Failings of the 3 hour film.

Few films need to be over 2 hours. Some rare exemptions are "Titanic" and " The Lord of the Rings." When a film starts creeping over the hour and a half mark, people start looking at their watches, yawning, start thinking about what they are going to do after the film and begin wishing they hadn't had so much soda to drink.

King Kong, I couldn't finish watching but I did skip to the end, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the story of a man who ages backwards, was so long, I began to age with him. Lawrence of Arabia, considered one of the great films, is still an unwatched film by me. I have the dvd, but the movie is 216 minutes long and it is taking forever to get to the meat of the story, the action instead there are a bunch of scenes of him riding through the desert.

When a screenplay is over 90 pages, there has to be a reason for it to be longer otherwise, you end up with a lot of unnecessary filler scenes that slow the story down. But then you don't want a story to be so short, it feels as if there is no tension or drama. For example, " The Seeker: Dark is Rising" started off so slow, then when it kicked in to gear, the seeker found everything so easy, it didn't seem as if he had to work for anything at all.

The classic page length for a screenplay is 120 pages, but not many people these days want to sit two hours in an uncomfortable seat. Especially if your target audience is teenagers.

When I write, I want the story to immediately dive into the deep end of the pool, no wading slowly through back story. I find there are more interesting ways to establish backstory and characters.

Failings of the spoof genre.

Spoof movies are popular and I clearly remember Scary Movie stating there would be no sequels.

Here are my thoughts on spoofs:

Spoof movies just arent funny but instead rely heavily on slapstick comedy. An example of an excellent comedy which did not rely slapstick is "The Hangover." This movie was so well done, I can watch it multiple times and still find it funny.

Spoof movies rely on gross humor, sex and profanity. Resorting to fart jokes, sex jokes, etc is easy. It means the writer doesn't have to be original but instead can fall back on predictable jokes. Movie ticket prices are high and concession food prices are even higher, at least give the audience a film worthy enough to spend money on.

Spoof movies really can only be watched once. George Lucas is an excellent storyteller. He creates films that can stand up to repeated viewings. Spoof movies are maybe funny once but after that, they are just not worth the dvd prices.

For those greenlighting these films, take a look at past box office performances for these films, take a look at dvd sales. Do you really want to spend millions of dollars on a stupid film that will barely sale any dvds? Apparently you do because these films keep getting made.

For example, MacGruber. Wow, Hollywood is really running out of ideas if they selected an SNL skit to spend (according to Wikipedia) 10 million dollars on.

When I watch a film, I don't want to feel dumb afterwards. There are movies that can be silly yet actually good. For example, Dumb and Dumber. It's a goofy film, but it's funny and has classic lines and can be watched over and over. The same is true for Nacho Libre.

When I see a film, I usually label it as a movie that was nice to watch once but I wouldn't buy the dvd or a film that was great and I can't wait for the dvd. Spoof movies deserves none of these labels. The only label these films deserve is " Caution. Bad Film. Flee to nearest exit"

Prelude - Psychological Thriller

Prelude is one of my screenplays. The idea came when I was searching through pictures on my laptop and discovered a picture of my Mom and myself at a Soap Opera event. Behind us was a guy who would later become my coworker. I thought it was interesting that I managed to captured the image of someone I would later meet. I started thinking what if someone had taken a picture and ended up capturing something else, for example a wife and coworker in the background in an intimate embrace?

That is how the idea of "Prelude" was born. A picture would be taken and in the background a private moment between a wife and another man would be captured. I intended it at first to be a horror story, but it became a psychological thriller, so still contains elements of horror.

When I write, I like to imagine what the audience would imagine the ending to be, then write something completely different. For a story containing a love triangle, I would imagine a fight at the end with the bad guy getting killed which is the ending of MANY movies out there, so I wrote something different.

I needed characters who weren't 100 percent good or 100 percent evil because not everyone is all good or all bad. Even evil people have someone who love them, someone they show kindness to and even "good people" are capable of evil. And how does someone become evil? These were the themes I wanted to explore in "Prelude."

Below is a brief synopsis.

"Prelude" is a psychological thriller which tells the story of Sam Miller, whose life unravels after he is shown a photograph of his wife, Lola, with another man, Michael Lush. Sam's suspicions consume him and he soon realizes that Michael's plans for Lola and the world are much darker than he ever imagined.

Failing of Horror Films.

Horror Film

I used to watch a reality program called Scare Tactics. People were terrified by what they believed to be zombies, killers, aliens, etc and you know what I noticed? When people are truly terrified, they don't scream. Listed below are my issues with horror films:

Horror movies keep featuring zombies. 28 Days Later, was an awesome zombie film, anything else is just going to be a pale imitation of that film. Zombieland was funny. So those in charge of greenlighting films, can you give the zombie genre a rest? Do we really need another film about zombies and one person who holds the cure within them?

Horror films when dealing with the end of the world have a pregnant woman whose child can save or destroy the world. I can name at least four films with this concept.

Horror films spend a lot of time focusing on various individuals screaming their heads off as they run away at full speed from the slow walking killer. Now if I was being chased by a killer, I would try my cell phone first then I would try and hide and not scream and pant to alert the psycho to my location.

Horror films have someone waking up from a nightmare by either screaming or panting heavily. Has anyone out there EVER woken up from a nightmare like this? In Queen of the Damned, the actress did the only realistic portrayal of someone waking up from a disturbing dream, she simply opened her eyes.

Horror films are basically a bunch of scene of profanity and sex scenes. When I write a horror screenplay, my goal is to elicit feelings of terror, so my goal is to write terrifying scenes. A scene of someone making out in the woods is not terrifying and only signals a lack of writing talent and creativity.

