My whole screenplay so far has mostly just been negativity and crazy shit. Now I actually have to give my lead a decent time and I can’t do it. If I can enjoy the movie Lost in Translation, I can write a funny yet meaningful date scene.  So. This is what I’m going to do.

JUST FUCKING WRITE IT.

Beware The Ides of March!

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Three posts in one day! NO WAYOMG.

No idea why I named this post that. I hope bad things aren’t going to happen. I definitely hope I don’t get stabbed 23 times. That would just put a real downer on the beginning of 2012. Even getting stabbed 1 time would pretty much be horrible.

I know I said I would post what I decided to write soon after the holidays. Unfortunately January became a freak out month cause I couldn’t find any work. But I survived again… somehow. Then in February something amazing happened. I worked my first feature! 18 days of ass busting work. Three 6-day weeks consisting of about 75 hours of work per week. It was hell, and I was so loving it. My AD’s were basically training me to be a PA god… and I learned a whole lot. I’m sure I have material for more PA articles now…

 I came out here to work on features… and I definitely want to work another one. The entire crew was amazing… which is rare. There are usually those one or two people you wish would die in a car wreck on the way to work one morning… Not on this feature. Everyone was a joy. Anyway… that is over now… and the money is almost gone already. Time to look for more work.

On a good note I had some time to really think about writing, and I’ve decided to start working on a dark comedy I’ve been brewing for a while. The feature I worked on was low budget. It probably was in the $1Mil range. I got to see what one could do with a million dollars. Most of the features I’ve been brewing would cost a shit load of money to produce — not usually a good way to break into the industry as a new writer. So I’ve decided to get this dark comedy finished because:

  • It doesn’t have many lead actors
  • It doesn’t have many locations
  • It doesn’t have any HUGE set pieces
  • It could probably be shot low budget and still be awesome.

I feel something like this could sell way easier than my screenplay about a futuristic medieval zombie Apocalypse, or the earth building a spaceship to meet the source of an alien message. Even though my heart is set on epic… I need to get to that point somehow. So I’m going to try and be epically low budget out of the gate. I could be going at this completely wrong, but it’s where my head is at.

I hit my first act break today and magically landed right on page 25. That is pretty much an awesome coincidence. I’m writing a vomit draft… so it’s nothing but a crazy person’s thoughts on paper at this point… and the first act break still landed on 25. That makes me happy. I’m going the right direction with this shit, I can feel it.

I’ve been in a caffeine induced haze all day playing make believe and talking with people that don’t exist. Thus the life of a writer. So now I’m going to drink a lot of beer.

I’ll let you know how this venture goes someday in the future. Until then… beware the ides of March!!!