Blog 12: The Writer/producer, the Director & the Big Breakup

It was not going well. I was getting frustrated, Shirley was getting frustrated and upset. 

I admit I am not the easiest person to work with when it comes to my screenplays. It comes from years working with more of the bad people than the smart ones. Like Amy the anti-Christ I described in blog 10. Unfortunately it led to some serious arguments  And if they wanted one word changed, there would be blood first. And not mine.

Enter Shirley. 

We had finally begun the next draft of the screenplay, with notes from her and my own notes.  We decided to sit down across from each other, each with our laptops. Shirley had brought muffins and coffee and it had become a routine for us before we started reworking the script. But after a few days it was becoming clear that there was some friction.  I was resisting some of her changes,  increasingly so. To her credit, she stayed there as I resorted to my "yeah, well, I've done 16 movies..." attitude.

And regardless of what I thought, my "16 movies" defense wasn't helping things. 

Nor was my producer hat which suggested two against one. The first few days were okay but each of us had different takes. Shirley's big on methaphors, she would want to show changes  with a character without words whereas I would want dialog.  It was clear our personal preferences were coming to the front. 

At one point Shirley suggested I put a strike-thru on some sentences, to which I replied sharply, "I don't use strike-thru", she said it just makes it easier to see what should be cut,  and I said I don't have that feature. This dragged into a huge argument as she tried to tell me where the command key was on my menu. I insisted it wasn't there. Shirley was frustrated as hell. Then I suddenly saw the strike-thru command and acted like I knew it was there all the time. I think she wanted to throw a phone book at me this time.  This became known as the "strike-thru gap".

After a few days, tension was gaining in both our meetings and our emailed notes. Email is a particular subject to me as I have learned over the years that misunderstandings can often occur within what someone intended and what the other person interpreted. I'm sure wars were accidently started by a few misunderstood emails. 

To her credit, Shirely maintained a professional demeanor, while I continued to use the "experience card" as my defense and reasoning. Finally it ended in an email (which I seem to have conveniently lost) from me saying that it was too difficult for me to continue as I felt her notes just didn't translate to me.  

This was what we called the Big Breakup. We continued trading emails,  but it was clear something had to change or Travel Day was over.  Shirley replied that  she still loved the project but that finally, she would not direct it. 

It was over. 

I was angry, and I think she was also. And for the next three days I was not a nice person to be around. But I do have one facet of my character that has some reasoning behind it. It is probably due to a few years of majoring in Psychology, an education I eventually quit for television. I can step outside of myself when I want to, and be brutally honest. I wondered how I could be so angry at Shirley, when all she was doing is offering her notes and suggestions.  It was her movie as much as it was mine. And I had to at least consider her ideas.

It didn't take long. I was wrong. 

I was angry not at her, but at me for pulling out the excuses, the experience, all of that.  And I knew I had done it often in the past on other projects.  But I also remembered that it was usually used against people who really didn't know what they were talking about, who would have two hour discussions about whether a character would say three words or four.  So I could let Travel Day fall by the wayside or I could try to change her mind. But it was one of the hardest things to do for me.

I finally composed an email that said just that,  I was wrong and I did want her to make Travel Day and that I think we could work this out. 

Shirley's response was quiet and apprehensive, she was willing to try again. The next time she showed up, I knew we were going to work better together - she had muffins and coffee. And it did work out, we hammered out a new draft where there were compromises on both sides and again,  respect for each other. And yes, we still have a laugh about "the Big Breakup" and the "Strike-thru Gap". 

People generally don't understand why creative types have such intense confrontations, sometimes resulting in people leaving the movie or the music album, or any other artistic endeavor. With writing, it begins when a writer finishes there story or screenplay. You've sat at that damn computer, facing a blank page and searching for ideas so that you can finish it. It's only you there, nobody else, at least for a spec script. It's your child, you brought those 100 pages to life where none existed before. Then, someone comes in and tells you that you did it wrong? 

See where I'm going? 

And that other party, be it a development exec or a producer or an actor... or Shirley, comes into what was a solitary artistic endeavor and begins to change it. And it's damn hard to want to change, or admit that it could be better. 

