News writer Ed Fletcher turns eye toward film

One should always have a bio ready for job they want. But I'd neglected one for film. After all, what am I going to say "I attend the CFAA screenwriters group monthly." That's true, mostly.

So while I've been steadily trying to convert creative ideas into action, I hadn't written a film bio. It's funny the things to fear.

Some months ago I agreed to host a school film forum. So when my contact (a teacher) messages me Saturday asking for a bio and reel of my work I finally had a deadline I couldn't shrug off. The highlight reel is above. The narrative film projects included are "Dance Step of Death" (2012) "Goldie" (2014) "Le Chapeau Genial" (2016) and "Save Quentin" (2016). It also including some of my work as a swashbuckling video reporter. Here's my film bio raft:  

Longtime Sacramento Bee reporter Ed Fletcher looks to follow a long line of journalists to transition into writing for film. Unlike many developing screenwriters, Ed has the fortitude, drive, and collaborative skills to bring those stories to the screen.As a writer and producer, Fletcher is not one to be typecast. His projects have tackled zombie outbreaks, gender identity, adolescent yearnings, mascot abduction, and free expression.His 2016 short film "Le chapeau génial" received an award of distinction at the 2016 Sacramento International Film Festival. Fletcher's most recent completed project was a transmedia narrative "Save Quentin" that used social media, television, and radio to chronicle the abduction and rescue of local non-profit's mascot. Fletcher's creative exploration has included performing improv and standup comedy as well as attending the Burning Man counterculture festival annually.  He's an active member of the community and serves on the local community cable channel board of directors. After growing up in Sacramento's suburbs, he attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He returned to Sacramento in 2000 as a staff writer at The Bee.

Fashion short film happy detour from feature project

In my perfect world, I'd be an idea man.
I'd dream up applications, inventions,  movies and a team of engineers, scientists, planners and artisans would execute the plan.
The closest I ever came was when I mused about putting our female high school principal's head on playboy spread's body and a classmate brilliantly executed that idea in an era before photoshop. (But I digress. )
The point is I get a lot of ideas.
And with my "you can't do that filter" set to "off," I tell myself I can do a lot of things.
Time and money define my limits.
New to this world of "yes, you can" my natural tendency is to flit. Start a script, begin a project, plan a revolution.
(But) Success isn't the number of ideas you hatch, it's the number that survives.
It's dogged determination (and positive encouragement) that have got me this far with my film project and script "Pink."
But at the same time bring an evolved artist means knowing how to juggle. Using other parts of the brain is helpful. So is thinking about another work. Sometimes a short project is just the distraction that shakes the mind into seeing the evasive solution to your original story.
So it was with that I launched "le chapeau genial."
You can hardly tell by looking at me, but I've never been into fashion.
Several years ago, I left a film mixer determined to come up with a viable idea for "Fashion on Film," an exhibit of films created through the California Film Foundation for Sacramento Fashion Week.
I can't remember exactly how the idea hit me, but I remember it being clear. Based on a story my dad Joseph Fletcher told me, the script wrote itself.
Then it sat for multiple years.
As this year's "Fashion on Film" approached, I had plenty of reason to let it go, again.  I'm in the middle of a rewrite. I couldn't find fashion partner. We got a late start. We had no budget, couldn't get key prop, the location fell through and snowstorm came rolling in.
But there were plenty of good reasons to do it.
Fashion week would/will provide another opportunity to seek support for the feature film.
On a more personal level, it would provide an opportunity to do something suitable for my two school age nieces to see -- something I can't say about earlier projects.  It would also feel good to do it for my dad. He's a storyteller. Sometimes a long and meandering storyteller. I'm listening, Pop.
Several times in the one-week preproduction, I thought "well this is when we quit." I'm not sure if director DQ Hayes thought the same thing. But he didn't say it. And I didn't say it. And we just kept putting our head down and finding solutions.
A storm Friday dropped heavy rain in the valley and snow in the mountains. But by 8:30 a.m. Saturday I-80 was clear and our caravan of parents and crew arrived in Soda Springs without incident.
The shoot went great and we even had some time for sledding afterward.
Le chapeau génial is expected to screen Feb. 24 during Sacramento Fashion Week. It features fashion from Girly Sparkles & Handsom Shop and stars Alexandria Williams.
"Le chapeau génial" (the funky hat) tells the story of a little girl who decides the hat her mother wants her to wear isn't cool.

