Tag Archives: legend of black lotus

Something happened during the script rewrite

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I’ve made Black Lotus my priority this year until this [hopefully] superb rewrite is done. I must admit, that even at this early stage (I’m still tweaking story and structure)  it’s already 100% better story- and structure-wise than it ever was.

My dear friend Mary Cavaliere, who is one of only two people beside myself who have read every version and incarnation of the story, remarked that she couldn’t believe that there was room for the story to get better.  I think she’ll be pleasantly surprised.

It’s not that I went in, gutted and changed things. I used what was there and in each scene asked, how can I make this more challenging for the hero (protagonist), and how can I ratchet up the emotional content.

In the rewrite teleconference we talked about fulfilling your vision.  This means going back to the drawing board when you first decided to write the damn script and remember the visual and visceral elements. Chances are things have changed over the days, weeks, months and years.

So I went back to the places in the story that I imagined would be very emotional and visceral. Then I tweaked the structure and wording to create exactly the image I wanted. It’s tough because I ALWAYS see it, but I have to make sure the reader sees “it” too.

I moved scenes around, took what was already emotional and pumped even more emotion into it.  And I have literally taken the main character through the ringer and back.

If you cried during a passage in the previous script you’ll cry harder. If you got angry, you be outraged. If you were sad, you’ll despair.

Something happened during the script rewrite; the script got better.

Interest, Web Series, a Neo Noir Killer and Sci-Fi

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I’ve just finished watching the Giants whup the 49er’s asses and I’m excited, so I’m posting a little update on what’s going on Bellsville.

September 2011 I held a focus group for my film/web series Resurrection of Serious Rogers. Last week RSR screened in front of an audience gathered for the Show Us Your Shorts series hosted by KoldcastTV, First Glance Film and the Showbiz Cafe. The end result was, it’s time to release RSR as an action thriller, neo noir web series. Release date is to yet be determined but I hope to have a chat with YouTube, Koldcast, JTSTV and a few other web series portals before I jump into bed with one of them.

Interesting, but...

Interest is not an agreement. And without an agreement there is no money. But interest is better then indifference. I am happy to announce that a startup prodco with ties to major players in Hollywood is very interested in turning a sci-fi action idea I have into a full funded web series. There’ll be more meets and greetz over the next couple of weeks and I hope to have more info and definitive answers soon.

Speaking of definitive answers. In an earlier blog I talked about how I was submitting TV ideas to NBCUniversal through a relationship I have with IFTA (Independent Film and Television Alliance). Although they’ve passed on 80% of what I’ve sent, it looks like the newest submissions are still under consideration (sci-fi, spy and fantasy). Fingers crossed! As you know NBCUniversal represents NBC, G4, USA, Mun2, Oxygen, Bravo, Chiller and Cloo, Syfy.

This year we kick Legend of Black Lotus into high gear. And my old favorite romantic dramedy, Broken Hearts Club is moving on to mobile channels in the UK on Rok.tv soon. In the mean time, check isting on FetchTV and PunchTV, or just watch the whole thing online for free!

Oh, and we go back to Untitled Entertainment in a few weeks to lay it down!

Screenwriting: Finding A Champion

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Who's your champion?

A while back, during one of my routine submissions of my script “Legend of Black Lotus” to literary agents, I had an interesting exchange with an agent at a boutique agency.

As part of my email query, I introduced myself, briefly espoused my accomplishments in the indie world and hit him with the one-two punch: the logline and short synopsis of “Legend of Black Lotus,” which I had rewritten, tweaked, cut, edited, polished, and rewritten again about a hundred times.

The agent, Mr. Nameless, responded back the same day and in response to my list of accomplishments wrote, “The agent you have seems to be doing quite well for you, I’m not sure why you’d want to change now.”

I immediately wrote back with, “No, I don’t have an agent. Everything I’ve managed to do has been done on my own.” In the back of my mind I’m thinking, doesn’t this show how hard I’m working and will work, so that YOU Agent Nameless will get 10% of all my efforts?

He responded, saying, he was intrigued with my logline and synopsis but he wouldn’t read the script because he didn’t think he could sell it because — “Scripts like that don’t sell.”

