Your latest feature script: How many...

Kholi said:
I know you're a RED guy! But, please do start a Production Blog/Diary in the USER FILMS section. We need more.

And, it's a good place to really let people know that sometimes a great script and or product takes years to create. It always feels like, when I learn about movies I like, the script process really did take about two years from concept to completion.

In that time, they're looking for talent, securing bits and pieces, but still writing the best script to fit the material and market.

Glad to hear you're taking your time, man. You're MUCH more patient than I am.

What were some of the writing blocks you came across?

For me, I had to come full circle to my original theme to really hammer out the fine details of this last draft. Theme has been incredibly hard for me...
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The big writing block was discovering who my female lead character really was. I kept feeling that the character was too one dimensional. Then one day a few weeks ago, after reading the script for the umpteenth time, I changed what she was commenting on in the dinner menu from prime rib and lobster tail to arctic char stuffed with wild rice and it was like a dam collapsing. Within minutes I knew who she was, her true background and what should be influencing her objectives, views and dialogue. That got me inspired to start on the third draft.
 
I believe, I am not completely certain, that my script underwent about 15 drafts before it was in pre-production and another 3-4 during pre-production, though understandably those were quite minor. They were not huge changes, but little things here or there to make it really "game ready."

It is a romantic comedy, we already shot it and are in post now. The first draft I wrote in July and August 2009, then I had another draft ready maybe a month later, and several more done by the end of the year. Then I sped up the pacing as the drafts changed less and less, though still significantly, and started doing another draft every week or two weeks at the start of the year.

My second script, I also wrote in August 2009, but I finished a second draft just a few days later. I think maybe 3-4 days after I finished it. There were some major rewrites that had to be incorporated based on new research I had available, so I wanted to make those changes fast. And then I wrote a third draft maybe a week after that.

I let that script sit and didn't touch it until this week, when on Monday I did another full draft of it. I don't expect to shoot it for some time, so I'm taking my sweet time. It's an ambitious film, I probably want 4-5 movies under my belt as a director first, so I'm really just trying to do a draft of the thing every few months. Although it would be nice to have something to send out to some screenplay competitions.
 
craigbowman said:
The big writing block was discovering who my female lead character really was. I kept feeling that the character was too one dimensional. Then one day a few weeks ago, after reading the script for the umpteenth time, I changed what she was commenting on in the dinner menu from prime rib and lobster tail to arctic char stuffed with wild rice and it was like a dam collapsing. Within minutes I knew who she was, her true background and what should be influencing her objectives, views and dialogue. That got me inspired to start on the third draft.
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Okay. So how very WEIRD is it that a simple shift in dialogue, which is almost only three or four words, changes the ENTIRE dynamic of a scene, or an entire story?

It's still fairly hard to wrap my head around this, as it's almost too simple to be true. But, often, just changing one or two sentences means altering the life of your script.

I love it, and then loathe it at the same time.

How is the draft coming along? Also, Romantic Comedy driven, are you planning on attaching names or going unknowns?
 
Kholi said:
Okay. So how very WEIRD is it that a simple shift in dialogue, which is almost only three or four words, changes the ENTIRE dynamic of a scene, or an entire story?

It's still fairly hard to wrap my head around this, as it's almost too simple to be true. But, often, just changing one or two sentences means altering the life of your script.

I love it, and then loathe it at the same time.

How is the draft coming along? Also, Romantic Comedy driven, are you planning on attaching names or going unknowns?
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Its quite common for me to have a phrase or item that conjures up memories and things from the past, centred not just around myself but interesting people I've met and all the places I've been.

I'm about 25% through the third draft and yes I'm attaching names to the three leading roles and five of the supporting roles. If the schedule works out I'm looking to have Jan Kiesser,ASC as my DP. He was up here a while back shooting a project and I know he's familiar with a number of the locations around here.

I noticed the Rainfall films connection in your moniker. Are you working with them on your project?
 
