HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER
Craig Kellem
is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem
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BELIEFS CREATE REALITY!!
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PROOF READING AND BEYOND
We have a new service to announce which is mostly targeted towards writers
whose English is not their native language (and it's showing up bigtime on
their pages), or folks who simply need help in the all important area of
smooth and grammatical use of language etc. Many good scripts can be
hindered by these easily fixed issues. It's amazing how many good writers
are sending material out there without making sure it's A-OK in this
department. (To say that this is a mistake would be a vast understatement).
VIVIENNE KELLEM was a British TV and theater actress at one time and has a
good command of language especially as it pertains to theatricality. She has
also worked as an educational assistant for years helping children in these
areas including lots of reading and the like. She's helped with scripts from
time to time over the years to solid success. We're now making this valuable
service available to all who need it. Cost depends on the work that's to be
done. We ask folks to send a few pages so that price and other logistical
issues can be determined. (service will be up on our site soon. If
you're interested prior to this please email or call us.
Craig....@valley.net, 201-333-8932)
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JUDGING THE CONTEST. THE PARADOX OF A GOOD THING!
By Craig Kellem
Judging our monthly contest can be a bear for both of us. There's pain
wearing the two hats of being the supportive creative mentors and then the
stoic, objective deciders. For me (Craig) this duty goes against deeply held
instincts in the area of personal loyalty which is a big part of my natural
makeup. I'm a guy who's been known to "give hate" to folks who have
justifiably wronged friends, only to find out that they made up long ago and
I'm still carrying the ax. I'm as loyal as a golden retriever folks!
But the contest is important and it isn't loyalty at stake here, it's our
best call in a given month.
In the business of screenwriting, deserved recognition can be a rare
commodity. After one finds success it's easy to see the gold, but before
this happens, especially in a society so impersonal and harried, good work
can be overlooked. Thus it's really important for those of us who sit alone
somewhere writing our hearts out to be told that someone out there can
perceive the true value in our work, and appreciate it.
All signs of light in this game are so necessary and nurturing, and being
told that you've written something that's so special and professional that
we'll put our name to it can be just what the doctor ordered. Not to mention
that it's nice to have your script read by industry folks out there, and to
be able to tell everyone that you won something. The coverage stays up on
our site for a very long time, so in the click or two of the mouse, there's
your glowing and objective coverage for all to see.
However, not everyone wins at the moment they most want it to happen.
Sometimes a competing script is simply better. Or the work isn't quite there
even though there's often real promise in the material, which may pay off
with the next revision or subsequent screenplay. It can be a conceptual
issue, wherein the idea may be fine, but perhaps not necessarily ready for
broad Hollywood consumption.
We try hard to accommodate our valued clients and even have a rule that if
we don't have a winner for a given month, a script that didn't make it the
first time around can now be slotted in as the current winner. That's
happened several times and it's always such a pleasure when we can make this
happen.
So please know that we really care and feel badly when a borderline project
(and there are many) doesn't make it. I always feel so awkward when that
happens because the material is often quite promising so as to make it a
very tough decision.
But we owe our ultimate loyalty to the very best call we can make at the
time, because it's hard to impress Hollywood, and the material that we send
out (and sometimes contact industry folks about etc) has got to be right
down the middle of the strike zone.
But don't think that we don't agonize over these decisions because we do!
Also, we try hard to convey the idea that the contest is a perk. The
ultimate service we offer is to provide help to get the script on target
which is a big deal and will also profoundly affect future projects.
______________________________
Getting to the "Why?"
By Judy Kellem
In the lull of everyday, routine life, it is easy to dismiss one's
experiences and surroundings as droll and predictable - unworthy of being
put to page - impossible to "dramatize" at all. The hungry writer in this
mindset will easily tell the self that "there's nothing to say" as each
aspect of her very existence is rapidly flung into the "boring" can, the
events of her life dismissed as if she were merely surfing uninteresting
programs on the boob-tube.
But this is the first mistake of the would-be artist. For what the working
author knows is that everything that happens, from the cup of coffee one
stirs in the morning to the argument one has with a lover later that night -
EVERY LITTLE THING - is potentially rife with story.
I was recently reminded of this by a seven-year-old.
My family took a ten-day vacation to Negril, Jamaica. We had never been and
traveled during off season, when business had so slowed to a halt that our
colonial style hotel was eerily vacant and the pulse of true Jamaica could
breathe through, unmasked by dog and pony shows for teeming tourists. From
the second I deboarded the plane, I was acutely tuned into the rich
atmosphere of our surroundings. As we drove the two hours from Montego Bay
to Negril, the landscape beyond the taxi windows told a tale of stunning
nature and crushing history. My seven-year-old step-son, Michael -
precocious, wildly smart for his years - immediately riddled me with
questions and I soon found myself trying to soft shoe tales of colonialism
and slavery, unsure if he was old enough to handle humanity's ugliness.
