"The monsters under a writer's bed" - notes of a talk by Randy Baker

These are notes I took (therefore it is I who is responsible for all the inaccuracies) of an hour-long talk Randy Baker gave to a group of writers in Annapolis Maryland on 2014-02-19 at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. The talk was sponsored by the Maryland Writers' Association. Randy is a playwright and teacher I wrote about in a previous post on the 10 minute play project.

Randy is a walking list of titles: he is co-Artistic Director of Rorschach Theatre, faculty member at American University (where is Director in residence), playwright in residence at the Arena Stage, faculty member at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and the list goes on.



Here is his wonderful talk, in a nutshell. I'll be posting the video later (added 2014-08-21: part 1, part 2, part 3).

Writers, playwrights and poets all have a common problem - the monsters lying under our bed, those things that keep us from writing.

Monster # 1: A kind monster - the monster of inspiration. What inspires you to write? We all want to make people believe in something fantastic - think of the ending in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" (the husband is asked to believe and then the statue of his dead wife comes alive and they are reunited).

A tangent (one of many): How did I become a playwright? The path to being a writer is never a clear one. I always wrote but never called myself a writer. I directed and produced plays and even have being commissioned to write plays. Yet, for years I didn't call myself a playwright. Why? This leads to the next ...

Monster # 2: This is the biggest and most terrible monster: the monster of self-doubt. Some things writers say to themselves:

• "I'm writing the wrong way."
  
• "My writing will never be good enough."
  

Never talk yourself out of writing. I still have self-doubt - we all do. It is a part of being human. The trick is not to listen to it. Don't let it diminish your writing.

Another tangent: Stop talking about your writing. Instead, write it and show it to your writer friends.

Getting back to the inspiration monster - watch out for it and don't let it get in the way. Don't wait for it. It is a romantic cliche that you need to have inspiration strike you. Forget that. What you should remember is that writing is work.

A person with a good idea, with great inspiration does not a writer make. A writer writes as if it were work - which it is! A writer is a person devoted to the work and craft of writing (indeed, this meaning is at the origin of the spelling of playwright).

Create characters that want things and the rest will come.

Here is an analogy to keep in mind. Suppose you are a director of a play or film and you are preparing frantically in anticipation of the first day of meeting your actors. You prepare pages and pages of notes of how this scene should go and that scene should be blocked. Then you meet you actors and you find your prepared ideas will not work. They are not useless or wasted (you should always prepare) but they must be changed.

Writing is no different. You still have to prepare - perhaps one character has a hobby and affects the story line, so you do research on that hobby. Does that mean all your research has to make its way into the story somehow? No. Putting all your prepared research into your story may not work but that doesn't mean it's wasted.

When in doubt, I mainly rely on two things:

1. Look at the structure - at this stage of the story, what does structure say should happen?
   
2. Look at reality - what in the world around you relates to the problems being faced at this point in the story and how does the real world react to that situation?
   

Edward Albee said: "Playwriting is poetry meets architecture."

Would you expect an architect to say "I'm not working on designing that building until inspiration strikes me"? No, of course not. Writers can't say that either.

Back to Monster #2: The self-doubt monster also says "no one will ever read what I write". This is a biggie. On the other hand, no one asked you to be a writer. You must make that choice.

Monster #3: Loneliness. The stereotypical writer can't socialize well, thinks abstract esoteric thoughts, etc. Wrong. Writers must build a community, creating collaborations, and not be lonely. You must find your own community.

Remember: these monsters on not real. Stop listening to them, and write.

The making of the short "Beyond the Door"

Beyond the Door is a short film, based on a short story of Philip K. Dick, made with the help of a very talented crew in early 2014. This post explains the evolution.

The story begins with the screenwriting forum, The Black Board, which supports Scott Myers' Go Into The Story blog and the Black List. The BB is a online place where screenwriters meet and talk about films and writing and the screenwriting business. John Muth and I were both involved with the BB, and there we (virtually) met. John and I figured out via the BB that we actually live relatively close to each other, yet for one reason or another never met.

The BB has a thread on generating story concepts, which led me to a search for interesting science fictions stories in the public domain. That's when I found this:

a short called Beyond the Door, by Philip K. Dick. As I think of myself as a beginning student in screenwriting, I assigned an exercise to myself to adapt the story into a script. I quickly wrote a script adaptation and set it aside. Wanting a project to focus on over the winter break, I emailed John asking for advice. He replied very generously offering help, which I jumped at. When I mentioned this adaptation to John Muth as a potential joint project, he loved the idea. I sent him my script, which was about 10 pages. He (politely) tore it apart. I liked his suggestions and rewrote it, and script improved. One thing he talked me out of, and I'm glad he did, was treating Doris as a femme-fatale trope from film-noir. (This perspective on the short story was done already anyway: see Matthew Mandarano's Beyond the Door) This tearing-apart-and-rebuilding process went through numerous iterations, but in the end we have a script that we both feel good about. We met twice to discuss the script and possible test shots during the first week of December, once at my house, where we will be shooting in mid-January 2014, and once at the West restaurant in Annapolis, with some people involved with the Annapolis Film Festival.

