Daily dialogue -- July 10, 2009

"World domination. The same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they're Naploeon. Or God."

-- James Bond (Sean Connery), Dr. No (1962), screenplay by Richard Maibaum & Johanna Harwood & Berkely Mather, based on the novel by Ian Fleming

"Capitalism: A Love Story"

Director Michael Moore revealed the title of his newest documentary - "Capitalism: A Love Story":

"It will be the perfect date movie," Moore said in an announcement Wednesday. "It's got it all -- lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: It's capitalism."

The film is described as focusing on "the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world."

The movie is slated for release on October 2nd, a year and a day after Congress passed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

Didn't realize this, but Moore has directed three of the top six B.O. documentaries of all time: Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), and Sicko (2007).

Merriam-Webster dictionary adds new words

Writers by default are 'wordsmiths,' therefore it's important to keep up with language as it evolves. And yesterday, the people who publish the Merriam-Webster dictionary announced the inclusion of more than 100 words to the newest version of their dictionary. Here are some highlights:

Cardioprotective (1984): serving to protect the heart.

Frenemy (1977): one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy.

Green-collar (1990): of, relating to, or involving actions for protecting the natural environment.

Locavore (2005): one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible

Sock puppet (1959): a false online identity used for deceptive purposes

Staycation (2005): a vacation spent at home or nearby

Waterboarding (2004): an interrogation technique in which water is forced into a detainee's mouth and nose so as to induce the sensation of drowning

Webisode (1996): an episode esp. of a TV show that may or may not have been telecast but can be viewed at a Web site.

Okay, let's see what sentence we can concoct using some of these?

"My frenemy doctor was claiming to be acting in a cardioprotective manner on my behalf, but I surmised he was nothing but a sock puppet, so instead of traveling abroad, I faked a staycation, then shot a webisode of me waterboarding his sorry ass."

Your turn.

More thoughts on Disunity to Unity

Another interesting discussion in the online screenwriting class as a student (Lucy) said she had an "aha!" moment when re-reading a lecture on Narrative Throughline:

I've revisited your Narrative Throughline a few times since I took "Scenewriting" with you. For some reason, it just wasn't completely clicking. Like I was reading it in a foreign language, I could make out words but the meaning was evasive. Of course, the more I read it like that - the more intimidated I was by it. Vicious cycle. I'm sure personal stresses at the time didn't help (part of the reason I found digging into certain characters difficult).

So, tonight I picked up your lecture again for the third time since starting this class - again expecting most of it to go over my head. Then, on page four was my lightbulb moment!

What you describe is Military Basic Training! Why I hadn't seen it before, I don't know (okay, so I know).

The plot line is leaving home and entering a strange world where you're yelled at and everything you do is wrong. Slowly, through trial and error, you learn to fold your tee-shirts into a 6" square and make your bed so you can bounce a quarter off it...and you're rewarded.

The themeline is they purposely take away everything you know about who you are, or thought you were, until you are a blank slate. Then they rebuild you into what they want you to be - what you always knew you could be but never had the discipline to attain.

It may not make sense this way to anyone else, but I'm sure glad I could finally read it in English :-)

And my response:

Works for me! This is why I'm a proponent of pre-pro screenwriters reading and listening and watching everything they can about the craft -- because you never know when some phrase, lingo, or metaphor will click with you.

A key thing to remember: The foundation for the Reconstructed persona is in a preexisting state within the Protagonist character (or whoever else may be going through a transformation). That's almost always part of their Disunity condition: They've been living on the surface, ignoring or suppressing their core essence 'inside.' The Deconstruction allows that 'stuff' to emerge. And since that 'stuff' is a constituent part of the character's Authentic Self, once it's tapped into it provides more power, vision, and strength than they ever generated in their Disunity state. The narrative's build toward the Final Struggle pits the Reconstructed character in a big test to see if the transformation process took or not.

Another way of looking at it is through the lens of Dabrowski's theory of "positive disintegration." Dabrowski believed that in order to advance beyond "primary integration," what we may call Disunity, a person has to go through a process of "disintegration" (Deconstruction - Reconstruction) in order to achieve "secondary integration" (Unity). That is a huge oversimplification of Dabrowski's theory, but for purposes of this discussion basically works. The main thing is that what we would typically perceive as being a 'negative' experience -- disintegration which can cause anxiety and emotional stress -- is actually a positive in terms of the individual's development. And I think that this is a thematic point that lives within every movie or story in which a Protagonist goes through an ascending transformation arc (from Disunity to Unity), that all the sh*t they go through in Act Two is worth it: "Look, see! They survived the Final Struggle, 'defeated' their Nemesis, achieved their Goal, and now with the Denouement, we get a taste of their wonderful Unity Life."

