Hey got the computer working

Hello everyone, got the computer working again and can get back to some writing. I hope everyone had fantastic Holidays and I wish you all good luck in 2010. Coming up later will be a review of The Book of Eli and I want to warn you now that there will be spoilers in that review.

I want to mention that the Derby City Film Festival is next month (February) and I will be giving a seminar on screenwriting there. Also in February my course Getting Published begins and March sees the Solving the Mystery of Writing Mysteries and Introduction to Screening Writing courses begin. More info on the film fest and the writing courses to come.

Shameless Promotion of Screen Writer Ink

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Screen Writer Ink specializes in working with writers to create the very best possible screenplay or manuscript. With backgrounds in screenwriting, film production, story consultant, screen writing instructor and much more; Screen Writer Ink provides the best analysis and coverage possible.

Best of all Screen Writer Ink is now offering special Holiday rates for a wide variety of writing services. If you are a writer who is serious about your work, then you owe it to yourself to visit Screen Writer Ink and take advantage of these special rates on the highest quality screenplay analysis available.

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New Goal for Screen Writer Ink Story Blog

The new goal is to publish two articles a week, Yes I know I have been spending time writing scripts, but I believe I can at least post a movie review or something on the craft of screenwriting a couple of times a week. That is my goal at least, so hopefully you will come back now and then to check out what is going on around here. Thanks for checking us out.

Writers Workshop of Horrors: A Review

Hello gang, it has been awhile since I have been able to write here at the blog

Awhile back Woodland Press, LLC sent me a copy of Writers Workshop of Horror, edited by Michael Knost; to review and here now is my review.

Let me start off by say that I enjoyed Writers Workshop of Horror quite a bit. The book is a series of articles written by many notables in the field of horror fiction today; such as Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Keene,Tim Waggoner and many more. Each article tackles a different aspect of the craft of horror fiction writing. Elizabeth Massie’s article is appropriately titled Creating Effective Beginnings and is a good primer on how to begin your horror story. Michael A. Arnzen has an effective article about scene structure and how it can make or break a horror story in the piece: Scene and Structure in Horror. There is even an article about proper formatting in Jason Sizemore’s A Guide to Manuscript Formatting.

A treasure trove of insightful and interesting information on the craft of horror fiction and I highly recommend Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost. The book does remind me of the book; On Writing Horror : A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association edited by Mort Castle ( who also has an article in Writers Workshop of Horror) another anthology of articles covering the craft of horror fiction by many masters of the genre; like Harlan Ellison, Jack Ketchum and David Morrell to name a few.

On Writing Horror : A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association is organized into seven different parts; each covering a different element of the craft and business of horror fiction. Part Two is An Education in Horror and consist of four articles giving an overview of horror and how it is presented in higher education. Part Seven is Genre and Subgenre and contains ten different articles discussing the horror genre and subgenres and how writers can use these to create better horror fiction. All and all a very good book on the craft of horror fiction.

Writers Workshop of Horror and On Writing Horror: A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association would be two good companion books for any writers bookshelf , especially if you enjoy writing horror fiction.

The Mutant Chronicles

At the end of the Ice Age, The Machine came from the outer space with the purpose to change men into mutants. However, a hero defeated the device and a great seal was laid over The Machine. In 2707, the depleted world is ruled by four Corporations: Mishima, Bauhaus, Capitol and Imperial that are in constant war. During a battle between Capitol and Bauhaus, the great seal is broken and The Machine comes to life once again and begins transforming soldiers and civilians into hordes of mutants.
A small part of the population escapes to Mars, leaving millions of people behind. The leader of an ancient brotherhood, Brother Samuel(Ron Perlman) is a believer of the Chronicles, a bible about the mutants. With the city under siege by the mutants, he visits the Corporations' leader Constantine(John Malkovich) asking for an aircraft and twenty men for a suicide mission to destroy The Machine,by planting a bomb and using an ancient detonator following the knowledge of the Chronicles.
Samuel recruits the tough Major 'Mitch' Hunter(Thomas Jane); the Bauhaus Lieutenant Maximillian von Steiner; the keeper of the Chronicles Severian(Anna Walton) is silent but deadly; the gorgeous & lethal Corporal Valerie Duval(Devon Aoki); Corporal Juba Kim Wu; Captain John McGuire; and Corporal Jesus 'El Jesus' de Barrera. Together they become the last hope of Earth against the evil mutants.
A futuristic "Dirty Dozen" by director Simon Hunter and written by Phillip Eisner. The film's look reminds me of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", which I think was an underrated film . The story for Mutant Chronicles breaks no new ground, but is an interesting twist on the group quest theme. The cast all give solid performances and Thomas Jane once again is top notch as the stoic Mitch Hunter.
If you are looking for something a little different in the SciFi vein , then check out The Mutant Chronicles and have some fun at the movies.

