Wendago.com Forum

Greetings all.

First off, nice site Todd. How come you didn't tell me you had this thing going?

Secondly, as per our discussion the other day, I thought I'd make a little thread about the struggles of writing, directing, producing, and PROMOTING the independent screenplay.

The first few are simple enough. If you are a writer, you write. If you are a film maker, you film. Talent and skill speak for themselves. But if you are not backed by some serious money, how do you get your finished product out there?

Will these film festivals even consider your work if you aren't backed by some serious money?

I don't know. This is something I am struggling with. I don't even know if it's possible for an unknown writer to become known in this contemporary microcosm. Perhaps some of you can offer some tips on getting your foot in the door.

How do you get your work out there? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Lovecraft's Afterbirth
A.K.A.
Andrew

I'm currently looking into starting my own 30 min comedy / sketch show for a local TV station. I really REALLY don't want to do anything but write but it seems like that's an extremely hard thing to do even though (IMO) the industry is so sorely lacking good writers you think they'd be knocking down our doors... It might be kind of fun doing this project, despite the fact that I'll be writing all the material, directing, editing, filming, casting, pretty much everything but running the camera when I'm acting in one of the segments. I think you just have to keep chipping away at the wall till you find a soft spot to really start pounding on. I'm tired of trying to get other people to even look at my work, tired of the ridiculous hoops the industry makes you jump through.

Should this sitcom thing blow up on the launch pad I'm giving up on the screen for a while and I'm going back to the novels. Much more work but also seven million times less bullshit. I'm already enormously bitter about the stupidity of it all, I'm not willing to put up with much more. The industry needs me, I don't need the industry. I can just write books and tell Hollywood and all the pretenders to the throne to get fucked.

...on the other hand the other day while making pancakes I came up with some great ideas for a unbelievably violent and gory horror movie. I just can't bloody stop myself from seeing the stories on a screen instead of a page. Someone shoot me, keep in mind I'd like an open casket. Thanks.

Sometimes I laugh at wanting to be a writer. It's like saying "Excuse me, could you please swing that sledgehammer into my nuts please?" on a regular basis.

Then again, what choice do we have? I'm a writer, I can't be anything else.

For anyone interested, check out this link. It's a series of shorts filmed by a guy who shall be filming a piece I have written. Check out the one called, "Black Spiral."

He did that when he was 18. He now has a degree in film making. Unfortunately, most of his later stuff isn't on that site. But you can see his potential.

http://www.rennsix.com/narrative.htm

Let me know what you think.

- Lovecraft's Afterbirth

Love,

I wish I knew more about the Indy market. I never went that route so I'm a newb in that world. I know from hearsay that it's getting tougher and tougher to break into that market without some form of power. When you have guys like Bill Murray and other "artist" actors climbing into the Indy bed, those projects tend get the funding as well as the marketing.

For me, the key will always be "who you know".

Ten years ago I moved to LA and started running the trenches. I didn't go around trying to make contacts. I'm southern. I just tried to make friends. If I didn't like someone, I simply didn't pursue working relationships with them.

Like I mentioned in another post...although it's still not easy...new writers "are" getting in the door. That will never change. New writers are inexpensive and new writers can become the "next big thing". You guys can make it. Jonathan Hensleigh was almost instant. Took Dean Lorey a year to get his first film in production. Took me three. Took Kurt Wimmer and John Jarrell longer than that. Mark Haslett, after ten years, is getting his break. And sadly there are guys out here right now, more talented than all of us who simply haven't known the right people or had the right luck. But I would like to believe that if you have the talent...you will make it. You will catch your break. You just gotta keep plugging away.

And both of you (Love and Dis and any others out there) should be cautious. The Indy market is just as tough as the mainstream market. Just as cutthroat. Just as two-faced. Those few friends I do have that play in the Indy world are about as bitter toward big Hollywood as anyone. Try not to get caught up in that propaganda.

Dis,

Your recent posts are cracking me up. Not laughing at you. Laughing with you. Because I've been there. I've been in that horribly bitter place that you are in right now. You gotta get out of it, buddy. It's bad but it's not nearly as bad as it seems.

I came out here thinking we would all do "our parts", that we would all hold hands and sing Kum ba Yah while making great moves. Next thing I know I'm shipped back to LA while the producers rewrite me. Or I'm told, "This is a great script...but we're not gonna make it." Or I'm assured that I'm the guy, the job is mine only to lose it to a new writer who oddly enough had the "exact" same ideas as me.

This is what we do. Writers write. Film makers film. Embrace it and accept it. Good and Bad. Because it ain't like the movies. You will never cross the finish line. Every time you think you get there they move it further ahead. High highs and low lows. No matter what your level in the business. I promise you, Craven has his struggles. Williamson has run a tough road. And when you do get a little success, rest assured someone will send you some hate mail proclaiming, "You killed Jason. I hate you. I hope you die." All you can do is laugh, grab another Starbucks and get back to work.

Dis, take that anger and throw it into a script. Write. Create. Keep writing. Let your unproduced scripts pile up. There's no better way to get an agent than to have something or a stack of somethings they can sell. And when you do finally catch your break, rest assured someone will say, "We loved Blah Blah. What else do you have?" At which point you dazzle them with your past brilliance.

I know this ain't the most helpful and at the end of the day is little more than a crude pep talk, but sometimes I know that's what I needed. I'm basically say, just keeping doing what is currently pissing you off and one day it will pay off.

Thanks man, yeah I'll keep my nose to the grindstone till there's nothing left but the back of my skull. The internet series I'm thinking about starting up will be great: no budget, all digital so I can edit it myself, everyone wears masks so actors can play multiple roles easily (not to mention be easily replaced if they get too big for their britches ) and the work on the novel has been going really well. Seriously strange going back and forth between such radically different formats but hey, as long as I keep cranking out pages of good stuff I don't care. It won't go bad--at least until the paper rots--so work done is still an accomplishment.

As for putting that anger on the page, well I'm working on a sketch comedy series and another script that's a pretty disturbing look at celebrity worship. Dunno that anyone would ever make it, dunno if I want my family to know I wrote it, but it's a good story and it wants to come out.

P.S. That last bunch of stuff I sent out got rejected. Why? Between the time I inquired about the program and the time I sent the stuff off, the funding that was supposed to run thought to 2008 got yanked.

EEEARGH!

I write three great TV movies and then get the worst kind of reject possible! Anyway, I'm heading off to see about a job waiting tables at the local chinese food place in a desperate bid to avoid financial anihillation.

Wish me luck!

Good Luck to you to Todd and Lovecraft...