Mark Davidson. The Writer.

I wonder…

Is Transformers 2 the straw the broke the camels back… ?

Is it the green light for the future imagined by Mike Judge in  “Idiocracy”?

Seriously, even people that knew (were absolutely CERTAIN) it would suck went to see Transformers 2.  They KNEW it was going to suck, but they went.  What sort of f’d up message does that send?

“Please, please, please make more sucky movies!”

Tell me. Please. How does it NOT send that message?

(as a quick side-note, the guys over at Topless Robot did an excellent article, a FAQ, that explains some questions you still might have after viewing the movie (R-rated language in the FAQ))

Remember, in Idiocracy, in the future, only ONE movie plays. And it plays over… and over… and over again. It’s called ASS.

It plays to sell-out crowds.

Additionally, you have to wonder if “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is the pinnacle of special effects, and if so, who cares?  Digital effects are now SO GOOD that anything can happen. So seeing movies just for “kick ass special effects” is now a moot point. Because, if there’s only one level of special effects (”kick ass”) then there’s really no more special effects event movies, right?

What about Meghan Fox?  A fetching lass, to be sure:

But a fetching lass among millions. And with the internet putting women on the screen in practicing every form of debauchery, we’re about …

that close from being a pretty face in a movie, having a hot body… Just. Won’t. Matter.

I haven’t seen the movie. I’ve read good reviews and many many many bad reviews. I promise you this, I will not see this movie in theaters.

But I will on DVD.

I wonder what that says about me?

M A R K

Most of the scripts had outdated “first 10 pages.”  This has now been updated.

That is all.

Continue about your business.

Nothing more to see here.

M A R K

This is shortbread:

If you haven’t had it, search it out.  If you DO find it (or make it) you still have to find the right kind of shortbread. The good kind.

What makes good shortbread good?  Texture. It’s sublime and utterly complex — if you let it be complex.

Sure, you can choose to ignore the complexity. It stands on it’s own as a cookie (or a biscuit, if you’re on the other side of the pond).  But to ignore the texture is to cheat yourself of the full experience.

Writing needs texture, too.  When writing lacks texture, it feels hollow, the story lays flat on the page.

To me, texture in a screenplay comes from visual details that, while aren’t central to the story, convey information about the scene / characters / story in just a few words.

For instance, in “Below the Ice” (which I’m re-writing for the bazillionth time) my ship, the Ava Rita, is “dotted with blooms of rust.”  Those 5 words really don’t move the story forward, but they do convey an image and give you a sense of time, of weathering, of the impact of the real world on the story. A sense of texture.

You could get rid of those 5 words if you had to. But you sure get a lot of texture by seeing past the main action and into the details.

M A R K

Since I’m doing this on the fly, I wanted to get in and out.  Here we go with PROJECT UPDATES!

1) 2 0 3 - nobodies really read it!  So sad because it’s pretty damn good. Soon, soon.

2) American Monster - it’s a tough one because of it’s graphic nature and the fact that it’s “based on” a true story. I’ve always gotten good comments on it, but the question is (almost) always “who’s the protagonist?” and the answer is “the dead girl.”  Answer part 2 is “and not all movies have a protagonist” (see American Psycho).

3) Below the Ice - currently writing to make it a little less country, a little more rock and roll.

4) Big Box - dead in the water. But I have stolen quite a bit from it!

5) Blind Eye - still alive and kicking. Was optioned to Trancas (the Halloween people) and has since expired.  It’s still pretty potent. Tough market, though. With the recent versions of Halloween and F13th bringing in 100M+ domestic, there’s still a market for this sort of horror.

6) Bullet Proof - again, nobodies really read this.  I just read it yesterday and I like it, but the story is a little stilted.  Good visuals, though.

7) Dog Days - there’s always room for quirky, smart, relatively low-budget sci-fi. This script still makes me laugh and still whips along like a greased [INSERT GREASED SOMETHING HERE].