Screen Writer Ink

Punisher: War Zone DVD Release

Punisher: War Zone has just been release on DVD and unlike many of the critics that reviewed and panned this film; I actually rather enjoyed the movie. Why did I enjoy the film when so many others found it violent and frightening? Well for one thing I'm not a little nervous Nelly like the reviewer who shares the last name with his some what famous reviewer father, who will give any movie a positive review if he thinks his name will be featured in the ads. Punisher: War Zone was meant to be violent and out there. The Punisher is a violent man on a mission of vengeance.
Ray Stevenson does a very good job of portraying Frank Castle as a damaged man who knows that he is over the edge, but also knows that someone must step up and stop those criminals who are beyond the law.
The action is violent and non stop and that's exactly the way the Punisher is in the comic books. The film is for anyone who enjoys a good action movie which doesn't take itself too seriously. Now that the movie is out on DVD, pick up a copy, sit back ,relax and enjoy a action movie for action movie lovers.


Genre:Action/Adventure
MPAA Rating:R
Starring:Ray Stevenson, Dominic West
Director:Lexi Alexander
Running Time:1:47

Reviews of some newly relased films

Sorry for being away, I have been extremely busy with the courses I teach, script analysis and of course writing. I have been going to the movies and watch DVD's so it hasn't all been work. But after watching some of these movies it seemed like work just sitting through them.

Let's get started. First up is:

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The Unborn

The Unborn is the latest film from director and writer David Goyer. The film follows Casey Beldon, a young woman who is suddenly haunted by horrific nightmares that begin to intrude into real life. Casey is played by the lovely
-->Odette Yustman, who was last seen in the film Cloverfield. Miss Yustman does a serviceable job carrying the film, but is given very little to work with from writer/director Goyer. The supporting cast lead by Gary Oldman, Meagan Good and Cam Gigandet are little more than shadows. There is little character development and we really could care less if these characters live or die and in this kind of movie they usually die, but we should care if they do or not.

The main problem with the Unborn is that Director Goyer did not see the flaws in the screenplay by writer Goyer. The story at first concerns Casy being haunted by the spirt of her unborn dead twin brother that she never knew existed. If Goyer had stayed focused on this plot, then I believe he would have made a much stronger film. Unfortunately writer Goyer wanted to include elements of his vast research and the story goes off into Jewish demons and exorcism and the audience is lost in the process. The Unborn isn't a terrible movie, but few scares and little suspense.If you see it at a bargain matinee you may enjoy the time spent or better yet wait and rent it when it comes out on DVD.

Review of The Kingdom

Hello, welcome to the Screen Writer Inc story blog.

Sometimes I have articles about writing a screenplay or how certain elements of a story are created and sometimes I even use a movie to review and highlight to show what works in a film (and what doesn't ).

Today I would like to talk about the new film The Kingdom, which will arrive in theaters September 28th. I was fortunate enough to attend a sneak preview of the film last night.

The title of the film refers to the "The Kingdom" of Saudi Arabia . The Kingdom serves as a backdrop for the story of a FBI investigative team, Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) and his elite team ( Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman). Who secretly travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to investigate the terrorist attack of a Western housing compound that resulted in many American civilians and an FBI agent on assignment in Riyadh being killed.

Fleury is only given five days to investigate to crime with no support form the State Department. To make matter worst; Fleury and his team come face to face with Saudi authorities suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter. The team's only allies are Saudi Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum) and Sgt. Fadi (Hrach Titizian) who want to catch the terrorist as much as the American team.

The film is directed by Peter Berg and written by Mathew Carnahan. I think Berg did a very good job of balancing the action scenes with the interaction of the actors.

Caranahan's script attempted to put a balance between American and Arab view points. In fact, two of the most sympathic characters are the Saudi Colonel Al-Ghazi and Sgt. Fadi who bring a human face to the Arabs who balance loyalty to Islam and their homeland, with the pursuit for justice.

Still it is the American FBI agents that we follow and through their eyes we witness the suspiciousness and mistrust of Americans by the Saudi people. The FBI team members are literally strangers in a strange land.

The film is violent , but not gratuitously so. At it's heart this is an action movie, but a thought provoking action movie. You leaving the theater thinking about the politics of our nation and those countries who may or may not truly be our friends.

Go see The Kingdom, an action film that you just might learn something from.

This is the Screen Writer until next time.

Sorry I've been away .

This summer has been very busy. Teaching the Advanced Screenwriting Class, Story consulting ,working on a website and several of my own stories hasn't left much time for blogging. I hope to change that. I'm still just as busy, but I want to make a concerted effort to write here as well.

My goal is to add a new article each Friday and will begin tomorrow. Thanks for looking in and hope you are writing something special.