Jung preached a similar thing with his Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul aspects of the human psyche, and how the individual has to engage with each one in order to move toward "union."

Not every movie has a transformation story at its core, but most do. Some transformations are small, others are huge. Some are obvious, others are subtle. But it's probably fair to say that most of these transformations echo the above versions of that Disunity to Unity arc, the middle of which is occupied by some sort of deconstruction to reconstruction dynamic. It's not formulaic, it's the very nature of change. And whether it's the words of Dabrowski, Jung, or a military drill sergeant, it's a pretty universal phenomenon.

For more information on Kasimierz Dabrowski, you can go here.

Daily dialogue -- July 9, 2009

"It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off."

-- Eva (Eszter Balint), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), written by Jim Jarmusch

IndieWIRE: Mid-year speciality box office winners & losers report

While overall B.O. is up, indie movies continue to struggle. IndieWIRE offers this mid-year report. Winners and losers:

Winner: Documentaries That Came Out Of Toronto

Loser: Pretty Much All Other Documentaries

Winner: Films Starring Sam Rockwell and Sam Rockwell

Loser: Films Starring Zooey Deschanel and Paul Dano

Winner: Iraq War Movies

Loser: Nia Vardalos Movies

Winner: Endgame Entertainment and Big Beach Films

Loser: Senator Entertainment

Any indie movie you've seen this year that has gotten you excited?

MakingOf: Interview with John August

H/T to M for passing along this interview on the website MakingOf with John August.



We've already pimped MakingOf here:

The site has been created by actress Natalie Portman and her longtime friend and producer Christine Aylward. Here's what Portman has to say about the genesis of the site:

When friends come to the set, they always want to know: Who are the many individuals who take part in the making of a film? What do they do? How do they do what they do? How did they get the chance to do what they do? And often: how can I do that too?

These questions led me to believe that there was a desire for this inside look, especially from the vast majority of people who don’t have friends who can take them on set. With the ever-increasing number of self-taught filmmakers, who find audiences for their films using new opportunities for video-sharing online, I thought there would be an additional audience for our content among those who want an experienced filmmaker’s advice as to how to light a certain type of scene or how to achieve a particular makeup effect, and so on.

Since their launch in April, MakingOf has continued to add content, primarily interviews with filmmakers. Definitely a site worth bookmarking.

2012: Disaster Porn

Quick before it gets taken down. Check out this "disaster porn" recut trailer for the upcoming movie 2012:



The movie, which debuts in November, is described this way on IMDB:

An epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

Guess that's about as sequel-proof a story concept as you can get.

Tagline: "We Were Warned."

Other tagline: "Who will be left behind?"

The last one is especially clever - trying to lure in Christian audience per the famous "Left Behind" series of books. Interesting ploy since the other tagline -- "We were warned" -- and the key to the movie's plot is tied to the Mayan calendar prediction of the world's end on December 12, 2012. Hence the movie's title.

The movie's writer-director Roland Emmerich is also responsible for Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Day After Tomorrow.

Perhaps consider changing prod co name to "Disasters-R-Us?"

H/T to Jason Beasley for the video link.

Screenwriting 101 -- Trey Ellis

"I noticed that race colors the perception of me in the film community today much more than I would have thought a decade ago. I call it my "Lion Theory." Being black in Hollywood sometimes feels like being a lion. You might think of yourself as a happy lion, an over-educated lion, a fat lion, a lion in a Donna Karan suit, but as soon as you enter a room, all the creative exec seems to see are teeth and mane. That is not to say that I feel they are afraid of being eaten or menaced in any way, just that that one fact about me often seems to totally eclipse all others.

Where I see this played out most baldly is in the scripts I am most often offered. The studio will say they just read my supposedly arty, nuanced spec script about an interracial love affair set in the 50s, say they are aware that I am also a novelist and journalist, then ask me if I'd like to do a quick polish of Booty Call: The Revenge. At times like that, if I were really a beast prowling the Serengeti, I'd be tempted to bite a quick chunk out of somebody's leg.

I haven't always loved Hollywood, but I've always loved roller coasters. It wasn't till I realized they were one and the same that I found peace here. And peace in Hollywood is something that is often very well hidden. Now, I don't know what I'd do with a regular job and a steady paycheck. These ups and downs and middles make every day an adventure. And an adventure a day is a wonderful way to find inspiration for that next story to tell."

-- Trey Ellis (The Tuskegee Airmen, Good Fences)

Daily dialogue -- July 8, 2009

"Maybe I'm spending too much of my time starting up clubs and putting on plays. I should probably be trying harder to score chicks."

-- Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), Rushmore (1998), written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson