The Rough Draft

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it’s been a hell of a year in the Canadian film industry. We’re hanging in ther but it’s been tough because of anti Canadian sentiment from our southern cousins, a rising dollar and our own federal and provincial governement’s attempts to derail it all. I guess some people don’t get that a dollar earned is a dollar spent. I’ve had to completely review my approach to the market. The future looks uncertain and the American’s voted Bush back in??? What’s next? No really, what the f**K is next?

Time. It’s what everythng in this industry takes and it’s what none of us in this industry have. Oh yeah and money. We don’t have any of that either. When your agent tells you you need to focus on the five million dollar film and not the thirty million dollar film because the times are tough you know your in trouble. The good news for me is that I do mostly horror, so lower budgets (or nonexistent ones) are not much of a problem for me to write. But it speaks to some greater issues. The guys in Queec seem to really have got it right but those of us in English speaking Canada seem unwilling to adopt their studio style (or support of their product for that matter). Maybe the French Canadians have actually been on the ball fighting for their distinct society. Meanwhile, we’re trying to copy the american model which frankly doesn’t seem to be working, for us or the Americans.

So I’m taking my agent’s advice sort of and going really low budget. I had a great experence this summer working on a horror film called, “Snapped.” There was not budget to speak of and we all got peanuts, and by all I mean, all. It was thrown together very quickly and because of the budget we had to use practical locations instead of sets. I was writing the scenes in the mornng that they were casting in the afternoon. Sounds frenetic, haphazard and prone to disaster. Yes it was all of those things but it was also fun and very freeing. There was no time to be bogged down in the minutae of development. There was nobody who could say no to something to prove that they should be a development exec. We were all so deep in it we had to trust each others ability, and trust we did. So maybe we’re not rich in money, but we’re richer for the experience. So I’m doing a few really low budget projects of my own. My Execurtive producer figures he can get the level of private investment w’re looking for and I’ve got a cool little low budget script lined up. We’ll shoot it early next year in the prairies to take advantage of their great tax breaks and low location fees. and we’ll be on video store shelves in tme fr Fall.

As for our southern cousins and their perpetual mantra of, “Runaway production,” and the anti Canadian sentiment that goes with it. Well here’s the real deal. Prodco’s aren’t running away from the US, they’re just running away from LA and California. I’ve been on a number of sets this year and they were in Texas, Florida, and Virginia. New York and most of the Eastern States are working hard to bring film into thier economies by offering tax incentives, breaks on locations, etc. The US has no problem with shooting in Prague or any of the former Eastern Soviet bloc countries, Australia and New Zealand are also fine as is South Africa but Canada is an easy target because let’s face it we’re too nice to really fight back. There’s some roduction going on here right now but certainly nowhere near what it used to be. Wth only an eleven percent tax incentive on labor and a rising dollar, well most film companies vote with ther wallets now don’t they.

As for the rising Canadian dollar, we’re only rising against the US dollar which of course is falling in every market. And that’s directly linked to the US export market. When you import more than you export, that’s going to be stormy weather on the horizon for any country. And seeing how an official report on business focused on the fact that most countries sought out the US as an, “Import of last resort.” Well 2+2=5 will only hold for so long. Canada is not the enemy and we’d sure appreciate it if America would figure that out. Sorry we didn’t join in on your war but we only do UN sanctioned gigs. America chose to go against the world on that one and that’s just something we won’t do.

So, what’s the solution? Keep your head down and be prepared to eat light for the next little while. The writer’s strike has been avoided but the jury is still out on which way SAG and the DGA will bounce this year in their negotiations. Stick to the low budget stuff and create good material under the radar of the studios, then sell it back to them once you’ve gotten some good buzz. We can prevail throuh this if we’re smart and we stick together.

Good luck and good film making.

I’m Steve Abbott and I’m waiting to sell out.

Everybody always asks, “What’s the number one thing I can do to start my career in film?” I always answer, “Make a short.” It sounds flip but the number one thing anybody in the industry wants to know is can you do it? Can you tell a compelling story with characters and a setting people care about. That the easy part, the hard part lies below.

It’s hard because any asshole with a checkbook and a glib tongue can consider himself a producer. Hell, even seasoned professionals can fall for a good line of patter. Sort of a variation af a salesman being the biggest sucker there is when it comes to buying. How can you trust the people you’re dealing with to get the job done?