Why are todays movies so long?

Sorry for the long quite spell. Between teaching the screenwriting class, working with my writing clients and life in general ( not to mention Blogger not letting me into my Blog!), it has been a busy spring.

But, really no excuse is a good excuse for not writing. Being a talented writer isn't much good if you don't sit down and write. So quit reading this and go write your story and then come back on your break (short break).

Took my son to see Spiderman 3 over the weekend and enjoyed it. I know some people are saying it's not as good as the last one and I could debate that, but I still think it was an entertaining movie. The film served it's purpose; entertain the audience and sell lots of tickets. Spiderman 3 did both very well.

My one minor quibble, is that the film ran longer than it needed to be and this may be why many people thought the second film was better (though it seemed long too, in my opinion). If the film had been cut a little tighter, I believe the story would have flowed much better, but as I said, the film was enjoyable and paves the way for Spiderman 4 in 2010.

Speaking of films that seem too long. Why does this happen? Usually this happens when the film makers try to cover too many characters or too many big action set pieces or just loose track of the central story.

I'm not putting all the blame on the screenwriter, but the writer must shoulder some of the blame. It is easy to say the producer, or director or the studio pressured the writer to pack the script with as much action and characters as possible. It happens and usually happens in big summer block buster movies. More is better, right? Not always, and usually not in a film that will be remember years later as a classic.

The writer has a responsibly to write an engaging story in a clear and concise way. Every act, scene, beat or word must either move the plot forward or reveal character and hopefully do both at the same time. If your scene doesn't do that, then is it necessary ? More than likely not.

But that A List actor wants a new scene and the script is perfect the way it is. You want to make the actor happy and the director and producer and studio. Write the scene, but create a scene that is revealing and moving. Write a scene that makes you wonder why you hadn't written that gem before. You can write a saleable script without being a sellout. But be economical in your writing. Short effective scenes are much better than longer scenes that lack focus.

The writers job is to be creative. Creative in your story and creative in how you handle story problems or on the set problems. You can have larger than life characters and epic stories without having two plus hour running times that have the audience looking at their watches instead of the movie screen.

And keeping with not writing bloated stories (or Blogs) I will end for the day. Hope you return soon. Thanks and keep writing.

Introduction to Screenwriting

Hello again,
The first class of the new section of Intro to Screenwiting went really well. A lot of really bright, motivated students. I believe this will one the best classes yet. The first class is always the hardest one for me. Not only do you need to present the materials, but you need to establish a good relationship with the students. Much like a writer must present his story , but also establish a trust or relationship with the reader or audience.

With many movies the writers and director start out very well. They have interesting opening scene, likable characters and the plot flows along at a good pace. But some where near the end of the second act or into the third act something happens that makes the viewer feel a little cheated.

The problem can be a character suddenly acts totally out of character. Someone who through out the film acted intelligent, suddenly does something stupid. why did they act that way, because the writer couldn't figured out how to move the story forward unless the character did something stupid. I think that is laziness on the writers part.

Or when some one or some thing is introduced to solve the problem that was never set up in the begining of the story. Or when something is introduced early on in the story, but is never seen again in the rest of the story.

My point is don't get lazy in you story. Make your characters as smart as the people who pay to see that movie. Don't cut corners to make your story work. Plan the story out in advance and you will run into less problems later on. You will see the places in your story where you may need to come up with a clever way to move the plot along and not have to cheat to make your story work.

Keep writing!

Until next time...

Begining of new new season of classes

Hello, and welcome once again to the Screenwriter Inc Blog. Been busy with breaking bones (mine), watching some movies (good ones and not so good ones) , trying to learn how to use Poser 7 , Script analysis and preparing for a new section of Intro to Screenwriting, which will begin March 1st.

Doing everything it seems , but working on the stories I need to be working on. I think that is the hardest part of writing, Finding the time and the motivation to get your ass in the chair, turn on the screenwriting program and work on the stories you need to tell.

I know the craft of screenwriting, Hell I teach the craft, but the one thing I can't teach is how to get you to sit down and write. I fall into the the trap of not enough time in the day. But you have to kick yourself in the ass once in awhile and get the words on the page. Make the time to write, stop surfing the web, day dreaming, watching TV or all of the other time wasters we love to do.

Once you see your story forming on the page, you'll fall in love with this new way to spend your time, and guess what; your not wasting your time, your investing it.

Now stop reading this blog ( at least until next time) , get off line and write a page or two of your story. You'll feel better and instead of dreaming about being a writer, you will be a writer.

Until next time....

Welcome

Welcome to the ScreenWriters Inc Story Blog. Here we will discuss the many aspects of Screenwriting . Ideas, Pitches, the Craft and Business of Screenwriting.