writing style/ living in your head/ Twitter to book

This is on my www.badcb.blogspot.ca:

Mar. 3 Writing style: I was reading “Looking back on an exciting first year as The Globe’s Travel Concierge” by John Lee in the Globe and Mail on Dec. 28, 2013.  He answers questions about travel like “I’m planning on going to New Zealand.  What should I go see?”

He says this: “And I now realize what a slow writer I am: too long spend obsessively rereading sentences everyone else sensibly scans in microseconds.”

My opinion: Sometimes I write fast, sometimes I write slowly.  It depends on the topic.  Of course, I do copy and paste articles and I then type my comments on it so it’s fast.  When I write a synopsis of a TV show, I write slower.

Mar. 4: I went to work today and looked for a job.  Now I’m bored and I need a break, so I’m going to write about TV shows.

The Vampire Diaries: Did you know this show had aired their 100^th episode?  That’s great.  A month ago I came home and turned on the TV.  The Queen Latifah show was on and I was listening to it as I was checking what was on that night.  The actor Ian Somerhalder (Damon from The Vampire Diaries) was on and mentioned how there was a 100^th ep. 

Criminal Minds: I watched Criminal Minds 200^th episode called “200.”  Here’s a little recap.  JJ and Cruz from the FBI team went to Iraq to stop terrorists back in 2011.  There was a translator named Michael Hastings (Tahmoh Penikett from Dollhouse).  Hastings got killed when their car got hit by a IED.  JJ and Cruz are now back in Washington DC in present time. 

They both get kidnapped and are tortured to get authorization codes.  Later Hastings appears and it turns out he wasn’t dead at all. 

I was on twop.com and said this:

“I thought the episode was good.  Then I came here and I see all the plot holes. 

I didn't predict that Hastings was the double agent.  I really thought it was going to be Cruz. 

I did predict Hastings couldn't really be killed.  I was thinking about Prentiss supposedly being dead when she was really alive.

I also want to add that I really thought Cruz was playing JJ and the BAU.  I have seen on Alias where Sydney is being tortured and kept in a cell with another man.  The other man was pretending to be tortured.  I thought Cruz was pretending to be tortured.

Cruz is one of the two agents to open the account, so I thought he wanted to get JJ with him.

When Tevon mentions the miscarriage and JJ looks at Cruz, I thought Cruz told Tevon.  But really, it was Hastings who overheard.”

Here’s a good recap of the episode:

http://www.ruxyn.com/2014/02/review-criminal-minds-season-9-episode.html

International Festival of Authors: I was reading this National Post article I cut out called “Michael Chabon and Junot Diaz living on the page” on Oct. 27, 2012.   It’s about the authors Michael Chabon and Junot who are at this festival.  I went to website and it’s held in Toronto in October.

http://ifoa.org/festival

Living in your head: Here is the excerpt of the article.  It’s the ending of it.  You can read the full article where I provide the link at the bottom:  

There’s a scene in “Otravida, Otravez,” one of the stories in Díaz’s new collection, when the narrator, looking at her friend, who gave up both her husband and children when she came to the United States, says she “understands what has to be sacrificed on a voyage.” I ask if either of them have sacrificed anything to make it.

“There’s few people who would argue that one does not have to cut a deal with reality to spend so much time on these projects,” Díaz says. “Whether you’re a young artist, or you’re an artist late in their career, you have made a f–king deal with reality. You’re not going to be in the world as much as a normal person, I don’t think. Ninety-nine per cent of my life has been lived in pages. It’s OK. One wins, one feels like they’ve published books, we get reviewed, we go on tour. That’s wonderful. But let’s be real: You give up a lot of s–t to keep your nose in a book for 16 years. I’m not crying. I’m not a victim. But when I think about the larger things, I think about the years of lived life that have gone into [the books].”

“And you lose the ability, after a while, to actually live life, to engage,” Chabon says. “It becomes to such a habit to remain at a certain distance that it can be hard to bridge that distance, to come back out again. You’re always observing and note-taking.”