Are today's sitcoms better with 12 or 15 writers than I Love Lucy with 2 writers, a husband and wife?  You know the answer already. Our little breakup did some good things; it made me realize that Shirley had definite ideas that could be considered,  that we both would compromise when it mattered and again, that both of us could only make Travel Day better. We finished the rewrite and it was better. But now we reached a new stage of this partnership.

How to find the money to make our movie.



(Next: How do we find anyone who will give us $900,000)

Blog 3: The screenplay

Travel Day is the story of an aging actress who was once one of the many sex symbols of the late 60's and early 70's and is now relegated to smaller roles.  It's basis comes from my experiences over the past 20 years in television series and movies. Some were better than others, some were not great and some were just plain bad.  My best moment was heaving a phone book at one of the producers as she fled out the office door. Those were the days. 

The premise of the screenplay is a "travel day", that time given to actors and crew to reach a distant location.  The story focuses on one such day that began with our aging star reluctantly traveling with a bit-part actor and a teamster driver in a large 15 passenger van heading to a location in a remote area far from any city. The odd couple threesome have little to say to each other and in some ways, worlds apart. The star clings onto her gift basket and wine and offers nothing in the way of conversation. 

Then they meet a young girl, hitchiking in a frozen wilderness. 

I had wanted to write this screenplay for several years but never got around to it until my actor friend reminded me of some of the stories we shared on that series. But it wasn't until a few years ago that I finally wrote the screenplay and the characters became more alive and colorful than I imagined they would. 

All of the script was based on the experiences of myself and Paul Jolicoeur, during that time. I also added a new character, the 15-year old hitch-hiker, to balance the age group which now ran from 15 to 60'ish.

I had always intended Travel Day to be a no-budget film made by myself and a handful of friends and I never showed it to my agent or anyone else. But a year ago, I got interest from Sally Kirkland, who was an Academy nominee in the late 1980s' and a year later from acclaimed Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann. Their interest made me think of  a bigger movie,maybe even one where everyone got paid!  

But what ultimately got me motivated was a hat-trick of circumstances; my 85-year old mother's  near passing away, a dry spell of creativity for me, and a talented and energetic director named Shirley Petchprapa.  My mother recovered fully and Shirley wanted to direct Travel Day as, by this time, I really wanted someone else to direct it and she was perfect for the job.  

So finally I had run out of excuses as there was more incentive to make Travel Day, now supported by two great actresses and a smart director. I now had the chance to make another film like I had done in the past. Once again, I would be the producer and the weight of the production would fall on me. 

And make that kid in the picture with the truck realize his dream again.

Coming next; we begin the process of film development.

Blog 1: Making Movies the Hard Way

To begin with, I was pretty apprehensive about starting a blog on how I plan to make a movie. Samuel French has dozens of books just on this subject (right next to the hundreds of books on screenwriting) and what could I possibly add.?

But I wanted to share the ups and downs of looking for money for a movie and figured that this might be the best place to do that. Some people might get a kick out of it, some might not care, others might find a little encouragement.I’m not an Academy winner or flavor of the month (although a short I filmed and co-produced made it to the Academy finalist list) rather, I’m a working writer, producer and director like so many others.

The blood of this industry.

The reason for this blog comes from several places and all are connected to one, the world of movie-making. I invite you to follow the process from screenplay to the development and funding and, hopefully, to the production itself. I wanted to call the blog Making Movies the Hard Way because, put simply, there is no easy way. Ever.

Along with the business, technical and artistic sides, I will also talk about the people; the talented, the untalented, the crazy ones and the rare angels and saints. And since I have been in this process more than once in my 30-plus years in the business, my friends assured me I could keep you entertained.

Easy to say for them, they get to watch me run and fall and get up and fall again in one of the worst recessions in a long time. I will post new blogs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and anytime if something good comes up like someone writes me a check for $400,000, or maybe $50.

So hopefully you’ll stick with me until the end, wherein I actually get it made. If I get it made. And that’s a hell of a big “IF”.

You know the odds.