Stuart Connelly's Blog, page 2
December 10, 2012
Nearing The Finish
While we're all used to calling the coming attractions at the start of theatrical films trailers, the phrase itself comes from original placement of the advertisements at the ends of features–they "trailed" behind the movie, see? So I find it somewhat interesting that it is only at the tail end of production, as we're working on the sound effects, credits, and VFX for my directorial debut (The Suspect)that I have the time, opportunity, and resources to get out in front of the film to share a bit of its construction with you.
The project was a labor of love from the get-go, and I feel as if coming out of the far side of its making, I've stumbled into possession of two distinct treasures. The first, of course, is the finished film itself–a psychological thriller centering around racism that, in true Sisyphean fashion, I took from a legal pad to a finished film over the years. That is something easy enough to share with you, this being a kind of golden age of distribution options. The film was the goal, obviously; the target we'd set our sites on. But there was a second, surprising aspect to the entire process I didn't see coming that I now seems to me to be nearly as important:
A comprehension of an artistic process that cannot be anticipated, planned on, or taught. It is pure distilled experience. A first film only happens one time to any of us aspiring directors. Once you see how it all comes together, how the gears mesh, you've become in some ways enlightened.
And it turned into an enormous amount of insight into the methods and strategies of independent filmmaking. There are instructional texts out there, of course. I've read them. But I promise you, nothing that tells you what it's really like to assemble the parts and go to battle on the front lines of production. There is a reason so many investors demand a director with feature experience and a producer with a list of credits before they sign a check. I, as a first time director teamed up with a first-time producer, was fighting with one hand tied behind my back. And yes, it's a Catch-22 since no one comes out of the womb with an IMDB directing credit to their name. There are ways over the hurdle, as this project can attest. The key to getting the traction to move forward despite this and the myriad other obstacles might come as a surprise.
With the expectation that many of you are in the same boat I once was in (a trying-to-break-in screenwriter who slowly began to understand that one has to make his or her own opportunities to break through) I'm figuring you may want to know more about my specific experience. How did we deal with agents, get actors to read the script, nail down schedules, locations, insurance, etc. etc.?
There are answers, and the journey is as instructive as it is complicated and inspiring.
Over the next several months I'll be chronicling the construction of the film. There are lessons to be learned, for sure. I hope I'll have enough material to compile if not a book, then at least something along the lines of a Kindle Single.
Now that I think of it, however, I'd like to add a third treasure to what I've accrued: A new and sure-to-be lifelong friendship with my composer, aide-de-camp and partner in crime (thrillers), Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld. Stephen has worked tirelessly on the score when his time might well be better spent publicizing his most recent album, The Last Werewolf.
So Stephen, allow me to step in and do a little of that work for you while you're busy synching to timecode and re-writing cues to my vague instructions in the middle of the night. Readers, this is a link to one of my many favorite albums, London Book of the Dead
If you support indie film, why not download a song or two and then come back here to report on what you've discovered in the comments section below? And stop by from time to time to learn lurid behind-the-scenes story of the writing, pitching, casting, financing, producing, location, scouting, catering and shooting of The Suspect.
Wait a sec... didn't I just say that this education is something that needs to be experienced? Yep. But I am a true believer that the power of the written word lies in its ability to transfer understanding. My experience came in the muddy trenches of production. Yours, on the other hand, can come from reading my account.
Lucky for you...
The project was a labor of love from the get-go, and I feel as if coming out of the far side of its making, I've stumbled into possession of two distinct treasures. The first, of course, is the finished film itself–a psychological thriller centering around racism that, in true Sisyphean fashion, I took from a legal pad to a finished film over the years. That is something easy enough to share with you, this being a kind of golden age of distribution options. The film was the goal, obviously; the target we'd set our sites on. But there was a second, surprising aspect to the entire process I didn't see coming that I now seems to me to be nearly as important:
A comprehension of an artistic process that cannot be anticipated, planned on, or taught. It is pure distilled experience. A first film only happens one time to any of us aspiring directors. Once you see how it all comes together, how the gears mesh, you've become in some ways enlightened.
And it turned into an enormous amount of insight into the methods and strategies of independent filmmaking. There are instructional texts out there, of course. I've read them. But I promise you, nothing that tells you what it's really like to assemble the parts and go to battle on the front lines of production. There is a reason so many investors demand a director with feature experience and a producer with a list of credits before they sign a check. I, as a first time director teamed up with a first-time producer, was fighting with one hand tied behind my back. And yes, it's a Catch-22 since no one comes out of the womb with an IMDB directing credit to their name. There are ways over the hurdle, as this project can attest. The key to getting the traction to move forward despite this and the myriad other obstacles might come as a surprise.
