Why it's a director's film, not a screenwriter's

Many screenwriters in LaLaLand turn purple with the opening credit "a film by [director's name]". They believe it is essentially THEIR film, or at least they should get more credit. I used to be on their side of the argument -- before I started making films myself.

The reason it's a director's film is because films are made in the material world, not the imaginative one. Screenwriters "imagine" the perfect film. The perfect film never happens. Problems, unforeseen and missed, happen almost every day of a film shoot, and it is the director who fixes them, or at least addresses them, on the spot.

For example, in THE FAREWELL WAKE I had my share of problems to address. A serious one was due to my own miscasting. I had to cut around an actor whose performance I didn't like, which meant getting the scene to do its charge in a new way, a creative way. I think I succeeded. In a crucial scene between brothers, I thought my own performance in one section sucked so much that I cut it entirely. I recut so Rick, the other actor, could carry the scene more than before (my performance was good in another section). The last scene that we shot had to be re-imagined because the 3rd actor went to the wrong location. Instead of a 3 role scene, it became a 2 role scene. It works fine.

These on-the-spot changes make the final product more a director's work than a screenwriter's work. Of course, this particular film was improvised around my story outline, cutting out the screenwriter's role even more. I think it's a better film than if I had written it!

Screenwriters still whine. My playwright-self shakes my head at this because, in fact, they are whining all the way to the bank. Remember, I've made more money in my life as an essentially unproduced screenwriter than as an award-winning playwright.

Some time back I began to think of THE FAREWELL WAKE as my wake, that is as a kind of swan song for a certain part of my career, a certain area of my brain. I still think this can happen. In fact, I hope it happens. I hope my energy moves to a new focus, writing art song and chamber opera. Notes, music, before words. Maybe after over half a century of scribble, scribble, scribble, I've finally run out of things to say. When words are done, start singing without them.

The plan

Here's how I hope it happens: this weekend I study the test DVD and find corrections to make. These do NOT require going back to the source material but can be fixed within the current edit. Then I'm ready to make a final DVD.  If I have to go make to source material and reedit, everything takes much longer. I'd like to get DVDs in for copying in time to have them Nov 10th to give to actors.

While DVDs are being made, I prepare the files for my site online. This, too, takes a lot of time.

It would be great if everything was online and DVDs ready by Nov 10th. Then it could be a real party because I'd be done.

And if I was at 100% by then (feeling about 80% this morning), I really could celebrate.

Fade to black

Have a complete rough cut, burning a DVD, which will take most of the morning, for a test viewing. Comes in, including credits, at 1:46, later I'll make a director's cut and eliminate some minor characters. But not now and not for the Nov. 10th showing. And even then, I'll make both versions, full and director's cut, available online.

A day with student papers and baseball playoffs.

I like the ending of the film a lot. Rick Zimmer really makes the meeting of the brothers scene work.

The Age of Stupidity

Christine O'Donnell Questions Separation Of Church & State:

"When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O'Donnell asked: 'You're telling me that's in the First Amendment?'

Her comments, in a debate aired on radio station WDEL, generated a buzz in the audience.

'You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,' Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone said after the debate, adding that it raised questions about O'Donnell's grasp of the Constitution."

---

Incredible that we've come to this, viable political candidates this stupid.

Print - Philip Roth Goes Home Again - Esquire

Print - Philip Roth Goes Home Again - Esquire:

"Roth's reputation, especially when it comes to stuff like doing publicity, is daunting. He is severely smart. Suffers fools badly. Parries, rather than answers, questions."

Robert Reich: The Perfect Storm That Threatens American Democracy

Robert Reich: The Perfect Storm That Threatens American Democracy:

"We're back to the late 19th century when the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of cash on the desks of friendly legislators. The public never knew who was bribing whom."

In the can, almost

Last scene using actors shot this afternoon at Kelly's Olympian bar. An actor went to the wrong bar, it ends up, so we rethought the scene without him and it came out fine. All that's left is a short solo rap up "video diary" scene by me. By the gods, we essentially are done! Amazing.

I think it won't be as good as in my fantasy but won't be as bad as it might have been. I think I'll like it, essentially, own up to it and probably designate it my "swan song", at least for a certain part of my brain, the part that keeps me awake at night. I really am looking forward to slowing down and getting more sleep ha ha.

But I'm behind on student work and therefore have to get an early start tomorrow to catch up before class.

Creativity. Faith. Impotence.

A short essay on writing. Creativity. Faith. Impotence.

Signature breakfast

I wonder how many people have discovered, as I have, the wonderful combination of oat meal and scrapple. Few in the west, where scrapple is unknown, I presume. This morning I had what has become my most typical home breakfast: a slice of scrapple, unfried, heated for one minute in the microwave; put in a bowl and smother with cooked oatmeal; top with two fried eggs, up; add milk; optional toast and bacon. Man, this is one yummy breakfast! I bet someone in New Jersey or Pennsylvania had this breakfast recently.

The last time I had scrapple for breakfast in a restaurant was years ago at Mom's Cafe in Milford, NJ, home of my father. In fact, it's so long ago, he was still alive.