New tools allow screenwriters to pitch from home

Sites take the travel out of pitching film, television

In Hollywood, like most industries, it's about who you know.  That gives people living and toiling in LA a huge advantage over people living elsewhere.

Since most agents won't take submissions, most connections come via a friend-of-a-friend (as so I'm told). To give folks like me access  (and to take our money) the pitchfest was born.

Fade In's Hollywood Pitch Festival and Scriptfest.com are two of the larger ones. The Hollywood Pitch Festival is July 24-26 in Los Angeles. A three-day pass costs $495. The 2015 Scriptfest was May 29-31 in Burbank, with tickets ranging from $300 to $750.

Each pitchfest is a little different, but most involve standing in a hotel ballroom trying to make small talk as you wait your turn to talk to your chosen film exec. All told, you're looking at spending $800 for a day of workshops and five minutes with eight agents, managers or production company execs.

I'm not passing judgment on whether that's a good value, I haven't been to either of those events. They might be worth it for the seminars and networking alone. But in that the information age there are new routes to get your film or television pitch before Hollywood types.

Here are three at to get your pitch to Hollywood:

Virtual Pitchfest 

Virtual Pitchfest allows users to pay to submit a query letter to selected Hollywood agents, managers, and production companies. The cost is $10 a pop, lower if you're buying in bulk. The service guarantees a response within five days.

Greenlight My Movie

Greenlight My Movie allows users to submit a completed short, a recorded pitch or a synopsis to selected agents, managers, and production companies. The cost is $29.95. Most responses come within 14 days according to the service.

Stage 32/Happywriters 

Stage 32 is a multifaceted social network for the world film community, so virtual pitch sessions are just part of what they do.  Stage 32 pitch sessions are sporadically held opportunities to engage in a live video chat with a specific film professional. The 8 minute skype session costs $45 but comes with the added benefit of live feedback without having to fly to Los Angeles.

Sacramento film project in the media, party Friday

 'Tower' guitar finds home 

Ed Fletcher snags one-of-a-kind guitar

Pink screenwriter went from a party spectator to celebrity after he snagged the "Tower Records" Gibson Les Paul Guitar at a post-screening auction. The one-of-a-kind guitar is signed by Tower founder Russ Solomon and "All Things Must Pass" filmmakers Colin Hanks and Sean Stuart. Proceeds benefit the Tower Records Project. 

Party for Pink set for Friday

Film community, supporters, public invited 

Join us for an exciting night of music, dance and comedy at Party for "Pink" May 1 atVega's Underground in Old Sacramento.
It's an opportunity to share the path we're on with the public and Sacramento International Film Festival attendees. The night will include music from '70s rock cover band Lane 5, period burlesque performances from  Sugar Cane Cheeks and Vivienne Fuego of The Golden Poppy Revue and comedy from Diane Hong. The fun starts at 9 p.m.

Pink in the media

Digital-first strategy takes process to the people 

So many great things happening lately, the media department can hardly keep up. Since our strategy is to talk "Pink" into existence, I'm more than happy to share the process with anyone who will listen. Three great media hits this week:

• Fellow writer/reporter Rich Ehisen published an inciteful Q & A. He and I talk about how the writing process, film-making, and of course Pink.
• I sat down with the Junior and Leo Show Podcast talk about everything from how I got into the project to our digital-first strategy. We even talked a little about the news game and new media.
• Finally, a piece I wrote explaining why the Sacramento film community should be rooting for the web series "Rellik." 

Online support can 'like' projects into existence

Film maker asks Sacramento community to like, share and support project

"While the tools to create content is easier to obtain than ever, it’s also harder than ever for worthy smartphone applications, music, movies, or ebooks to get noticed. And yet it’s also easier than ever to give our neighbor a hand with a like, comment, share or thumbs up. Better yet a review." 

By Ed Fletcher
In the days of yore, when guy was building a house or raising a barn he’d cut the beams, buy the nails and level the ground by himself, but the time would come that he’d need his friends and neighbors help hoisting the beams and shit.

The community would come together to help out a member in need.  We don’t do that these days. We’ll help a neighbor if they’re getting a TV backyard makeover, but we hide when our neighbors
have a pile of rocks delivered.

The rise of crowdfunding runs counter to that. In the ideal, people give because they want to see good ideas succeed. Thousands of worthy projects are funded each year through the generosity of others.

