I recently finished a first draft and a slight polish on a script and as an experiment, posted it on InkTip.com just to see if anyone might be interested...

So far, 4 downloads of the script and 2 offers to shop it around but they want it exclusively. I posted it early Sunday morning...

So now I get a phone call from a producer who is very well known. So well known, I can't name him. He has a producing partner that is also very well known and they want to do a three-way conference call with me tonight at about 1:00 in the morning...

Should be fun.

filmy

Good luck!

That's awesome! http://www.stevenrichards.com/images/smiley_pac.gif

Hope it goes well. :cool:

Awesome!

Good luck!!!

good luck Filmy, having been gawping at your website for the past year I have total belief in you and your work

Wow, that's great, Filmy! I wish you the best...you deserve it!

Kudos filmy.

I feel like you should expect big things.

I'm your walking, talking fortune cookie.

Poke

Wonderful filmy! I'll drink a beer for good luck to you. Hmmm, you may not need more luck than that but one's not enough for me. :D

Cheers!

...Filmy, that is so great! Good Luck to you!

--spinner :cool:

LOL. Just got the call after sitting around all night. One of the producers had to cancel so now we're on again tomorrow night.

Too funny...

Thanks for good luck wishes... I appreciate it! Whew... Tomorrow night.

filmy

Ahh nothing worse then a false start. Good luck tomorrow, i'm sure this will be a great experience no matter what the outcome may be.

That's pretty awesome!!

Please keep us posted.

WOOHOO!!

Okay, so last night... Oops... Early this morning, I had the three-way conference call. It lasted for 3 hours. By the end of the call, it turns out that these two producers want to exec produce the movie and have myself and one of their protege's also come in and produce.

I was also offered an outright purchase for the script which I almost went for (yes, it was THAT GOOD) but I held my breath until I was offered the opportunity to come on as producer.

The bad news?

I wanted to direct it. I took some great advice from a contact I made several months back and kept saying it over and over and that's why they came back with the offer of producer. They just kept telling me that it wasn't going to happen but since I held my mud, I got offered producer. They tell me that it won't be hard to make that director leap once this picture is made.

So not such bad news after all. LOL.

What's next?

They need to get me an agency. The head of a very well known agency is flying to where one of these guys live and spending the weekend with him. It seems that this particular agency is trying to steal this guy away from the agency he's with already. Part of the offer to come over is that this agency also finances films. This writer/producer is being offered a 5 year, 10 picture deal of which my script will apparently be one of...

Anyway, the head of this agency is flying to this guy's place for the weekend and he's going to sit down and read my script. That alone is making my skin crawl.

The good news? Everyone's loved it so far... So if the head of this agency bites off on my script, I get an agent and the deal is a go.

From what I understand, worse case scenario is that I will definitely end up with an agent out of it and I'm already being asked, "What else do you have?"

So there's the update and I really owe it all to my 4 Act Structure. This is the first script that I've written using my own theory.

Whew...

It ain't over yet though...

filmy

:woohoo:

Keep us posted, all sounds good, even the bad news ;)

OMG that's awesome!!! congrats to you filmy!!! Four act theory you say, is this theory posted here somewhere?

Again man... Pretty frigg'n awesome...

So now about your 4 act theory... You gotta school some of us and edumicate....

Again man... Pretty frigg'n awesome...

So now about your 4 act theory... You gotta school some of us and edumicate....

I had posted a "bit" of this theory on another thread here somewhere... A search should bring it up. I have shared it with a few IndieTalkies thus far...

Send me a PM and I would be happy to share...

filmy

...Filmy!!! Hell, Yeah!!! That's the coolest thing in the world! I am so glad to hear your news. But since it ain't over just yet, GOOD LUCK!! I hope you will let us know how things are going. You'll be directing in no time :director:

--spinner :cool:

Good Luck and congratualations! Not only are you getting an agent, it sounds like you have been as successful already as most screenwriting book authors, so you can always fall back on writing up your 4 act theory!

Good luck with this project as well!

Joe Hunt

Hey, I just found this thread, I've been running a project for the last two weeks and haven't beeen paying attention.

Congratulations man, this the best news I've heard in ages and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

By the way your four act structure rocks, it's the most impressive piece of thinking about screenwriting I've ever come across. I've already used it to restructure one script and I'm now working on an adaptable template for to use for my other projects, that I'm building into Movie Outline. I'll let you have a look at it once it's finished.