Horror films tend to have a twist ending where instead of a happy ending, the main character either loses, think Drag me to Hell, or it turns out what we were seeing was all an illusion, think The Univited. Don't spend an hour or two telling a film only to tell the audience it has alll been a lie. The Sixth Sense does not count. That twist ending was actually well done as was the rest of the film. With the Sixth Sense, the characters were realistic enough to feel as if the story was happening to someone down the street.

Horror movies often have unbelivable motives for the killer's revenge. For example, Urban Legends, which had an awesome premise, became a sad excuse for a movie which didn't scare me at all. I believe the reason for the killings was that her boyfriend was killed by an urban legend, so the girlfriend decided to wear a bulky hot jacket, which didn't slow her down as she chased people, to not only to get revenge on the two women responsible for the boyfriend's death, but to kill a bunch of other obviously stronger and faster people.

Horror movies feature villians who can somehow survive multiple falls, stabs, shots and hits, just like James Bond and the Mission Impossible character can. I don't know what they are taking, but can I have some?

Horror movies focus too much on blood and gore, so are gross instead of scary. Signs is an excellent example of what to do to creep out a viewer. When the family was awaiting the alien attack, the alien wasn't shown trying to get into the house, instead we experienced what the family did, a bang on the door, a rattle on a doorknob, all that is much scarier then cutting to the killer.

Horror movies often have parents or friends who tell the person, experiencing the terrifying events, that there must be a logical explanation for this. This line along with the lines " You saved me." " I guess that makes us even." really need to be retired and living in some place in Florida.
Horror movies often feature the "pretend to be a real scene but is really a dream." To me this is cheating the audience and also predictable and lazy writing. I assume the very end of " I know what you did last summer" was a dream since she appeared alive and well in the next film. That movie, by the way, was based on a book which if the movie had in any way resembled the book, would have been a higher grossing film.
Horror films feature a shower scene. This must be a requirement. If it is, can it at least be a man showering?

I love watching scary movies around Halloween or on a rainy day, the problem is that so few horror films, that actually are scary, exist.

My goal is to one day write a truly scary film that will truly creep out an audience. A film where an ordinary everyday occurrence suddenly gives someone goosebumps.

I just need an agent.......

The Karate Kid - An Exercise in Nepotism

I am sure that everyone who has ever worked hard for something and didn't get it let out a collective gasp as they were kicked in the stomach by the new The Karate Kid trailer. The movie stars Jaden Smith, produced by his mom and dad. If there had been an international search for the new "karate kid" would Jaden have been chosen?

I imagine the conversation went something like this, " Daddy, I want to be in a movie and be a movie star too." " Okay, son, let's remake a popular movie and make you the star."

I see something like this movie and compare it to my own journey. I have no connections or ways to get my foot in any door because I don't even know where the door is. I've written and written and struggled and when (need to think positive) I finally get an agent, it will be because I worked hard and never gave up, so it is a slap in the face to see someone glide into the movie industry on his mom and dad's coat tails while I'm still here typing at my laptop and waiting for responses from the numerous query letters I sent out.

I can imagine spending 35 million (the budget for The Karate Kid according to Wikipedia) on a film that is unique, that is unpredictable and thrilling but to spend 35 million on a remake of a film just so your kid can be in a movie is a waste of money.

Introduction

My name is Jennifer Wilson. After high school graduation, I went straight to college with the thought of becoming a counselor, inspired by Deanna Troi on Star Trek, but switched my major to Computer Graphic Arts with a minor in Psychology. I then obtained a Masters in Business Administration.

As a child, I was interested in writing. I wrote little stories, did skits in front of our home video camera and imagined myself writing a book. I remember seeing the TriStar Logo before films, the winged horse, and becoming excited because I knew the movie was about to begin.

I figured I would express myself in book form, but when Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings came out, I turned my focus on screenwriting. No film, not even the other LOTR films that followed affected me like the first LOTR film because I had never seen anything like that before, everything was different for me including the camera angles. I have read that James Cameron and Ridley Scott were both affected by the Star Wars films and I imagined that what they felt seeing Star Wars is how I felt seeing Fellowship of the Ring.

I have seen how film has inspired and excited people. When a film I want to see is coming out, I want to learn all about the movie and production before the film comes out and when it is on dvd, I throughly enjoy looking at the special features and listening to the commentary. All this I feel is a good way to gain insight into filmmaking. My goal is to create stories that will excite people and for the time they are watching my story, they forget about bills, work, problems and become part of the experience.

There are many people in the world who talk about writing, but to me there is a division between the people who WANT to write and those that NEED to write and I NEED to write. I could never be 100 percent happy if I never suceeded in becoming a screenwriter.

The obstacles are these:

1) In order to sell a screenplay, an agent is needed, which means numerous query letters sent, months are spent waiting for a reply, then the screenplay is requested, and months are spent waiting for a reply.

It is very frustrating to spend months sometimes years on one story and not even be able to try and sale it because of the difficulty in getting an agent. It's is doubly frustrating to sit in a theater and watch a preview for yet another movie that is so low and uninspired that I cannot believe it got made.

I received my M.B.A on Friday and during the graduation I thought of the end of my school career and saw my life beginning anew and that it was time to make my dream of being a screenwriter come true. I saw that I had acomplished a lot education wise, so if I could get an M.B.A then why couldn't I accomplish my goal of becoming a screenwriter.

The Challenge: To see if I can get an agent this year.

All I need is one yes to start a career......