I need a partner that I can give ideas to, for concept credit.

j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
The alternative is to write short, 5-10 page, stories, that someone could then see their way to adapting to a script. That also allows for a much 'clearer' 'adapted from a short story by MattinSTL', type credit at the very least.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir... for your response!

Yes... I've suffered the same obstacles here in the midwest as you have on the coast.

Who would have guessed that the midwest would be challenging for filmmaking? :)

But honestly... at the "shorts" level... I can admit that I really have no good excuses for a lack of presence in the fests... except that I don't want to enter unless I feel the effort is good enough to finish near the top... not in prizes, but for my own satisfaction. I've seen past fests where a team wins nothing, but gained my utmost respect of their ability to tell and produce a good story.

My goal is to achieve that... starting here... at the STORY level. I think ultimately... good STORIES are what takes a guy from living gig to gig... to something better.

You have some good advice for me there... and I will heed it. I think I am capable of writing short stories... just not effective, practical screenplays.

On the MattinSTL thing... I've often debated having DVXuser change this to my real name... but I'm not sure if MattinSTL is a "brand" of sorts at this point? I know if you type "MattinSTL" in the search box in youtube... you see a list including videos from Coffey Sound... that I have absolutely nothing to do with :)


I should add that I have somebody who saw The Watchmaker thing... and is taking a stab at it (pun intended)... I actually tried to collaborate on this particular idea before... and we just didn't have the right fit for each other. No hard feelings there I'm sure, but I like this idea enough to try chasing it down again... and somebody responded pretty quickly with enthusiasm to take it on.



Uga... I may not have been clear earlier... I do not expect to sit down with a writer in person... I expect to grow a writing relationship with somebody through brainstorming and mutual respect for input and rejection of story evolution. I don't expect to personally produce these little ideas... but would be thrilled to become known as a source for them... develop a friendship with a writer where we could both grow skills mutually... and also work in the occasional fest entry with people being excited to see what "our" team can come up with. I'm very appreciative for my experience on the Fat Monster crew... and immensely thankful to Luis, Mark, and Tim... and I want to head down that road on the creative end... instead of simply location sound.
 
Last edited:
I think you need at least an outline and possibly a synopsis. I believe you can copyright the synopsis. Then hand all that over to a writer and get a story by credit while they get a written by credit. The problem is nobody wants to do all that work unless they are getting something out of it. You have to either pay them or tell them what you are going to try to do with the script when it's done. Are you going to work hard to pitch it around? Are you going to direct it yourself?
 
I've been on a few writing forums and they all complain that they are not going to write someone elses ideas for free. They have barely enough time and energy to write their own, and if they did, they would just write their own stuff. You could probably save yourself some grief if you just paid them up front a small sum to write it and retain 100% ownership on it.
 
I appreciate the input... but the general idea is that somebody reads a couple of my ideas (as I've posted in this thread) and thinks "hmm... there's something here... I think this guy has some good ideas and I want to see what we could come up with together"...

Which is why I use the term "partner"... not because I want to take anything away from somebody else... but because I think I have something valuable to offer... and if I find somebody who feels the same way... and I feel that way about them... maybe it could get us both somewhere? That's the idea anyway... I think I'm... to some extent... a Cohen brother... looking for my other brother (just an example).

To put this out there publicly like this... is asking for a lot of rejection... but then again... I'm not trying to impress people at this point... I'm trying to FIND somebody... or some people. If a person sees my ideas as talent... (for ideas) then that's potentially a good fit... if they don't... well... I'm not trying to re-invent khakis here... I'm wanting to meet somebody who likes my kind of ideas.
 
Matt, i'm kiddin around, didn't know you were that serious. PM me and I'll intro you to a few friends that (BIG IF), 'might' want to help, not my call but I'll make the effort for you for a midwestern MO guy who has always taken tme for my questions..
 
PM sent.

Chip, if you read those couple "ideas" I posted... can you say if that shows you any potential? Do I need to take those a step further and write each thing into a short story?

Let's suppose I were introduced to the "right people"... what would they want to see (or hear)? I've never pitched an idea formally. If this thread isn't the place for that reply then you'll see that's more or less what I'm asking in my PM... but if you have some insight that would be helpful to others here... then feel free to answer here.
 
Here's how I think it may go... I'll partner up with a fellow DVXuser (or a couple) and we'll try to hammer out a script that we'll all have enough faith in to make a fest entry. We'll see how it goes... hopefully we'll develop some friendships along the way. (like the FM crew) I'm totally open to "helping write" a story for somebody else to do with their own crew. (I think I'm offering something valuable for a short story anyway)... and/or trying to produce a good short anywhere in the country where the people are cool... and have the resources to do the project.

In light of Chip's posts I'm sure this isn't what you were expecting for an answer... it was sounding like somebody thought I had potential to make some sort of unearned "leap" in writing credibility... but I really don't think that's the case.

Chip... feel free to post if I got this message wrong... but I gather my smartest move with all of this would be to start writing these "ideas" out into complete short stories... copywrite them... then team up with the best screenplay writer I can... who likes my stories. I've seen this advice a couple times in this thread... and that's probably the most logical move. I'm still planning on working out some sort of mutually beneficial "partnership" with somebody (or a crew)... at least for fests. I don't know if you're very familiar with Mark Johnson and Fat Monster... but I think that "production circle" is on the verge. I tried to get something like that going in STL for probably close to 7 years now... with no luck so far... but that's the real goal from this thread.

So Uga... I think the most likely result of this is that you'll start seeing a presence from me in the fests... as I try to do something more in hopes that I can grow into something beyond a soundguy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top