We soon got our bearings and began a system wherein I stayed with our 19
month old at her comfort zone in the unused pool and my husband kept Michael
and his 21 year-old sister, Lena happy on the beach. Despite hours of
playing "Diego and Mario" floating on boats and the precious repetitions of
10 hour chats with a baby, I was bursting with narrative - clawing my way to
my journal once everyone was fed and asleep.
I confess that I have not been so passionate when at home. The creative
vigor I felt after just one day spent watching the staff at the hotel,
observing the drug hustlers and fruit hawkers on the beach, how they
proudly, desperately, worked the sparse vacationers for a livelihood --these
tourists who lazily sauntered about the nirvanic shores, string bikinis and
blasé attitudes noxious before the raw realness of the Jamaican hustlers'
survival -- this inspiration felt so fresh. It was all I could do to get
everything down! Whereas at home, meandering the well-worn paths of our
local supermarket, the pharmacy, the baby gym - generally going about the
business of being me - I so often fought to find a pulse. What relief to be
so feverishly possessed!
At the same time, I was reading a book my mother had pressed upon me - a
book which I would not have stayed with past the first thirty pages had she
not given me a solemn look as she stroked the hard cover of the novel like a
baby's belly and said with great pathos, "This book is….well… you'll see…"
The book was, in sum, a very thin plot designed for the writer to hang all
kinds of moments, thoughts, experiences he'd had in a semi-narrative way. I
bemoaned the "chutzpah" of this author to get away with so little "real"
structure and puzzled at the choice of publishers who are usually so
merciless about such details, while of course reading along with an eye bent
on cracking the case of how this writer pulled off the crime.
And then the moment of epiphany came.
It was 89 degrees out and I had my 19-month-old daughter on my hip as we
made our way back from a swing set on the beach to her perch at the pool.
My step-son Michael and step-daughter, Lena, were unexpectedly trailing
behind us, conversing about all the boys on the beach who had asked Lena out
on dates, offering free jet ski rides, invites to parties and freebees into
local clubs. She'd graciously smiled at them all, engaging each one in light
conversation, then accepted some of the gifts, declining others, while
Michael stood by perplexed and enraged.
"Why did they do that and why did you act like you did?" I heard Michael
implore.
She burst out laughing and retorted from behind large, dark sunglasses, "You
ask why of this world, kid, you're gonna get real disappointed!"
Michael was shut down in the instant.
But I was awoken!
Later, as Michael and I were on our way with the baby to meet my husband and
Lena at a restaurant, I let him know I'd been listening and had a couple of
cents to throw in.
"Michael," I said, "It's a beautiful thing that you ask 'why' - that is the
heart of all matters. The world may try to tell you that there is no reason
- that why is a useless question - that answers don't exist. But they do."
I glanced at him and he was listening with a furrowed brow. "You still
thinking about being a great artist after you finish being a mathematician?"
I asked.
"Yeah…" he sighed.
"Well the job of the artist is to insist that there are solid answers to
every question of 'why'. The artist is the one who looks underneath the
surface of things, who investigates the cracks in between moments in life -
he puts on his scuba gear and goes deep down below what everyone else just
accepts as 'life' and discovers where the truth lies. When he finds it, he
expresses it, he makes it FELT!"
Michael looked at me like I was a Christmas fruitcake, but he grinned and I
could see that he was actually thinking about the gobbely-gook I'd just
said.
Upon return from our vacation, still brimming with Jamaican impressions
about which to write, I took a gander at my "common" surroundings and knew
that long after I'd purged those ten days for all they were worth on paper,
there was a treasure island of jewels to be mined in my own humble backyard.
I finished that book my mother had given me, which didn't even show
obligation to rally with some momentous, plotty ending. It closed with
profound, thought-provoking subtlety and I laughed at my own arrogance.
Peering at the picture of the author, I thought, "I owe you an apology. You
got to your 'why'. You got to it."
Now, I said to myself, I need to get to mine.
___________________________________________________
CONFESSIONS OF A SCRIPT CONSULTANT #3
By Craig Kellem
As we continue on our quest to assist screenwriters in achieving their
dreams, I'd like to take a step back, as I've done from time to time in the
past, and reflect on things. After all, so much of my life is vested in this
goal and I give it the same kind of care and attention I give to the other
coveted aspects of my daily existence.
