So happy to hear that the map exercise was helpful to some.  Here’s another sparky spark  - get things going - or breathe new life trick.  Pick up something you ALMOST finished or start something totally new.  Write down subjects you want to know more about - either from your head or from the script that never got closure.  You’ll be amazed by how it is EXACTLY the missing link in your script - the point that will lead you to the core of your story.  Try it - report back your findings.  Make a turkey sandwich and do it now.   happy thanksgiving.xtheprof   p.s. in your research, pay attention to the full names of things and how finding exact language engages your imagination .  Let one site lead you to the next and exhaust all leads.  The story will find you - just keep moving.                            

I cringe - protect my head from falling debris.  Several of you mentioned the “f” word so I’ll say  it right back to you with feeling - FORMULA.  It’s that popular group MYTH that hangs around like a ring of smog anywhere two or more writers are gathered together.  Do this and do this and you’ll have that.   sound easy?  good luck with it.    This is a post I started and never finished.  It has a twinge of bitterness.  N’est ce pas?   This past semester at USC has been flacardenful of delobinous struden twilla - no need for a dictionary - I just use the word AMAZING to the point that it applies to everything. A great semester that ends soon.  Next semester I’m teaching a course called WRITING THE SHORT FILM.  So, for the next few days - I’m posting exercises that were fruitful these last couple of months.  Then we’ll be caught up. I found this in Bill Roorbach’s book WRITING LIFE STORIES - really great book that will remind you of how much material you have in your own life - tune in to the way YOU tell stories.  He’s a kick ass great writer. Buy his books and they will change your life.  OK: Draw a map of the first neighborhood you can remember. Where did you live - where did you shop? - where did you ride your bicycle?  Where were you afraid to ride your bicycle?  OR  draw the map of  the story you’re working on -  re energize your script - if you really focus on making this map as intricate as you can - the floods will come - ideas - stories - conflicts.  Consider using glitter even.all for now.theprof

not sure exactly but I never left LA.   My class at USC is small (6 students) and I am so impressed with them this semester.  If you are currently searching for a great writing program.  The MPW program at USC is under new leadership and is accepting applications now for Fall ‘09.  Just apply - see what happens. Oh…..one more plug.  My short film THE DIAGNOSIS starring James Urbaniak, Leslie Ann Warren, and Emily Deschanel will screen on Wednesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm - Skirball Cultural Center as part of the donkaphant film festival.  A donkey and an elephant were sittin in a tree - K-I-S-S-I-N-G - first came love - then came marriage - then came a film festival.  Check it out. I’m hoping I can post an entry here every day for a year to make up for my silence.   xtheprof 

We’re already approaching week three in the fall semester.  Let me catch you up.  Week one:  room 400 - all wrong - but we soldiered on - summarizing summers - mispronouncing each others names  - toes in the water — little splashes.  Assignment - we’re reading Peter Biskind’s DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES: MIRAMAX, SUNDANCE, AND THE RISE OF INDEPENDENT FILM.  I’ve decided to do a double feature film assignment so it was  Cassevetes’ A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, and DiCillo’s LIVING IN OBLIVION.  (Drum roll) and for the writing assignment - write a 2-3 minute scene without dialogue that has a beginning middle and end.  Week two:  A lively discussion about 1974 and New York and long takes and and and - we were definitely in “the zone” when metaphors start flying around and opinions gather volume - oh oh oh.  Every teacher’s dream.  In class assignment: write about an event during your childhood that seemed strange - surrounded by cryptic adult codes that denied you access. Present tense - POV of child.  Write for ten minutes - pen down - breathe in out and now write for ten minutes about that same event from an adult’s POV - remembering.   Watch everything Cassavetes made.  When I lived in New York I would sometimes wander - and sometimes during my wanderings  it would rain.  One of those rainy day wanderings - I ducked into the Paris theatre and stumble bumbled into a Cassavetes festival.  After OPENING NIGHT I was hooked and - well, this is your assignment for next week.  I got zero comments last week.  Chooch and Amanda, are you on vacation?  Miss you guys. xtheprof   

