I knew it! Although I didn’t think it would happen so soon. E-readers are taking off in a big way! Manufacturers are astounded. Understandably, book-publishers and distributors are nervous. You can buy a Kobo (electronic document reader pre-loaded with 100 novels) at Borders in Australia for $200. And it uses e-ink just like the Kindle. Actually – scratch that. No you can’t buy a Kobo because they’re out of stock! (more…)

There are only a few stories in the movie business and most of those have already been told.

The Internet Public Library has a great list of some of the basic plots in literature, but it’s up to you and the zeitgeist to come up with something original, relevant and interesting – and yet not predictive.

Many screenplay puritans (and perhaps, more recently, The Academy itself) have spurned the film Avatar as being derivative. It borrows too much from the storylines of both Pocahontas and The Emerald Forest. Do you think it’s a bad thing that James Cameron borrowed a tired old storyline for his movie, Avatar OR are we at the point where it’s all been done before, so it’s time to do it again – only this time, with computers?

Duncan Thompson is one name that consistently appears in the development credits of Australia’s most successful films. He ran Aurora (script workshops) for many years and has played a part in developing many of Australia’s most successful screenplays including Japanese Story, Little Fish, Somersault and, more recently, The Black Balloon. He now runs the Sydney-based International Film School. Duncan gave a scintillating talk at the Australian Writer’s Guild on the weekend. Well – it was more like a sermon. Albeit a very engaging and intriguing one.

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Most people abhor criticism and nobody likes to open their wallet. If you are either, don’t – whatever you do – write a feature film screenplay. I almost guarantee that nobody will read it without being paid.

More importantly never go into production on a script that hasn’t been very heavily criticised, rewritten, analysed, rewritten gain, ripped apart, gutted and finally … rewritten. I’m sure you can name a thousand movies with huge plot holes or character problems. Problems which could have easily been patched up with just a few bucks investment.

Criticism is not the same as rejection.

While Mum will happily read your screenplay, getting constructive feedback from industry professionals costs money. Constructive criticism is the key to morphing an ailing screenplay into a great feature film. Nothing else will do this. Unfortunately, getting anyone who’s not your mother to read your screenplay (or read beyond your synopsis and director’s notes) costs money. Even if you don’t get feedback!

In Australia, state and federal government film bodies may give you money to develop your screenplay if they like the idea and you have a producer attached. Development money usually consists of a script editor’s (or script doctor) fee, some travel money, a producer’s fee and a small pittance for the actual writer/s.

The traditional Aussie way

Here’s a run-down of how much development can cost (in Australia). I live in the West and this is roughly how an $18,000 script development budget might run:

1. Script editor $6,000 (pretty standard in Oz).
2. 3 x return airfares $2,000
3. Per diems $2,000
4. Producer fee $2,000 (coast to coast 2-3 times)
5. Writer’s fee $5,000 (split two ways)
6. Other expenses $1,000

This took us from a rough 2nd draft on one script to a 3rd draft, but I felt it needed another, so we paid David Caesar from ScriptCentral to give it another going over.

Keep in mind that in Australia – more than 60% of a film’s budget is usually government financed and getting your hands on the few million that Australia has to invest in film is extraordinarily competitive (although not nearly as competitive as in the USA). About 1 in 100 , fully-developed screenplays will get a guernsey here in Oz – and you’d better have a good director or name actor on-board . . . OR . . . most preferably . . . a great script.

The American alternative

If you have no luck competing for Aussie state or federal development money, you can get good bang for your buck feedback by entering American Screenplay competitions. Don’t even think about winning one of these comps – they have up to 3,000 entrants each year. And even though a script report can take many months to hit your inbox, the feedback is top notch.

Four of the more high profile competitions are:

1. Bluecat Screenplay Competition
2. Nicholls Fellowship (the Oscars)
3. Austin Screenplay Competition
4. Slamdance

Several comps do script coverage

1. Slamdance sample script coverage
2. Bluecat sample analysis

Australian film authorities no longer give written assessments because readers are expensive. The government bureaucracy can take 6 months to send through a pro-forma rejection letter!

In that light – the US comps are a great way to get feedback and develop your screenplay further. And for a little extra ( maybe as little as AUS$50) some will send additional notes from one of their many professional readers.

Entry fees are up to around AUS$100 – but the notes you get are absolutely excellent value for the money when compared to the Aussie way.

I usually go both ways and like the US take on writing. It’s refreshingly different to ours.

What should one do with all this feedback?

It’s taken 5-6 months and you’ve finally received feedback on a draft that was binned early in the year. How does one make sense of all these belated notes, feedbacks and analyses?

