Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.
Since our table read on July 14th, we’ve received wonderful feedback from fellow artists and industry professionals. The feedback has been universal and consistent, so it lets us know we are on the right track with what we have. We even had a writer-director-producer come into class this past Wednesday to clarify and expand upon his awesome notes. From all the feedback we’ve received, I believe the one that was the most thrilling and heartwarming was from Jeffrey Alan Schechter. Not only is he a two-time Emmy-nominated writer, but he is also the writer of the story structure book that we use extensively at the Richard Lawson Studios, “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”. His book helped us shape and write “The Third Act”. His book helped me write two feature film screenplays, and I’ve used his book as a supplement during my Sundance writing course. Keep reading below 🙂
Jeffrey read our outline in 2022 and then came into class to provide us with constructive feedback. So, it was important to continue to involve him in the journey. Jeffrey read our script and had many beautiful things to say about it! In addition, he believes that our script is viable, a good and worthy story with characters so compelling as to attract talented actors. To receive this feedback from the same person whose template we follow is the icing on the cake. Special. Magical. Keep reading below 🙂
Our next step as a collective is to read all the feedback again and decide what to keep and discard. From there, Kelly and I will tackle the second draft of the script. Keep reading below 🙂
Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.
On July 14th, 2024, the Professional Development Program 3.0 collective had a table read for the first draft of our feature film script! This journey started almost five years ago and it was based on a true story that Richard Lawson shared with us. From that true story, the collective worked together to research, brainstorm, and map out a story. In mid-2022, the collective appointed Kelly and I to make sense of all the research that was done up till that point and to write the script. On May 9th, 2024, Kelly and I finished the first draft of the script. Keep reading below 🙂
The entire experience was electric from beginning to end. Thank you, Craig Taggart, for lending us your beautiful office space for our art to occur and flourish. We set up the large conference room with tables and chairs. Craig printed out and placed name cards in front of each chair. Thank you Nic Monteilh and Mark Larwood for setting up the cameras and mics. As the actors arrived, there was a sense of excitement and community in the air. Thank you actors for the wonderful performances you gave. It was thrilling to hear these words come out of your mouths. It was also great to hear which moments/scenes worked and which moments/scenes didn’t quite land. Invited guests ranged from Richard Lawson Studios students to outside industry guests, and they either sat in the conference room with us or in another room where they could observe us through a one-way mirror. Thank you all for coming! Keep reading below 🙂
After the table reading ended, we handed out questionnaires for everyone to fill out. Once those were collected, we celebrated afterwards in the lobby area with food and wine. There was a buzz in the air. Actors and guests flowed positive comments and constructive feedback during the reception. After everyone left, Richard and the collective stood behind to debrief and to cement this huge win. This was a huge and successful win for all of us. It felt like we all gave birth, and the feeling was satisfying. This past Wednesday, we read through the questionnaires and discovered common themes, feedback, and suggestions that will be helpful when Kelly and I tackle a second draft. Also, Richard sent a copy of the script to Jeffrey Alan Schechter for feedback. Jeffrey wrote “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”, and it is his book that we used to structure our outline and script. Fun fact: Jeffrey read our outline in 2022 and then came into class to provide us with wonderful feedback. Keep reading below 🙂
And finally, thank you to such an incredible collective: Richard Lawson, Beth Berlin, Lindsay Hopper, Sayaka Miyatani, Jorge Ortiz (yes, I’m including myself even though I’m writing this blog LOL), and Kelly Tighe. We are all excited for the next chapter of movement and development.
Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.
The day has finally arrived! The PDP 3.0 collective will witness an exciting cast of actors perform our feature film script today. We have our location. We have our signed NDAs. The actors received their scripts via email this past Wednesday. We have invited guests to observe. We created questions to ask the actors and guests afterwards. Hardcopy scripts will be available at the table read. We will have food and drink. Richard came up with the exciting idea of filming the table read with three cameras so we could later edit it and send it out as a marketing tool to interested parties. Keep reading below 🙂
I can’t wait to let you all know how it went! See you all next week!
Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.
