Congratulations !!! (Day 22)

Provocation

The director duo for the Post Apocalyptic movie just wrapped up shooting a short film this weekend so I thought I'd take my hat off to them and the film's writer, Greg.

I was not involved in this production other than to read the script and give some feedback. Most writers are happy to do this for each other. Getting your stuff read by as many people as possible is a big part of making a successful piece for production.

Dave C contacted me and asked me to give the script a read as he's read 90% of the scripts and sketches that I've written. As he was going to be starring in the screenplay and had a hand in writing it I was happy to help him.

The movie focuses on a case of sexual harassment at the collegiate level. Though the script was short it dealt with a lot of different sub-plots and heavy material. I'm very excited to see the finished product. Seeing the quality of the photography from the shoots makes me even more excited to work with Dave and Max of Follow My Voice.

Historical Drama: Day 22 (Tactics)

I wanted to talk about some basic tactics that were employed by the armies of the Napoleonic era. I think we all recall the vivid imagery of the British troops marching in neat lines and firing in ranks. These were the tactics of the early gunpowder era. Let us explore some of the common formations and tactics.

The Column - How do you keep butchers, bakers, farm boys, artists and accountants marching towards enemy cannons without breaking? The column was the child of conscription. With armies looking outside of volunteers and professional soldiers troops no longer had the previously enjoyed discipline they used to. What they DID have was mass.

1000 men marching to you in a perfect square of angry death chanting "Vive L'Empereur!" like sycophantic zealots can make even hardened troops quake. The column was an imposing mass of life that often saw as much death as it dealt. The concept was simple: If you surround a man completely he will need to act as part of the whole and not as an individual. An individual marching towards likely death is libel to run away. With 500+ men marching behind, to the sides and in front of you, you can't help but follow along.

The column's weakness was that only the front and sides of a column could be made to fire and that the large swaths of men made easy targets for cannon and even the vastly inaccurate Congreve Rockets.

Ranks - The British were not known for conscription. So to fill the growing need for bodies they went to their favorite places to get men to die for them: Ireland, Scotland and Prison. The British army was a mix of men who hated England, despised authority and lacked discipline. However, they were damn good at killing.

British troops would form two ranks and march. This allowed the second rank to fire over the shoulder of the first while the first reloaded. (Continuous Fire) With the British soldier capable of firing 3 times per minute, they were simply able to pour more lead at enemy troops (1 shot per 10 seconds).

The trade off here was that they were always over matched by numbers AND had some shoddy leadership issues.

Rifles - The Americans taught the British a nasty lesson during the Revolutionary War. Accuracy is king and snipers are deadly for thousands of reasons. The American Rifle was long, cumbersome, expensive, took forever to load and was not something many people could get. What the Americans did was look for officers and pick them off. Without leadership, infantry formations crumbled and ... well ... the British army sucked.

Riflemen were also tough to fight back against as they fought in skirmish order (staggered) and often shot from heavy cover. The British saw this and decided it was worth it's weight in dead Frenchmen. British rifles proved effective at disrupting columns and slowing the French troops.

Rifles also covered an army's retreat. Having greater range than muskets they could keep Hussars back and allow the infantry to get away.

Hussars - Hussars and Dragoons were the last vestiges of Kinghtly Orders. Fighting with deadly sabres (held out to spear, rather than cut) and muskets the Hussar was a harassing troop. Their added mobility gave them the ability to attack the vulnerable flanks of enemy troops. They could destroy supply lines, harass a retreating army and devastate foolish infantry that did not for squares.

Hussars were a little out of date, even in this time as infantry squares rendered them useless and their horses provided large targets for musket fire.

Infantry Square - The Infantry Square made cavalry nearly useless against infantry. It also made infantry easy picking for cannons. These human-walled fortifications would form as soon as the enemy cavalry would threaten. While cannons DESTROYED the men in these formations it was far better to deal with cannon then a charge of cavalry when out of square. Just ask the Prince of Orange.

Historical Drama: Day 21 (Moving Along/Themes)

So, I accomplished a good amount of writing increasing the screenplay by 7 pages and firming up the first flashbacks. Already some themes are being developed for the characters.

Arthur: Arthur doesn't have Napoleon's cadre of friends and a theme of being alone will follow much of his life. However at the same time as he finds it hard to MAKE friends. Those he eventually wins will be of the most loyal and helpful caliber. Arthur's luck is usually ill. When something good happens to him he is resented for it and he receives scorn for actions beyond his control. Richard, his benevolent older brother is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, Richard's favor promotes Arthur's career, on the other it earns the enmity of elder generals like Munro and Baird. Arthur's history of proving himself will soon be shown as the next flashback will focus on Holland.

Napoleon: Is surrounded by friends. At war the likes of Murat, Davout and Victor surround him. In France he is joined by Joseph and Lucien as well as others. These friends support Napoleon but already you can see Napoleon putting cracks into his relationships. He curtails Murat's ego at the Battle of the Pyramids and he ignores Davout's advice after. These disputes will see men like Victor and Davout leave his side and see his own brother, Lucien abandon him. Meanwhile Napoleon's own ego and confidence serve him well in the movie so far. It is not until he begins to doubt himself that trouble will show itself. His history of betrayal will soon begin as the next flashback will focus on his explosive relationship with President Paoli.

Post Apocalyptic: Day 18 (So You Know)

Title: Follow My Voice

Story and Screenplay: David G

Director: Max
Assistant Director: David C

Theme: In the bleakest of world the most valuable commodity is hope.