“You can never account for the things that you have lost when you weren’t paying attention,” Díaz says. “All my relationships that have gone away from me — how many of them were because I wasn’t paying attention to them instead of paying attention to the books? And there’s no accounting for some stuff. I don’t even have a full bill yet.”
“It will be presented in time, no doubt,” Chabon says.
Díaz agrees. “It certainly will.”

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/10/26/michael-chabon-and-junot-diaz/

Mar. 7 Twitter to book: I cut out this article “Gaining readers one tweet at a time” by Misty Harris on Jul. 31, 2011.  Here are excerpts from the article:

“As recently as five years ago, authors would create an online presence to stay connected with existing fans; today, an online presence is what's generating fans in the first place, with readers discovering novelists' work after becoming besotted with their tweets.”

"I (have) had people show up to readings saying that they didn't even know I wrote books, and that they were followers from Twitter," says Crane, who joined the site 2-1/2 years ago. "The proof is already in the pudding right there."

Crane, whose tweets might be described as Dorothy Parker meets 90210 (a show for which she's written), is hoping to see a Twitter salesbump for her latest book With a Little Luck.

“…publishers won't spend money on promoting you unless you are one of five people," says Crane, wryly noting she isn't one of those five. "So I trot my wares out there like the Little Engine that Could."

"a bit like a pyramid scheme of publicity,"

"There is something wonderfully liberating about being social with tens of thousands of people at once, without actually having to be around any of them," Crane quips.

Bestselling Canadian author Neil Pasricha says he's regularly approached by people at readings who first discovered him on Twitter - a phenomenon he finds amusing, given that the micro-writing site traffics in the tiny.

"A giant piece of dead tree in a local library is not instant, you have to go somewhere to get it, it's thick, it doesn't update - it's pretty much the exact opposite medium," says Pasricha, author of The Book of (Even More) Awesome. "But there's an important similarity, and that's that people on Twitter like to be entertained and they're willing to read."

"I don't invent characters. I invite strangers. Out of my subconscious.  Then cut them slack, to see what they'll do."-@greatdismal (William Gibson)

My opinion: I like the above tweet.  I’m going to put that in my inspirational quotes.

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/archives/story.html?id=44eb6ac5-9c79-47d9-964c-c9d129322343

blog/ Veronica Mars/ crowdfunding

This is on my www.badcb.blogspot.ca:

Feb. 28 Blog: I was thinking about how to get my TV script The Vertex Fighter produced. 

I had Tracy’s Blog for 7 yrs and at the top it says this:

I’m Tracy Au and I have graduated from the Professional Writing program from university. I am an aspiring screenwriter, so this blog is used to promote my writing and attract people who will hire me to write for your TV show or movie. I write a lot about writing, TV, movies, jokes, and my daily life and opinions. I have another blog promoting my TV project at www.thevertexfighter.blogspot.com.

I had The Vertex Fighter blog for 2 and a half years and at the top it says this:

I'm Tracy Au and I have graduated from the Professional Writing program from university. I'm an aspiring screenwriter. This blog is used to promote this TV movie The Vertex Fighter. If the ratings are good, it could be turned into a back door pilot. It's used to attract producers, directors, investors, cast, and crew who want to be part of this project. It’s also to attract the same people who will hire me to write for your TV/ movie. I have another blog www.badcb.blogspot.ca.

I’ve had these blogs for years and still there are no investors and producers coming.

Kickstarter: I then thought about this.  I have written about this before:

http://thevertexfighter.blogspot.ca/2012/05/kickstarter-job-interview-goal.html

I then reread the article that Roxanne McAnn sent me “8 Tips for Raising money through Kickstarter.”  Here are the tips.

1. Set your goal lower than you think you need.
2. Have a record of accomplishments.
3. Look at successful and unsuccessful campaigns.
4. Give good rewards.
5. Make a short, well-produced video.
6. Offer updates.
7. Thank contributors as they donate.
8. Promote your project everywhere.

http://www.businessinsurance.org/8-tips-for-raising-money-through-kickstarter/

Veronica Mars: This TV show was turned into a movie because of Kickstarter.  I decided to check it out.  The 5 min. video was funny with Kristen Bell (who played Veronica) waking up and seeing Ryan Hansen (Logan’s friend Dick) on the show watching TV and eating cereal.  Jason Dohring (who played Logan) comes with a box of donuts.  Enrico Colantoni (Veronica’s dad Keith) is in the kitchen drinking coffee.  The creator Rob Thomas is performing a puppet show in the living room.  This is great success.