Writing is a process. Each writer will share a different story about how long it took them to write a particular script, why it took that length of time, and the resources and research they utilized to make it happen. I thought it would be cool to crunch some numbers behind our feature film script so that people have a reality of what it’s taken to bring this script to life. And like I mentioned in my February 18th blog entry, this script started as a group project until Kelly Tighe and I were appointed/anointed to take over the reins in the middle of 2022. I want to thank our PDP 3.0 group for the numbers they contributed to this endeavor as well! So let’s go:
7 main folders in the Google Drive: Characters and Relationships, Feature Film Treatments, Miscellaneous Written Scenes, My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, Producing: Pitching, Agreements, etc., Research and Notes, Designs We Liked. Keep reading below 🙂
These 7 folders contained the following number of files within them: Characters and Relationships (15), Feature Film Treatments (9), Miscellaneous Written Scenes (21), My Story Can Beat Up Your Story (42), Producing: Pitching, Agreements, etc. (6), Research and Notes (191!), Designs We Liked (144!). Many of these files were Google Documents and PDFs that ranged from 1 page to 26 pages in length. Keep reading below 🙂
Since the inception of this journey, here are the number of weeks and hours put towards this script-give or take some numbers here and there because of pillar jobs, life circumstances, job bookings, a world-wide pandemic, economic uncertainty, much-needed and well-deserved breaks and vacations, writer blocks, writer and actor strikes, etc.: 4 years, 6 months (and counting), 450 hours (and counting) during our designated writing sessions, untold hours outside of our designated writing sessions, and 132 pages (and counting) of our first draft. Keep reading below 🙂
And just for fun, levity, and humor:Untold numbers of coffee drinks, dance breaks, bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, tears of joy, tears of frustration, Google searches, YouTube searches, character name changes, rewrites, rewrites, and more rewrites. Keep reading below 🙂
I’m back! I took a few days off to engross myself in a series of much-needed celebrations. The celebrations kicked off with a weekend trip to Las Vegas on March 1st (my partner and I enjoyed attending the National Rugby League games at the Allegiant Stadium, Chippendales, lunch at Hell’s Kitchen, drag brunch at Señor Frogs, a bottomless mimosas brunch at Delano, people watching, etc.) The celebrations ended in LA with us attending Madonna’s Celebration Tour!!!! She’s currently on her first-ever greatest hits tour (celebrating four decades of an incredible, amazing, and enviable musical catalogue.)
Okay, so let’s get back into it. As you all know, I am working on two goals for this year. One goal is to book supporting roles in feature filmsproduced and distributedby independent or mid-sized studios. The second goal is to finish the first draft of a feature film script that Kelly Tighe and I are writing through our Professional Development Program 3.0 collective. This week, I want to update you all on the progress made with our feature film script. Keep reading below 🙂
Kelly and I are currently working on the end of act two (we’ve written 129 pages so far!) She is rocking it out with the scenes she is currently working on. I was too…until I hit a wall with a particular scene for plot point Yes 14 (In “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”, the Yes/No are known as “reversals” because these particular plot points “alternate between answering the central question first yes and then no. Anything that brings the hero closer to his or her goal is a ‘yes’. Anything that takes the hero further away is a ‘no'”. There are a total of 28 Yes/No reversals in act two. There is also something known as “the third-act solution”, which is introduced during Yes 7. “The third-act solution is a device, a situation, or a skill that is shown to the audience early, but is what the main character will need to be victorious in the end. Not every film has one, but it’s cool when films do.” The third-act solution is used during the Final Yes in act three. Keep reading below 🙂
I say all of this because I had the pleasure of writing the scene that introduces the third-act solution in Yes 7. I also had the pleasure of tackling Yes 14 and using this plot point to start setting up how exactly the third-act solution will pay off during that Final Yes in act three. LOL I could not figure this scene out. And when I thought I had it figured out, I quickly realized it wasn’t going to work for a variety of reasons. So literally, I was going through my own personal Yes/No reversals LOL. Yes, I figured it out. No, I didn’t figure it out LOL. Keep reading below 🙂
When I met with Kelly on February 21st for our writing session, I told her I was stuck with this scene for the last three weeks. She gave me some ideas that totally made sense to help me set up the third-act solution! Thank God for a sounding board. Sometimes, the work is so close to your face that you can’t see the answers or the picture in front of you. It takes that sounding board, that partner, to grab your hand and move the work further away from you. “Oh, now I see it!” Armed with these ideas, I sat down in front of my laptop, opened up Final Draft, and got to work. Well, I got stuck again LOL. I had these great ideas, but how do I now connect them in a cohesive way? And without giving away the story, certain characters partake in a drink during this scene that sets up the third-act solution. Okay, cool. But how do I utilize this drink to help the characters arrive at and experience these ideas in an uncontrived way? How does the drink drive the scene so that these ideas can be executed? And then, I had an “a-ha” moment. A light bulb went off in my head. OF COURSE! Keep reading below 🙂
I could utilize the drunk physical state exercise that I have seen several times at the Richard Lawson Studios to connect these ideas in the scene. This exercise is part of a number of cold acting exercises that Richard uses to let actors know that they are enough. That they can create art on the spot with little to no preparation because they have everything in their possession and beingness to do so. All of the cold exercises (some of which Richard created and originated) have an improvisational quality to them and they challenge the actor to be present, moment to moment, and interested. In the drunk physical state exercise, a group of actors go on stage and pretend that they are at a bar or party. The stage manager will give the actors water bottles and they have to determine what kind of alcohol they are drinking. The teacher instructs the actors to take a shot from their water bottles. They do so and the scene begins. At some point, the teacher says, “Freeze! Take another shot.” The actors take another shot and the scene resumes. The teacher will say freeze a few more times and instruct the actors to take another shot. This cold exercise is always fascinating and fun to watch because the progression of the alcohol drives everything. The actors get into more belief, they loosen up, they let their imaginations run wild, a story develops, humorous and dramatic moments occur, and the stakes get higher and higher. Keep reading below 🙂
