As a copywriter trying to transition into a more creative professional writer, I think it’ll do me – and hopefully my readers – some good if I keep track of my current projects. This idea came to mind when a friend of mine, who I’m possibly collaborating with, reminded me that I need to get a move on with reading this dreadful book so that we can decide if it has movie potential. Ah yes, there’s nothing like ripping off books that are out of copyright for material.
So, here’s what I’m looking at so far (unfortunately, I can’t be too descriptive about the projects until they’re closer to being done and/or picked up), in no particular order:
- One Day: This is a pet project I’m working on with my cousin. It’s just going to be a five minute short, which we’re using to establish a core group of dedicated filmmakers we know we can work with. It’s also going to be our calling card to attract investors for bigger projects. Where I’m At: Well, since I have no real world experience making films, nor does my cousin, we’re still putting together our resources. The script is complete. The actual production part is proving to be harder. We stalled out a bit there since he was really busy with deadlines and I was busy trying to find funding. Currently, we’ve decided to just go for it and plunge into the deep end, filming guerrilla-style. Yes, it could turn out like garbage, but we’re willing to take that risk.
- Two Eyes: This one’s a semi-autobiographical screenplay. See, it’s autobiographical, making it a Bio-Pic. Bio-Pic? Biopic? Two eyes? Yeah, I could come up with convoluted code names for my projects all day! Where I’m At: The screenplay is very much in outline form still. Actually, I don’t even think it’s that far along yet. Basically, I have a bunch of scenes semi-fleshed out, but don’t know what order to put them in yet. Yeah, that’s probably not a very good screenwriting habit to get into, buy hey, whatever gets pages done, right?
- Adaptation: So my buddy DKS is being weighed down by an unfulfilling career, but can’t financially chase his dream job of being a writer. That’s when I tossed out this idea of collaborating on a screenplay. From the conversation, it didn’t sound like he was into it, but then emailed me later, suggesting a book he read and thought the plot might be interesting to see on the silver screen. Where I’m At: I’m still trudging along through the extraneous words that make up 18th century literature. I’m somewhere in the single digit chapters. What do you want? I read the thing on my phone during breaks at work.
- Quadrilogy: These are the big ones. These are the movies that my mind drifts to when I’m killing time. Mainly because I think they’ll be the most commercial. The first movie is screenplay-complete with at least eight versions having been used to polish the current one to a high shine. The other screenplays are more or less complete in my head. It’s just a matter of putting them down on paper, which I think is the easy part. Where I’m At: Well, things were going great there for a bit when I networked with the Actor who is one-degree of separation away from the Producer who owns the movie rights to the brand my movie(s) is(are) based on. The Actor was supposed to attend the premiere of Speed Racer this past Saturday to possibly pitch my screenplay to the Producer, but Actor’s management thought the premiere was on a different night. So, Actor didn’t get invited and Producer wasn’t pitched. Yeah, I’m bummed, but I’m staying hopeful.
- Clay: This one, surprisingly, is not a screenplay. It’s a stage play. I can’t say it’s necessarily done, but it certainly has gone through several drafts, readings and performances. Where I’m At: I co-wrote this masterpiece and if my co-author and I can squirrel away some time to sit down and hew out the final chapter. (Plays aren’t written in chapters. That’s an inside joke.)
- Music Videos: I have a couple of treatments that I wrote for a director friend of mine that we pitched to a couple of unsigned artists. One of our later efforts, which we went so far as to storyboard, is actually for the band Rise Against. Where I’m At: We’re having a little trouble getting a hold of their manager Missy at Velvet Hammer. So if anyone is connected to her, tell her to send me an email. I just want to know what she thought of the treatment.
Well, that’s what I have for now. Considering how much work goes into writing screenplays, treatments and stage plays, I think that’s a pretty impressive workload. I’ll catch you up on updates as they come in.
Edit: The original post read that I was looking for Missy at Velvet Revolver, which is incorrect. Velvet Revolver is a band featuring my favorite guitarist, Slash. The post has been corrected to read “Velvet Hammer” which is the management company. Thank you, Jonathan, for pointing that out. Working Author regrets the error.