Friday, February 20, 2009

It’s like a terrible comic book

At the moment, Jeremiah, Jason and myself are divvying up the “Unbalanced” preproduction script for the purposes of storyboarding.  In my experience, storyboarding is a weird mixture of excitement and reluctant resignation; it’s great to “see” the words on the page in rough imagery, but committing myself to a single visual interpretation is scary.  In a worst case scenario, where we don’t have the luxury of shooting good coverage, what I draw is what the final product will be.

Given lots of toys, tools, and a budget, I can imagine storyboarding to be totally awesome, a protean graphic novel that’s as evocative as it is precise.  I get fired up over Watchmen storyboards, which have the luxury of being derived from a graphic novel/script combo, but which also tell a story of their own:

Here are some glimpses from the trailer….

(I can’t wait for this f’ing movie.  If you haven’t read the graphic novel yet, do yourself a favor—hold off on seeing the movie until you read the original.)

Anyway, our modest sets/budget/timetables and my devolved drawing skills pale in comparison.  Here’s an excerpt from one of my storyboarding chunks, a quick walkthrough of an office aftermath:

Script:

INT. OFFICE
Ian walks through an empty office to his cube. Evidence of calamity is everywhere - overturned plants, papers and boxes strewn about, empty rooms…
Ian notices a queer motivational poster on the wall. It depicts a cat riding jet-skis, and it reads: “’America is another name for opportunity,’ Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Ian absorbs this, gets an idea.

Storyboard:

It’s no aerosol flamethrower, but… it’s a sequence!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Unbalanced

Last fall, I realized that my artistic output thus far has been heavy on improv and sketch comedy, and while those are fine stepping stones toward a career in the entertainment industry, I didn’t really have anything to show for my hard work, at least to somebody in LA.  Improv lives and dies in the moment it’s created, and stage projects like The Wasteland Comedy Hour don’t “archive” well as little embedded Google videos.  There are some film sketches I’m proud of, but with the collapse of SuperDeluxe—which we used to host our standalone sketches—most of those bite-sized bits have disappeared into the ether.

So, like a good aspiring writer/producer/showrunner, I decided to write a script with the intention of producing it this summer.  Put my money where my mouth is, organize the pieces, recruit the people, and make it happen.  Six months and countless drafts later, I’m entering into preproduction for this same script, an independent television pilot that I hope will tour a few festivals.  It’s called “Unbalanced,” it’s a comedy, and it’s all I can think about—and thus, all I can write about.

A real movie prop!  Just like in the movies!

I have really good people working with me to help make this pilot a reality.  Jeremiah Jordan is bringing his expertise to the Director’s chair.  Jason Haas is bringing his vision to the role of Director of Photography.  I have an amazingly talented core cast—almost entirely volunteer improvisers—with only a few supporting roles left to fill.  I’ve called in favors and gotten some amazing help with everything from crewing to costuming.  These are the elements that give me hope.  The rest of the moving parts—schedules, locations, sets, props, lights, audio, makeup, fx—are insomnia fuel. 

It comes with the territory, so I’m not complaining.  On the contrary, there’s a kind of energizing zealotry to overseeing so many elements, and being charged with bringing many of them together into a unified whole.  That’s what drew me to Producing in the first place: a frothy mix of control and collaboration.  I trust my team, and I’m excited about where we’re headed.  This is going to happen, and regardless of the final product, it’s an project worth pursuing.  It’s sure to surpass “educational” value (which is one of my safety phrases when thinking about failed or disappointing projects), and be a thing that really does appeal to more than friends, family, and collaborators.  In short: it’s not the production or the producing that makes me restless.  What really keeps me up at night are my old, tired, persistent insecurities about writing.

I believe that the story we’re trying to tell is interesting, fun, and worthy of becoming an episodic tale.  But I won’t know that for sure until I’m looking at living, breathing, edited footage.  In the meantime, all we can do it put faith in the story, and improve it on the fly as we see need.  Insomnia fuel!

Another movie prop!  It almost looks real!

Journaling is supposed to be therapeutic, right?  I think it was John August’s blog that exposed me to the term “process geek”—somebody who geeks out over how a thing gets done (even if they have no investment in the final product, which is not the case for “Unbalanced”).  I am a process nerd, and I want to document this project in case it’s useful to anybody else, future self included.  I’m going to try and share as much of my process as I can, without spoiling the finished product or trumping my own publicity.  I am an advocate of open source, and most of my blog readers have already been exposed to one draft of the script or another.

This was the first draft of the script I shared, then titled “My Sister’s Psychosis.”

At some point I’ll post the final draft, which is very, very different.  The story has evolved for the better, thanks to the feedback of Jeremiah, Sarah, Jason, and a roundtable of trusted readers.  I’m keeping that draft internal for now, just so not all of my cards are on the table.

Maybe it’s interesting, maybe it isn’t.  In any case, it’s how I’m kicking off the official blogging of the “Unbalanced” television pilot: a glimpse into the story’s prototype.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

A brief ode to Michel Gondry

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Location Scouting

I’m informally location scouting for the big summer film project.  I’ve already got some leads (thanks, those who have reached out), and I’m pursuing more.  If you have access to any of these locations, or have a friend who might, please let me know:

-A cubicle-heavy office, preferably with a windowed conference room, an elevator, and a lobby.  (Single location needn’t meet all of these criteria.)

-A therapist’s office, preferably with a big ‘ol desk, chairs, and a stereotypical couch.

-A hotel lobby

When filming eventually happens, I’d obviously work around the constraints of the owners, on off-hours.  Any lead is helpful.  Thanks!