Indeed, in this age of social media, email and online wallets, helping people has never been easier. “Likes,” retweets and shares are a form of digital currency that lift projects from heap of digital content produced daily. Without the transaction of money, a message goes from being seen by 50 people to 5000 (I’m making up numbers) with the ease of a mouse click.

I believe I have a project worthy of a digital barn raising. A project that could both put Sacramento on the map and make a serious statement about free expression. I’m asking for the Sacramento community to set me on the path to producing my dramatic comedy screenplay “Pink.”

Based on a real Sacramento 1969 case, Pink tells the story of a free-speech loving exotic dancer who battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to prove her “bottomless” dance is art worthy of protection. Think “American Hustle” meets “People vs “Larry Flynt.”

I know what you’re thinking, “Cool idea, but Sacramento doesn’t know anything about making movies. Call Joe Carnahan.” I have. And I will again. I’m open to any connections my network might provide.

But the point of this post is to inspire, cajoe, woo you into helping my build my a base of support that will tell investors that this idea has resonance.

I’m asking Sacramento to prime the pump. The growing school of thought suggests social media marketing is the most effective way to sell a movie. Further, smart filmmakers will by developing a digital audience from conception, take fans along for the filmmaking process and  simultaneously prove to investors the viability of the film.

While the tools to create content is easier to obtain than ever, it’s also harder than ever for worthy smartphone applications, music, movies, or ebooks to get noticed. And yet it’s also easier than ever to give our neighbor a hand with a like, comment, share or thumbs up. Better yet a review.

Think how much better off the Sacramento tech community would be if gave worthy apps the two minutes it takes to write a review for the app store. Think how much livelier our writing community could be if we reviewed their ebooks.

I’ve watched with a mixture of pride, joy and envy at community efforts to support tech startups and downtown retail businesses. Why can’t we do that with film? I’ve wondered.

This is me opening up my arms and saying: embrace me, this idea, and let's run with it. I’m open to investors, partners, backers, cheerleaders, digital strike force members or contributing in any multitude of mutually agreeable ways.

I'm thankful for the advice and support I've received to that point, but I want more.

I’d love help with strategy, marketing, publicity, media creation, social media.

Together we can make this happen Sacramento.

13 Things I think I learned at Santa Rosa Story Expo

Committed to keeping my foot on the gas in turning my screenplay Pink into a feature film, I attended three-day weekend storytellers expo in Santa Rosa.
What the Storytellers Expo lacked in star power, communication and polish, it made up for in intimacy. There is not one reason any attendee should have left feeling like their questions were not answered by real writers, publishers, script consultants, or producers.
It's wasn't cheap, but you'd pay four times that much for the same offerings online.
The following are 13 thoughts, lessons or reflections from the two days of classes and day of pitching Pink at Storytellers Expo produced by the Santa Rosa-based "Northern California Writers" group:

1. The Sacramento film community would be smart to shift some instruction towards writing for television and web series. 
2. Breakdown episodes of television shows I liked, then follow the formula to write a spec episode.  
3. I'm well ahead of the curve in term of branding, social media and the business of film.
4. Re-read/edit scripts with different lenses: think like director, actor, producer
5. People love the true story/premise of Pink.
6. Write your first logline at the idea stage. 
7. Thanks for the instruction on how to write a film query letters, but what's the point if agents don't read them? 
8. Tension = hope v. fear.
9. Seek rising and falling tension through each mini movie. 
10. Author Dale Brown spent a lot of time in Sacramento and is a nice dude.
11. Practice funny by jotting down one funny thing a day. 
12. In packaging start with directors and talent with production companies.
13. In seeking agents and production partners, look to those judging screenplay contests, those are the people open to finding material in unusual places. 

When Sunday's pitch session came, I was at ease and confident. Participants stood in line for five minutes of one-on-one time with the assorted (8) book and film experts.
Making the best of meetings means setting reasonable expectations of learning something, building rapport, and achieving a small "ask."
And while I wish script consultants would use their connections more liberally to help non-clients,  I totally understand the folly of their ways. All of the pitch recipients were willing active listeners who surely would have benefited those at the early stages or those with a polished project.
Now time to email Pink to a Los Angeles studio.

