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Zookeeper not a keeper

By Cindy on August 3, 2011

I was lucky enough to read the Zookeeper script three years ago. It was dated April 18, 2007. I really enjoyed it. Back then I wrote:

Story: I have to say I really like this story. It was funny, cute, with likable characters. I thought it was a good family movie.

Characters: Andrew is very likable. He was a lot more distinct than Kate and Trent. The animals have distinct voices, more so than some of the people. Good job with making Trent unlikable but not in an obvious way.

Dialogue: The dialogue was good. Some parts were laugh out loud funny, mostly dialogue from the animals. I didn’t see anything really distinct in Kate’s dialogue.

Overall thoughts:

This was a really engaging story. I was able to overlook the flaws and continue to enjoy the story. Loved the ending. Very nice way to tie it all up. Great symmetry.

This past weekend I saw the movie at the drive-in. I couldn’t wait to see it because I enjoyed the script so much. You know how you should always read the book first before you watch the movie based on the book because the book is usually better? The script was WAY better. The original script was written by Jay Scherick & David Ronn. The end of the movie had five people with writing credits. I didn’t really care that some of the names had been changed. His name was Andrew in the original script. There was no Stephanie. Gale was Trent. Gale was unlikeable in a really obvious way. Over the top way. Seriously, what happened to subtle?

I understand some of the changes made to the script. For example:

It’s not really showing us the down side of being a zookeeper. The scene added to the movie did show that, though I thought it was over the top. I wasn’t thrilled with the ending of the movie. I thought the script’s ending was much stronger. Had much better symmetry.

So, maybe I should start watching the movies first before reading the scripts. Especially if there are more than two writers with writing credits for the movie. That way I might avoid disappointment. If this were a book it wouldn’t end up on my keeper shelf. The DVD will not be sitting on my DVD shelf when it comes out.

Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the dish. The proof is in the movie.

Until next time…

Cindy

Is That Hollywood Calling – The Blog Tour

By Cindy on July 29, 2011

I’m teaching my month long Is That Hollywood Calling? workshop in September and I’ve decided to do a blog tour to promote it. I’ve never done a blog tour before so I hope I have fun, I hope the readers have fun and I hope I entice a few of you to check out the class. The link to the class information is on the home page here on my website and on the post over at my first stop in the tour.

Today I’m at Amber Kallyn’s blog talking about action. And it might not be the kind of action you’re thinking about.

Pop over if you can and leave a comment for your chance to win the ITHC lecture packet.

Until next time…

Cindy

Epiphanies

By Cindy on June 22, 2011

It’s great when you have those moments where something hits you and you think – well, duh. Of course! Had one of those yesterday when one of the fabulous ladies on my GIAM loop announced that she sold her mystery series. We’ve had a lot of sale announcements on the loop in the past few months so I don’t know why it took so long for the light bulb to go on.

So, the epiphany – you can’t sell a novel if you’re only writing and submitting short stories. And related to that – you can’t sell a novel if you don’t finish writing it and then submit it.

Once the script is finished and polished I’ll be focusing on the urban fantasy novel I started during last year’s NaNoWriMo.

Also had an epiphany for my script with the help of the boyfriend. He figured out the all important way to get my characters back from – let’s just say – another realm. The clues I planted in act one will (hopefully) have the reader/viewer thinking – well, duh. Of course!

For now, I have to get to the day job. Then tonight work continues on the supernatural thriller script.

Until next time…

Cindy

So you want to write for TV

By Cindy on June 8, 2011

If you read my blog regularly it’s no secret I love TV. Really love it. I think I loved it more though before I became a writer. I could just watch and get lost in the story. I didn’t pay attention to the structure, the character development, the foreshadowing, the clues. I was still in my teens. When I started writing books it was almost impossible to read books for fun. But it also affected my TV watching. I wasn’t buying story points as easily anymore. When I decided I wanted to write TV scripts I started paying more attention to my favourite television shows. I started keeping track of how many acts were in each episode. I paid attention to the structure, especially the procedurals.

The best part about wanting to write for TV is that when I watch TV it’s not goofing off. It’s work. It’s study. The study part was easy. The first teleplay I wrote was for my favourite show. I watched Supernatural from the very beginning. I mean, it debuted in my birthday month. How could I not watch it? I loved the characters. I loved the stories. I’m a huge fan of horror movies so the show was a great fix every week. The hard part was finding scripts from the show to study. I wanted to see how they did it. I found the pilot online but that wasn’t enough. I ended up buying two other scripts on eBay. I photocopied the scripts then started highlighting like crazy. Each character got a different colour so I could make sure I had the balance right. My first teleplay turned out pretty good. I wrote two more for the show then started writing movies.