Regarding locations and props, I bought this (non-working) cuckoo clock at the Boonsboro (Maryland) Clock Company, owned and operated by Dave Myers:

The cuckoo comes out of the clock by moving a lever inside the framework of the clock, as this short clip shows.

I made several very crude storyboards

It turns out for various reasons, the seating arrangement with Larry and Doris at the table didn't work, so we switched it so they were sitting together. Most of the other storyboards were used in the finished version.

2013-12-22: great news - I heard from several very talented actors that they are interested in parts in the short. Both Dann Alagna and Jarrett Erwin expressed interest in playing Larry or Bob. Kat McKerrow and Ann Turiano have expressed interest in Doris. (I met Dann and Jarrett and Ann via Liza Skinner. In fact, Liza contacted Dann for me. Dann is a founding member of the acting/improv group Free Range Improv, which Liza belongs to. Liza and Ann are both teachers at the Compass Rose Theater. Kat I know from her performance as Prospero in the Laural Mill performance of The Tempest. Her husband Josh McKerrow directed it and I worked for him as the lighting tech.)

2013-12-24: I wrote up a "production script" detailing about 80 or 90 camera set-ups, and did some test clips, such as this one with the cuckoo clock. I also compiled a props list:

• cuckoo clock (I bought 2, and an extra cuckoo big for extreme close ups),
  
• box and wrapping and tissue paper for clock present,
  
• stethoscope, latext gloves and lab coat and body bag for coroner,
  
• framed photo of Larry and Doris and child,
  
• framed photo of Larry and Doris and bird,
  
• robe for Doris,
  
• jacket for Bob,
  
• empty alcohol bottles,
  
• hammer,
  
• actors' wardrobe/makeup.
  

2014-01-02: We had our first rehearsal and it went great.

I'm closest to the camera, then to my left is Jarett Ervin, then Dann Alagna, John Muth, Kat McKerrow, Ann Turiano. The kitty Jeeves is on the floor trying to get attention from someone, anyone. I also did some more test clips, such as this one with Kat McKerrow.

Here is a shot of Larry and the cuckoo:

Our next rehearsal is on the 12th.

I made it clear to the actors that I view the director as no more important than the actors. Sort of like a stage director with a camera. If they have ideas on whether a line should change, or a blocking sequence should be redone, or whether a certain action takes place before or after another, we will try it. This was a team project. They did have several such suggestions and they definitely helped improve the film, thanks to their ideas.

Cast and crew:

• Actors:
  
  • Larry: Dann Alagna
    
  • Doris: Kat McKerrow
    
  • Bob: Jarrett Ervin
    
  • Coroner: Ann Turiano
    
  • Writers: David Joyner and John Muth (based on a public domain story by P. K. Dick)
    
  • Producers: Liza Skinner, John Muth, Elva Joyner
    
  • lighting assistant: Charlie Graf
    
  • assistant production supervisor: Roland McKerrow
    
  • production assistants: Elva Joyner, Ann Turiano, Dann Alagna
    
  • Director, Editor, Cinematographer: David Joyner
    
  
  
  

Books I've enjoyed looking at while in the pre-production/principal photography/post-production process:

1. Dan Gurskis, The short screenplay, Thompson, 2007.
   
2. Steven Katz, Film directing shot by shot, Michael Weiss Productions, 1991.
   
3. Bruce Block, Visual story (2nd ed.), Focal Press, 2008.
   
4. Jeremy Vineyard, Setting up your shots (2nd ed.), Michael Weiss Productions, 2008.
   

2014-01-12: We had our second rehearsal and it also went great. Ann and John couldn't make it. The actors decided they preffered to do a run through of all the scenes, even if the wardrobe was wrong and the time of day was wrong. (The porch we were shooting on has no curtains, and is wall-to-wall windows, so day could not pass for night.) We rehearsed for about 3 1/2 hours and quit. I then roughly assembled the shots, with "titles" used as transitions when lines or entire scenes were missed for the actors to view. In all, there were about 120 takes shot that day. Here are some screenshots:

The "real shoot" is next weekend, starting the night of the 18th.