It was achieved because they were on TV for 3 yrs and had a big fan base, and the fans were willing to donate money to get this movie made.  

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

Crowdfunding: Richard Botto wrote a blog post on Sept. 30 about crowdfunding on Stage 32:

“The crowdfunding revolution has taken hold and is showing no signs of slowing down.  Seems as if every creative you run into from actors, to producers, to playwrights, has a campaign rolling.  This past weekend, while speaking at Screenwriters World West, I was fascinated by how many aspiring screenwriters wanted to talk to me not about landing a manager or hooking a producer, but for tips on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.

And why not?  Seems simple enough.  Write a killer synopsis, splice together a cutting edge trailer, and watch the dollars roll in.

If only it were that easy.

The reality is, raising money through crowdfunding requires business and marketing skill.  It requires intricate strategy that goes well beyond “Yo, dude, check my IndieKickGogo campaign” posts on Twitter – which never works, by the way.  It requires constant attention to detail – and to your supporters.  It’s an investment of time that has nothing to do with the pre-production, production, and post production of your project.  It’s a job in and about itself.

Further, the competition is fierce.  How people go about getting eyes on their campaign is as important as what they show them once they get there.  Well, more important in fact, for without eyes, the cash register remains empty.

So how do you cut through all the clutter and stand out amongst the pack?  How do you plan a pre-campaign strategy.  How do you hit that all important 30% of your raise in your first week (which leads to about an 80% success rate)?  How do you create fans and keep them engaged?

We asked John Trigonis - Film, Web, and Video Manager at Indiegogo and author of the critically acclaimed book, Crowdfunding For Filmmakers: The Way to a Successful Film Campaign - if he would be willing to speak on all of these subjects as part of our Next Level Webinar series.  He graciously accepted.

On October 16th, John will lead two sessions of Cutting Through The Noise – The Keys to a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign at 1PM and 7PM PST.  If you have ever run a campaign or plan to do so in the future, this is an event you will not want to miss.  You will increase your odds of success significantly and eliminate frustration from what should be a very enjoyable and rewarding process.”

Here is RB’s Oct. 3, 2013 post:

“On October 16th, John will present two 90 minute sessions of Cutting Through The Noise - The Keys to a Succesful Crowdfunding Campaign.

According to various crowdfunding studies:

Over 90% of all film crowdfunding campaigns fall short of the intended goal

Over 75% of those which fail do not even reach 50% of their goal

Raising 30% of your goal in the first week of a campaign leads to a nearly 90% success rate

87% of those who post a film crowdfunding campaign do not have a pre-campaign strategy

93% of those who do not have a pre-campaign strategy do not reach their goal

85% of all those running a campaign do not use social media effectively to market and promote their campaign

Some might say that these are sobering statistics...I say they're inspiring. Many are doing it right. There's a way. A process. A formula to success. But it requires time, patience, and knowledge.”

My opinion: The above is my research.  I read an article and 2 blog posts, and watched a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Mar. 2 Rewards: I thought about it some more.  There is supposed to be like a gift for every donation.  Here are some examples if I were to create this campaign.  I have talked to MMA fighter Kit Cope and the actor Giles Panton.  They have read my script.  What if:

For a $10 donation: You can get an autographed picture from Kit Cope OR Giles Panton.

For a $25 donation: You can get an autographed picture from Kit Cope AND Giles Panton.

Panton is a Canadian actor.  I first saw him as a detective on the TV show Flash Gordon.  I watched it because my favorite Edmonton actor Eric Johnson is the star.  Panton has done a lot of TV work.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2297876/

Here is Kit Cope:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2314576/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Mar. 20 Update: I checked the Veronica Mars movie and it got a 7.8/10 rating from 8,800 users.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771372/

Believe TV show review

This is on my blog www.badcb.blogspot.ca: 

Mar. 11 Believe: I saw the promo for this pilot and it was a little girl talking about how she has super powers and is being hunted down.  I was indifferent because there are all these other TV shows about supernatural people being hunted down.  Yesterday I checked to see what’s on TV and info the show.  I see that Jake McLaughlin is in it.  As soon as I read that, I screamed with excitement so I had to watch it. 