Haha. Actually, Rainfall is my company. Four piece pie belonging to Jeff, resident sound designer, Jesse, resident producer and AD, Sam B resident Director and VFX artist and myself. Wanna-be-a-lot-of-things.

This is our first feature film, should be exciting.

Checked out Kiessers site. Nothing beats having a working and skilled DP on board!

Please, Even if its on reduser ,throw up a production blog. I'm definitely interested in your progress as you start your next feature.

Gonna make sure to keep up to date as we continue. Really wish there was a budget to get some names... That would help but it is what it is.
 
Kholi said:
... Actually, Rainfall is my company. ...
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That's so cool! I snagged a copy of Sam and Jesse's "The Ore" when they first marketed it online.

I feel your pain on the budget side. I spent many years living in Calgary and it was fairly easy to raise tens of millions of dollars for small energy projects. When I moved here and got full time into producing, you'd think I'd come down with the plague or something. It took me almost seven years to devise a sustainable financial model for financing feature film projects. It was like that old elephant joke, "How do you get down from an elephant?", "You don't, you get down from a duck."
 
Kholi said:
What's the filmmaking climate like there for micro and shoestring indies? ...
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When I first moved here there wasn't anything much going on here at all. Any movie production was tentpoled in from Vancouver. They'd roll in, shoot, and head back to the coast leaving absolutely nothing behind. Even the feature that brought Jan Kiesser here, "Fido", was a tentpole.

The goofy thing is that the Okanagan valley has the best weather climate in the country. A hundred times better than Vancouver. So I just put my own stake in the ground and started connecting with people who wanted to do something but had little idea of how to make it happen. I designed and built a number of interconnected financial models to get things bootstrapped and away we went. My only rule has been, no shorts, only feature movies and narrative television projects.

Our hundreds of thousands of dollars in gear has all been financed from profits on small commercial projects. Last year we started helping locals by taking on a couple of their micro budget projects. In fact most of the images I posted on dvxuser are from those warmup projects. I wanted to see how everyone would handle longer projects. I've been working with my team and designed a new financial model aimed at providing sustainable funding to indie projects in the $200k-$500k range. We'll have to see how that goes and if people can actually get their paperwork together.

The large scale projects which need access to signifcant capital is where I've been putting most of my energy. The film fund for those is where the capital resources for feature projects like "Plastic", "H*A*W*S", and "The Bowling Pin Salesman" is coming from.

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Thanks for the link to your short. As usual, the work was absolutely outstanding. I'm very glad to see you guys finally getting into features. The technical chops are obviously there in spades and you're certainly living right in the middle of where it all happens.
 
Kholi said:
Johnathan, when is a trailer released for your feature?
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Finishing up a lot of post stuff now, having to do with the picture, and the other elements (sound, music) are also going and we have people on board so it's coming together. I would imagine we'll have some sort of trailer in October, maybe the later part of October, but I am looking forward to that, it's going to be sweet to be able to show people something! It's going to be awesome.

Then we'll have our DGA screening of the film most likely in February. They are off January and booked this year, but that's going to be our first showing I think, a private industry showing but very important to us.
 
Dude, I'm rewriting "Epitaph" as I write. The difference is I've had the story in my head for years. But I've made some changes to coincide with the upcoming comic books. I want to keep the movie and comics in lock step with one another. The movie is the prequel to the comic books. I had planned a novel for it, but I decided against it because I didn't have the concepts down the way I would've liked up until now. Now everything is unified.

I've been working on this script all summer thinking it would be easy, but I changed course in the middle of the project and made it a prequel versus a book based on something already written. It was a budget thing as well as a time factor. I wanted to tell stories the comics didn't tell. I'm rewriting now, but also still adding stuff. This is my third rewrite in all, but I can't say I've actually finished the script. "Divinity" took about three rewrites and then a total overhauling of the script. I will probably shoot it next.

-Nate
 
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