If your priorities are simply making money and getting anything that feeds the status quo, forget reading the rest of this.
We are actually facing the change of climate and stability of environment and our government institutions that may lead to the extermination of human species, first through wars ( happening now) where large populations are displaced ( Porto Rico, Yemen, Syria, etc.) sometimes by their own government, sometimes by superpower governments,. Weather events or natural disaster mask some of this and are a trigger. (Remember the "drought" in Ethiopia and the starving...I was there and it was because of war and fighting...)
Why are we writing about non-sense in our work? The stories should be bigger than we are, not smaller, not meaner and less relevant to survival and our own abilities than we are. The focus of media power can be changed, perhaps more easily than any other part of the military/industrial complex ( war, finance and big business) We have means to change media to be truth teller, as ART has done throughout human history. We have our own, growing distribution networks! DO NOT Let the status quo determine your artistic focus!! The need for that Status Quo is gone and is of no real benefit to a modern audience....No wonder kids are on their cell phones...they are looking for something real...
Wow.
Double wow.
Thanks for your feedback but I'm not sure what it means other than you are thinking about this. That is excellent and the goal of this and other postings I make on this site. If we aren't shaping the media, someone else will be...kind of like life in that aspect....it has always been the role of artists to see ahead, to lead. - Hence my email address wayscans5@gmail.com Named for a youth group who helps shape their world - the Wayscans - a weapon of mass instruction operating in my books and moving into TV series I write. WHERE ARE YOU LEADING YOUR WORLD?
The problem with this Karen is that not just anyone can write about the environment. Writers are a diverse bunch and we all have different interests and genres we want to write about. Another point to consider is that we have to try and provide stories that people are interested in and that will sell. It is a business after all and if we don't see it as that we are destined to fail, unless we see it as a hobby. Which is fine but I already have a few of them. PS Yes I do want to make money!
The environment is the elephant in the room no matter what your topic - I created a cartoon feature about ancient Egypt where the use of land and to whom it belongs IS the story- plus a lot of cool stuff about the magic in everything and everyone and who really makes the Egyptian empire we admire...the artists and the workers...that is us. It's funny, it's clever, it has songs and mystery and mad-talented scientists but it is still about how we are living on this - or for sci/fi - other Planets.
Think about your problem solving, your identification of exploiters ( who made those zombies, anyway?) and you will be writing about the environment and social justice issues. Otherwise why take up your time, screen time, audience time? Selling placement products. perhaps?
By the way, if people have questions about the environment - should we put the car with the body in it in the swamp, or just the body?- I would be happy to help with answers.
Email me at wayscans5@gmail.com with subject line "Enviro question" and I am happy to help. (Answer: Just the body, please. The earth can take care of that and the stunt car for the shoot has oil in it that does not need to be in any body of water, unless you are doing it by computer generated means- in which case, still bad example for viewers)
Thanks for that but I dont have the time or the will to research a film about the environment. I recently wrote a comedy about a greyhound. That's about my limit. Good luck with whatever you do though.
I'm not a vegan. You obviously have the lowdown on food choices without my help. I am sort of into not buying food you don't eat ( and throw away without options for composting in your city) and food collectives that deliver "not perfect looking" foods. These are simple things that can be seen and might not even need to be discussed by characters in almost any screen play or series. They introduce the concept that such programs can be and often are provided locally and can be a part of one's life and lifestyle. Talk about product placement in films??? Why not do "idea" and "lifestyle choice placement" ? Need more ideas for how this can be done for your scripts? I'm happy to help for free. Let me know with a bit of background on time period, region, character, lifestyle , life needs, etc. I also give pretty good advice about healthcare, health and hospital realism and am happy to do so, just NOT to ever again see someone of a ventilator having a chat with anybody, in a film.
By the way, the ship has sailed for most of those wells, already. We're fracked!
I do agree with you Karen, but as Michael said, not everybody is cut out to write films/projects of that content. But you could lead the way an inspire others to follow suit
I certainly don't want everyone to write the same films! That seems to be happening right now! It looks like violence is the way to solve every dispute and people are only focused on who is dating whom, no matter what the premise of the story...story lines quickly evolve to a hospital show about dating, a war show about dating, a legal show about dating. If it is not dating, it's how people make or steal lots of money or power, get away with something illegal or catch serial killers Surely, these are not the real problems/solutions we all face and must face creatively for a just and sustainable world. Nor should we have to always face them in our media choices.
Why is the most beautiful movie in Theaters today, a "Christmas movie" , 'The Nutcracker in the Four Realms", a movie about war and political deception, exploitation and mindless worker manipulation? Technology caused and technology resolved by control of the biggest weapons, as it seems....and all from one person's imagination ( the main character's mother). Spoiler Alert (literally) The machine was still in place at the end of the movie, just waiting for what?
That's my point, I guess. Look closely at what you imagine and realize in your work. Could it be a better solution to a real problem and not the continuation of the same problems, dogma and "solutions" that really don't help.
Me lead the way? I am happy to walk this path with others and everything I write pretty much aims for different than the status quo, if the status quo is not in our or the Planet's best interest. I am also happy to help others interject these concepts into their scripts and ideas. Let us dream and imagine a better future, together.
For example can there be ONE character in your next script who is on a phone bank to support votes for a good candidate for City Council...someone with concern about how their City is being run? It could be the main character's mom...everyone needs a mother. She probably should not be too worried about whom she is dating, but who people will vote for. I'm just sayin...
There have been some major films about the environment over the last few years. 2010, San Andreas, Pacific Rim etc. Another point to consider is budget, massive for pictures about planet's end.
Easy ... Plastic Continent ... It's 2x the size of TEXAS & is growing... Out in the Pacific... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMncyN_C-pQ - Get a grant on filming a documentary... It's killing everything... A humpback whale was found dead with 13 lbs of plastic in it's stomach ... just the other day... It's sad & is real....
I'm trying to create equality and roles for those under-represented in the media, and then my priority is good acting roles for myself. But I'm a filmmaker and actress for a reason. No Asian roles.
You know I'd love to see Asian actors in roles they actually play in life: like doctors ( we see a few South Asians these days but the few are usually men.) How about a kick-ass Asian woman as an investment banker....A successful chef! Come on people, lets get that diversity out there and show Asian women as something besides sex workers and shop keepers. Professional clowns? Singers? How about workers for the environment groups as 2ndary characters in your ROM-COM? These are the ways you bring depth and reality to ANY screenplay and don't use the excuse that you need to have some special knowledge about the environment, for that. If someone can make a film about a farmer launching a space ship from his barn, YOU can put environment stuff in any screenplay -- not just a documentary..... Need ideas how to "work it into the screen play? Let me know and I will give you ten ways.
By the way Jack Neal, the plastic is not just in the floating island of trash but it does break down and becomes tiny particles of plastic in all water of the ocean, consumed along with other food sources along the food chain, by fish and then by us.... Sorry to break this bad news but I wonder if in ANY screenplay someone could just show a consumer saying NO to the offer of a plastic water bottle and holding up their reusable container... Background runners along the path as they jog? How about part of a senseless quarrel between lovers when the topic is not really what they argue about....Amy:" You always buy plastic and we're already drinking it in every water supply!" Harold: "Go hug a tree! "
Yes karen that fact is well played in the youtube video link that I shared along with the culture of what & where it all goes... So sad... ASIA is the biggest problem with this - They don't care about any of the issues we talk about here... They are farming the ocean for plastic now... Fukashima is the scariest thing in my mind & it's real...