With the expectation that many of you are in the same boat I once was in (a trying-to-break-in screenwriter who slowly began to understand that one has to make his or her own opportunities to break through) I'm figuring you may want to know more about my specific experience. How did we deal with agents, get actors to read the script, nail down schedules, locations, insurance, etc. etc.?
There are answers, and the journey is as instructive as it is complicated and inspiring.
Over the next several months I'll be chronicling the construction of the film. There are lessons to be learned, for sure. I hope I'll have enough material to compile if not a book, then at least something along the lines of a Kindle Single.
Now that I think of it, however, I'd like to add a third treasure to what I've accrued: A new and sure-to-be lifelong friendship with my composer, aide-de-camp and partner in crime (thrillers), Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld. Stephen has worked tirelessly on the score when his time might well be better spent publicizing his most recent album, The Last Werewolf.
So Stephen, allow me to step in and do a little of that work for you while you're busy synching to timecode and re-writing cues to my vague instructions in the middle of the night. Readers, this is a link to one of my many favorite albums, London Book of the Dead
If you support indie film, why not download a song or two and then come back here to report on what you've discovered in the comments section below? And stop by from time to time to learn lurid behind-the-scenes story of the writing, pitching, casting, financing, producing, location, scouting, catering and shooting of The Suspect.
Wait a sec... didn't I just say that this education is something that needs to be experienced? Yep. But I am a true believer that the power of the written word lies in its ability to transfer understanding. My experience came in the muddy trenches of production. Yours, on the other hand, can come from reading my account.
Lucky for you...
November 27, 2012
The Next Next Big Thing
Before Thanksgiving, Joe D’Agnese “tagged” me in his Next Big Thing blog post forcing me to answer questions about my latest writing project. Thanks, Joe. After that exhausting task, I’m still supposed to have enough energy left to stir five of my comrades-in-arms to do the same thing. Wheels within wheels…
To top it all off, this was supposed to happen in a week. Well, good things come to those who wait. A few days late, I’m here to answer the questions and (hopefully) pass the baton.
The writers I tend to hang out with aren’t the blogging type, so we’ll see how far this goes. I may end up posting their answers these same questions on my site as well. Those five will mention five of their trusted allies, and so on and so on. So…
1) What is the title of your next book?
The Suspect.
2) Where did the for the book idea come from?
I was thinking about a concept in judo, wherein a person can allegedly use their opponent’s strength against them. It felt to me a particularly counterintuitive concept, a lot like the way Christianity strikes me. I wanted to explore that idea of equating strength to weakness, and that force I came up with holding under the microscope was racism — it’s a kind of “superiority complex” people have. Can it be their undoing…?
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Despite the above, The Suspect is a thriller. A psychological thriller if that can be considered its own genre.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Funny you should ask; The Suspect began life as a screenplay and I’m happy to report we’ve just finished shooting the feature film version, so I actually was one of the few writers in history in a position to choose who played the parts. Happy to report I landed my top picks — Mekhi Phifer (“8 Mile”), Bill Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”) James McCaffrey (“Rescue Me”) and Rebecca Creskoff (“Hung”) are the leads.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
An African-American man with no ID is found wandering in a small, all-white town mere minutes after that town has experienced its first-ever bank robbery, but things aren’t what they first appear.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
This book will likely be put out by the publishing division of our production own production company, which you may well consider falling in the self-published arena. But we don’t rule out the possibility that one of the studios that also has a publishing division (there are several; Disney and Hyperion jump to mind) might want to acquire the rights to both.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Translating the script format to the novel was a matter of five weeks going at the rate of about 1000 words a day. An easy enough clip, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. In scripts, you’re restricted to sight and sound — the senses involved in film. You never fully appreciate the novel’s x-ray ability to take you inside thought and emotion until you adapt a screenplay into one.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
For structure, Ira Levin’s first novel A Kiss Before Dying. For theme, John Ball’s In The Heat of The Night. Outside the genre, Taylor Branch’s Pillar of Fire for character.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I’d been angry for a while about how much attention The Usual Suspects had gotten over the years. I liked it as a concept, but I felt it didn’t deliver on its promise, that it took the easy way out. In particular, people seemed to be so blown away by the Kevin Spacey character, when all I saw was a guy lying for 95% of the film, somewhat randomly, then revealing he’s a different guy than the lies led you to believe. There just wasn’t much “there” there. A wasted opportunity, I believe if they could’ve made the middle of the movie connect with everything, rather than just acting as a stall, it would’ve been much more worthy of the attention it received. From this observation sprung the thoughts that eventually led to this story.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
In the middle of working toward a film version of this story, I was offered the opportunity to co-author a book with Martin Luther King Jr.’s longtime friend and speechwriter. That book, Behind The Dream: The Making of the Speech That Transformed America ended up being a critical piece of the package we took to investors, my insight into the racial tension in America had some Big 6 Publishing backing, so that helped people take The Suspect seriously.