I thanked him and moved on.

Months and months later, his words echoed in my brain when a trusted friend suggested some changes to the script. Turns out, I’d been thinking hard about the exact same changes but I was being too stubborn with myself. Upon hearing my friend say that same thing I was thinking, and the same thing the Agent wrote back to me months ago, I decided to overhaul the script.

It turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself. I now had two versions of the story and I loved both.

Once the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed I decided to write to Agent Nameless again. I figured, hey, he doesn’t have to rep me, just hip-pocket me so I can do most of the work and then submit the script to studios and prodcos with his agency’s letterhead.  He could be my Champion, my hero, opening sealed doors on studio lots with the power of his agency’s namesake.

In my updated query I suggested that, since his time is precious, I only send him the first ten pages.  If he didn’t like the script pages he’d never hear from me again, and reading the few pages wouldn’t take up too much of his time. But if he liked the pages and wanted more, well…that would be an indication of the how goddamn good the script is.

He declined. Again.

He said, “Stories like yours don’t sell unless they’re based on previously written material.”

Really, Mister Agent Nameless? Really?  Are you telling me to go write a f-cking book now?!   Are you too damn lazy to step out of your comfort-zone of easily marketable material to take a chance on championing a good script and a good story?

Of course I didn’t say that. I typed my response in Gmail. “I was very gracious for his time, blah-blah-bah, and his insight was invaluable, blah-blah-blah…” and as I was about to hit send I thought –

F-ck. That.

I am not thanking this guy for his cookie-cutter response and his lazy business practices. I deleted the email.  F-ck. That.

Fact is, it’s my script. My words. My thoughts. My emotions. My viscerality. And while I am my own worst critique I am, too, my own best champion.

As a screenwriter I am the best champion for my work and as such, I must strive to find the co-champions who believe in the work. When I turn my script over to them I must believe that these champions have the same level of enthusiasm. They must be prepared to vigorously represent my work. If not, what’s the point of hiring them?

As a writer, the first step in finding a champion for our work is to develop and create material that is worth championing.

I have many, many scripts. I love each story. Each has a place in my repertoire and in my heart. However, as time passes some scripts will be set aside. For others I will remain vigilant for all eternity. That’s simply, just how it is.

I’ve stopped looking for agents, per se. I’m more focused on surrounding myself with people who are big picture thinkers, and who consider the long-term like I do.  I need people who won’t crumble under fatalist cookie-cutter beliefs.

Why? Because my laurels will not be established and rested upon a single script but rather a legacy of beautifully told dramas, thrillers, series and fantasies.

Now ask yourself, Who’s Your Champion?

One Ticket To Asia/Southeast Asia, Please

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Thailand, Singapore and even Hong Kong (island) are looking better and better.  A new talent concept just materialized  that, I believe, would virtually seal the deal with Singapore in a variety of ways.

A while back I mentioned that I met some folks at the Singapore Media Fusion kiosk during AFM November 2010.  Now I’m was studying up on this organization  and its mission to turn Singapore into Hong Kong’s rival Asian and World Cinema Hub.  There’s less bureaucracy (and less money) but more welcoming artistic freedom, which is good for a movie project like “Legend of Black Lotus.”

And don’t get me to talking about Thailand!  That reminds me, I need to contact Steven Seagal’s production company about co-production partnerships.  He makes a lot of films in Thailand.  By the way, I am not kidding about contacting Steamroller Productions in the slightest.

There’s honestly just one remaining hurdle/road block that I need to overcome  with the whole bankable cast+financing+presales=distribution thing.  Keeping in mind that “bankable cast is a relative term.”  What’s bankable in the U.S. doesn’t often transfer to Asia and Southeast Asia at all.

But I believe the rest will fall into place as soon as I clear that one final hoop.  It’s just a matter of time.

I love the fact that my 2nd biggest film ever (at $75k+ Broken Hearts Club was my 1st biggest film ever) is taking me off the continent, about as far away from the contiguous United States as one can get.

Being independent doesn’t mean you have to think small.  Cheers

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