2014-01-19: We are officially in post-production! Barring any re-shoots, I'll try to make all the footage already captured work and avoid re-shooting any scenes, if at all possible. A few hours before the shooting started, a photography friend Charlie Graf helped me set up lighting for the green screen shots, but he had to leave before the actors showed up. The actor playing Doris came down with a virus but agreed to show up anyway for the final scene, which involves all the actors and was difficult to schedule. However, we had to cancel the shoot planned for the 19th. Kat brought her beautiful baby Roland, which my wife Elva kindly sat with to keep him company. Jarrett and Kat left as soon as we shot their scenes. With Ann's help behind the scenes, Dann and I worked late, getting all his solo scenes shot. As usual, it was fun working with all of them but I was exhausted by the time we finally quit shooting.

In all, there were about 90 takes shot that day. The total amount of raw footage was about 25 G, and the total time shooting was about 9 hours. The video from previous week's rehearsal was extremely helpful. Elva spotted lots of problems which helped in the editing (e.g., a mirror catching someone, such as me, that wasn't supposed to be in the shot). Going through the footage from the 18th, I see even more mistakes like that. Hopefully, they are fixable with some extra post-production work. Some shots from the final scene:

From now on, it is working with FCPX, and keeping my fingers crossed:-)

In addition to the script written with John Muth, I started a notebook with more detailed shot descriptions (90 or so in all), and more crude storyboards. I also wrote two drafts of a "production script", the latest of which is here. I decided to interweave into the story the (excellent) 1950 film noir D.O.A., directed by Rudolph Mate which is now in the public domain (in the U.S.).

2014-01-21: I now have the video down to 10:30, not including the end credits.

2014-01-23: After 15 versions of edits, I now have the video down to 9:30, including the end credits.

I'll post the video publicly as soon as I can. I want to submit it to film festivals and am still researching the submission "premiere requirement" criteria for them.

The short is now on imdb: www.imdb.com/title/tt3486714/.

2014-03-12: I learned by email that the short was accepted at the Maryland International Film Festival!

All thanks to my great actors!

2014-05-03: I'm back from the Maryland International Film Festival. A few pics:

1. Opening night - Peter Breitmayer (actor) and Nathan Marshall (director) of the wonderful and funny Coffee, Kill Boss:
   
   
2. More of the opening night, with a Coffee, Kill Boss Q+A on the main stage:
   
   
3. Daniel Herman (of The Backseat) and Sanj Surati and John Iwasz (of Zombie Casserole), at the Academy Theater on Saturday afternoon, when Beyond the Door was also shown:
   
   

More are at this MDIFF flickr album.

The Phantom Empire and the birth of the scfi-western genre

The Phantom Empire was a TV serial filmed in 1934, starring the actor-singer Gene Autry, totaling 12 episodes of about 20 minutes each (except episode 1, which was 30 minutes). In 1940, a 70-minute feature film (now in the public domain) edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces.

Story:
Gene Autry is a singing cowboy who runs Radio Ranch. Gene has two kid sidekicks, Frankie and Betsy, who play at being armored knights of a civilization they call the Thunder Riders.

Betsy, Frankie, and Gene are kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders from the super-scientific underground empire of Murania, complete with towering buildings,

robots, ray-guns, elevator tubes that extend miles from the surface, and the icy, blonde, evil Queen Tika.

On the surface, criminals led by Professor Beetson plan to invade Murania and seize its radium wealth,

while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries led by Lord Argo plots to overthrow Queen Tika. In the end, Gene saves the Queen and locks Argo and his men in the room with the death ray which gets out of control. Even with the end of Murania being imminent, the Queen refuses to leave.

However, Gene and the others escape back to the surface.
This ain't Cowboys and Aliens, nor Firefly, but this film marks the birth of the scfi-western genre. The story idea is due to Wallace MacDonald, a Canadian actor, writer and producer.

For more info, see
* wikipedia
* imdb
* archive.org

Here is a 51 minute version of that 70 minute film (most of the singing was cut and the action sped up slightly):

Phantom Empire (1935) from wdj on Vimeo.

This video includes music by
Rye Smugglers - Chili Con Karma - Crystal Bodies
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/rye-smugglers-chili-con-karma
Amiranu - Painting The Sky - The Rainbow God
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/amiranu-painting-the-sky
Eternal Bliss - Full-OM - 2CB
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/eternal-bliss-full-om
Mantra Flow - Behind The Shadow - Pyschedelic Epiphany
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/mantra-flow-behind-the-shadow
BlackStarrFinale - Auryn - Nothing
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/blackstarrfinale-auryn
Trinodia - Deceive My Eyes - The Omega Point (VA)
* http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/the-omega-point

All these except Trinodia's track are released under a cc-by-nc-sa Creative Commons license for noncommercial usage. Trinodia (Daniel Endstrom) has kindly given me his permission by email to include his track. In general, it is licensed cc-by-nc-nd.