Burlesque legend Angel Walker talks taking it off

Burlesque Legend Angel Walker, better known as Satan's Angel, has lived such an incredible life that hours into a conversation she still finds new ways to shock you.
From San Francisco's North Beach to the world's stage, her story is the subject of the documentary "Satan's Angel: The Queen of Fire Tassels."
In hopes of better understanding my screenplay "Pink" and Orangevale's "Pink Pussy Kat," I reached out to Ms. Walker.
The result was a delightful conversation about burlesque, go-go, striptease and exotic dancing in the late 60s and early 70s.
She could not tell me much about the Pink Pussy Kat or the dancer at the center of the trial Susanne Haines, but that's not to say there wasn't much to learn from that unguarded spark plug of a woman. Here's a piece of our conversation:

Film research trip ends exotic avoidance

I wonder sometimes what people think about a guy who would devote years of his life writing a screenplay and producing a movie about a strip club.
 "Some big perv."
Fact is, until last night, I hadn't been to a strip club for at least five years -- including the entire time writing "Pink."
For those new to the blog, "Pink" is my sexy dramatic comedy about Sacramento's 1969 "bottomless" stripper trial. The indecency trial became a national story when the judge decided in order for the jury to determine whether the dance violated community standards they'd have to see it. The girls won the trial but the government changed the law making it a health code violation to consume alcoholic beverages in establishments that allow full nudity.
So what's a guy who doesn't care for spending money on exotic dancers doing writing a screenplay about exotic dancers? The short answer is because it a local story that needed to be told. When you strip everything else away its a story about free expression dressed up in late 60s attire.
Think "American Hustle" meets "People vs. Larry Flynt."
Most of my research came from old fraying newspaper clips. I didn’t set out to write a strip club screenplay. It started as a short term project and has steadily grown.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude (though "Blue Lagon" was too much for me went I saw it as a boy). I’ve been to strip clubs and enjoy seeing women naked as much as the next guy, probably a little more. The bulk of my strip club experience came from Bourbon Street excursions during college and the rush of bachelor parties one endures in their early 30s.
But I could never justify expending money on the experience.
More than the money, the transactional relationship bothers me.
While I firmly believe performers should have the right to dance naked in exchange for money, I much prefer nudity without compensation.
Pink can be a beautiful movie that makes audiences laugh, causes a modest arousal, says something about art, freedom and culture -- and makes money.
So for the sake of research I, joined by a female friend, went to Gold Club Centerfolds. After an absence of half a decade, the adult establishment seemed remarkably the same in all its soft skin and curvaceous glory.
I'll spare you the details (good and bad) other than to note I drank hot tea, a legacy of the "Pink Pussy Kat" decision.

Taking script notes from strangers

Request for opening pages of script triggers rewriting rush

For an unpublished screenwriter: "Is it done?" is the question that looms, never quite answered.
I've spent months cautiously getting feedback from progressively critical/expert sources. In the last year,  to prepare "Pink" for the prime time its undergone four official rewrites, been table read with real actors twice and workshopped by my screenwriter's group.

But even as I shook a man's hand assuring him, "It's ready" during my time at AFM, I knew I wasn't sure.

Screenwriter Ed Fletcher

I don't think I'll ever be sure until a Hollywood player says: "I'll make that movie with you."

For those new to this blog, I'm talking about my feature length dramatic comedy "Pink," which is based on a 1969 strip club indecency trial.

In my fantasy version of my "How it Happened Story," I befriend a Hollywood white knight. My aging B-player would then introduce me to the right people -- an agent, a business-minded money guy and a gal to get me to all the right parties.

That hasn't happened yet. Instead, I've turned to strangers for screenwriting advice. Not street-corner strangers, rather the screenwriting contest feedback stranger.

For an extra fee, many screenwriting contests will provide detailed feedback. The catch is you're not given any information about the source of the feedback.

Script feedback emails are something you sit down for.

The words can send you into a funk or to the moon with excitement. Since January, I've received notes from the Screencraft Fellowship, Beverly Hill Screenplay Contest, BlueCat Screenwriting Contest and The Blacklist.

Three of the emails sent me into a full-day of happy dancing.

One, I could barely finish. I set it aside with the others for processing once there were time and enough data decide what needed to be done. I've considered hiring a script consultant, but kept putting it off out of a combination of poverty, pride, naivete and indecision.

The feedback notes come weeks or even months before the final decision on contest winners are announced. Awaiting the results of the contest was a good enough reason as any to procrastinate on addressing issues raised by the mysterious readers. If Pink placed, I'd soon have plenty of real people asking to read it, I had decided.

