“Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”
∼ Albert Einstein
“Under the Rising Sun” was named the Grand Prize Winner of the Creative World Awards International Screenplay Competition in Los Angeles, California. CWA was voted as one of the top 3 most significant contests from Moviebytes.com, and winning screenplays are circulated to top agencies, film studios, managers, producers, and international financers looking for their next project and writer. Additionally, CWA has secured an unprecedented amount of commitments from prominent companies to take first looks at their top winners.
Our local Borders store is going out of business, so I thought I’d peruse the books and see what I could snag for a good price. Lo and behold, I see a book I’ve been wanting to add to my screenwriting library for some time now and just haven’t gotten around to it. It’s Robert McKee’s book “Story.”
McKee is the consumate screenwriting teacher. His emphasis is on form, not formula. He resonates with me.
I’m loving this book.
A screenwriting teacher asked his students, “If you could describe your screenplay in one word, what word would it be?”
Several students offered several answers. He listened to them all, but shook his head.
“I’ll make it easier for you. There is really only one word that SHOULD describe your screenplay. And it doesn’t matter what genre it is. Name it and the next movie you go to see will be on me.”
Again, several answers, and again, he shook his head at each one.
Finally, a young woman raised her hand.
“Conflict?” she said.
The teacher handed her a gift certificate to the local theater.
“Enjoy your movie.”
Changing gears on my latest screenplay “Precipice.” I’m taking a different approach to the story that I didn’t think of in the first draft, and it’s making a big difference – my main character is more sympathetic, the story is tighter, more engaging, with plot points that build in a way that makes it work more cinematically.
This is proving to be a very fun script to write.
Developing those characters. Nailing those plot points. Finding that “sweet spot” when everything is finally clicking.
And knowing full well… you’ll likely rewrite the whole thing later.
It’s a crazy love/hate relationship. But writers get hooked on it, and with good reason. Rewriting is our lifeblood. We either accept it as a necessary reality of our craft, or we end up going by the wayside of those who simply gave up.
We, the writers. The crazy kooks that bind ourselves to that keyboard, hours on end, somehow managing to produce from it a living, breathing, confused, heroic world. And knowing fully that the odds of getting our work produced is about equal to a lottery win, yet still we write.
And write. And write some more.
Michael’s screenplay “Under the Rising Sun,” adapted from his book “Through My Mother’s Eyes,” was among the top three winners of the 2010 Los Angeles International Film Festival screenplay competition on Friday, July 23rd in Los Angeles, California.
Michael’s screenplay “Under the Rising Sun,” adapted from his book “Through My Mother’s Eyes,” was declared the winner of the 2010 Northern California Screenwriters & Filmmakers Expo Script Competition on Sunday, March 28th at the Northern California Screenwriters & Filmmakers Expo at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California!