A woman and a formula are sitting in a private corner of a restaurant.  They look at menus. SHE:  What are you gonna have? HE: Same old same old. SHE: I don’t see that on the - HE: Oh they have it. SILENCE - RANDOM CLANKS OF SILVERWARE. She puts her menu down.  SHE: why would you order that? It gives you gas and makes you sleepy and then you’re hungry again before we - HE: What are YOU gonna have? SHE: I might try the peasant’s picnic or the love letter in a lunchbox.  HE: Sardines on  sourdough?  SHE: my mouth is watering.  Does the idea offend you?  HE: I just don’t know where it’s going.  SHE: Do you have to?  HE: Do you know who I am? He stands up.  - to be continued…… There’s a “welcome back” event at USC tonight and we have each been asked to introduce ourselves to the new students.  ONSTAGE - and talk about the class we’re teaching. I’m nervous!!! I really need to make an outline - bullet a post-it.   A week from today my class begins.  WRITING THE INDEPENDENT FILM.  Tune in for “pre-lesson plan” thoughts every thursday this fall. Some news on my short film THE DIAGNOSIS - this festival invited us: www.donkaphant.com/ I have to go get ready for the welcoming ceremony.  WRITE A SCENE where your character is trying to stay positive while preparing for an event where they will have to speak into a microphone and during the preparation, a family member in crisis calls.   

If all goes as planned, Sunday at midnight I will be BOLDING and CENTERING and SAVING and SINGING that word into the canyon.  I was away for a month - placing myself under house arrest.  AND I FINISHED!!! Congratulations to all of you who are soon writing THE END as well.  Classes start in less than a few weeks at USC.  We have a new director of the MPW program - Brighde Mullins  - and I really look forward to working with her.  So…… Summer to Fall.  Make a list of what you notice this week that signifies a change of season - the leaves aren’t the be all  - and yes LA does too have seasons - just keep your eyes open and your ears tuned - next week I’ll post an exercise that has to do with this list and feel free to share your list.xtheprof 

I went to this healing center in Venice - I was curious and walked in without an appointment.  The receptionist looked up and said,”You’re lucky - today the doctor is in and can see you……..well, he’s a vet but - When was the last time you didn’t respond to an odd comment - you just let it lodge in your memory. Think think think. Once you have a good one, write a short film that starts with the odd comment and go from there.  Put yourself in the story transforming yourself into a character.Write to me - one paragraph - story problems you’re wrangling with - I’ll tailor make some salve and post it next week.Until then, turn on the AC and write. 

pick up random free magazines and glean from themdrive around your city and look for missing letters on signs that change the meaningeavesdrop and record EVERYWHEREWatch a film you know nothing aboutwrite down all the stories you tell in one daywho did you run into today?go to target - home depot - BB&B……..browserecord your voice - what did you say - how did you say it?  if you’re reading this blog please let me know/.  

first of all I intensely dislike the term blog.  bloggedy blog blog. hippedy hog dog. soggy foggy wrong wrong ding dong ning nong. SO…..let’s think of another name. Send me your ideas.   Secondly, I need to hear from you.  What do you need from the exercise department to get you going - keep you going?   A THOUSAND WORDS opened last weekend.  We’re running two more weekends.  Here’s the flyer: I like the finishing theme.  More on that.   Spend the week taking inventory on what you have started and stopped.  Herd it all into a file saved to your desktop.  These are your baseline ingredients - cover and let cool - we’ll start cooking next week.

The screenwriting professor (me) is in a show that opens Friday – the LA Times did a piece on us yesterday. We, being PADUA PLAYWRIGHTS L.A. Times article Click on that then scroll down.  Nine playwrights were each paired with a downtown artist and given two weeks to write a ten minute play based on the artist’s work.  A company of actors formed and every Saturday, as the drafts evolved, the actors would read the latest versions and the ensemble of plays started to create the voice of an evening. I hope you’ll come downtown to see it.  We run for three weekends. Padua Playwrights proudly presents A THOUSAND WORDS. I’m still focused on finishing projects this summer.  During tech week I brought a variety of notebooks to the theatre and consolidated the exercises I’d used in my classes into a brand new COMPOSITION notebook (my favorite kind).  I was so excited to see them all in the same place. Often, after rehearsal, I want to eat and before I know it I’m ordering from the HUNGRY MAN section, leaving with most of it to go.  The next morning, I see it and usually throw it out after one little farewell bite.  But, this morning I spied something left over and it inspired me to blend in some fresh ingredients.  You probably already always do this so use it as a leap to analogy land and find that script you put down after Christmas – the one you tucked at the bottom of your regifting drawer. Re-read it lovingly – what’s worth saving?  (Your doggie bag)  Throw the rest away.  Now mix with new material (fresh ingredients/new notebook) and you are off and running again. 

These might inspire some fresh character stuff: Put one of your characters in therapy – what would he/she be saying the last five minutes of the session. Write a scene between two characters.  A needs money and B is distracted by historical facts. Make a short list of cruel remarks either directed at you or someone you love.  Give this as a first line of a monologue to one of your least likely characters.