:clap:

In fact I'm so very, very pleased for you that I'm hardly jealous at all! :lol:

Any truth to the rumour (that I just made up) that the deciding factor for them was having me attached as a lead? http://www.stevenrichards.com/images/smiley_creepy.gif

What genre is the script, btw?

Any truth to the rumour (that I just made up) that the deciding factor for them was having me attached as a lead? http://www.stevenrichards.com/images/smiley_creepy.gif

What genre is the script, btw?

I guess you could say it's a HORROR/THRILLER although I wrote it as a thriller. It's HORROR in that it has a serial killer in it. LOL.

From the conference call I had, HORROR IS HOT. Sizzling! At least that's what they tell me... I know I would have a hard time writing a 4Q movie cuz my stuff is dark and funny so I just went for two demographics with a high concept that apparently also happens to be big in Europe (again, so I was told).

We shall see... LOL.

Clive, would love to see your template when you're through with it. I use the same program.

filmy

EDIT: ZEN, unfortunately, no rumor to that fact... LOL. But hey, you don't try, you don't fly. The script has already been sent to someone we all know and he likes what he's read but he's not sure he wants to play the killer... I had no idea until this morning that this crap was happening so fast...

filmy again

UPDATE:

Just got off a 4 hour conference call... Whew! These conference calls are killin' me! So far, the WRITER/PRODUCER - WRITER/DIRECTOR producing team that wants the script have shown it to their agency. I should say NEW AGENCY since the writer/producer just jumped ship and signed with a new agency. Watch the trades and you might figure out who it is... I'm sworn to secrecy thus far...

The agency people loved it and I'm currently talking to them about representation... So that's a plus.

This screenplay I wrote was just this little story that I wrote with the intention of making it myself. I kept it small on purpose because I figured if nobody was interested, I could always move ahead on it myself. As it turns out, it's the smallness that people aren't liking... LOL.

They like the concept. They like the story. They like the bad guy. They like just about everything but the smallness. Not sure how I can explain it better... Let's just say the whole thing takes place in New Mexico. I did that for a number of reasons...

1) I live here.
2) New Mexico invests in films made in New Mexico i.e., funding.
3)I happen to know there's a few studios looking for projects that can be shot here so they can take advantage of the funding.

As it turns out, this agency funds a few films and the writer/producer just signed an amazing deal for X amount of pictures within the next 5 years... All with guaranteed distribution. Supposedly, my screenplay will be one of these.

What originally looked to them like a cool little horror thriller has now blown into this bigger budget, larger idea. I sat there just minutes ago taking notes on all the "ideas" everyone has to make my cool little horror thriller BIGGER and BETTER. LOL.

I WISH I could tell you about some of these ideas... LOL.

So now I go into REWRITING to expand the concept on a larger scale and back that up with more backstory so we know WHY the bad guy does what he does.

My mind is racing a bit... A part of me wants to say "Fuck off" and another part of me is saying, "This is what you've been wanting all along dickhead, so go for it..."

I think it's just funny because last week, it was okay... Cool little horror thriller... This week it's "Let's make it into a BIG HORROR THRILLER!"

Which, I'm positive I can do but man... What a cool littler horror thriller it would have made... LOL.

But the bennies are simply too hard to pass up...

Money to do the rewrite... Then I get to sell it and produce it. I guess there are worse things... I've always had the mindset of "Never love anything that can't love you back..." --But now I find that I'm really loving my cool little horror thriller that everyone wants to make BIGGER.

Time will tell...

Back to work.

filmy

Very awesome man.. Congrats again...

Please keep us updated...

Conference calls, guranteed distribution, paid for rewrites - OK. Now I'm jealous :lol:

My fiction workshop teacher was fond of telling me, "You have to kill your babies." I think this is one of those times. Good luck filmy!

My fiction workshop teacher was fond of telling me, "You have to kill your babies." I think this is one of those times. Good luck filmy!
And he's definitely RIGHT and I have ALWAYS known that... But now here I am loving my little thriller/horror that will never be... LOL.

Fuck it.
Back to work. LOL.

filmy

Good luck and Godspeed on the rewrite.

Poke

Good luck and Godspeed on the rewrite.

