Happy Valley

Dear Reader,
A short one today.
I’m so happy right now. After months and months of barely finding 5 minutes of peace (I am capable of blog writing in ‘not’ peace), I have finally sat down and written something of the new, altered and most certainly improved story that I have. Up until that point, I felt like I was bottling things up. Well, I suppose I had to as I wasn’t getting chance to have that release. I miss having the time to write.

Sadly, the only time I’ve ever really felt like I’ve had dedicated time to write was in uni….the most uncreative place in existence. I miss writing when I can’t do it. It’s like an ache. A need to write. A feeling of missing out on something that could be great if I can’t get it written down. 

I feel I have been able to purge. The next purge date has yet to be set.
Thanks for reading

Xxx

Up

Dear Reader,

I have good ‘up’ days. I have days where I think ‘Hell yes, this is a fucking awesome idea. I’m going to write a fucking awesome script and it’s going to be made into an amazing film.’ Those are good days. I know that somehow, I am totally going to nail this scriptwriter thing and be seeing my movies hit the big screen any day now. I’m going to send them to random studios who’ve never heard of me and they’re going to be banging on my door demanding a million more. 

That happens right? No? This is where the ‘down’ days hit. Why am I wasting my time doing something that’s never going to happen? I don’t live in L.A. I don’t have connections in the industry. My Mum’s third cousin’s best friend from high school isn’t a big or even small-time director (Seriously, you look up how some people got into the jobs they’re in now and while they try to convince you that they had a hard time, the only reason they’re there is because they knew someone….). I don’t have loads of money to live off while I chase my as yet, unpaid dream so most of the big competitions are out. Of course, to get an agent you have to have already had something made (unless of course you’re ridiculously lucky….I’m guessing) and to get something made, you have to have an agent. That old chestnut! 

Boo hoo. I know. We’re all in the same boat here. I’m just wondering where do the breaks come from? I’m a random no-one from nobody cares with nothing to her name. 
Although, maybe I am just wasting my time on what right now most people would call a hobby, as studios rarely make original movies these days anyway. It’s not a hobby for me. This is work. Just because I’m not getting paid for it, doesn’t mean I’m not putting a hell of a lot of effort into it. You don’t get paid at the start of your shift, you get paid at the end. I hate these ‘down’ days, I much prefer the ‘up’s’.  It gives me motivation to keep going. 

Thanks for reading

Xxx
 

Mad, Sometimes

Dear Reader, 
So, I’ve done it again. I have ceased operations on my previous story and have since updated and improved it! That’s the hope anyway. I think, after a while I just wonder if what I had written was film worthy at all and I try to think of what’s missing. I realised that while I had a good overall concept, I didn’t really like my characters and I didn’t really have a direction that the story was going in. I had good ‘moments’ but that was about it. I could sense that there wasn’t going to be a clear ending on the horizon. 

I’m not one to plan out a script before writing, as I find it makes things a little too stale. I like freshness. However, my problem had come from investing too much in the villain and not enough in everyone and everything else. That does not maketh a good story. I’m all about a good villain though and I find it very easy to get side-tracked. I watched Psycho again the other night and it was a great reminder on how simple a villain can be, but also how the heroes need to be good foils to that. Here I am talking about the heroes in terms of the villain, but hey ho, that’s just the way I see the world! 

So, I’m desperately trying to see the bigger picture and make sure the whole thing is merging together well, instead of just getting a cool moment in just because. 

Thanks for reading 

Xxx

Das Reboot

Dear Reader,

What is happening to cinema? I swear; every single day for the past couple of weeks there has been news of yet ANOTHER film being remade or rebooted. I am sick of seeing it. Today it was Little Women, the other day it was Splash…. While it’s true that everything these days is so completely saturated, there surely must be an alternative to stripping another beloved film, of everything that made it so in the first place?

Remakes/reboots always seem to completely lose the point of why the original was a success. The message behind the story. All they see is a ready made fan base, potential to gender swap (looking at you Ghostbusters and Ocean’s films) and, oh yeah, an easy way to make loads of money. It makes me so angry and sad that this is the state of cinema today. Compared to what it used to be, today it is nothing but a good money-making machine for people who don’t need to be any richer. Where’s the art? It’s all lost behind those big dollar signs flashing in studios eyes. 
There are a few odd gems to be found amongst the new films, but it’s certainly telling when they get swept under the carpet to make way for the superheroes. Greed is not good. Greed is sucking the life out of what used to be such an interesting and intriguing medium. 

Can we have a ‘Restore to factory settings’ button please? 

Thanks for reading

Xxx

P.S. Just realised that I wrote about this only a month ago….goes to show how much it affects me and my writing!