Moving things around until we can kind of get it quite right.
Any amount of spontaneous amateur feng-shui is of supreme value. A lamp, coffee mug or notebook out of place is grounds for inaction on the creative front and URGENT action in the organizational campaign that is our waking working obsession.
Laundry must be prioritized. Triage is in constant flux with regard to small items of interest.
Notoriously, laboriously, the house-cleaning, general miscellaneous activities and pretty much anything that can serve as a distraction need to be tinkered with and adjusted and cajoled into regimented chaos or wabi-sabi type of naturalistic perfection, before the actual writing can take place.
And then. Notebooks and pens. Laptop, charging cords, whatever toolset we are connected with at the moment, as long as it is … just so.
Does that lightbulb need to be swapped out for one that’s ten-percent brighter? Should I water the plants again?
What about a sandwich? Of course now it’s lunch time.
And naturally an essential stroll around the area, got to stretch my legs, can’t work without proper circulation and metabolism.
Optimization of all environmental factors must take place, prior to serious writing momentum being within reach.
But then! Wow, it is happening apace, lightning bolts shoot from my fingers, I’m speedily hammering the keyboard with at least five or six of my best typing fingers, in some approximation of the rapid-fire touch-typing along with flying hunt-and-peck style of the hovering thoughtful digits teasing out the flurries of genius from a stark white page ready for literary brick-and-block construction, it’s on.
What a joy.
And worth the wait, absolutely worth the delay, but see it’s NOT procrastination.
Rather, the nurturing and polishing of a sacred space, and touching flame to warm a sacred vessel.
Teeth-gnashing histrionics were irrelevant, I was always doing it right, it just had not yet arrived.
But in preparation I was and am always honoring the “about to happen,” eternally inviting and welcoming the “here we go!”
Hungrily anticipating prolonging the magic and opening the door while sweeping the floor to just make sure that EVERYTHING IS READY.
Because when we do, the loftier the attempt, the more happy we are about the prospects, outlines, characters, formats and culminations,
the more important it is that each oscillating fan be set for the correct speed and angle,
that any odors emanating from the fridge have been forestalled, dust-bunnies rounded up and sent home, shirts tucked away on hangers, traffic noises hopefully absent as we strategize to find the perfect hours-long moment in between the daily rush to choreograph and unleash our own fast-paced demolition derby of wordy blurbs,
let the sparks crackle, the patois, lingo, jargon and lexicon expand and disperse as the document is saved and when that happens so are we. For the moment.
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A prose that can inspire many of us screenwriters out there, even though I have my own method or approach when it comes to writing. Thanks for sharing!
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Marcel Nault Jr. cheers man, of course, definitely a fluffy confection and glad to share for any smiles or sparks it might facilitate!
Good on you if you are liberated from such counterproductive legerdemain.
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Ahh, The writing life. Someone write a script about it. We'll get Steven Spielberg to direct. :) Great post and prose, Daniel Stuelpnagel! I saw myself all throughout it.
"got to stretch my legs." I needed to stretch. Thanks for the reminder.
What's going on in the picture?
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Maurice Vaughan thanks so much, I know you are living it!
That's a photo of the team of film students in the screening room, from my current micro-budget comedy "Super Turbo Jet Boats" - episode one coming soon to a youtube near you!
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This is beautiful, your words sing!
The way you describe putting the house on order as a form of preambling a burst or creativity is super inspiring.
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:D Absolutely love this! Was chuckling all the way through, thank you Daniel Stuelpnagel Totally resonates. I guess a 'set-up' is as important as 'the fun and games' and 'culmination' - in screenwriting as in life :)
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Joanna AY thank you! Yes and I guess for me that aspect of 'writing about writing' is a way of entering in and setting the bar low just to get warmed up
but I think it makes sense because when we write about what we are passionate about it helps us to create and discover new passions for subjects that are much more experimental to us,
a way of developing momentum to apply to greater challenges.
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Luís Mercês thank you so much for that very thoughtful recognition, I am glad to connect!