Once you have your script reports, you can carefully abide by these rules;

1. Read it through once.
2. If you are a beginner writer (not used to criticism) – wait 2 days before reading it again. You’ll be amazed by what you think they wrote.
3. If one person tells you something about your script – take it on board, but treat it as subjective criticism and look for the constructive bits – things that you are willing to do / change.
4. If two (non-colluding) professional writers/directors identify a problem – give it some serious consideration. You don’t have to kill your main character or change genre – she is probably just undeveloped.
5. If three or more independent, professional analysts tell you that something particular is wrong with your script – believe it! . . . Something is wrong.
6. Ignore words like “genius”, “well done” and “masterfully crafted” (unless you didn’t pay for the feedback). These people are going for repeat business.

You could go into production on your movie right now. But unless you work with constructive feedback and tightly hone your script – you are probably – like most filmmakers – wasting your time on a poorly written story.

Feedback will fine-tune your screenplay and eventually turn into a film with a big audience and a long shelf-life. Heck – you may even get to do it all over again.

Behind the beautiful Australian Writers’ Guild (WA location)

Some interesting facts:

• The average Australian film needs to take $1m at the box office in order to cover a distributor’s Promotion and Advertising (P&A) expenses.

• Most Australian films (about 16) released over the last year or so took around $200,000 at the box office. Only Kenny, 10 Canoes and Happy Feet recouped these expenses and made money.

• An additional 10 or so credit card films that were made did not see the light of day or attract distribution partners (probably due to poor screenplays).

• When a distributor invests in an Australian film, they are taking a huge risk. A risk which is as much about passion and commitment to an idea as it is for the production team (writer, director, producer).

Phil (w), Carmelo (p) and I (d) are in the middle of the AWG / ScreenWest’s (weirdly titled) pre-VIZ consultation program with Beware the Stingray.

The current screenplay has already been blasted by Victoria Treole (ex AFC and Miramax) and Sue Murray (ex Fineline and Miramax, EP on 10 Canoes and Tom White) for a straight three hours.

Thank God we’re not too precious.

Today we have another 3 hour script-bash with Mathew Dabner (ex Icon, current FFC assessor, writ/prod The Square, The Best Things, Freshwater).

And then at the end of this week – we have to re-pitch our project to these nice people.

It can be soul destroying having someone rip your idea into shreds, but Phil and I are used to it and it seems to be leading somewhere. We have approached David Caesar – another tough cookie (with a string of feature film credits) – to help us rework our current draft and then we will (probably) be heading off to the SPAA Conference.

I’ll let you know how the afternoon goes…

I directed a 5 minute film for DADAA on Tuesday. We are documenting the lives of mentally challenged and disabled people living in WA for the Lost Generation Project. I must say, it was a very lovely, humbling experience and the finished film should be amazing to watch.

I originally wrote a narrative screenplay – but actually sticking to it for the doco format – was tricky. We really had to go with other things that happened on the day (as one might expect). We managed to capture the essence of the screenplay, however, and some of the scenes are very moving and emotional.

Technical

I shot 1.5 hours of HD with a Sony HDV camera throughout one day. What a lovely, easy-to-use camera. We literally switched it on and started shooting. I had to ride the exposure and focus a little, but the automatic functions allowed me to, literally, interrupt what the camera was doing by touching a dial and going manual – something like cruise control on a car. I was worried about sound (we used a simple RODE directional mic. and camera sound) but it came out nicely and the images are lovely.

I am very humbled to think that the films we make for DADAA are copyright “the subject” (ie. the person we are filming) and I can’t wait to see what the various editors and musicians do with the finished film.

All in all – it made me realise that I really do love filmmaking. Sometimes you lose track of why you are doing such a difficult thing. And then it hits you. Like it did for me on Tuesday.

Well. I’ll eat my hat!

After submitting BTS to the AFC and Bluecat, I started struggling with a sci-fi no-budget screenplay, Yellow. I was scheduled to shoot in Feb / March, but the script wasn’t exactly writing itself.

Then. Life took hold.

Cancer in the family and a new job writing screenplaysfor DADAA saw Old Father Time disappear.

Last week, I had coffee with a mate of mine who says, “I’ve got a really good idea for a film”. He saw the irritated look in my eye and backed down. But I needed the distraction and, two sips into a strong long machiatto, heard myself say “Go on.”

It was a beauty. Story, character, locations – everything. He told me a riveting story about something that happened to a friend of a friend. It had a complete screenplay structure – turning points, mid-points, Voglerian call to adventures – everything! On a plate.

I wrote an outline with my mate in about two hours and we’re shooting it at the end of the year. I’m already saving money.

