Writing and Copywriting

I'm still in Warren, AR as of right now. Checking out different editors that have submitted to me but I'm just going to interview them when I get to Melbourne. Gotta make sure it's someone I can depend on and put up with for long hours. As of right now I'm just doing this and letting the movie "INSIDE JOKE' be known to the masses.

So we left off in our last adventure with me back where I came from with no script, and no money. So whatever did I do? As far as Ideas went I wasn't at a loss.

You're probably wondering why I decided to come back to Warren to make a movie? So many people in LA were interested in what it was like living in small town that I knew I needed to make a movie about it. One that was AUTHENTIC, with AUTHENTIC ACCENTS. Please don't believe the accents in Varsity Blues! Plus, how would I fund a movie in LA when I could barely fund myself. To grandmothers house I go!

In a record driving time of 2 days I got back just in time for the Annual Pink Tomato Festival. My best friend, Jacob, was in Warren for a few days before he had to head back to Florida. I agreed to drive JACOB down there and hang out for a few weeks, I deserved a vacation plus I'd be bringing MY BROTHER back who was already down there hanging out with HIS BROTHER. Complicated I know, same reaction the cop had who pulled me over in Alabama when I had to give him my reason for driving cross country. I literally had just driven coast to coast.

So after travelling to Melbourne, FL (bad ass place by the way) to drop off Jacob and pick my brother JOSH, then I go to TX for my sister FELICIA'S wedding, then I'm finally back in Warren to make things happen. The only place left to hook up my computer is a room that's so small and hot it feel's like a boiler room, but whatever.

So I decided to write the story, which is all based off awkward dating experiences and hanging out with my friends. So yeah, it's got a Clerks/Superbad-ish thing going for it. I just decided to take all these true life stories I've been telling for years making people laugh, combine them into 90 pages and make a movie of it.

Now for anyone that writes, you know what it's like to sit infront of keyboard to write. You think too much, and you're mind tries to get you off track and think of a hundred other things you need to do. Don't listen to it. Just type and type anything. It's a first draft, so it's gonna suck and you'll rewrite a hundred times anyway. In Finding Forrester, Forrester say's something akin to "Just type, don't think. You write the first draft with you heart. Then you can go back and use your mind."

That was my mentality, which is probably why the script ended up being around 250 pages. So yeah there were some problems, way too long, too many characters, lot's of people just hanging out talking about things that happened somewhere else, all in one location, and some loose ends.

You may have already learned this stuff from experience or reading a book but I beleive experience is the best teacher and I'd rather learn the hard way than listen to some guy's theory on something. This way you learn the reason for a rule or that you don't care for their rules at all.

But it acheived the following things 1) It was done 2) It was funny 3) Easy to produce 4) Great dialogue. So I registered the treatement with the WGA, and sent the script to the library of congress to get copywrited. And sent the script to a script doctor in LA, who basically told me what I already just named but repeatedly mentioned how much I tortured him with 250 pages in one location, haha.

So I fixed all that stuff over time with several re-writes. And after talking to people, I realized that since I was filming on DV I didn't have to write it as if I was shooting on 16mm. So I added more locations, combined characters for depth, etc.

So I had the legal stuff out of the way and I had a great script that's easy to produce and would get better after every re-write I did periodically from there on in. But how would I finance it and what kind of talent pool would I be working with in small town southern Arkansas. Find out next blog on the Adventures of Steve and Friends!