Tag: screenwriting

Time is limited….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

So, more and more nowadays, I know my time on this planet is limited. I’m not getting younger….only older!

Optimistically, I most likely have at least another 20-30 years of life in me. Yet, family health history and current health issues could shorten that. Now, I’m not trying to cause a panic and say I’m looking at Death’s door. I feel great and have plans for many many years to come. I got some things to do before then.

Yet, hearing reports of a celebrity dying at only 52 opens up those concerns. Especially, when I know the celebrity isn’t much older than me and I remember growing up with the actor. This was the actor Luke Perry.

I was in high school as 90210 premiered. I graduated a year later but continued to watch it in early days of college. I will say I was fixated on the story and the young characters. As a young man, I grew my sideburns. I just happened to get a eyebrow scar in 1989 from a hunting accident. And, my one (or few claims of fame) is I did have a few girls think I looked like Jason Priestly and a 90210 guy! Heck, if I’m not sporting a beard, I still keep the Luke Perry sideburns.

The show influenced me so much that I immediately cast the actors into my own stories. I saw these guys and gals as part of my early visions of favorite IPs and my own creations. Nerd Alert: I cast Luke Perry to play Maximillian Sterling in a big live action screenplay I wrote in 1992 for the ROBOTECH franchise (disclaimer: it was a fan script as I was only 19 at the time.) My limited casting creativity also cast Jason Priestly as Rick Hunter and Jennie Garth was Lisa Hayes. When I look back on that, it just sounds ridiculous! (sidebar: I cast Brett Michaels to play Lancer aka Yellow Dancer in a Robotech Next Generation script I was writing back then too).

So, hearing about Luke’s death kinda hits home. I never met him. But I felt I knew him in some weird way. I’ll be sad for a while. I wish his family well. And remember: Time is limited…. take every day to enjoy it!!

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Look to Role Models….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

As a young aspiring writer back in the 90s, I constantly looked up to other successful writers for direction.

Back then, I was mostly looking to write for stage and screen. I may have dreamed about writing a novel or something but my true dream was to be produced as a playwright or screenwriter. I was in Film School when I realized that to succeed in writing films I must mimic those great film makers and screen writers. I went so far as to write the exact same way as George Lucas wrote his movies. When, I learned that George writes only on yellow legal pads, I immediately went to Office Depot and bought a case of yellow legal pads. I wrote my next 2 plays on nothing but yellow legal pads and then transcribed them into a Word-processor in the computer lab.

I took a seminar with John Patrick Shanely – the screen writer of Moonstruck and Joe Vs. The Volcano – at CU and couldn’t believe I could be so lucky. It was open to Film Makers and Creative Writing majors and I called the reserve line before I could finish reading the flyer. Sitting there with him for a few days, I wanted to know how he wrote. Call me funny, but my questions weren’t philosophical. I wasn’t asking him what made him a better writer. But how he physically wrote. Did he plot things via an online? Did he block it out with index cards? Does he handwrite his writing on paper first or just type it directly it into the typewriter or computer? I do recall him giving me a weird look each time I asked him a question. Not the: what-are-you-smoking-weird look, but that of a curious mind. Almost as he was trying to understand my intent.

So, that’s how I wrote in the 90s. I’m not sure if that was successful as I didn’t get anywhere. But I don’t regret it. Yet, I’ve learned since, just write. Write. It doesn’t matter if you use a pencil. It’s not important if you write everything with a pen. Some just sit at the keyboard and let it flow out.

I will admit. I still like to use pen and paper to throw down ideas and outlines. Yet, I’m also trying to be more electronic and do it all digital. That’s why I bought a iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. But I think I may just be too analog and old school….

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Done. Done.

Posted on by CV Whitfield

So, this project started nearly 8 years ago. We’ve been working on plots, theories, direction, and characters. A project that reunited friends for over 20 years to create something amazing.

So, we had everything ready to write in November. I sat down. With hundreds of pages of notes and research.

It started taking shape. Then December happened. No work. January, very little done. Then, I pushed into overdrive in February and I got it done.

We returned to the retreat in the mountains. The script is done. We are reading through the first draft. There will be two more passes and then….

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Is it possible….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

…to write 30 pages of a screenplay in one day?

I may have done it. What is that really? about a 30 minute scene. or 1/4 of a movie?

I’m not fooling anyone. These pages aren’t going to set for shoots. So I know that I will do a few more passes over it.

But I’m impressed!