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@Daniel Thanks for the fun and scintillatingly honest share, you've made my Saturday. I can wallow in the reassurance I am not alone with my raging thoughts LOL. Although I'm not as perfectionist as I used to be about obtaining the right environment, it just got too demanding. Now I only focus on my immediate needs beforehand. Not hung over, quality coffee, shower & clear any clinging negativity, clean kitchen top so can instantly make food if I go on a writing binge and suddenly suffer burn out. Must haves already in fridge, no interruption by take away delivery or mad dash to supermarket whilst my brain's still on the page so I end up gulping down in a pub full of people who never get what I say. THIS SHOULD BE ON A FRIDGE MAGNET "Teeth gnashing histrionics were irrelevant, I was always doing it right, it just had not arrived yet." That sums up a lot of things in general for me. Have a great weekend all!
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You're welcome, Daniel Stuelpnagel. I thought the picture was you planning out a scene in "Super Turbo Jet Boats." Like an action figure storyboard. :)
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Debbie Croysdale how lovely to know and share, thank you!
That's really interesting too as you note the food and kitchen aspects and all,
sounds like it also comes back to our recognition of our "primal" needs in such a visceral and immediate way, and in the screenwriting we're often trying to connect (as per Blake Snyder in "Save The Cat!") with PRIMAL themes and needs on behalf of our characters.
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Maurice Vaughan well that's exactly right,
in this really grassroots project I am in a sense planning shooting and mounting the scenes in tableaux like that, obviously a way to keep the budget almost nonexistent,
it's designed to facilitate a fun video cut which includes lots of photos with added implied camera movement in post,
and bring together the elements, sensibilities and aesthetic of lookbook, storyboards, shot list and pitch deck combined in a graphic novel so I can bring that together as well.
So far it is working as planned after about six months of pre-production, three weeks of production (for episode one which is Act I of the feature script) and just now heading into a two-month or so post-production summer to get this first "pilot" ready for social media streaming by the end of summer or thereabouts!
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So what you're saying is that my psychosis is not my own in needing to make sure the dishwasher is empty and the kitchen is clean before I can write. I'm going to go stand out in the rain, stretch my arms and face upwards with my eyes closed finally realizing that I've been set free. Then grab a piece of pie.
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"it's designed to facilitate a fun video cut which includes lots of photos with added implied camera movement in post." Like a behind-the-scenes video, Daniel Stuelpnagel?
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@LeonardoRamirez those special moments of connection, brother, I think you struck it right on the heart of the matter.
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Maurice Vaughan actually it is the experimental short / proof-of-concept video (comedy for mostly young audience) which is Act I of the feature, which should be complete and up on YouTube in its entirety by Q3 2024 ... it's already so contrived in techniques that I think I'll refrain from airing any BTS-type material ...
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And true to form even writing that diatribe was both procrastination and catalyst for fresh momentum!
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Ok, cool, Daniel Stuelpnagel. You could use the experimental short/proof-of-concept video on your crowdfunding page if you start one.
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Maurice Vaughan thanks for that idea, as it is I have considered a few different approaches however my basic logic on this was simply to keep the budget effectively zero, just purchasing props out of pocket, shooting with my phone and building the miniature sets in my apartment;
Why?
Because I plan to launch it on YouTube (and perhaps a couple of other platforms) and promote on social media to offer it for free to viewers.
And I recognize that with the proliferation of various types of content, even a free view is something that audiences are paying for, because they are remunerating the video producer with their time and attention
and I value that a great deal so I do not want to muddle my thinking by trying to raise money on this project unnecessarily,
I'm simply interested in getting direct audience feedback and I think that will be challenging enough, and I see the ROI as a return on investment of my time in creating the entertainment as exchanged by audiences giving their time as viewers,
it's a valuable metric and only time will tell if I am able to gain viewership for this property, whatever the case it will be valuable feedback for me in the marketplace of ideas so to speak.
And should still serve as proof-of-concept in whatever form I'm able to convey it to potential industry contacts (even if it's just a short trailer cut down from the reel) in reference to future projects, to demonstrate my skills with story, characters and craft.