As previously stated, I'm always aware of how vital and important (and often
hard won) your ideas and materials are. It really stimulates your sense of
responsibility when you realize that, entrusted into your hands, you may be
holding someone's life's work, their little dream all etched out while
others sleep, and perhaps their ticket from one life to another. Indeed,
there's always a sense of underlying passion and drama when hanging around
this neighborhood, and an awareness that it's all about the possibility of
dreams coming true.
Writers seem to crop up from the most unlikely places.
Great ideas and art, humor and passion coming out of the living rooms and
kitchens of so called soccer moms, docs who'd rather tell jokes, and lonely
kids who are bursting with important things to say. How strange it is to be
invited into their lives. Me, an almost faceless stranger involved on such a
vital and intimate level. Talk about an honor! I get to be the anonymous
stranger who (hopefully) hears them loud and clear, feels their passion,
catches something in their voices, and can often do something to help them
improve their material for the better (while being ever so careful not to
mess it up). And then there's always that juicy prospect that this could be
the one that you can hook up.
What fun and how exciting!
In the work that
we do, what a wonderful and rich potpourri of people and experiences we run
into.
Here's a taste of some of the experiences encountered along the way:
*I so enjoyed a recent client who had, what I thought was an obsession with
our release. She was the first ever who insisted that it be notarized.
Didn't surprise me a bit when the script showed up so wrapped and taped that
I could hardly open the package. I immediately realized was that this was
(in my view) was mostly acts of love and caring for her "baby" (ie: the
script). It reminded me of a time when I was writing and was so paranoid
when I went to the copy store, thinking that the kid who did the copying
might be catching glimpses of the text and stealing my good ideas.
*Such a pleasure when I recently received a script which was way
overwritten, and yet you could immediately see and appreciate the gold that
was so apparent between the lines. The writer was so amped and sensitive
about her precious life's work, I felt a need to be ever so careful with
her. I liked knowing how good it really was and what a difference it would
make when it came down to its fighting weight. I also knew that we were
facing a dilemma in accomplishing this in that ALL the writing was good but
some would have to be removed. So cutting it along the way wasn't about
removing what wasn't working-- it all pretty much worked. But sometimes one
has to bite the bullet take out perfectly good material in the interest of
making something good, even better.
*I actually had a guy who was mad at me because he wanted more notes.
Problem was his script worked and I just didn't have reason to plaster the
material with even the average amount of notes and such. This was a first
and reminded me of someone else who didn't like it when I put the term "HA"
beside funny lines in his script. He felt it wasn't enough. I tried to sell
him on the idea that when I said "HA" it was a big deal. I mean, I just
don't use that term for any old Tom, Dick or Harry. I was very sincere but
he wasn't buying it. Frankly I didn't know how else to express my
appreciation. I could have written, "this is funny" or "I am very, very
amused" but somehow "HA" seemed OK to me. Go figure!
*How strange and moving it can be when folks sometimes write about
themselves and then, in dealing with them, act like the characters with whom
you've just become fascinated.
*Still waiting on a project we worked on (and had something to do with
getting it exposure in L.A.). It was one of the best scripts I've ever read
and it sent me around a wonderful bend emotionally. Amazing how hard it can
be for worthy projects to find homes. An agent friend of mine read it (he's
part owner of the agency in fact) but, after he sent it to his lit
department, it was turned down because they thought it wasn't a "big" enough
film; not enough vista and scope. (How do they come up with these terms?).
This exec got so mad that he actually walked this script into a competitor
(in his building) hoping to stick it to his guys based on his certain belief
that the competitor would like it. But alas, they also turned it down, and
for about the same reasons. Eventually the project did manage to secure an
agent and a producer, and the inevitable rewrites are now flowing but it
sure can take time. Know this for yourselves!!
*We work with a writer who's endlessly positive. What a nice guy. Talk about
a sunny outlook. His attitude would've made good fodder on Seinfeld. And of
course his project is all about this quality that he himself exudes. Anyway
things are actually beginning to happen for him--bigtime. Makes you wonder
how quietly powerful being such a positive soul can be.
*It's so satisfying when you start working with folks who are initially shy
and a bit suspicious, and then two sessions into it, you're howling with
laughter over a story point or both converging on an exciting solution to a
story problem and so enjoying the brotherhood and creative satisfaction of
the moment.
*Working with two young writers, they both have something in common: They
never give up! Nothing frantic or neurotic about the way they operate, they
just keep making it better and taking in what nuggets of wisdom they can
find along the way to enhance their creative output. Just when you think
they've had enough of the inevitable bruises one encounters in this
marathon-like enterprise, they keep coming back to the wheel, and lo and
behold, critical mass is slowly found and an OK script begins to evolve into
something so much more. It's really gratifying to see this happen. I live
for it.
_____________________________________________
HEY WRITERS OUT THERE. WANT TO FEEL ENCOURAGED? THEN READ THIS!
