After my epic first blog post last night late I charged into bed ready to tackle this important screenwriting task, but I woke up and said, "Ehh, fuck it". I cheated. I said I was going to take this seriously and I woke up and did nothing.
I figure I needed one last day of relaxation before I dive in head first screenwriting till my heart's content. One last day of being lazy without a care in the world. I checked my email first and saw an email from my LA editor about a business luncheon this Thursday in Beverly Hills. Free food and everything. But my freelance position with this website is more of a journalistic position, and as much as I would love a free lunch in Beverly Hills, I'm going to have to pass. I'm here to pursue my screenwriting career, and a Thursday luncheon is going to fuck with my newly found schedule I'm supposed to stick to. Don't get me wrong, I'll gladly write an article here and there if a story or person interests me enough to wanna write one, but my priorities lie with the craft of screenwriting and getting a first draft down of my spec.
So my laziness sat me on my couch to watch WELCOME TO THE RILEYS. An indie flick starring James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart. I liked it, but didn't love it. My biggest issue is every time I see Gandolfini in a movie, I can't help but think of Tony Soprano. The big T was such an iconic character to me and seeing Gandolfini in a different role is just odd to me. The relationship between Doug and Mallory felt genuine, but the ending completely missed a few key shots or cuts of emotional longing in the character's eyes in order for it to pay off. How could you fuck up an ending of a movie as a director? I don't get it. Any other part of the story is ok, but how could director Jake Scott fuck up the ending? Fuck, someone must have been high on set or in the editing chair who cut the movie to a black screen a la David Chase style. I wanted more. If you've seen the movie, you'll realize my point. But nevertheless, a B- effort.
After the movie was over, went to the bank, got some cash, then hit the grocery store. I love that because of my retail experience as a cashier, I always know what line to go to that moves the fastest. This guy's face when he saw me breeze through a line was priceless. Ha! When I got home, I threw in THE COMPANY MEN. I enjoyed it a lot. Probably because I've been fired twice in my life and know what it's like in those moments of complete shock and awe. I loved Tommy Lee Jones's character, along with Chris Cooper, who always seems good as of late.I give it a strong B. Not amazing, but good. Definitely worth the watch.
Eight o' clock rolled around and if you know me at all, that means only one thing - The Bachelor. The show is amazing and I can't get enough of it. I hope they expand the long two hour format to a six hour format that runs from 6pm till midnight. I'd be glued for six straight hours of laughs, romantic longings, and more laughs. Me and a good friend of mine used to have Bachelor parties, just the two of us. We'd order a grip of food and just pig out like two chicks. But he has since moved a bit farther away, so our weekly Bachelor parties now only feature myself and some sweet bread. Boo!
But onto the reason why I'm here. Screenwriting!!! Yay, I've made it. I read my first scheduled script tonight and I must say, THANK GOD IT'S OVER. I read the 2008 Blacklist spec "Twenty Times A Lady", which is now a completed film starring Anna Faris titled, "What's Your Number?", a romantic comedy about a woman Alley, who decides to visit her last 19 sex partners to see if she missed out on "the one". The read was simple and pleasant, but not a thing sparked my interest at all. I know the Blacklist isn't supposed to be the best unproduced specs in Hollywood, but this was downright average. Although I must say the script had structure and some snappy dialogue, but that was about it. The characters were two dimensional at best, the cinematic quality was scarce, and the pace was blah blah and blah. It was a normal rom com with no lasting value at all as a reader. I don't understand how this movie gets funded at all. Can't they tell this film will make no dollars and no cents? The movie probably has a budget of about 4-5mill, maybe more, but it won't even make that at the box office or dvd sales. I've read a lot of bad scripts, and this is certainly not a bad script at all, but the big question is why? Why write this story? What's so important about these characters that we have to engage ourselves in? And I know the script probably has changed a bit during production, but it can't be that far from what I read. So why would they make this movie? Why would Anna Faris attach herself to this? At least HOUSE BUNNY had somewhat of a hook and was relevent. This story seems shot out of a 1990's cannon.
So that's my first lesson in my screenwriting quest - always make your script idea the best it can possibly be. Make it unique with an amazing hook, and then when you do, make sure 100% the script's execution makes it different than anything you've ever seen, or at the very least, make it entertaining! Even if you have a simple story like WELCOME TO THE RILEYS, make the characters so amazing that it can attract A-list talent. There's a reason why WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER attracts an actress like Anna Faris. I love her to death actually, but picking these types of projects puts Anna Faris in the C list of actresses, not near A-list material. Her agent or manager should be fired immediately. BUT, the film hasn't come out yet, so I won't make a final judgement until I see the final film, but really... how different could it be from what I read? Could it be that much better? Me thinks not. I give the script a passable C grade.
Well the first half of my first day journey is over. I will wake up at 9am and brainstorm my outline for my spec and see how much I can get done tomorrow. I feel good. I feel ready. I feel writer-licious.
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