One of the easier ways is to ask around. It’s a small industry and everybody knows everybody else. Good news travels fast, bad news travels faster. Some people are very tied into the industry, make them your extra very special spy friends. Good inteligence is the difference between success and defeat around here. Maybe you don’t want to know whom is sleeping with whom or where all of the bodies are buried. And that’s nice, cling to your idealism, don’t let it die but see if it keeps you warm at night while you’re shut out in the cold. You get into bed with these people at your own peril. You’d better damn well know who they are, who they’re with and who they’ve screwed. Figuratively and literally, it’s the kind of information that can save your career or at the very least not waste your time.

This of course is where having an agent comes in handy. They’re sort of the big dog you keep in the front yard. They get by the dog, chances are they’re legit. Oh, they could still be as crazy as they come but they’re legit and even though they’re past your guard dog, they can still be bit in the ass if required. And believe me, it’s required more often than it’s not.

So you might be thinking that I hate the industry. That I’m bitter and jaded, and you would be wrong. Dead wrong. Sure this kind of stuff sucks but it beats sitting in some cubicle bashing out paperwork in a job you couldn’t care less about. I care about my paperwork, my goal in life is to make you care about it too.

This unfortunately doesn’t protect you from much of the frustrating ugliness. You fail more than you succeed in this business. The problem is that the successes are so mind blowingly incredible and addictive, you forgive all of the other buullshit as petty and meaningless (until you’re mired in it yet again on the next project).

I wish there were more good producers out there. I myself have lost the taste for it. It’s too hard and far more frustrating than writing. I admire the great producers and hate the bad ones. The small of mind and low of wit who just see a buck on the back of your talent. “You got your film made,” can only go so far anymore as you deal with these troglodytes. Film is business now, and it’s run as such and let’s face it, no great art ever came out of business. Though oppression is fertile ground for greatness. Perhaps that is their gift to us. From this dumbed down K-Mart dreck they spoon feed to the masses, this shit, this offal. Maybe it’s the fertilizer for other things. Maybe it’s the launching pad. How long before the grumblings of, “We expect better.” Becomes a steady chant of, “You will do better by us.”

Making film is hard. Making film people, (and by that I mean all people) want to see is an almost impossible task but year after year we try, and for it to happen everybody needs to do their job.

The writer needs to write a great script, the Director needs to dictate the script to screen with vision. His DOP and Camera crew need to realize that vision and all of the other myriad jobs below the line, need to carry out (within reason) the mechanics of realizing that vision. All so the audience can sit in that dark room and be entertained by the flickering images on the screen. We don’t need more film schools, we need more producer schools. We need a sense of honor to return to the industry at the higher levels and the studio system not be continually looking to cut costs to film by cutting the writer’s fees, so you can give another million to the lead actor.

We’re on the front lines. The audience isn’t just listening anymore, it’s speaking. The mandate has been given. The independents have taken up the challenge. It’s up to the studios to follow. I know this has nothing to do with what I started out talking about but here’s the deal.

You want in? Make a short. Make a good short, an excellent short and it’ll open doors you never even knew existed. You half arse this process and don’t pay it the respect it deseves and you’ll never get in the door. You can bitch and whine about it but you’re not getting in because you’ve put out mediocre effort. And that just ain’t going to cut it. Passion is what gets you going, perserverence and skill are what get you in. Polish your craft and stick with good people, you’ll know who they are when you meet them. But make that short. Make it the best it can be or fuck off forever, cause there’s no more room in here for you.

I’m Steve Abbott and I’m waiting to sell out.

I do all right with dialogue, it’s never been compared to Shakespeare or Laurence Kasdan but it gets the reader through the script alright. I have a few actor friends that ask me to send them my latest script to see the word play, I actually have a fondness for it, it’s an art form unto itself. The art of screen writing; done right is smooth and effortless, done wrong and the actors verbally trip. I like dialogue.

You give me a month, and I’ll write you a screenplay with a story, and dialogue throughout that, hopefully, will enthrall you. I’m not boosting, I’m going somewhere with this. Unfortunately, meet me in public and ask me about the weather, and I’ll fill the next minute with ‘ums,’ ‘uhs’ and the occasional ‘it’d be really sunny, if it wasn’t so dark.” This is why writers write, it’s not that the real world doesn’t appeal to us, we’re just not very good at talking about it.
This is an unfair generalization actually, I know a few writers that are both good writers and fluent in the real world; they are freaks though, mutants.