Brooklyn to Hollywood: That's Some Subway Ride
By TRYMAINE LEE
The story of how Michael C. Martin, a 28-year-old former
subway worker from East New York, Brooklyn, came to write
"Brooklyn's Finest," a gritty Hollywood thriller.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/movies/10Lee.html?th&emc=th
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/movies/10Lee.html?th&emc=th>
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Also check out a film called BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. First of
all I loved it. And a client mentioned that the writer (who still has his
day job) wrote it on spec and it got made!!
___________________________________
FYI
Saw a new French flick last weekend that blew me away! TELL NO ONE is a must
see in my book!!
______________________________
A NEXT BIG STEP FOR JACK VANDAGRIFF'S "MUTAA FILE."
This is to announce that Linda Graeme, the President of WoodBerry
Productions will be the producer for my script, "The Mutaa File".
Craig and Judy, thanks to your guidance "The Mutaa File" won the GAIA Award
at the prestigious MOONDANCE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and has been
optioned by WoodBerry Productions - all in just a three month time span!
You've given me the absolute correct advice with my screenplays that has led
to two contest winners, my being chosen as a quarter-finalist, three options
and representation. All I can say is thanks and, you really do know your
craft!
Best,
Jack
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OTHER GOOD NEWS
We're happy to announce that clients, Greg Morgan and Duke Addleman have
had their script, "THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR" (upon which we
consulted), made into a feature and will be on Netflix in the next few
months! For more information, there are trailers and other info at:
www.myspace.com/substancemovie
<http://www.myspace.com/substancemovie>
Or you can go to Greg's website www.filmpunk.com <http://www.filmpunk.com>
Huge congratulations to Greg and Duke!!!
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THANKS FROM RANDY!!
I want to tell you, Craig --
It took me about 7 years as an actor to start working with an agent. With
your
help, it's taken me about 4 months since finishing my screenplay to move
much
farther than that as a writer. (My acting agent also represents writers and
they
have shown some interest in the script, too.) This is in addition to the
various
producers that have expressed interest!
Thank again, Randy
ran...@mindspring.com
(UPDATE: Randy just reported this--"The agent told me he loved '26' and has
decided to represent it and is now going to start pitching it to major
studios!")
___________________
THIS IS TO ANNOUNCE DABEL BROTHERS FORAY INTO A POST-APOCALYPTIC FUTURE
WITH'DOG EATERS' BY OUR CLIENT, MALCOLM WONG THIS FALL.
Atlanta, GA - July 8, 2008 - Dabel Brothers Publishing is excited to
announce the manga-style adaptation of Malcolm Wong's award-winning
screenplay, 'Dog Eaters'. Malcolm's screenplay won three awards at the
Screenwriting Expo5 in Los Angeles. The story has been adapted by Sean J.
Jordan, and features stunning manga-style pencils from Chilean illustrator,
Guillermo A. Angel.
Dog Eaters tells the tale of a world 175 years after the "Die Off" - a
catastrophe that occurs when the balance of world economic, political, and
ecological systems is upset by an oil crisis that spins out of control,
eventually wiping out 90% of the world's population. The survivors in the
U.S. Southwest travel between casino-cities in armored caravans made up of
old semi-trucks and motorcycles, on the lookout for bands of "Roaches" -
fierce desert bandits descended from the inmates of maximum security
penitentiaries.
"I wrote this story as a way to express my dismay and fear that mankind's
current addiction to materialism will topple contemporary civilization,"
explained Malcolm Wong. "Oil is required for everything we do - everything
that we take for granted. So imagine what would happen if we failed to
transcend the Petroleum Age. The worst-case scenario: a second Dark Age and
return to barbarism. But that's just the back story for 'Dog Eaters,' which
portrays a family of the Black Dog Clan in this new future."
The Dabel Brothers first picked up the rights to this story as part of a
prize package at the Screenwriting Expo 5 in Los Angeles. The Dabels agreed
to adapt the winning screenplay into a 6-issue comic book miniseries and an
accompanying graphic novel collection through their arrangement with Del
Rey. All other rights remain with Malcolm.
For more information, go to:
www.dogeaters-manga.com <http://www.dogeaters-manga.com>
<http://www.dogeaters-manga.com>
and to YouTube at:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ydE-CtdKB9U
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS, MALCOLM!!!
NEED MORE CRAFT INFO? PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR FREE USEFUL AND IMPORTANT
ARTICLES SECTION FOUND HERE----http://www.hollywoodscript.com/articles.html
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INKTIP ALSO sends out an e-mail announcement about the winning screenplay to
their list of industry professionals! (This service is not available to all
writers, so our winners have a real advantage!)
____________________
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