Poke
I appreciate that more than you know...

So now, over the weekend, it seems that 90% of the people involved want to keep the little horror/thriller concept... LOL.

These people kill me... It is true what they say... NOBODY KNOWS NUTHIN'!

I had a feeling... From a previous conference call, that this was in fact the case so what I am now doing is fleshing out the characters a little more and expanding on the killer's backstory. Over the weekend, I took a drive through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona to do a little research and came up with some backstory that I've never seen before so I'm writing it in...

I get home this morning and there's 12 messages on my machine (I DESPISE CELL PHONES). Everyone thought I had an accident and was in the hospital. LOL.

One guy (I wish I could tell you WHO because most of you have heard of him) says to me... "I didn't give you permission to just take off and do some research..."

LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

I told him to "Fuck off." --i.e., my natural tendency when someone tries to rule my life... I told him that I wasn't sure who he's worked with in the past but that at no time did I agree to be 100% obtainable. Geez... I left on Friday night and got back Late Monday night. LOL.

Anyway, I explained that I realize he's probably used to getting everything he wants but not with me... Then I sat there and waited... Silence for about 40 seconds... I just shut up.

Then he broke the silence (something I learned in General Motors and Xerox sales schools a long time ago when the Navy sent me to both is to never be the first to break the silence) with, "Okay, what did you figure out?"

I then replied, "You'll have to read it."

He said, "When?"

I said, "How about tomorrow?"

He said, "Is it good?"

I said, "It's better than good!" It's fucking OUTSTANDING!"

He said, "Then I don't have to read it. Just write the Goddamn thing."

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

I said, "I already did."

He said, "Is it really that good?"

I said, "It's fucking great!" Wanna read it?" He said, "I don't have time right now."

I said, "I think you need to make the time." (this is a conference call mind you... and nobody else is saying a thing because they're all too scared but I figure, worse case scenario is that I obviously have something here AND I do have several other producers that are interested, so fuck these people and if I make a mistake by saying what I feel, so be it).

So he said, "Send it to me."

I said, "Check your email."

He checked it and what I had done was gone through the script with Adobe Acrobat and made script notes on certain things and lead him right to the backstory rewrite...

He said, "What are all these yellow bubbles?"

I said, "Those are notes on things I need to polish and make better." He said, "Who wrote the notes?" I said, "I did," He said, "Great fucking notes!"

Then he said to everyone else on the phone, "How come we're not doing this?" Nobody could answer because they didn't have the file... LOL.

Then he gets to the pages with the backstory and literally FLIPS OUT. "I've never seen anything like this before!" This IS fucking GREAT! You need to move out here to Los Angeles. I could really use you here!" I replied, "I'm never moving back to Smell-A." He laughed at the phrase, "SMELL-A" which I've been using for years and asked me if he could use it on his friends...

I said, "Sure, no problem."

He went on and on about the notes I simply created in Acrobat (except for the rewrite) and asked me if I would be willing to read a few more scripts and make some notes... I was SILENT again.

After about only 15 seconds this time... He says, "I'll pay you of course."

Then I said, "Sure, no problem. Send 'em over." We then talked about what that would be worth and agreed on a price and then asked if he liked the notes, "Would I be available to do a rewrite?" I said, "Probably, but I need to rewrite my own screenplay first." He said, "Oh hell yes... We need yours first."

So now today, I'm reading a script written by another person some of you might have heard of and I'm really surprised at how unpolished and rushed it is... Weird. I'm taking my own rewrite slowly because I really want to keep the integrity of the story even though I have to enlarge it.

By the way... I'm still not represented by an agency. At one point, the producer's (the guy I talked to above) agency wanted to rep me. They bugged me for a couple of days and FedEx'd some stuff out here to me but I still haven't read it all. I think this is another pregnant pause and whomever breaks silence first, loses. LOL.

I pretty much have ALL my story "problems" worked out. Just need to rewrite the rest of it which I am positive I can do in a week but I get the sense that IF I do just this, they will want more rewriting and even though I'm getting paid to do it, I simply don't think the script needs MORE than what I intend to rewrite so I'm taking it slow...

Till next time...

filmy

Absolutely incredible. And hilarious.
Good job- you obviously have a great thing going and I wish you all the luck in the world with it!!
This is killing me though; I wish you could tell us who he is, because that little dialogue was HILARIOUS!!!