There are real departmental applications where this inability to talk well comes into play…picking up girls at parties (it is a new wallet, want to smell)…but in the film industry I’m discovering that articulation is a plus. I’ve been in story meetings where I’ve had a room full of people staring at me like I’m from Mars, and it’s true that I’ve become flustered trying to figure out how they’re unable to comprehend. Backtracking has helped, filling in spots and patiently answering their questions before moving on; I’ve also discovered that if you only think statements in order to plow through faster, they’re unable to pick it up.

This is dangerous for one simple reason, if it’s your idea and you don’t fill in the blanks, it allows them the opportunity to fill it in for you. This sometimes creates a new alternate direction of the story on the table; and being inarticulate, it’s three times as hard to bring the conversation and story back on track without appearing over protective. I cling to the notion that I’m not over protective, I’m just right.

Sadly, there’s a noticeable parallel between your inability to talk and the importance of the meeting that you’re in. I have a screenplay I’m quite attached to, very proud of and one I want to remain apart of; thus I took it upon myself to pitch it to an individual that can easily have it made; not to mention that to date, my entire career has been shaped by her…thus, giving her a reverence not unlike the pope to me. This script, called ‘Tragedy,’ not that the title is reflective of it’s state right now, it’s actually falling into place and almost ready to send out. As I was saying, I know this script back and forth, know the characters and know perfectly how I want it to look; so I pitched it with a few easily overlooked stutters, as I could see the interest from the people I was pitching to. It really wasn’t too hard, as I’d rehearsed the pitch in my head seven, eight times just in the lobby; on the elevator, twenty times on the drive over, etc.

Then she asked who was producing, I mentioned I wanted my friend Bannister working on it with the intent to get a baby-sitter. Then…who’s going to direct…it took me four minutes, and a big round about way…a story too…before getting to “I’d like to.”

This is what I’ve decided, from now on when I pitch or going to story meetings I’m going to write it down and hand the paper over. Any questions, e-mail them to me and I’ll write it out. To pick up women, I’m just going to hand over the most romantic script I’ve written and say read it, if they want to hook up for a night I’ll be over there by the bar. I’ve also discovered the secret, no-fail answer to the dreaded ‘what do you think of this weather?".

“Forget the weather, this thing’s been growing for a week, and I think it’s going to pop tonight, feel how gooey it is.”

I spent a good amount of time locked in my basement learning how to write, it’s an easy thing to do when you live out in the middle of nowhere; there’s a lack of trappings that would detour you away from the computer. I’ve encountered producers and friends that have marveled at my speed and ability, literally awestruck by my quick turn around time on rewrites. Many a time I’ve wanted to say, um…what else am I going to do?

I have a few regrets about opportunities I never took to party, excursions to the city my friends took that I opted out of in order to write. In exchange, I have a dedication to the keyboard; I’ve learned many a thing that can only be learned through countless months of trial and error. It’s paid off for me, I have a script being optioned, another optioned and a feature film that’s in the editing process right now…not to mention, being invited to parties in the film industry.

Which brings me to my Conundrum.

Film industry parties are a brand apart from any other party I’ve encountered, they’re actually fun. Free booze, free food, by the nature of the industry the parties are made up of the most creative and entertaining people you’ll run into; they’re, “Funtasticle.” I never encountered them before getting my break, I heard of them, and saw them in the movies, but never attended. Thus, locked in my hermit like existence, I never was in want of them and could focus directly on my craft.

I’ve tasted the parties now, and can only think of one phrase to sum them up; Kristen Dunst in Interview with the Vampire said it best…. “I want some more.”

Recently I attended the Vancouver Film Festival, saw films during the day and partied at night…a rush. After two weeks of this I returned home to start on a script, and found myself looking at the screen while thinking of the parties, trying to figure out the next one, wondering about excuses that I could use to get back to some more. Writers make the best drug addicts, the yarns we can create in order to justify what we need.

It does come down to this though, I want more parties, but boring writing got me to the parties, so I have to write more to get to more parties….but I’m trying to figure out, how do I get the same effect of being invited to parties without having to put in any hard work. Granted, and it did cross my mind, but producing isn’t really an option right now.

Here’s what’s suffered, my work ethic has been drastically reduced, my legendary speed has dropped considerably, my friends are now telling me that I have to focus on what has to be done. It’s also not only parties, I’m trying to plan golf games around industry friends to just to hang….hang out, that involves socializing, my excuse is research on dialogue.

In the end, I must do the honourable thing, put it all out of my mind and get back to work; and I have a few thoughts to cling to, with pay comes expectations to deliver, if I don’t….they’ll take my parties away. And we must have our parties, we must.

Andrew Genaille