The scene I am writing is a drunk physical state exercise, and these characters are a part of it! With this concept in mind, the writing flowed quickly and easily. It all made sense, and I understood how to use the progression of drinking to determine the chronological order of these ideas, how these characters arrived at them, and the degree to which these characters experienced them. I was happy and excited when I wrote this scene. I could see the progression of this scene from one drink to the next. I couldn’t wait to share this scene with Kelly at our next writing session. When I shared this scene with her, she loved it. We exchanged a few thoughts and I am excited to apply them in my next rewrite for this scene. Keep reading below 🙂
Next week, I will update you all on the progress I made with my acting goal!
Hello, my fellow artists! It’s time for another exciting blog entry from yours truly. In today’s edition, I wanted to bring some love to my second goal of 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.Keep reading below 🙂
“Third Act” came to life back in September 2019 when the Professional Development Program 3.0 class decided to turn into a production company to workshop ideas and bring them to life. The idea for this script came from Richard Lawson, and it was based on an article he read many years ago about a scandalous incident that occurred in a nursing home. Over the next few years, the company met every Wednesday at 12pm to carve out this idea. We did tons of research, asked tons of questions, put forth tons of ideas, watched many films, put together look books, created character breakdowns, wrote scenes, scrapped scenes, wrote scenes again, etc. We even had Jeffrey Schechter, who wrote “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”, read our outline and then come into class to provide us with feedback. Keep reading below 🙂
Throughout it all, the whole process was one of incredible respect, asking the next question, and “yes, and…” There was never a time where one of us shot down someone else’s ideas or writings or were critical over someone else’s work or research. And that’s a testament to the culture that Richard and the company created and instilled over the years. Our mindset was always on the bigger picture, the pursuit of excellence and collaboration, and the love of creating art. It’s why directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino work with the same people in front of and behind the camera all the time: Because they are NOT PAINS IN THE ASS. Keep reading below 🙂
At some point, with the plethora of notes and research gathered over the years, it was time to appoint a couple of individuals to make sense of it all and take the reins of writing a complete first draft. Kelly Tighe and I were appointed to be those individuals, and we started the process in the middle of 2022. She and I met every Wednesday to begin the bold, colossal step of distilling, editing, and striking pages worth of story ideas, notes, characters, scenes already written by the company, etc. We continued asking the next question, did more research, and combed through everything (and I mean, everything) one piece at a time with the patience of a saint LOL. We repeatedly edited the logline, the central questions, and the plot points. We kept referencing “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”. Each action provided just a little more clarity. The entire process took a long time, and we still hadn’t written ANYTHING yet. Not one page! However, we knew that all this work was vital. We knew that we couldn’t tackle the writing until we knew what story we wanted to tell. Keep reading below 🙂
I’ll never forget the day when Kelly and I finished combing through the entire outline and things finally made sense! We cheered and cheered and cheered! This was a huge win and moment for us! The outline was clear, and as a result, we were empowered to start writing. And again, our meetings were always positive, encouraging, and “yes, and…” We asked each other questions. We never invalidated each other. We never thought an idea was too stupid or ridiculous. The plot points within the outline became our guide and compass. The writing began to flow from us. We would assign ourselves a plot point and write the scene(s) for it throughout the week. When we would reconvene on Wednesdays, it was so cool to witness how synchronistic our writing ended up. For example, how something she set up in her scene paid off in my scene and vice versa. Or how her scene transitioned seamlessly into my scene and vice versa. Keep reading below 🙂
There were moments where we hit walls and roadblocks too. Moments were life took over and we couldn’t meet. Moments where we didn’t have any clue on how to write a particular scene(s) for a plot point. But understanding that writing is a process, we gave ourselves grace and encouragement. We also continued to ask the next question. When we did these things, clarity occurred. And currently, we have six more plot points left to write scenes for, and then we will be done with our first draft! And to give context, there are a total of 44 plot points in our script (this is the number of plot points that “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story” says is required to fulfill a feature film script.) Kelly mentioned this past Wednesday, February 14th, that it has taken us a long time to get to this point, but then she quickly remembered a friend who mentioned that it took her friend six years to write their musical. And I thought about other writers who took years to finish their scripts too. So, we’re doing good! Keep reading below 🙂
Kelly and I can’t wait to finish this first draft so that we can present it to our PDP 3.0 company and take the next steps. We are also interested in presenting the script to the Thursday Scene Study class so that students can see an example of the sustained effort it takes to create something from scratch. See picture below 🙂
Hello, my fellow artists! I am recapping my weekly experiences of the writing course I’m taking at the Sundance Collab. These recaps are a cool insight into the creative process and personal journey of building something from scratch. In this case, a feature film treatment.