:lol:

Good luck, dude.

-Logan-

Wow. I must say, you have balls sir! :lol:
Good for you and good luck!

It's not so much having balls as simply be GROUNDED to my beliefs... I'm 47 and way too old to have anybody telling me what to do. It didn't work before I was 47, 46, 45, etc... LOL. So, it sure as hell isn't going to work now...

What I am finding here AGAIN is that just like William Goldman said, "Nobody knows nothin'." --It's true and I'm finding that as long as I can INTELLIGENTLY explain and qualify what I'm saying, everyone seems to understand and be persuaded by it. At least on the phone... LOL.

Notice, I have YET to meet anyone in person yet although I am going to McKee's STORY seminar in Smell-A next week and am going to be meeting a shitload of people then... They offered to fly me out the day after the conference call and I said, "Naaaah. I'm driving there on the 22nd anyway, maybe we can meet then."

After that call, I had other people (that contributed on the conference call) calling me up and ask what was going on? I said, "What are you talking about?" These people said that I didn't sound like the usual screenwriter who would have been driving all through the night to get there the next day and why not take the plane trip that was offered.

I replied, "I'm not the usual screenwriter." Then I shut up.

Most of the responses were simply, "Oh. Okay."

Hey, I'm not starving and I figure I have one shot to make this happen MY WAY. If I fuck it up, so be it. I'll try again of course, but I try to visualize every call and meeting ahead of time and work it all out just like I do with a screenplay... In my head first and then from the hip.

filmy

This is a very inspirational story man. I thank you for sharing your experience with all of us.

Amen to that.

Go filmy.

Poke

Wow...great story.

I'm gonna try out the silent treatment at work next time my boss asks me to do something.

These people kill me... It is true what they say... NOBODY KNOWS NUTHIN'!

...I learned this a loooong time ago, and then they look at you like you are being unreasonable...

One guy (I wish I could tell you WHO because most of you have heard of him)

...don't tell me, I don't want to know, when you hit the big time, we'll ALL know...

I told him to "Fuck off." --i.e., my natural tendency when someone tries to rule my life...

:rofl:

Then he broke the silence (something I learned in General Motors and Xerox sales schools a long time ago when the Navy sent me to both is to never be the first to break the silence) with, "Okay, what did you figure out?"

...people are afraid of silence and feel the room has to be filled with noise, I agree with the silence thing, I've seen it work...

I said, "I think you need to make the time." (this is a conference call mind you... and nobody else is saying a thing because they're all too scared but I figure, worse case scenario is that I obviously have something here AND I do have several other producers that are interested, so fuck these people and if I make a mistake by saying what I feel, so be it).

WHOA!! All Hail The Great And Powerful FILMY!!! Resident BADASS!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

...don't piss them off too much!, but I am so glad to see examples of people sticking to their guns, there are too many suck ups in the world and I think it is our duty to destroy them at will...

I haven't given a damn about a horror/thriller in a long time, I'll be there the first day it shows!

--spinner :cool:

This is great reading :cool:

Damn the man. :D

I was just curious if there are any new developments/funny situations?

Sonnyboo,

I'm, not surprised. When I first talked to you, (via the internet) maybe a year or two ago, I figured you'd be the type to not take any sh*t from the L.A. types. My favorite quote is "I'm not the usual screenwriter..." No kidding.:hmm:

Just like warfare, these "dyed in the wool" L.a. types can't handle someone not adhering to their typical way of doing business and are speechless when someone bucks the system.:huh:

It all started with a new and different screenplay that was innovative. That is something Hollywood is completely devoid of, and as has been said, "nature abhors a vaccum." Hollywood has run off all the good writers who are innovative with their typical tactics, and Sonnyboo was a breath of fresh air to them, but he still stands on his principles. (which is a lot easier to do with being over 40) A screenwriter standing up to a producer is one thing, but the reasons for doing so make the difference. PJR knew where to make his stand. Similarly put "Is this the hill you want to die on?" If it isn't (like changing a line for an actor, etc), let it change. If it's making progress in your career by being a producer or director, then make the stand. Be willing to walk away, but don't do it unless you have decided up front what your own parameters are.

Way to go, Sonnyboo. I'm still not surprised.:clap:

WC

Sonnyboo?

CommanderGoat,

You are right. I got Sonnyboo and Filmy mixed up. However, both are good guys with a LOT of talent and excperience. Filmy, sorry I got you mixed up with Sonnyboo, but in a way, it's a compliment. I read another thread about PJR's accomplishments and ended up complimenting him on Filmy's thread instead.

Obviously I needed that other cup of coffee this morning before I wrote my input.

Way to go, Filmy. AND, pretty good compnay with Sonnyboo anyway.

Thanks, CommanderGoat. I stand corrected.

WC

CommanderGoat,

You are right. I got Sonnyboo and Filmy mixed up. However, both are good guys with a LOT of talent and excperience. Filmy, sorry I got you mixed up with Sonnyboo, but in a way, it's a compliment. I read another thread about PJR's accomplishments and ended up complimenting him on Filmy's thread instead.

Obviously I needed that other cup of coffee this morning before I wrote my input.

Way to go, Filmy. AND, pretty good compnay with Sonnyboo anyway.

Thanks, CommanderGoat. I stand corrected.

WCHey, no problem...

As for anything new...

WHEW!

It seems that something new is coming up every week... I am right now on my way back from Las Vegas from having looked at several buildings for the new production company to be housed in... Here I am sitting in a room at the Days Inn in Barstow, CA... LOL.

Since all this has happened to me, here's what's going on...

1) In the middle of the rewrite on the script that the new prodco purchased...

2) I keep reading new screenplays by A-List writers that are really surprising me at how... Well, not how "bad" they are but how "lacking" they are. We're looking for properties for our slate and I guess I've read at least 45 screenplays thus far... All lacking... All from well known writers. In fact, most of the screenplays I'm reading have little things in them that scream DATED. In other words, most look like SPEC scripts that were written at least 5 years ago... Maybe longer... There's little things in the scripts that can help you figure out the actual year they were written...

3) I'm not only rewriting and producing my own film but I am now a producer on 2 other films as well as a new type of series that might end up on HBO.

4) I'm in charge of all prodco web sites and net marketing for future films.

5) I'm tracking down and purchasing vehicles for all the prodco's producers. Yeah, kinda funny. The prodco is giving every producer (so far there are only 2) their own antique Cadillac convertible. I happen to know a lot about cars so I'm heading this venture up as well...

On top of all this, I'm writing a book on the 4 Act Structure and doing some heavy duty research on advanced screenwriting techniques that you don't read about in books too much...

Last but not least, I have my own project going with some people who want to be screenwriters... A couple from IndieTalk! They're starting from scratch with all new VERY HIGH CONCEPT ideas and taking them through to completion of first draft... They'll keep reworking the script while I virtually watch over their backs to come up with an outstanding piece of property that we will hopefully be able to sell and produce...

No real funny stuff lately... Well, a couple of things but I can't talk about 'em in a public forum but let's just say you might have read about this certain actor who's now with this certain actress who's husband dumped her for an Oscar winning actress not too long ago... Anyway, this certain actor was stopped and tested for driving under the influence... You might have read about it... LOL. Anyway, I know where both of them were PRIOR to being pulled over and that is a pretty funny story...

filmy

Filmy... that's really awesome. I'm so happy for you and glad you're here at Indietalk

I googled for the actors in question. Tell them I say hi next time you see them. I love their work. And make it sound like they *should* know me for some reason...I may use that to my advantage later ;)

Good Luck! This sounds like a great deal. Just goes to show that it happens every day...

Cheers!

-Jim

Just reading through this as I try to catch up on the old posts, and wow, amazing filmy, you seem incredibly well grounded which I am sure will take you far.

Your 4 act structure idea sounds absolutely fascinating though, I'm sure we'll here about it in the future. A success story is the greatest motivation anyone can ever have.

Congrats

Just reading through this as I try to catch up on the old posts, and wow, amazing filmy, you seem incredibly well grounded which I am sure will take you far.

Your 4 act structure idea sounds absolutely fascinating though, I'm sure we'll here about it in the future. A success story is the greatest motivation anyone can ever have.

CongratsHey, I appreciate the kind words of everyone... It's amazing... I'm working HARDER and LONGER than at any other time in my life and I'm talking many many many 18 hour days in the Navy...

But I love it...

2006 should be a great year...

filmy