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“Doctor, Oscar is Flatlining!”

Posted on by CV Whitfield
photo courtesy of Hollywood Reporter

Let’s be blunt. The Oscar broadcast is dying. Eventually it will be dead.

Facts are hard to dispute. The numbers are falling. There’s several factors for this.

In the last 24 hours, the Academy has released that several awards will be presented during commercial break. And for some ridiculous reason, “professionals” are now throwing tantrums of how this destroys the work these people do. Really?! It doesn’t undermine their work. It’s a freaking award show. I don’t recall box office numbers aiding in what is considered the best movie of a year. No, its a closed group of peers that vote. A movie can win best picture that only had a box office draw of $22M. Yet, something like Avengers can bust records at $1.5B. (Oh, its because Avengers was on 4K screens and the best picture was only on 207–uh, no.). There’s a reason the best picture is on 207 screens. Because the average movie going audience wouldn’t go see it. Does it make it a better movie? I guess it’s a matter of opinion and certain points of view….

This isn’t the reason the Academy Award show is declining. The real reason: THE INTERNET!

Yes, its the World Wide Web. And honestly, I believe the show will be exclusively broadcast stereaming on an Academy website very soon. Now, why is it dying? I read an article several years ago and I can’t recall who wrote it or where it was published, so I apologize as its not my intent to disrespect that intelligent soul. Yet, that person predicted why the Oscars would die. And they were right. That person predicted that the use of Social Media would destroy the viewership of the Oscars. It’s coming true.

The reason people watched the Oscars was because it was a way to see your favorite stars outside of the movies. They wanted to see the glamour and the glitz. They wanted to see their favorite actors arrive on the carpet and talk to the reporters. It made these stars more earthborn more relatable. Something magazines couldn’t do. Now, we have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These actors are watched by millions everyday. They know what they eat. They know when they run to the grocery store. Why would I want to watch a 4 hour show on them sitting and clapping?

And don’t get me started on the Polictical Correctness and Identiy Politics that Hollywood seems to be infatuated with lately. This hurts the bottom line although they can’t see it through their moral righteousness. BEFORE you send me hate mail (email), I speak honestly as a consumer of movies and someone that is currently trying to make them. Movies made me who I am. I love it. Yet, I don’t think a contrived award show dismantles the hard work we all do. That’s just the gravy, baby!

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Plotting…. plotting…. plot ….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

To plot or not to plot.

We Plot, we happy plot, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that plots with me
Shall be my brother

A plot, a plot! My kingdom for a plot!

Can you tell that I’m plotting…. plotting… with still about 40 pages still to refine and then it will be done!!

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Last minute …. greatness!

Posted on by CV Whitfield

For as long as I can remember. I have been a procrastinator. I always say I’ll get an early start and if you work slowly there will be plenty of time to complete the project.

Sounds good on paper. Yet, I don’t think I’ve ever done that.

Then, suddenly, the deadline approaches. What seemed like an eternity just a few days ago, is now being questioned if it’s enough time at all. The rush is on. Every hour is now focused.

And so here I sit. Same ol’ same ol’. The script is due by the 15th. The project started sometime in November. Technically, I should finish a couple days earlier so it can be reviewed and one last edit. Is it a problem that about 40 pages shy of the needed amount? Wait, thats about 10 pages a day, right? I can do that.

As I said, this is typical for me — school papers, miniature painting competitions. Those stressful last minute pushes to get things done have worked well. I’ve always gotten good scores or awards. So perhaps I work best under pressure and in those last minute rushes, I succeed with greatness. Well, cross your fingers and wish me luck….

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It’s not the size ….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

So I spent most the day writing but my spoils of the day’s progress was only a page and a half.

Granted I was working on a script vs prose. Yet I think screenwriting is just as hard. Writing a scene has to be blocked out, rehearsed, reviewed and then rewritten. Every detail is critical. Writing a novel or even a prose short story lends for some embellishments. The script, on the other hand, can’t relish in this outcome.

The script is in every sense a poem. It’s poetry for the camera and filmmaker. The writer must convey a voice for the story. The words create the tone and substance. Scripts just like any other written form has an identity and can be very unique. Not to say, I’ve read very dry scripts and I’ve read very descriptive ones. Neither was done incorrectly. Yet if there’s something added that doesn’t resonate reasonably in the scene then it shouldn’t be on the page.

So, 1.5 pages today …. tomorrow will be a day for more until that magic 120 is reached!

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