I wrote about him before.  He was a bad boy MMA fighter in a The Mentalist episode and I saw him in the trailer to the MMA movie Warrior.  The executive producer is JJ Abrams.  It’s creators are Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity director) and Mark Freidman.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2592094/

The pilot is really good.  It starts off with a little girl who’s about 9yrs old.  Her name is Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) and she’s singing.  Her parents are driving the car in the rain.  Their car gets rammed from behind.  They run off the bridge and are upside down.  Mom takes Bo and they run.

A British woman Agent comes to help the dad and kills him instead.  She kills the mother and is about to take the girl.  A man runs over and says he’s a doctor.

Cut to a jail.  A black man priest Winter (Delroy Lindo) goes to inmate Tate (Jake McLaughlin) who is going to be executed soon.

Tate had told Winter that he was framed.  If he really was guilty, then he wouldn’t be a sympathetic character.

Winter: I’m going to help you escape.

There is a brain scan of Bo.  She’s telling the doctors to stop, but they don’t.  There are flashing lights and a malfunction of the machine.  The doctors stop the machine. 

Back to jail.  Winter tells Tate that he needs to save the girl Bo.  Channing (Jamie Chung.  She’s on ABC’s Once Upon a Time as Mulan) and she is in a van listening to them.  Winter is wearing a wire.

Hospital: Dr. Terry (Rami Malek who was on the sitcom War at Home) is trying to revive a old man.  Bo is watching.  The old man dies.

Jail: Tate is walking with Winter down a hallway.  Tate sees a butterfly and then says yes.

A blackout is orchestrated and Winter knocks out a guard.  Another guard is in on it and Tate is told to punch him in the face.  Tate goes to the sewer and is chest deep in water.  Tate comes out of the sewer and Channing puts a bag over his head. 

Channing sprays Tate with a hose.  He was in the sewer.

Dr. Terry goes to Bo and tells her that her parents are dead.

Bo: They were my parents for 2 weeks.  They’re nice.  I saw you try to save the man.  You are a good doctor.

Skouras (Kyle McLachlin, Orson on Desperate Housewives) is the bad guy boss.

Tate watches a video of Bo using telekinesis. He puts on a tracking device on his ankle and he has to rescue Bo.

Dr. Terry is going to quit being a doctor.

Tate pretends to be a patient and then he starts looking for Bo.  Agent pretends to be a doctor and does the same.  Tate puts on a scrub shirt and then he sees a butterfly and it leads to Bo.

There is silence as he watches her sleep and he cries.  Bo wakes up and asks why he’s crying. 

Tate: It’s because I’m hurt.  Look at my face.

Bo: Those scars aren’t real.  You’re crying because you are the good ones.

Tate tells her he’s with Winter and he takes her away.  Agent stops them.  Tate pretends he’s taking her to radiology and she walks with them.  Then Agent hits him and they start fighting with their arms.  Bo goes gets a needle and injects her with something.  They run away as Agent pulls out a gun and is dizzy.

The staff freak out. Agent opens a couple of close doors and then she goes to a cabinet.  Bo and Tate open a closet door where she didn’t open and they go out the window.  They climb down and catch a bus.  Agent injects something in herself to make her alert and leaves the room.

Bo and Tate are on the bus. 

Bo: I know who Senga is.  I have to tell Dr. Terry so he won’t quit.

Bo gets off bus and Tate gets off with her.

Dr. Terry goes home and his dad is in a coma.   He talks to his dad.

Terry: I tried to save him and he died.  You said you wouldn’t go to me if I was the last doctor on earth.  You were right.  I quit today.  You always get the last word, even if you can’t say it.  I was going to save you and show you.

Bo is on a computer and finds out where Terry lives.  Bo and Tate are on street and Channing picks them up.  They are taken to Winter and Bo is happy to see them.  Tate thought after the rescue he’s free to go. 

Winter: You’ll be working here for years.

Tate: I’ll leave.

Channing: You go out there on your own, you will die.

