Screenwriting

I've written a couple of screenplays. Of course, they are unproduced. I wrote my first one, The Black Mailbox, back in 1999, after I got canned by Penthouse. I quickly got a job as an office temp, but I figured this was my chance to get off my duff and do something about my aspiration, so I finished the screenplay I had been toying with for years.

I think it's pretty good. I got a list of agents and did a mass mailing as suggested by one of the books I read. I got a few nibbles, but nothing came of it. I had a company do coverage of it, and the reader gave me high marks. When she called me (which was included in the price) she gave me a few pointers. One was to move to California. Apparently those in the positions of power consider non-Californians to be hobbyists, and don't take them as seriously. Good advice, I'm sure, but I have yet to make the move.

I also entered the very first Project Greenlight competition. My script made it to the top 250, which I consider a worthy accomplishment. The next phase of the contest, though, was a little disheartening, as it involved making a video to introduce one's self. I don't even own a video camera, so with my friend Bob's help we made a video one December afternoon. I think it turned out fine, but god only knows what they were looking for. Probably star potential, since the winner would be featured on a TV show. What was disheartening was that the quality of the script had nothing to do with the next winnowing of the competition. I did not make it to the final ten.

I wrote another script, tentatively titled Venus on the Half-Shell, in a burst of creativity a few years ago. Since then I've started another one, but got bogged down a bit, and while working two jobs haven't written much of anything. I hope to get started again, and not worry about the commercial potential of the script. I'm just going to write to please myself.

I've read Robert McKee's Story, and he has some good pointers, but I'd like not to be shackled by the rules in his book. Listening to Robert Altman's commentary on his film 3 Women, it's apparent that McKee's dictums don't always work. Altman based this film on a dream, and had no idea where it was going when he started. Maybe McKee didn't like 3 Women.