The AFC makes decisions about this year’s Indivision projects on May 3rd. I refuse to wait by the phone.

It’s in! Or at least – the screenplay is finished and we’ve submitted it to the AFC’s Indivision initiative (strand I) asking for $750K towards the $1.8m budget.

I can hardly believe it’s over. To some degree. Phil and I are happy with it, but we’ve yet to involve distributors, actors etc.

I recently saw some notes for this script dated 1992 and almost none of the same characters were in it. I dunno what to say. Fifteen years.

It’s been hot here in Perth, Western Australia. 104 degrees in the old money. With no aircon and the damp, sultry weather, I’m amazed I got another good pass in on Beware the Stingray.

A pass?

A pass is when a writer goes right through the screenplay again. It’s not a spell-checking session. Usually it’s a fine tooth comb looking for; structural problems, character inconsistencies and other believability issues.

Phil read my pass and we’re going to podcast about it next week. Once we’re totally happy with the script, it goes off to our producer (who has already targeted actors and possible financiers etc.) and the rolling stone tries to gather some moss.

So – barring a few minor fixes – Beware the Stingray (final draft) is finished and shoot-ready. Carmelo (of CM Films fame) just gotta raise the $2m now . . . Easy ;)

Which leaves a great vacuum. Y’know the one. You’re all apace and then … nothing but the sound of wind whistling through the trees. The anticlimax is followed by a real Alexander (Downer).

WASA Screenwriting Awards

In this down time, I will work on Yellow (another low-budget sci-fi script) and read other people’s screenplays. 47 of them to be precise. I’m one of three judges for the WA Screen Awards Best Screenplay.

Reading screenplays – good or bad ones – is the best way to learn how to write features (there are heaps right here). You may get your technical skills by emulating the author’s style, but actually writing screenplays is the only way to get inside your character’s head. If you are there for the entire script – and you’ve got some character empathy – there’s a good chance the reader won’t yawn and get to the last page of your script without breaking for a coffee.

Character Empathy

Character empathy is a hard one. Why do we care about your main character? Do they reflect something that is human in all of us? Have we gone deep enough? It’s what I’ll be looking for as a judge – a writer who really immerses themselves in character. Character is plot. Paste that baby above your writing desk. It’s a doozy.

Here’s mine.

Hi, this is Phil Jeng Kane,
I asked Mr Trivia (now M. Le Trivia for some reason) for a bit of space on this blog to provide a lightning sketch of Edwin Lynch.

Yes, true to his last posting, Edwin is indeed a jock-wearing, shut-in weirdo who constantly peers through peepholes looking for a Godot-like postie. But he’s also a writer-director who studies performance and screenwriting; he networks with actors and filmmakers and has always kept up with filmmaking technology; he has a strong grasp on filmmaking skills, like how to break down and choreograph a scene.

Why the resume? Because it occurred to me that his self-portrait was an ATOMISED version of Edwin Lynch the writer and director. I probably wouldn’t work with Underpants Man and yet, in reality, I have worked with Ed for more than a decade.

Filmmakers are great storytellers. I realised recently that I’ve learnt to take most of what film people say, with a grain of salt. Not because they have lax moral or ethical standards, but because they see reality through an imaginative lens. They’re fantasists, embroiderers, hyperbolists, analysers, searchers-for-truth, attention-seekers, spin-doctors, entertainers and sometimes complete bull artists.

Filmmakers spend their lives looking to create a world, through writing, performance, directing, editing and post-production. After this process is complete, they might have a behind-the-scenes story to tell and this becomes part of the creation myth that they then use to publicise the film.

So there’s before-the-film, behind-the-film, during-the-film and after-the-film. Filmmakers will use all of it to persuade you to see that film and this will help them to make their next one. They love to tell a story.

There’s a line in the 1987 movie OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE (not to be confused with the very funny New Zealand soap on Network Nine that SPAA protested against.) The 1987 film is an odd-couple pairing between Bette Midler and Shelly Long. Long plays a pretentious actor and to get under her skin, Midler’s character says “Actors are just bullshitters who get paid.”

All filmmakers need a bit of the bullshitter in them. And with any luck one will get paid. It’s not considered an adult occupation because it calls on all the skills and imagination you used in order to play when you were a child. And therefore its not fully respectable until you get paid. But who wants to be respectable anyway?

Phil Jeng Kane
C/- Mr Trivia

P.S. Of course, I’m an unreliable narrator, myself. I often use a pseudonym and don’t even reveal as much in print about myself as Edwin does. But one day I just might.

Until then I have ventriloquism and my addiction to prescription painkillers to sustain me.