They give Tate a bag of money so he can have a place to live and take care of Bo.  Tate asks for a gun, but Winter says no because they’re the good guys.

Agent  drives her SUV into the warehouse.  Tate goes to the window with the money as Channing and Winter takes Bo.  Bo drops the turtle stuffed animal named Stanley.  She wants the toy back.  Then Agent comes.

There were suspenseful moments as Agent looks for Bo and the others hide around and watch her.  Bo tiptoes to get Stanley back, and then Agent is there.  Tate and Agent fight again.  Elizabeth has some karate kicks.  She is about to shoot Tate and Bo screams.  All these pigeons fly around her.

They all run.  Winter did get his arm shot.  They get into a car and drive away.  They drop off Tate and Bo.  Tate did get shot, his side is bleeding.

Tate and Bo go to Dr. Terry’s home.  Dr. Terry stitches Tate up as Bo goes to Terry’s dad.

Bo: Senga is someone you will meet.  She’s a singer.  She’s sick.  You will save her and her music will make people happy. 

Bo holds dad’s hand.

Bo: Your dad believes in you.  He loves you.

Terry fixes up Tate, and then Terry gets a phone call and he needs to go to the OR because they’re short handed.

Bo and Tate leave.

Winter calls Skoura and is kind of like taunting him that he got Bo.  Channing and Winter are at a Chinese restaurant.

Channing: I can’t believe you used to be partners with him (Skoura.)  You put Bo with a death row inmate.

Winter: I put him with her father.

Terry performs surgery on this woman.  Later she is singing and playing guitar on her hospital bed.  There are balloons that spell her AGNES.  Terry sees the balloons in the mirror and it says SENGA.

My opinion: I love this show.  I am going to keep watching it.

Comparisons:

A special kid with powers: This show reminds me of Touch.  The show was about widowed father (Keifer Sutherland) who has to raise his autistic son (David Mazouz).  The son is able to predict events in a way and things are all connected.  That show was by Heroes creator Tim Kring.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821681/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Bad guys hunting down someone with powers: It was done on Heroes, and recently The Tomorrow People.

TV production/ Flipboard/ music video

This is on my www.badcb.blogspot.ca:

Feb. 14 TV production: I mentioned before way back in 2008, I did a job interview at a TV production company.  Then in 2012, I started applying to all these TV production companies in Edmonton, and then I stopped after a month because there weren’t a lot.  Some were really far away, and some weren’t hiring.

Back in 2008, I wanted to get my script produced.  I was content with working at the Soup place full-time, and in the evenings I sit on the computer and look up TV production companies to pitch to.  I didn’t want a TV job back then, I wanted my script to be produced.

From 2008-2010 I did that.  In 2011, I kind of slowed down and went and looked for office jobs to work at.  In 2012, I then decided to look up TV jobs because my activity of sitting on the computer and pitching to producers and TV companies wasn’t getting a lot of results.

David Eddie: I was reading his advice column in the Globe and Mail today.  The question is “My mom disapproves of my career path.”  The writer says he wants to get into film school in Toronto, and his mom doesn’t support him because it’s so hard to get into that career.

Eddie tells him you have to show your mom how much you are passionate about it, and not because it’s some whim.  Show her how you know what you’re getting yourself into.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/my-mother-doesnt-support-my-career-choice-how-do-i-change-her-mind/article16850728/

Flipboard: I was reading Metro on Nov. 12, 2013.  It seems to be a really good website and tool:

“It's a single place to discover, collect and share the news you care about.  Add your favorite social networks, publications and blogs to stay connected to the topics and people closest to you.”

https://flipboard.com/

Feb. 15 Music video: I was watching Much Music and I see this video called “Believe” by Sonreal.  It’s like a good short film.   

There is the story of a 13 yr old being pushed around, and then he starts working out.

There is a story of a 40 yr old single mom and her son is doing drugs.  She’s struggling at her restaurant job.

There is a guy in a wheel chair.

Cut to scenes of the 13 yr old boy jogging and working out.

Cut to scenes of the 40 yr old mom succeeding in her restaurant job.

Cut to scenes of the wheelchair bound guy playing basketball with other men in wheelchairs. 

 

The last part is Sonreal rapping and a man playing the piano.  A girl is dancing hip hop.

It’s an inspirational video where they show people triumphing over adversity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCb-iUmy1o

TV producers: I went on Linked In to check on this producer I had in contact with since 2011.  I wrote a script for his TV show and emailed him to see how it’s going.  He’s been busy running his own TV company and this TV show.  It says he’s in pre-production.  It’s been 3 yrs. 

This is a guy who is already established and has been working in this industry for years.  He is still in pre-production.  I don’t know all the work he’s put in or he’s with other projects and this isn’t much of a priority to him.

I then looked at another TV producer’s Linked In page and he went to 2 colleges to study criminology.  He then went to SAIT and took Film and TV production.  I have thought of emailing him: “How did you get to where you are?”  SAIT was helpful.

Screenwriting Goldmine: Today I’m reading and deleting all these Screenwriting Goldmine emails I had subscribed to.  I see that most of them are advertising screenwriting classes, workshops, competitions, and production companies looking for scripts. 

The production companies always say something like this: “We’re looking for a female lead story set with horror setting.  Compare to House of Wax.  Budget not exceed $500,000.”

Feb. 17 Spring cleaning: In Jan. 2014, I was reading and deleting my Stage 32 emails.  In Feb. 2014, I’m reading and deleting my Screenwriting Goldmine emails.

Linked In groups: I like to read people write about writing on forums.  There are forums on those above sites.  I’m now going into Linked In groups.  I had signed onto groups like TWO BITS way back in 2011.  Prior to it, I was on twop.com reading about people comments on TV shows.

I then looked at all the groups I’m in on Linked In.  I then checked out what my connections are in what groups.

Feb. 20: Most of Screenwriting Goldmine’s “Scripts Wanted” emails are from production companies in the US.  One was from Canada so I pitched to them.

Meetup: I have read a few scripts and outlines from people in Meetup’s screenwriting group.  It kind of reminds me of high school and college creative writing classes.  In high school and college, there aren’t any scripts, but it’s more like fun short stories to read and critique.

However, I am impressed with people’s scripts here.  

Betty Hectman: Ginny Grimsley sent me this article “I Love Yarn Day.”  It’s about knitting and mystery books by Betty Hectman.  Here’s her website where there are descriptions of her books. 

When I read the summary, it reminded me of Mary Higgens Clark and Carol Higgens Clark books.  There is a mystery, but there is this kind of light element to it.

http://www.bettyhechtman.com/

http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2014/02/article-i-love-yarn-day.html

Feb. 27 Dr. Dre: He is a rapper and music producer.  I was watching some Much Music and the Today’s Top Ten was on.  It listed music artists that you would wait for their album.  He was to release his last album Detox in 2001.  He hasn’t released anything in years.  All he does is make and produce music for other artists instead of work on his album.

My opinion: That’s like me.  I haven’t really worked much on my Rain script, because I am mainly writing my blog.  Besides I’m busy working at my job.   The other day I was listening to one of my old cds by the British rock band Athlete.  I then felt inspired to look at my script. 

I then decided to delete some of the beginning and wrote in a few lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dre

Seth Meyers: I’m sure all of you heard that Saturday Night Live actor Seth Meyers is going on his own late night TV show.  He says he writes SNL Weekend Update and the jokes are written on Mon. and Tues. and when Sat. comes, the jokes are stale.  If it’s on daily TV, then the jokes are fresh.

My opinion: Yeah, I know what he means.  Way back in the days of 2005-2006, I used to write daily emails.  There were times I write 3 little emails a day, so it would be like 21 emails a week.  One person said he was overwhelmed by it and not to send so much.  Prior to it, I was planning on sending 2 big emails a week.  So then I started sending 2 big emails a week.  Now I send 3 big emails a week.

I like with email, you can send it in real time.  I’m sure now people are more with instantaneous feedback like Facebook status updates, tweets, and texts.  I’m fine with sending 3 big emails a week, it’s easier to manage and for you to read.

Mar. 4: You can compare this email/ blog post to “Linked In/ Stage 32/ 10 yr old blogger Hannah Alper”:

http://www.badcb.blogspot.ca/2014/02/linked-in-stage-32-10-yr-old-blogger.html