But then the email.

On Friday, a major independent film player, responding to my pitch submission, asked to read the first 10 pages. I didn't think much of Greenlightmymovie.com. For $30 a pop, film or television writers can send a video to Hollywood studios and talent management companies. I skeptically bought three submissions in late January. The first rejection came within three hours of submission. The third company has yet to respond.

The email asking for the pages was a lovely am inbox surprise. I sent off the pages as quick as my fingers could carry me. Then I promptly told the world. Each like of the facebook post was like a warm welcoming pat on my shoulder.

But then came Saturday. Saturday is when I decided as soon as Monday the company could ask for the full script and by the end of the day my script could be in the hands of the pre-screening intern.
My fate my soon by in the hands of a junior employee hoping to impress his or her boss with their keen discerning eye.

Suddenly, now was the time to settle into the chair and ignore social media long enough to re-acquire the characters voices, get back into screenwriter mode and fix any obvious issues. As I poured over each word of their analysis, I struggled to picture the author in my head. Are they old, young? Do I listen to the more critical voice or say forget her? Why do I even think it is her? (cus I'm sexist.)

Sunday, my wave of panicked self-doubt subsided.

No art is perfect and while surely the story and the script will continue to be refined, I'm confident it's close enough warrant collaboration toward a shared vision.

The Monday agenda: hire a script consultant.

Learning to produce(r) on the job

I'm all about supporting the Sacramento film community so I was happy to offer a guest blog post to our friends at California Film Foundation. I'm also an active member of the Capitol Film Arts Alliance. Here a preview of the CFF post:

There was a time in the not too distant past where I would have been happy to sell my screenplay “Pink” for a reasonable price and crossed my fingers in hopes the studio would actually make the movie.Those days are now gone. After attending American Film Market in Santa Monica this November, I’m convinced that I want to be part of the critical decision making process that takes the script and transforms it into living breathing art. Who directs, who stars and the budget are just a handful of the decisions that can turn a good script into a shitty movie or turn a great script into a timeless work of art. Read the full post. 

10 Things I Learned from American Film Market

Screenwriter and producer Ed Fletcher delivers his pitch for "Pink" at the 2014 American Film Market as pitch expert and forum moderator Stephanie Palmer looks on.

By Ed Fletcher

Armed with a stack of business cards, some new pink ties and a four-day pass ($500), I recently attended American Film Market in Santa Monica, one of the world’s largest film markets, to develop or sell my screenplay Pink. For more information on Pink, a sexy dramatic comedy based on Sacramento’s 1969 bottomless stripper trial, read my blog or find us on Facebook. What follows is a rundown of things I learned or reconfirmed from attending American Film Market for the first time and as someone new to film.

1. Hollywood is not about openness or inclusion. It’s a meritocracy based on your ability to make them money. That’s not an indictment, just real talk.
2. In the film world there are creative types and business types. AFM is more for the business types. It ain’t called a market for nothing.
3. There is little demand for comedies, dramas, sports movies or urban movies overseas. As a result, there are an exorbitant number of low budget thrillers, action movies and beast/zombie movies being made and marketed. 
4. Getting on stage at the Pitch Conference can make you interesting to all the other filmmakers in the room, but since heavy hitters were in the their temporary sales offices blocks away, you’re still a nobody to them. 
5. Just because somebody retweets you doesn’t mean you’re somebody to them.  
6. Having a good pitch is one thing, but have it packaged (name director or talent signed on) and you’re cookin’. I wasn’t cooking.
7. Wearing a Pink tie everyday was a great idea. Who forgets the Black guy, wearing a pink tie, and talking about a screenplay named Pink?  
8. Cell phones are a security blanket for people afraid to be alone. It’s hard to spark up a conversation when people are checking their security blanket.
9. The Producer Forums are popular: Get there early. Disregard this if you have a confirmed “producers” credit and can skip the line. 
10. Despite the new ways to network through social media, nothing beats spending time in the lobby bar in terms of making connections.

The event offers a bevy of high level forums on the film business.

The rooms of two Santa Monica hotels are turned into temporary film offices.

Ed Fletcher posing for a picture at American Film Market 2014.