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You're welcome, Daniel Stuelpnagel. Great point. Since you're doing your project on such a micro budget, you don't need to raise funds for it. What do you build the miniature sets with?
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Maurice Vaughan thanks for asking, as this is one of my favorite elements of the project!
For the sets as I looked through the script and imaginary locations, I was thinking of mid-century modern style (I love architecture and have just a little bit of knowledge), and the first episode is set in and around LA, so for some simple ones like the bad guys' warehouse in Long Beach there are simply black foam-board walls with various props,
but for most of them (yoga studio, garage in Anaheim, the school building bungalow and others) I just ordered a stack of inexpensive balsa-wood planks as you would use for many hobbies and model-building, and reconfigured these various pieces of balsa wood into simple box-like architectural models on approximately a correct scale,
held together temporarily with duct-tape or painter's tape and glue stick, then decorated them with props and changed the lighting for each one with a few lamps, different "floor coverings" and fake plants, each set has an interior and exterior implied aspect such as an entrance or doorway.
So I could shoot each scene, then strike the set and move on to use the same materials to build the next one in the shooting schedule (not in the same chronology as the script of course because some locations had five scenes scattered throughout the sequence, etc. so I am not rebuilding the same sets over again!).
I also made a few props and decorated backgrounds using some of my paintings and small art works in my collection as well, pretty much a little bit of planning but also a good bit of improv finding things that seemed to set the stage effectively.
Here's a photo of the garage ...
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This is phenomenal, Daniel. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you @RB I'm glad to!
It's a wild ride haha great to be doing it in a low-risk kind of way ...
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You're welcome, Daniel Stuelpnagel. That's incredible! What's the hardest type of set to build?
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Maurice Vaughan well so far the most time-consuming is a three-day configuration of a couple of sets where I am laying out enough space for two or three dozen action figures, plus vehicles, plants, props, floor coverings or faux water surface, lighting, multiple levels, one of which is a promenade next to a faux marina (the location in the script is Ventura Harbor / Pierpont Bay);
another detailed one is the luxury retreat in Costa Rica with a "waterfront" dock, sandy beach with actual sand and rocks, driftwood etc., these are set up on several adjacent table tops total space around fifteen to twenty square feet so it's multiple shots in adjacent locations where I can shoot from a variety of camera angles not unlike a multi-cam sitcom;
a couple of the creative challenges are knowing when it's done and ready to shoot as far as neither overloading with props nor making it too minimal, not getting too perfectionistic about the lighting, and following my intuition when it comes to trusting how the contrived look will evoke a willing suspension of disbelief within the context of the overall story.
In post-production, I'll simply cut to the action figures' faces and do the voiceover dialogue and try not to spend any excess screen time dwelling on the sets,
just let the backgrounds function as intended as if the toys were live actors, so as an auteur project this is really fun, it allows me conceptual control and focus to know exactly what elements to bring to the forefront so to speak and other things to push away to arm's length and be willing to make some creative sacrifices or deft decisions about how to shoot it,
it's a whole kind of film-school type experiment in miniature which makes it very low-stress and fun, while also applying some best practices from the indie and studio models I've observed and read about,
my mind is working overtime grinding away and I am already planning pre-production for 2nd unit action sequences for Act II, recently spoke with a photographer who might be able to come on board as DP and/or AD, so predictably my ambitions and every aspect of the project are expanding as it moves forward. Probably along with the budget, but I think I can keep the entire project under two thousand bucks, which is pretty contained for a comedy feature going direct to free viewing on social media.
I commissioned a series of related AI art images from a friend and just got those files today! Which will be a truly astounding surreal dream sequence! Pushing the envelope.
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Building sets sounds like a lot of work, but it also sounds fun, Daniel Stuelpnagel. I'd love to see a time-lapse video of you building sets.
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Maurice Vaughan thanks!
It's looking like I might have some collaborators for Act II so perhaps I will capture some
behind-the-scenes material throughout the remainder of 2023 !!
Cool, Daniel Stuelpnagel. Looking forward to seeing the behind-the-scenes videos!