Today a leisurely day of school and home chores. I look forward to it. Short but important afternoon shoot. This morning, early, I edited 4 minutes out of the first hour without letting much blood. I think it's going to come in at about an hour and 45 minutes. To shorten it, I'd have to eliminate some cameos, easy to do, but I won't for the showing to the actors. Later I may, or may not, make a shorter director's cut with eliminations.

I actually feel better this morning than in recent weeks. Knock on my wooden head etc.

Thursday night UCLA plays at Oregon. The new #1 Ducks should be 30 pt favs or so but I would love an upset, man I'd love an upset! UCLA was my childhood team, so when my two alma matera play, childhood often wins out. My anger at Oregon for its Nike wedding softens a tad because I like the new coach so much. He called Nike "the owner" of the team. I like awareness and political incorrectness like that. Our local sports columnist hopes Oregon wins the BCS, and then as winners Kelly, the Oregon coach, blasts the BCS and pushes for a playoff system. You can criticize as a winner more effectively. This also is true with regard to literary prizes! Otherwise it sounds like sour grapes.

Here is my fantasy with regard to this. Acceptance Speech for an Award I Never Received

Progress

A relaxing day, some editing, some watching sports, trying to keep quiet and let the body fight the lingering virus. Need to be busier tomorrow, student work to look at.

The rewards of writing

As if the day had not gone well enough already, I received an email with genuine appreciation and praise for my novel Kerouac's Scroll, from an artist whose work I admire. Praise from peers is the best praise of all. What a fine day. Cough, cough (still!).

Check out Kerouac's Scroll.

A terrific shoot!

Shooting the wake went really well -- and we were done in an hour! It's called organization and knowing what I needed because I'd already edited it all in my head. We got some terrific stuff, with 3 cameras.

I'll less pleased with the brothers scene yesterday but it will work -- I need to cut one of its 3 parts entirely because I totally suck in it. But I'm ok the rest and rick carries his share as always. I'm a lousy quiet actor, better in noisy scenes. So I have to cut around me. Hell of a deal ha ha.

A very big Friday

Shoot the important last scene between the brothers this afternoon. I'm at 90% or so and should be fine. I've structured it into 3 parts. Hope it goes really well.

I've downsized online by deleting several minor blogs I maintained.

Ellen Sterling: Want To Break Through & Get Heard In Hollywood? This Panel May Have The Answer For You

Ellen Sterling: Want To Break Through & Get Heard In Hollywood? This Panel May Have The Answer For You:

"'Finally, you have to be aware that today it's much more difficult than ever before to get theatrical distribution so you have to consider other possibilities -- the internet, online distribution, TV and, perhaps, distribution abroad first.

'What sets some people apart and gets them attention and a long career?' she asks. 'It is business sense and ability to change with the market.'"

Swan song

If everything works out, the feature will be a kind of "swan song" in my career, my last effort to tell a significant story, the curtain to a certain stage in my career. I think this would be appropriate for several reasons, not the least of which is that the film has an "upper" ending, rare in my work. I like the idea of "going out" with positive energy. I might not have another upper ending in me ha ha.

I am not quitting, I am changing focus. I'll do smaller things. I'll decrease my grasp. I'll be less ambitious. Long overdue, in truth. And I'll bring music front burner, also overdue.

I really look forward to this -- but the film has to work for me for this to make sense. I don't like "quitting" with something I personally don't like. So far, the film looks good to me. I think there's a good chance I'll like the finished product. Not perfect, mind you, but good enough to do the job, to be the swan song.

Well, we'll find out soon enough now. Maybe even next week at this time.

Love Makes You Increasingly Ignorant of Your Partner | Wired Science | Wired.com

Love Makes You Increasingly Ignorant of Your Partner | Wired Science | Wired.com:

"BASEL, Switzerland — Long-lasting marriages may thrive on love, compromise and increasing ignorance about one another. Couples married for an average of 40 years know less about one another’s food, movie and kitchen-design preferences than do partners who have been married or in committed relationships for a year or two, a new study finds."

How to Make A White Hole in Your Kitchen Sink | Wired Science | Wired.com

How to Make A White Hole in Your Kitchen Sink | Wired Science | Wired.com:

"That ring of water in your kitchen sink is actually a model white hole. For the first time, scientists have shown experimentally that liquid flowing from a tap embodies the same physics as the time-reversed equivalent of black holes."

Letter to a dead soul brother

Hey Richard,

Just a quick note to tell you how much I miss your wit and laughter. With the political scene even crazier and more surrealistic than when you left us in 1998, with the dumbest political candidates in the history of politics on the scene now -- well, maybe not -- you would have a full time job cracking jokes about them. 

Nothing new on my end -- well, I'm shooting a feature digital film, I guess you could say that's new. I should finish this month. I'm hoping it's a period at the end of one trajectory in my professional life. I'm ready to slow down and have a new focus, i.e. retire as a writer and storyteller. Focus on music. Catch up on reading. 

I wish I could figure out how to move to the desert without getting divorced. I'm cold most of the time.

Think about you often, brother, and very definitely miss your laughter and sense of the absurd. The world is much worse than when you left it. 

Guarded optimism

Continue to feel "improved" and may be approaching 90%. A very very big scene to shoot tomorrow afternoon. If the scene bombs, the movie bombs. Nothing like pressure.

Looking forward to class today, first sharing of student work.