Time to Say "Geronimo" and Take Film Leap

When I was a little kid and even into adolescence, I loved to take risks.
In those days of perfect knees, I jumped from roofs, moving trucks and once from one moving speed boat to another. I thought nothing of taking a ski jump within weeks of learning to ski.
Like most people, as the years moved along I found myself taking fewer risks.
I ski with the goal of not falling. I keep the cruise control set at 75 mph as to not get a ticket. And I’ve sought comfort in my work environment.
On one hand, comfort and safety is a beautiful thing in this troubled economic climate. But on the other hand, it can be constricting and confining when your heart wants to soar.

Illustration by Val Mina

The instability of the journalism industry pushed me to do something I should have been doing all along: taking risks.
A three years, ago I started screenwriting and performing improv. Two days before my 40th birthday I hosted a comedy show and performed stand up.
Now I’m on my way to Santa Monica for the American Film Market conference in hopes of selling my screenplay or packaging it as an independent film.
Here's the logline for those new to this blog: A free-speech loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to prove her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy dramatic comedy based on a real 1969 case.
I’m characterizing it as a risk, but is it really?
Based on my submitted video pitch, I’ll already by pitching the script during the pitch session, so at worst I bomb the pitch, but salvage the weekend by taking notes at some very valuable forums and meeting a distributor interested in the film once its a completed.
But how likely is that? I’ve been a rally commissioner, scout camp leader, improv performer, television host, stand up comedian, and “the Voice” at Burning Man.
The upside: I nail the pitch, meet Jennifer Lawrence’s agent Jeremy Plager in the lobby bar, we get hammered, end up back at her place, she challenges to a beer chugging contest, loses and agrees to star in my film.
Here is to taking risks that arn’t too risky.

Like Pink Film on Facebook and follow @edfletcher on twitter for reports from the road. Hell I might even Instagram some famous people if my battery survives. 

Film about exotic dance trial needs an image

Which of these three are best represent "Pink?"

Having never been a screenwriter before maybe I don’t know any better, but when I finish something I burn to see it made. That’s the point, right.

With that in mind I’m going to American Film Market in Santa Monica Nov. 5-12 to sell or develop my feature screenplay “Pink.”

Logline: A free-speech-loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to convince a jury that her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy courtroom comedy based on an actual 1969 case.

Here’s where you come in. The super talented graphic artist Val Mina has offered up three great ideas for an illustration. The illustration will be used on the web, but most importantly right now will be the image on our “leave behind” materials given to distributors, agents, producers, money men, casting directors and the like.

1. In one the judge's robes become the theater curtains, as a girl dances on stage.
2. Instead of lady justice we have a judge peeking under the blindfold to get peek at the lady dancing on one of the scales.
3. Classic. On possible variation would be to have sheriff between the legs rather than the judge.

Give us your thoughts.

I had previously begun laying the groundwork for a photo shoot and video tease also be used to market the film, but in the interest of time that will wait until after November. Thanks again for your support in this endeavor.

Getting script to Hollywood a challenge

Getting a script to Hollywood is harder than one might think.

By Hollywood I mean anyone that matters in the Los Angeles film making industry. Technically, you just mail it or email it there right? Wrong. You first have to get someone to accept it. Sending it unrequested is considered very bad form. So task one is getting someone to agree to read it.

The problem is the people at the big studios don’t accept unsolicited screenplays. So even if you scoop an agent’s email address off IMDBpro you’ll often told to politely to buzz off. At this point, I’ve only sent off a handful of emails to agent types.

The traditional, a-be-it longshot, means to get the script to Hollywood is through an agent or through winning in screenwriting competition. I’ve entered several screenwriting contests and will bring readers up to date on that soon.

In addition to stocking agents, I’m compiling lists directors, producers and actors who might be right for the movie. Of course, I started with people who’ve done stuff I like.

I’m not going after the titans of the industry but people who have done something that was really good but weren’t blockbusters. The thinking is maybe the right project, my film Pink, we could make a blockbuster.

By any respect, I’ve only just begun.

Some screenwriter/bloggers talk about strafing the landscape with hundreds of emails in hopes of nibbles. Am I cocky or arrogant or just dumb for thinking I don’t want some “B” list director messing up my film. Shit, I’m not even a “D” list screenwriter. I should be happy that the team from “Step Up: Volume Six” want to option my screenplay. Not that they do or there is even such a movie yet.

You email and wait. There is lots of waiting at this stage of the game. Part of me want to start writing other projects I have stirring in my brain, but I’m afraid if I stop giving Pink my full attention it will die an unceremonious death.

