Sunday, December 30, 2007

New Year 2008 on the horizon and I'm hard at work on a new screenplay, a feature film, sci-fi (my favorite genre) of which I don't want to say anything about, for fear of giving it the well known kineahorah. It's got supernatural stuff in it and was no doubt influenced by all the Joss Whedon stuff I've been watching lately on DVD (especially "Angel"... Love Angel... killer series, awesome TV... yes, I know that's not just because of JW but all of the great writers they had on staff, Marti Noxon, Jane Espenson, David Greenwalt, Tim Minear... but the man's got vision, a great sense of character and story... and apparently he and I have watched all the same stuff growing up because I admit a secret thrill when I see a redo of a classic episode of the Outer Limits (like the one where a woman's getting plastic surgery by disfigured monkeys so she can be "pretty" like them... gotta love that Gru homage) and get all the in jokes (to serve man, it's a menu!).

My script's also influenced by Joseph Campbell (well, at least I hope so, I mean, I personally feel influenced by the man, so he must've rubbed off). Funny, I was always told to read Campbell in film school and, I confess, always blew off in the past as in "I don't need no stinkin' campbell." Boy was I an idiot. Joseph Campbell was one of the smartest, most influential dissectors of dramatic story structure that ever lived (well, maybe aside from Aristotle). Needless to say, I am very hip on Campbell these days and sure the script will show it, hopefully in a cool, non-didactic way. If you could cross the structure of Campbell with the dialogue of some of the Tracy/Hepburn films... the looks of Cary Grant... and like put it in space... imagine what a killer script you'd have.

I've also been writing the script as a graphic novel, though I think it makes more sense for now to complete it as a screenplay, then write it as a GN. The mediums are both very similar and completely different. Still, I've always wanted to write a graphic novel... I'm totally enamoured with the good ones. Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series is still the king of them, as far as I'm concerned, though I've recently read some cool ones like Ex Machina, Lucifer, and checked out the Buffy and Angel ones, which are pretty good.

I've also been working on a spec script -- a "Bones" spec script... another show I never watched before the writer's guild strike (sad that so many friends and wonderful creative people are worried about losing their homes and I'm revelling in lost tv series offerings). Anyway, I picked up the first season DVD set and got addicted so much that I had to watch all three seasons to see what happened (funny because the reason I checked it out in the first place was because I'd just finished re-watching every episode of "Angel" for like the third time and was interested to see what David Boreanaz was up to... and while Bones probably has more in common with "House" or those CSI/detective shows than "Angel"... well, actually it has nothing at all to do with "Angel"... it just goes to show that David B's a diverse and talented actor. Cool that he can move from playing an iconic larger than life vampire hero to a Catholic ex-sniper FBI guy smitten with a girl who's super smart and can do a drop kick even better than he can at the blink of an eye... hmmm, come to think of it maybe there are similarities, albeit if Angel were human and channeling James Garner from "The Rockford Files").

Anyway, Bones has definitely grown on me. Love the lead female character, Temperence Brennan... I'm a very big fan of brainy girls who can kick butt, but have no interpersonal skills (maybe Temperence is an Aspie?). And I've got a killer storyline for it (pun intended). So, I started outlining the script for that show and will probably write the teleplay as soon as I've got a rough draft of my feature script completed. (Am I the only writer who can work on two completely different stories at the same time? Am I the only ADD writer who can work on two completely different stories at the same time? I think not. Not if I don't need to sleep, that is. Sleep is totally overrated.)

So... that's what I've been up to, all two of you who are reading this (whomever you are).

Oh, I also watched the pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica, the miniseries again... as awesome a piece of storytelling as it was 3 years ago when I first saw it. I've seen every episode of the show from the beginning; that and Lost, House, Heroes, Dexter, Weeds, Nip Tuck, The 4400, Californication, Pushing Daisies, Rescue Me... amongst others... let's face it, I'm a pathetic TV addict... there is no hope for me... just think, if it weren't for the writer's strike, I probably wouldn't have had time to add these box set series to my repertoire. And now that I signed up for Hulu, I'm totally gonna be media saturated.

I'm still waiting to see the DVD of "The Namesake" which I've had in the house for a month now, waiting on top of my DVD player for me to pop it in. I think deep down I'm afraid to watch it because I adored the book so much and I'm never happy after I see a movie based on a book I absolutely loved. I'll probably keep the Kiterunner on standby for months as well when that one comes out on DVD... I haven't rushed to the theatre to see it and won't... I wonder if there's a word for this sort of adaption-phobia. It's similar to remakes of classic french films that have been Americanized... I often fear those as well. Must have been all that time I spent in the Berkeley film archives. A film snob who's addicted to TV, hmm, is that a paradox?

And the music I've been writing by these days... very eclectic.
lots of Elvis Costello, classic David Bowie, Rolling Stones, John Coltrane, the new Alicia Keyes, Amy Winehouse's "Frank", classic Chicago blues, Aimee Mann, Bob Dylan... what a weird mix. In any case, 2008 is certain to be a unique, productive and exciting new year.

Bluesy