Now, I’m back to wanting to write television shows again. I want it all basically. I have so many ideas, they need an outlet. Not all of them are novel ideas. So now I’ve got movies, TV shows, novels and short story ideas vying for attention. I’ve been participating in TV writer chats on Twitter. When my feature screenplay is finished and polished I will pull out one of my spec pilot ideas and start writing.

If you want to write for television (or movies) I highly recommend the following sites/groups/podcasts.

Screenwriting U – They offer classes on screenwriting that are simply amazing.

Scriptchat – They have a Twitter chat every Sunday on screenwriting.

TVWriterChat – Also has a Twitter chat on Sundays about writing for TV.

TVWriterPodCast – I just started listening to this podcast. Awesome! Lots of great information about writing for TV.

TV writers to follow – A database of TV writers on Twitter and their handles. Follow them!

Sources for TV scripts to study – TV Writing, More TV scripts, My PDF Scripts

The advice most writers who want to write for TV hear is that they need to move to LA. Well, that’s not really possible for me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t travel there for meetings. And a lot of shows actually film in Toronto. I would love to write for one of those. For that kind of job I would gladly brave the TTC. Well, the GO train, actually.

Now, I’m off to the day job. Then tonight working on the feature script. I’m loving the characters and the story as the script progresses.

Until next time…

Cindy

Script Frenzy

By Cindy on March 30, 2011

Friday marks the start of 2011’s Script Frenzy! Think NaNoWriMo for scripts. For Script Frenzy you have to write 100 pages of a script. I attempted SF once before but didn’t get very far. Just like my first attempt at NaNoWriMo. This year will be different. This year I’m turning one of my short stories into a script. I saw it as a movie even as I was writing the short story to submit. I’ve come up with some added scenes for the movie version. And I can get more in-depth in a 100 page script than I could in a 5,000 word story.

Ever wanted to try writing a script? Join in on the fun. The rules of Script Frenzy are easy. And you don’t have to come up with an idea, though you can. You can always turn your favourite book into a script. Or your favourite short story. The script would only have to be your original idea if you wanted to try to sell it.

I am so excited this year. My workshops are over. I’ll actually have time this year to write. I won NaNoWriMo with one day to spare. I’m hoping I can do the same for Script Frenzy.

Over at the Script Frenzy site they have a very cool plot machine. I love that thing. It comes up with some very interesting stuff. And last year I got a few ideas I might actually write one day. The site also has a forum where you can talk to other participants. Get encouragement. Complain about writer’s block. Share triumphs. Join a regional lounge and get together with local writers.

Anyone else planning on participating? I’m off to work.

Until next time…

Cindy

The Sims 3 as reward

By Cindy on February 16, 2011

I’ve been playing The Sims 3 way too much since Christmas. As a result I haven’t written much. Not even close to what I wanted to have accomplished by now. So I’ve decided to use the game as a reward for writing. Now some people might think if I really wanted to write I wouldn’t need a reward. That a reward for doing something indicates a desire not to do that thing. Not true. I have what I like to call writer’s ADD. I have so many things I want to work on I sometimes can’t pick which one. Do I work on the urban fantasy suspense? Or how about the romantic comedy script? Perhaps the horror short story.

But it’s not just the works in progress that vie for my attention. There are my Excel spreadsheets to keep track of everything from the clues in my story to how many points I’ve eaten in a day. The websites I want to update or finish. A new software I bought to create WordPress templates. The books I should be reading. The movies and shows I should be watching. Yes, should because as a screenwriter I need to study movies and television. And of course family and friends time.

So, back to The Sims 3 as a reward for writing. I’ve set up my word count tracking spreadsheet to calculate how many minutes I’ve accumulated for Sims play. I must write enough words to accumulate an hour of time to play. It’s really not worth playing unless you have at least an hour. Every week the time I’ve accumulated resets. Since I need to write 12,000 words to be able to play for an hour I’m thinking The Sims is out for this weekend. Next weekend though my goal is to be able to play for at least an hour.

Right now I’m going to get some words done before I go to bed.

Until next time…

Cindy

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