The waiting is maddening. I try to be cool about it. But it quietly burns at ya. You spent months of your life breathing life into this story now you desperately want someone else to care about it as much as you.

I’m trying to take advantage of whatever personal relationships I have that could help my get it to Hollywood. But even when your script is coming recommended it doesn’t mean that person has time to read it right away. The people in a position to make your movie are already making a movies so they have very little time.

I’m told myself repeatedly to stop worrying about it until after Burning Man. If you’re unfamiliar with Burning Man read this, (I don’t want to get side tracked during this post).

But try as I might I keep thinking there is more to be done. Another seed to plant before the desert. I’ve love to find myself smoking a peace pipe with Wes Anderson or some other big time director, but you can’t approach Burning Man with an agenda. It will provide what it will provide.  

Short of manifesting funding, a cast or a viable director while at Burning Man, my plan once I return to civilization is to seek out the people on the fringe of Hollywood. People who might not be able to greenlight a project, but whom producers with the means of making thing happen listen when they say “you ought to read this.”

I’m open to crowdsourcing the development of this project. If you’ve got connections, strategies of ideas feel free to share them in the comments at email me at majorfletcher (at) gmail.com.

30 minutes a day to success

Thirty minutes a day.

That is my challenge. 

No, not exercising silly. 

Film hustling.

That's my big takeaway from Gary W. Goldstein's book "Conquering Hollywood:" If you want to go from being a good screenwriter to being a successful screenwriter, spend 30 minutes a day networking and building relationships with people that can help you be a Hollywood success.

The book -- which I did as an audio book -- assumes you're already a polished screenwriter. That's a huge assumption, but as he points out there are plenty of books about the craft of writing. His book is about the behaviors and techniques needed to be a successful Hollywood screenwriter.  

It deals with networking, creating a database of people you want to meet, cataloging contacts, pitching a movie, working a room and building relationships. But if you forget everything else and just enacted his 30 minute suggestion you'd be well on your way. 

The pessimist would say, "I'm not in Hollywood so how can I meet people at Hollywood parties."

I'd love to be eating cocktail weenies with Denzel and Hallie too, but it doesn't mean you can't start until you get there. 

To get from here to there, you join the local professional organizations, attend the local film festivals, yes both, you use social media as a networking tool, you attend conferences and when your film marketing tools are sharpened you to reach out to the agents, producers and managers in a position to help your career along.  

For me this focused on my goal of seeing "Pink" playing on movie screens across the country and beyond. 

Logline: A free-speech-loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to convince a jury that her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy courtroom dramatic comedy based on an actual 1969 case.

If seeing it to be big screen is the mountain before me, I've reached a fast moving river to be traversed before the serious climbing begins.

It's the "Is It Done Yet" Phase. 

I've work-shopped it with my CFAA screenwriting group, I've fanangled a table read, I've sought input from locals who have experience in screenwriting. 

I'm now considering whether I should seek professional "coverage." Coverage are notes provided by people who used to be a front line script screener for production companies. They read your script and tell you what to fix. It seems like a bit of a crap shoot to me. How do I know my reader and I like the same movies? But the big question I suppose is: It this good enough that you'd send it to your boss.

What one doesn't want is to burn bridges with Hollywood types because you're sending out a script that doesn't meet an acceptable level. When studios pass on your script they are not going to send you a nice note explaining why.

That is where the script consultants come in. So is $300 a reasonable expense? 

Another other way to determine whether people think your script is any good is to submit and win scriptwriting contests. 

To that end, I entered the International Screenwriter's Association's "Emerging Screenwriters" Contest and and Cinequest Film Festival's screenwriting contest.

I won't be waiting idly by waiting for the results, but do wish me luck.