8 ) Hot Metal - (formerly Big Blue Meanie). Still optioned to White Knuckle Entertainment. They’re still trying to get the bucks.

9) Pinky Promise - perpetually on the edge of the verge of being sold. Soon. Maybe. Maybe… not?

10) The Disciple - it’s a 500K - 1M Christian script.  This is in excellent position and interested parties are circling.  At one point in time, we had some big names interested.

11) The Fourth - my “roller coaster” horror script. Same boat as Blind Eye. But in THIS case, it could be that literally nobody has read it. Shame. Shame.

12) The Lost Tribe (aka Primal) - done. Sold internationally. For sale domestically.  I’ve seen a 3 minute and a 12 minute version.  Looks really good!  Should be out soon.

13) The Possessed - director attached. Concept art being worked on.  Should go out soon… in the next few weeks.

14) Two Guys Phone Sex - no longer optioned.  There’s definitely a market for this one — a low budget stoner comedy with a heart.  The name might be a tad off-putting. No, they’re not gay.

15) Void (fka ‘Venture’) - I just finished PLEASE LORD LET IT BE THE LAST version of this yesterday. Trying to get directors attached.  The last round of re-writes clarified a lot of character stuff and chopped some stuff out to lighten the budget load.

15) The Shorts - I get reads. They’re pretty good little scripts. I get a lot of emails from baby-directors and -producers. So, yeah, I think one of them will get made someday.  They’re more writing exercises than efforts for commercial gain.

16) Blue Blood - this has sort of died.  It was on fire for a while and now… not so much. I still think this has potential.  It’s vastly better than the other “freaky hillbilly’s in the woods that want to steal your women” movies.  It has heart. It has characters. It has drama!  Seriously. It’s pretty good.

17) Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe - This one always attracts a lot of reads. I read it the other day and found it a good read, but sort of small. That being said, people are looking to make small movies. Blair Witch, anyone?

That’s it!

And now… a picture of a crab!

Whoa!  That’s cool!

Seeya next week.

M A R K

Concentration was last week. This week, it’s THE HOLE…. duh nuh nuh!!!!

There’s this feeling I have. This place I go. I call it “the hole.”

As in, “I fell in the hole and rattled off 10 pages.”

The Hole is kissing cousin to concentration and fierce enemy of interruption. One of The Hole’s good friends is called “Beer.” See Monday’s post for “beer.”

I think most people have this feeling. It’s a deep sense of connection to the work “in the moment.”  As in, I’m there. Connected. As close to the story as I can be.  The world outside the script doesn’t exist. There’s a seamless pathway from my mind, through the my hands, through the keyboard, onto the page.

It’s a beautiful thing.

If I knew how to get there, I’d tell you. It just happens. Sort of a perfect storm of ideas and concentration.  And, like the perfect storm. It’s rare.

M A R K

I like beer. Beer makes me happy.

And I like being happy.

You should be happy too.

M A R K

An Ode to Concentration

A dark and stormy night;

On my screen, all white. Bright white.

Suddenly an inspiration, a burst of prose!

I collect my thoughts into the perfect sentence;

position my hands above the keys just so –

RING!

Gone.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

– Mark E. Davidson, 2009

Hey, I never claimed to be a poet. Crap, most people claim I’m not a writer. But whatever!

Writing is like juggling with a hundred unique balls that must flow in a certain order . Drop one and the whole thing spins madly out of control.

The further you get in a script, the more balls you add, and the greater the need to concentrate to keep those balls aloft and, if / when you stop, the longer it takes to get the whole mess going again. Each one of those 100 balls needs to be picked up, dusted off, sorted, and put back into rotation.

I’m frequently interrupted. It’s life. It happens. You deal with it.

In make-believe life. I have an office with no distractions. I never need to get up, the phone never rings, and the dog never needs to go out.

Real life… uhmmm… not so much.

