So it’s quite a bit of time off we’ve had. Tomorrow we go into production on Episode 4. Ideally, I would’ve liked to have prepared more for the shoot, but my mind is on so many things that I have to do, I manage to do none of them.
Okay, so on Wednesday I did manage to talk to the director. Guy seems pretty cool and we talk for awhile. He asks what I know about the whole shin-dig, and I fill him in on what I know, then he fills me in on how it’s actually going down. There’s a lot of good news in this conversation, and some which is good, but not too good at the time. Let me explain.
When I was told about this gig I was told I got to write about five cats that rob a bank. This was fairly easy because I already have my situation that I can write around, I just got to come up with the characters and the story, but I already have my setting, my set-up, and everything else I can come up with based on this idea. The hard part of writing is pretty much done.
So with that in mind, I start coming up with ideas about how to tell the story of five dudes robbing a bank. I’m more leaning towards writing around the bank robbery, meaning, not showing the actual heist ala Reservoir Dogs, because I really don’t want to go research that part of the whole thing. I wasn’t too keen on going into a bank and saying I was a “writer” and posing the hypothetical of “now, if someone was to rob this bank, how would they do it?” More than likely, they’d kick me and my dollar ninety five in my savings account to the road.
Anyways, it turns out the director isn’t set in stone on robbing a bank. They’re kind of going about this backwards, meaning, they have their cast, they just need to make a story around them now. It’s basically my playground and the director throws some stuff at me that he’s looking for; such as a bit of sci-fi and some graphic novel elements. Other than that, the whole thing is my sandbox.
Sounds like a writers wet dream doesn’t it?
At the time, it wasn’t. I didn’t have an idea for a flick to pen. Again, the bank heist would be easy because there’s the situation, but now I got to come up with a situation and I got to give the five actors equal roles/ screen time. And I have to include some sci-fi/ graphic novel type content. Most of the shit I write is crime driven, and I don’t think I’ve actually touched sci-fi before. Don’t get me wrong, I love some sci-fi movies like Star Wars, Dark City, and The Thing, but I’ve never written it before.
Everything seems alright though. I came up with an idea I’m actually excited about that would incorporate what he’s looking for, but also be something where I can throw my own shit into the mix as well. I’ve got to refine it more still, which I was hoping to do with this time off, and then I’ll send it to him and see what he thinks. I’m pretty stoked about writing this though.
He also corrects me on the budget. What I was told is 2.5 million for the budget. They don’t have it yet, as they’re waiting on my script to seek funding, but he thinks that with the actors he has, he can get five to seven million depending on what I write. Lowest budget they’ll get he says is 2.5 to 3 million.
The last thing worthy to mention is that I won’t get any points on the back end, but when they receive funding, I’ll get paid up front. I like this idea a lot better. This deal is looking pretty sweet, but I don’t think I’m hired just yet. I think it’s going to be a matter of whether or not he digs my idea, and then some of the shit I hand to him I guess. That’s why I want to refine my idea as much as I can before I send it to him, rather than just splatter random thoughts onto an email and hope he can see the awesomeness of it.
I still haven’t got the website stuff figured out yet. I have the account for server space, but let’s be honest here, I’m web-tarded. I tried setting it up so we at least have emails again, but I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I asked Bob for help, and he said he might have some time on Sunday, but Sunday’s over and the shit ain’t set up yet, so I’m guessing he didn’t have time after all. Or he forgot. I don’t know what the hell’s going on anymore.
Webbernetz people, hit me up if you want to help us out! I will judge you as cool and a lady magnet no matter how many Batman shirts you wear.
I manage to get some storyboarding done. I was thinking that I would go into Episode 4 with no storyboards or shot lists at all, something which I haven’t done on a project since… well, it would probably be mid-nineties or so. I actually don’t remember not storyboarding anything I’ve done.