   

Five more drafts: You must be crazy

"Five more drafts? Are you kidding me?"
That's what I'm saying in my mind as I get notes on "Pink," my first feature length screenplay.
I'm already thinking about pitching Hollywood types and he says five more drafts. An array of emotions rush through me: disregard the notes, you'll never finish, I guess I'll stay in debt a little longer.
I bite my tongue.
" 'Little Miss Sunshine' went through 99 drafts," I'm told as encouragement.
Why does everyone know that? It's meant to help writers through the slogs of rewrites, edits and updates, but to me its just depressing.
Clearly, I've never been through anything like this.
My last page 1 story for the newspaper changed little before publication.
Five more drafts, really.
Does that mean I won't be done in time for "Pitch Fest" at the Screenwriters World Conference in August?
Unless you've got a well-connected agent, doing what I'm attempting to do requires not only a great script, but the marketing moxie to get it into people's hands. There is no point in writing a killer script, if nobody is going to see it. As such, in the weeks of lag time while I've been waiting for feedback on my masterpiece version 4, I put on my producers cap and started percolating marketing ideas, talking to potential investors and putting things in motion.
The Sunday evening conversation capped what had already been a huge week for Pink.
On Monday, evening a group of 15 actors read the script aloud (a table read) to help me listen to the story to see what working and what's not.
Then on Tuesday, the CFAA advanced writers group "workshopped" the script dissecting it for character development, flow, engagement, clarity, the whole nine-yards.
Both of these processes are well worth your time, for anyone who thinks they have a completed script.
I left both of those engagements with substantial notes on areas the script could improve but also the reassurance we're on the right path.
Let me not leave the impression the CFAA notes were all roses either. They offered serious reasoned notes, but suggested there was significant work to be done.
By Thursday, I've processed those notes and had some idea of what needed to be done.
But Sunday, I was like the hiker who just realized there are a more switch backs and a stream to traverse before the mountain assent begins.
Sometimes its hard to find the traction I need. Here is the partial blog post I started Wednesday:

The road before me is enormous.
So enormous sometimes its hard to know what to do first.
Should I spend time on the script tonight? Should I have gone to The Comedy Spot to watch my old Harold improv performers? Should I get back to the marketing/business plan?
For the record, home from work, I spent an hour flipping around between EPSN, Anthony Bourdain's Part Unknown, and a brief stop to see what's on Access Sacramento before spending a good hour and half re-reading "Producer-to-Producer" by Maureen Ryan.
Now, here I am writing a blog post. 

After the phone call Sunday I was trapped in a vortex. I wanted to think about something else, but Pink, the notes and what comes next was all I could think about. I watched "Olympus Has Fallen" to cleanse my mind. Still not ready to move on I watched "Lovelace," the biopic on "Deep Throat" actress Linda Lovelace. I didn't love how they told the story but it's a powerful and enjoyable film. Like Pink, Lovelace is a sexy period piece that says a lot about repression. After looking up its box officer numbers, I added it to my list of comparable movies.
That night as I lied down for bed trying not to think about my film, the answers in forms of new scenes that play to the same theme and bring the secondary characters into tighter focus jumped into my head and started dancing.
Fuck five rewrites. I can do this in three.  

Spec script no longer king in Hollywood, but not only route to success

I have to admit I have visions of sugar plumbs dancing in my head.

Here I am with a script still in the revision mode and I'm thinking about what a reasonable offer from a Hollywood studio would be. Having read (or listened to) Joe Eszterhas' book "Hollywood Animal," I figured might have a distorted view of the spec market. Esterhas went from journalist to one of the hottest writers in Hollywood mostly by selling spec scripts like Basic Instinct. He fetched $2 million for Showgirls.

This informative 2013 Vanity Fair article chronicles the ups and downs of the spec script market. A speculative script is the work of a screenwriter telling an original story not commissioned by a studio. The cold hard fact is the very few sell. According to the article, 119 were sold in 2011 followed by 96 sold in 2012.

Here is a pretty clear explanation why studios have gravitated towards tested products with built-in audiences. 

The new math isn’t complicated: pay a screenwriter $1 million for an untested, unknown idea or squeeze a movie out of an existing product with built-in branding. As a result, “developing from I.P.”—intellectual property, i.e., books, comics, video games, old movies, TV series, toys—“has become de rigueur rather than waiting for a spec to come in,” says Langley. “The focus shifted from original ideas to hedging your bets,” notes Moore. Or, as Shane Black says, “there’s only the careful choice of a product that goes through committee. It’s: how can we make movies that we absolutely know won’t lose any money?” As it happens, Black is currently directing the third installment of the billion-dollar Iron Man franchise, due for release this spring. Read the full article. 

It's the kinda thing that might drive someone towards sharp objects, but I give it no mind. The article focus on the major studios. What it doesn't address is the ability of indie producers to circumvent the studios. Developments in that realm give me the confidence my little screenplay will eventually light up movie screens even if those screens happen to fit in your pocket.