I think what Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) said to his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) in The Shining summed it up quite nicely:

At the beginning of the process, you’re figuring out which balls you’re going to use. Half of them end of gettting thrown out. So, at times, the beginning requires even MORE concentration than later in the game. After you get the hang of juggling your 100 balls, it becomes easier to recover when the flow is broken.

So, for instance, if I’m trying to start something new, and I constantly get pulled away for any reason (re-writes / options / business discussions) it just kills the momentum. Kills it. And getting the engine started again takes a long time.

M A R K

I’ve been in re-write hell for … ohhhh… 3 months now. With the year nearly half-gone, I’ve only completed one script, THE DISCIPLE, which, truth-be-told, was half-written the previous year.

First there was a light re-do on THE DISCIPLE.  No big whoop.  Then 2+ months on BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL which became THE POSSESSED (10+ rewrites).  That was a rough one.   After that, BELOW THE ICE… twice… so far. Two passes at VENTURE (which became VOID). So far.

These are good problems to have. Because the additional development raises the property to new levels.

But it does sort of… wear.  Makes one pine for something new. And part of something new is the fear of the unknown.

I, for one, welcome  our GIANT ANT OVERLORDS!

And so it begins…

Continue Reading »

An easy way to improve a script is to replace weak words with strong words.

Weak words are easy. I would call them lazy, but that implies that the writer was trying to take the easy path, and I don’t think that’s (always) the case.  Sometimes, you just don’t know any better. So avoid the following:

begins              starts                   goes                        there are

puts                  looks                   has been                 says

has                   gets                     stays

… AND avoid “enters” and “exits” (those are stage terms, not script terms).

Those are words to avoid. If it truly makes sense, go for it.

Yours In Writing, (Ha!)

M A R K

P.S. — I always thought it was funny that those who were uber-serious about their craft had that “Yours in _______” closing.  Like “Yours In Computing” or “Yours In Plumbing.”

Best,

M A R K

Everything is a collaboration. A real-life Vulcan melting of the minds.

A give and take. A high-stakes negotiation.  A SNL Dan Akroyd / Jane Curtin point / counter-point skit.  When you work with smart people, they have both incredibly brilliant ideas along with incredibly moronic ideas. That’s just par for the course.

Sometimes their incredibly good ideas run counter to your (now) mediocre ideas. It happens. It happens ALL THE TIME.

THIS JUST IN! Not all of your ideas are cinematic home runs!

NEWS FLASH! Lotsa really smart people out there!

So you learn to collaborate. You learn to truly value the opinions of others.  The key word in that last sentence is “truly.” You can’t just “sort of” be on the same page, you have to actually move with collaborators as a single entity with a singular goal of making the best movie possible. I feel like I should break into a chorus of “We are The World” here.

Over on John August’s site, a writer was saying that he was working with a partner and they came to an impasse they just couldn’t resolve. Neither would walk away. Neither would give in on his/her position. A stalemate. A good ole rootin’ tootin’ old-fashioned Texas stand-off.

Look at the members of The Eagles.

They hate each other. But they’ve made some of the best music of the last 30′ish years. They’ve put aside their personal differences to make beautiful, COMMERCIAL music. For you younger folks who’ve never heard of The Eagles, maybe think “Oasis.” Same idea.

There have been many times (MANY TIMES) when I thought: you know what? F*ck this. Life is too short.  I’m gonna write [whatever] the way I want to write it or I’M NOT GONNA WRITE IT AT ALL!

Suck it, Trebek!

Bad move.

Actually, one time, about 3 years ago, I was asked to be on a team of writers for a movie about to go into production. For a lot of reasons, I backed out.  That movie got made and distributed. I searched for my name in the credits but alas, it was nowhere to be found.

When I look back over the last 4 or so years, at all the stuff I’ve written, without fail, those properties that have had additional development by people that understand story have come out better.  Much better. So collaboration, while burr-in-the-ass painful, has always resulted in better scripts.

THANK YOU! WE LOVE YOU! GOODNIGHT!

Lights down.

M A R K