Log Line: Billy Quinn races against demons from his past and present to rescue the last shred of hope in his bleak world.
Origins: So, Max and I were introduced by Dave C who has been a mentor to both of us over the years. He connected us because while I write films I don't know the first thing about making them and while Max makes films he's never had a "writer" at his disposal. Max read my screenplay, "Welcome to Plum Corp." and said to me, "Wow! You are really really funny. But... how about writing something dark depressing and creepy?" As always my response was, "If you'll make it, I'll write it." So I dug deep into the crazy, drawing upon imagery from the Dark Tower, Mad Max and The Stand to create a world and a story that I thought was interesting. So... here's what we ended up with:
The World: The world ended, something catastrophic happened to kill most people and basically kill all life on the planet. Humans survived. They banded together into communities but as resources became scarce, fighting broke out and civilization fell again. This was compounded by an evil group of religious fanatics bent on punishing all women for original sin. So when the story begins the world ended about 15 years ago, there are no known women left, there is no sustainable food and resources are extremely scarce.
The Hero: I think Mad Max is a brilliant heroic archetype. He really isn't trying to be a hero, he just is a man with basic morals in a world that lacks morality. Our hero, Billy, is similar to Max but he's a little less action hero. Billy isn't a super-skilled fighter nor does he have tons of weapons or the ability to make deadly and explosive booby traps. The good news is... neither do his enemies.

The Villains: Again I took my cue from Mad Max. One hero vs. a group of villains. Our hero is against 12 crazed men who are all vicious and armed. The Jesus Man and his Apostles represent my own spin on Mad Max's leather wearing, mohawk having, nut-jobs with motorcycles.

Schedule: It's still rough, but here is what we have talked about.

Production Meeting - ASAP

Auditions - October or September if we can get moving right away

Filming - October/November (Before snow but after leaves are off the trees)

If you are interested in helping out with the filming, auditioning or just learning more... let me know and I'll keep you posted.

Project Updates

Sonia - A historical drama based on the life of my great great aunt. This screenplay was the first I completed, but I screwed up in re-drafting because of my previous dependence on my pirated copy of Final Draft. I'm a quarter into moving it over to Celtx but I've lost my momentum as the budget for this type of movie is huge and I don't think I have the means or time to make it happen.

Welcome to Plum Corp - A zombie comedy that follows the zombies as heroes in their insurrection vs. a satanically evil corporation This screenplay is sitting as a second draft waiting for someone to want to make it. Change that, I've already had people say they WANT to make it, but people have told me that they don't have the budget to make it WELL. Some day my Zom-Com will be made... some day...

Follow My Voice - Post apocalyptic action movie. This movie is set to be cast in October and shot in a massively rushed flurry in November. I'm totally excited but going mad waiting to get going.

Steam - My Joss Whedon inspired steam punk adventure. I flew through 30 pages of this movie and could probably finish it easily but I lack the drive to finish it without someone being interested in making it.

N/W, Emperor and India - Historical drama following the character foils of Napoleon and Wellington as one rises to emperor and the other toils in India. I have zipped through 16 pages and could probably do more but I think I need to go back and do more to justify my first flashbacks.

Historical Drama: Day 16 (Flashbacks)

So... here is the issue.

Mr. N and Mr. W had VERY eventful lives. For me to follow them adequately, I need to focus on a specific time in their lives as the "present". I'm starting Napoleon and Wellington around 1798 and 1799 respectively and following events chronologically from there. Sadly, I can't stick to a straight and simple story from there without going back and showing the audience what has happened before. Time to bring the Delorean up to 80 MPH and power up the Mr. Fusion.

So I hop back to when they were both adolescents and going to school. We see young Napoleon, surrounded by friends and young Wellington sad and lonely. We see Napoleon develop relationships with a young generation of military minds and Wellington developing a self-dependence. Then we go back... TO THE FUTURE... well... 1799 so... back to the chronological present.

Yet... before I get into Napoleon's play at political power don't I need to show his relationship with his brothers and Paoli and some of the other political figures of the French Republic. It's a good thing we packed gasoline because that hasn't been invented yet.

UH OH! I think there's a problem. If I keep jumping around from time to time how are people going to know when it is? I suppose you'll be able to tell how old Napoleon or Wellington are physically but that could be confusing.

No, trust me, it's confusing.

So what I need to do is make it clear to the audience when and where they are. I've done this by offering establishing shots that display dates and locations but I need to be careful as well. Because if I do that too much, the audience could get angry.

And that's just not pretty.

Saying Thanks

I'm gonna take a break from writing about writing to thank a couple people who have helped me become a better writer. Without these people I'd be writing plot-less dialogue and stuck perpetually in sketch mode.

My wife: So... my grammar is still about as bad as an adult's grammar could be. My spelling is laughable and my typos are sometimes funnier than the comedy of my scenes. Yet, they would not be half as close to coherent without Emily. My writing is never complete until she actually deigns to edit it for me, but at least I know how to use a comma splice... sorta... kinda... not really. Sorry honey.

Larry: In college I took screen writing as a class and learned NOTHING. That is what happens when your professor is an Erotic Wrestler... Thanks SUNY New Paltz. THANKFULLY I had my playwrighting professor, Larry. Larry was able to not only get coherence out of my stories, but also able to get me writing with such furious speed and efficiency that I believe I completed a sizeable 8 plays in two years.

David: Larry introduced me to another professor, David. David was actually the first person to produce a play I wrote. Batman vs. Robin might not be high drama but... David taught me that things don't NEED to be high drama for them to be worthy. David also was an Improv teacher and has helped me use the Chekhov Method to create more believable and full characters.

To Everyone Who Has Helped Me... Thanks!