I hesitate to post this update with Mercury in retrograde (may need to post a reversal next week), but here goes anyway.
This spring and early summer the TV project was moving forward nicely. There were lots of hours spent on a pitch, followed by some BIG meetings in L.A. But, alas, we now appear to be stuck in development hell once again.
I need to really get my act together and finish the first draft of my feature screenplay. I started over fresh back in Feb/March, right before I went to the John Truby story seminar in L.A. (Two thumbs up!) I've only got another 10-20 pages to write...but then the REAL work begins: the Rewrites.
About Me
- Ellen Simonetti
- Hi there! I was a flight attendant for 8 years and more recently have been studying Radio/TV/Film at the University of Texas and various workshops. This blog is about the creation of a screenplay based on my book, Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog. The book has been optioned for TV/film twice but gone nowhere. THE BOOK IS CURRENTLY NOT UNDER OPTION. Please Google me for more info about my sordid past: Ellen Simonetti
Media inquiries: queenofsky (at) gmail.com
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- Birth of a TV Series (15)
- Casting (4)
- Misc. Stuff (12)
- Polls (2)
- Press Stuff (3)
- Random Updates (36)
- Screenplay Structure (6)
- Soapbox (3)
- The Birth of a Screenplay (17)
Followers
8 comments:
Ellen!
Hey buddy. I'm so glad to read a post from you. I hope you come back and keep us posted more often.
You have been missed.
Love,
Bobby
Quotes: Development Hell
"The Hollywood process is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it."
— Douglas Adams, on the development of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy film.
"The difference between me and Neil in our attitude to movie projects is that he doesn't believe they're going to happen until he's sitting in his seat eating popcorn, and I don't believe they're going to happen."
— Terry Pratchett, on the probability of a film version of Good Omens ever getting released.
"Dangeresque 3 production update! Day 114: Things are "comeing" along right on schedule. So far, we seem to have only hit one major snag. Um, and that is I haven't um, made Dangeresque 3 yet."
— Strong Bad, Homestar Runner
In the case of a film or television screenplay, the screenwriter may have successfully sold a screenplay to a certain set of producers or studio executives, but then new executives assigned to the project may raise objections to all the scripts and casting decisions they oversee, mandating rewrites and recasting. As directors and actors become "attached" to the project, further rewrites and recasting may be done, to accommodate the needs of the new talents involved in the project. Should the project fail to meet their needs, they might leave the project or simply refuse to complete it, causing further rewrites and recasting. At any point, a project may be forced to begin again from scratch.
It may also be the case that the screenwriters have an issue with the final rights agreement after signing an option, but aren't happy with the full terms, and the project may go in endless circles until either the situation is resolved, or the project is abandoned.
This process can last for months or years. More often than not, a project trapped in this state will be abandoned by all interested parties or canceled outright. Hollywood starts ten times as many projects as are released, so many scripts will, of necessity, languish. Many times, this "hell" is caused by the lack of foresight and competing visions of those involved. This revolving door in the film industry happens most commonly with projects that have multiple interpretations and affect several points of view.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_hell
[At a seminar, Charlie Kaufman has asked McKee for advice on his new screenplay in which 'nothing much happens']
*Robert McKee:
"Nothing happens in the world? Are you out of your %#!@ mind? People are murdered every day.
There's genocide, war, corruption. Every %#!@ day, somewhere in the world, somebody sacrifices his life to save someone else.
Every %#!@ day, someone, somewhere takes a conscious decision to destroy someone else.
People find love, people lose it. For Christ's sake, a child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church. Someone goes hungry. Somebody else betrays his best friend for a woman.
If you can't find that stuff in life, then you, my friend, don't know crap about life!
And why the %#!@ are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie? I don't have any use for it! I don't have any bloody use for it!"
*Charlie Kaufman:
"Okay, thanks."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(film)
A Secret Life Revealed...
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/01/secret-life-of-a-d-b-cooper-hijacking-witness-includes-disappearing-to-a-nunnery/?hpt=hp_c2
“The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time. The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation."
~ Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992)
For over 25 years, Robert McKee's Story Seminar has been the world's ultimate writing class for over 50,000 screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, industry executives, actors, producers, directors and playwrights.
http://mckeestory.com/?page_id=27
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McKee
DON'T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When you might have won had you stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worse,
that you must not quit.
Author Unknown
"People find love. People lose it.
For Christ's sake, a child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church. Someone goes hungry.
Somebody else betrays his best friend for a woman."
***
Song of the Soul
by Cris Williamson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ghchNbj_A&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Love of my life I am crying
I am not dying, I am dancing
Dancing along in the madness
There is no sadness
Only the song of the soul
And we'll sing this song
Why don't you sing along
Then we can sing for a long, long time
Why don't you sing this song
Then we can sing along
Then we can sing for a long, long time
What do you do for a living
Are you forgiving, giving shelter
Follow your heart, love will find you
Truth will unbind you
Seek out a song of the soul
Come to your life like a warrior
Nothing will bore yer, you can be happy
Let in the light, it will heal you
And you can feel you
Sing out a song of the soul
Love of my life I am crying
I am not dying, I am dancing
Dancing along in the madness
There is no sadness
Only the song of the soul
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