Recap: Week 9.THE FINAL RECAP! I did it! I made it to the end of this awesome course. It was fun and challenging, and I am so proud of myself. Thank you to the Sundance Collab for this wonderful opportunity and experience. Thank you to my advisor and to the awesome writers I met. The whole purpose of this course was to take an idea for a feature film and create a 10 to 15 page treatment for it. The treatment serves as the source material for your screenplay. The more fleshed out and detailed it is, the easier it will be to write the first draft of your screenplay. Keep reading below 🙂
This final week was an additional opportunity for me to continue expanding upon my treatment from last week, with a particular focus on act two-which is usually the most challenging section to write. Act two can be a beast because it makes up and takes up the majority of a feature film script. Keep reading below 🙂
I expanded upon my treatment and ended up with 10 1/2 pages! Awesome! I have a TREATMENT! Now, am I done with this treatment? Absolutely not. Writing is rewriting. I see where the holes are, and I look forward to tackling them by revisiting my notes from weeks eight and nine, and by watching a few films that may help answer some questions. This plan will help me carve out my treatment and expand its current page length. Keep reading below 🙂
The other cool thing about the last nine weeks was the research I collected that will help inspire characters, future scenes, and future dialogue. I now need to organize my research into one central place so that I can access it easily when it’s time to write my screenplay. Keep reading below 🙂
So, this is the end, but not really. It’s more like the end of a chapter. I look forward to starting the next chapter of my feature film journey. Thank you to everyone who took this exciting journey with me over the last nine weeks. I hope it inspired you in some way. Now, it’s time for me to CELEBRATE this win! Keep reading below 🙂
Next week, I’ll be blogging about my second and third quarter wins before circling back to my acting updates!
Hello, my fellow artists! I am recapping my weekly experiences of the writing course I’m taking at the Sundance Collab. These recaps are a cool insight into the creative process and personal journey of building something from scratch. In this case, a feature film treatment.
Recap: Week 8. The moment has finally arrived! The whole goal of this course was to take an idea for a feature film and create a fully-realized treatment for it. This was the week to start transitioning into this final phase! Wow! I expanded from an idea to an action summary to a beat sheet to an expanded beat sheet to an outline, and now, to the beginning of a treatment. This has been an amazing and crazy ride. Seeing my story expand over the last 8 weeks is a wonderful feeling and accomplishment. I’m so proud of myself. One more week to go! Keep reading below 🙂
A treatment is where you now infuse emotions into your scenes. If you remember from last week, an outline is an expanded breakdown of what is happening from one scene to the next. Now, in terms of a treatment, “what do the characters feel when these things are happening? The treatment is an emotional short story. From scene to scene, what is this scene about? And then fill it out emotionally.” Our goal in this course is to create a treatment that is 10 to 15 pages long. And the purpose and power of a treatment is that it is the source material for our eventual screenplay. The treatment will guide us in the actual writing of our feature film screenplay. It takes the guesswork out of our writing. Keep reading below 🙂
Armed with my course advisor’s notes from last week and the answers I came up with, I meticulously went through as many scenes as possible and asked myself, “what is this scene about?” and “what is this character(s) feeling?” “When and how will Luke’s assets and liabilities that I created in week two show up in these scenes?” “Is the theme of my movie, which I discovered in week one, present within this treatment? When does the theme come up and how often does it come up?” “Is Luke’s emotional drive clearly coming through in my scenes?” Some scenes were easier than others in terms of discovering what they were about and my ability to fill them out emotionally. However, I know that if I keep going back to those other scenes and ask the next question, the answers will present themselves. Or, I’ll realize that those scenes don’t work. In which case, I can get rid of them (and I’ve already gotten rid of a few scenes that didn’t fit within my story.) I made it to the beginning of act two and realized I was going to need more time to continue tackling the rest of my scenes LOL. LOL. LOL. Keep reading below 🙂
With one more week to go, I have a feeling that we will be able to continue tackling our treatment. See you all next week for the FINAL recap of my Sundance Collab writing course experience!