I storyboarded the first few scenes that we’re doing, which I’m hoping will buy me enough time to storyboard the rest before we shoot them. It’s not like I have shit to figure out really, because the whole movie is in my head. But sometimes you manage to forget some shots you wanted in the chaos of being on set. I’d rather go into the joint with a plan, and then if/ when you deviate from the plan you have something to fall back on, then to go in with no plan at all.
I’ve seen people operate without a plan before. The shit don’t go smooth. I’m not saying our shit is silk, but it ain’t sandpaper either.
Some editing of Desolation Row gets done as well. I can’t really go hardcore into editing mode yet, because I know I have all these other things to do, and I don’t want to switch hats yet. Once I switch hats, it’s hard to take it off and get into another mode unless the job is complete. I half ass the editing somewhat, doing some of the brain dead work that requires time more than anything else.
Of course I don’t get as much done as I would have liked.
I also put forth an email to Zack, who was supposed to score The Weight for us. He’s had the movie for a long time now, so I hit him up asking for a date when he’ll be done. He can’t give me a date as time is a precious commodity to him right now, and he can’t put any of this commodity into scoring. I give up on it. I just want this flick out of my life.
Bill wants to give the movie to Steve’s friend Brad to do the score. On Saturday night, we had, I guess you would say, a private producer wrap party on Desolation Row. Hell, I thought of it as a kick off party to Episode 4 too. Alicia couldn’t make it because she was throwing down with Jesse and his family, so it was Steve, his wife Cheryl, Sue, Bill, Leanne, and myself.
I brought 18 dates to this party and they were all named Labatt Blue. Each one tasted sweeter than the last.
While everyone’s here, I throw Steve a copy of The Weight to give it to Brad and I give him a copy of Taxi Driver too, telling him to tell Brad to emulate that motherfucker. He tells me how Brad will want to work, and I’m into it, but I just want this shit over with more than anything I think. I’m sure my attitude will change and I’ll go for quality of what I want rather than just a musical track when the shit’s ready to drop.
We pick Steve’s brain about the concert coming up a little bit, and it’s at this time, I’m fully conscious of my blackouts. I’m sitting there looking at Steve and hearing him, and then something happens, and I remind myself Steve is talking and I then wonder how long he’s been talking for and what he’s saying. I know I’ve blacked out before while drinking because whole chunks of the previous night will disappear. This is a good thing sometimes, because if I don’t remember it, it didn’t happen. However, this is the first time when I notice it happening while it’s happening. I start to think maybe I don’t have control over myself sometimes and those police reports were right.
Steve also thinks I should get my hand looked at after I show him the lump on it. I still don’t care too much as I can move it and none of the concrete walls have been giving me dirty looks lately, but he says something about bone spurs and surgery in the future, so I’m starting to think maybe I should get an x-ray done.
I think we all had a good time. When there’s the prospect of booze, Carey gets his drink on, but I think it still went well. However, today I’m prevented from doing a lot of the work I wanted to do because my brain is shrunk and flopping around the inside of my skull every time I move.
Today was a pretty lazy day. I storyboard some more, check out Doomsday, and Sue and I head to Wendys for dinner as neither one of us are too keen on preparing a meal. That’s a lie. Sue doesn’t want to cook, and if I’m the chef for the night, we’re going to munch on some toast. That’s a lie too. We’re out of bread.
At Wendy’s we order our food and the little girl behind the counter confuses me when she starts asking what I want on my burger. The only thing I can mutter out is that if there’re onions on it, I will come back and kill her. She takes it as a joke. It’s a good thing there were no onions on my burger.
Doomsday was a little loud and busy for my prune like dried up brain tonight. It was ridiculous and more than a little retarded, but still too loud for me tonight. Man I feel old saying that. I think even if my brain wasn’t doing a mosh pit in my head, the movie would’ve done that to me anyway.
Call time isn’t until six tomorrow evening so I plan on staying up late and storyboarding as much as I can before heading over to Bills to kick off Episode 4.
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