Hello my fellow artists! If you’re in the United States, I hope you are having a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend. For my fellow screenwriters and TV writers out there who are interested in submitting content to writing competitions, but don’t know where to start, I hope that my quick blog entry will help.
As with film festivals, there are a PLETHORA of writing competitions. It can seem and feel daunting when looking at the myriad of choices out there. For example, when I recently logged into my Coverfly account, the dashboard revealed 154 writing competitions available for submissions. 154?! What?!
Submitting to writing competitions (and film festivals) as a way to get your work out there, to get noticed, to receive feedback or coverage, can become a very expensive endeavor. Don’t just submit blindly. The best advice I can give to you before you begin your journey is to do your homework. Research. When I started submitting my films to film festivals, yes, I submitted to some of the big ones (Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, New York Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, etc.) cause why not? However, once I got the big festivals out of the way, I also did further research to find the festivals that would be tailor-made for my films. For example, if my film featured a Latinx cast and storyline, then I knew that I should find film festivals that were geared towards Latinx-based projects. If my film was directed by a woman, then I found film festivals that celebrated and encouraged films directed by women. If my film was sci-fi, then I found film festivals that focused on this particular genre.
As a result, my submissions became more targeted. More focused. My films fell within the zip code of those particular film festivals because I was speaking their language. Writing competitions are no different. Do the research. Aim for the big ones (cause why not?) and aim for the ones that are targeted to the type of script you have for a more specific, bullseye approach. Not all competitions are equal and built the same way. Some have been around for a while and are highly-regarded and respected. Others are brand new and have only been in the game for one year. Some competitions come and go.
Some factors to consider: how long the competition has been in existence for, its mission statement, its end goals for the writers who enter and win, the judges involved in the competition, the sponsors behind the competition, etc. By the way, I’m not here to say which ones to submit to and which ones to avoid. It’s up to you to do the research and decide for yourself. Listen to your instincts and use your common sense.
Below, I have listed a few established, industry-recognized writing competitions. I found these writing competitions based upon industry colleague recommendations and through my own research. There may be a lot more established, industry-recognized writing competitions, but at least this list will get your wheels going (If you know of other established writing competitions, please leave a comment below so I can add them to the list.) And with the exception of the Academy Nicholl Fellowships which only focuses on screenplays, the other competitions listed below accept both screenplays and TV scripts.
Hey kitty girls! I couldn’t resist. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 premiered on January 25th and I am getting all my life right now!
We’re still in January and 2018 is still very much new and filled with wonderful possibilities. I wanted to share with you all what my goal is for 2018. I recently shared that my birthday wish was to continue honoring my imagination as an artist. Which I love! So, what is my goal for 2018? What am I focused on?
When I look over my DOIN’ (Declaration of Independence aka my personal business plan), one of my postulates is:
I am a household name infiltrating and conquering mainstream Hollywood through my film acting work and by creating TV and Film content that is just beyond the margin of comfortability (Daring and artistically free content that falls within the wheelhouse of HBO, Showtime, Netflix, A24 and powerful indie studio houses)
Which is great! I still love and believe in this postulate. However, as I looked at it, I realized that in order for me to fulfill that postulate, there was a prior step that I needed to accomplish. There’s a step that comes before becoming a household name and I need to achieve that first. And that is to become an industry name first. I want name recognition and name value with industry professionals (e.g., producers, writers, directors, casting) That fellow colleagues know my name and respect it because of my professionalism and hard work.
So the goal for 2018 is to close the deal on at least one writing and one acting project that puts my name in the entertainment trades (e.g., Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, IndieWire, etc.) I have created a DOIN’ specifically for this goal. My 2018 DOIN’ as I call it. I’m so excited to have a plan of attack to make this goal happen in 2018. Close the deal so that fellow colleagues in the industry take notice of my name.
What is your 2018 goal or goals? I’d love to read what they are in the comments section below!