Now I’d like to introduce five new writers to you. For now, please check out their latest releases. I’ll check in with them to see if they’ll be posting their answers on their own blogs or sending them to me for spotlighting:
John-Paul Bernbach
Peter Eisner
Jay Pillard
Cari Kamm
Derek Roché
Oh, and just to say thanks for dragging me into this, here’s a link to Joe D’Agnese’s well-regarded latest: The Mesmerist
To top it all off, this was supposed to happen in a week. Well, good things come to those who wait. A few days late, I’m here to answer the questions and (hopefully) pass the baton.
The writers I tend to hang out with aren’t the blogging type, so we’ll see how far this goes. I may end up posting their answers these same questions on my site as well. Those five will mention five of their trusted allies, and so on and so on. So…
1) What is the title of your next book?
The Suspect.
2) Where did the for the book idea come from?
I was thinking about a concept in judo, wherein a person can allegedly use their opponent’s strength against them. It felt to me a particularly counterintuitive concept, a lot like the way Christianity strikes me. I wanted to explore that idea of equating strength to weakness, and that force I came up with holding under the microscope was racism — it’s a kind of “superiority complex” people have. Can it be their undoing…?
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Despite the above, The Suspect is a thriller. A psychological thriller if that can be considered its own genre.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Funny you should ask; The Suspect began life as a screenplay and I’m happy to report we’ve just finished shooting the feature film version, so I actually was one of the few writers in history in a position to choose who played the parts. Happy to report I landed my top picks — Mekhi Phifer (“8 Mile”), Bill Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”) James McCaffrey (“Rescue Me”) and Rebecca Creskoff (“Hung”) are the leads.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
An African-American man with no ID is found wandering in a small, all-white town mere minutes after that town has experienced its first-ever bank robbery, but things aren’t what they first appear.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
This book will likely be put out by the publishing division of our production own production company, which you may well consider falling in the self-published arena. But we don’t rule out the possibility that one of the studios that also has a publishing division (there are several; Disney and Hyperion jump to mind) might want to acquire the rights to both.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Translating the script format to the novel was a matter of five weeks going at the rate of about 1000 words a day. An easy enough clip, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. In scripts, you’re restricted to sight and sound — the senses involved in film. You never fully appreciate the novel’s x-ray ability to take you inside thought and emotion until you adapt a screenplay into one.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
For structure, Ira Levin’s first novel A Kiss Before Dying. For theme, John Ball’s In The Heat of The Night. Outside the genre, Taylor Branch’s Pillar of Fire for character.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I’d been angry for a while about how much attention The Usual Suspects had gotten over the years. I liked it as a concept, but I felt it didn’t deliver on its promise, that it took the easy way out. In particular, people seemed to be so blown away by the Kevin Spacey character, when all I saw was a guy lying for 95% of the film, somewhat randomly, then revealing he’s a different guy than the lies led you to believe. There just wasn’t much “there” there. A wasted opportunity, I believe if they could’ve made the middle of the movie connect with everything, rather than just acting as a stall, it would’ve been much more worthy of the attention it received. From this observation sprung the thoughts that eventually led to this story.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
In the middle of working toward a film version of this story, I was offered the opportunity to co-author a book with Martin Luther King Jr.’s longtime friend and speechwriter. That book, Behind The Dream: The Making of the Speech That Transformed America ended up being a critical piece of the package we took to investors, my insight into the racial tension in America had some Big 6 Publishing backing, so that helped people take The Suspect seriously.
Now I’d like to introduce five new writers to you. For now, please check out their latest releases. I’ll check in with them to see if they’ll be posting their answers on their own blogs or sending them to me for spotlighting:
John-Paul Bernbach
Peter Eisner
Jay Pillard
Cari Kamm
Derek Roché
Oh, and just to say thanks for dragging me into this, here’s a link to Joe D’Agnese’s well-regarded latest: The Mesmerist
August 27, 2012
The Compliment
At one point, late at night in his office while we were working on Behind The Dream, I was arguing with him about some point. After some heated back and forth, Clarence sat back and looked at me. "Martin would've liked you," he said.
February 22, 2012
Ash Wednesday
Can't have a short story called Ash Wednesday and not give it away free today, right?
Kindle edition here
http://amzn.to/AcCJ7Y
Enjoy...
Kindle edition here
http://amzn.to/AcCJ7Y
Enjoy...
February 8, 2012
Another Free Tale
Okay, in honor of... well, "honor" is the wrong word.
Let's say I'm feeling motivated by the flat grey skies leaning over Manhattan like a threat today.
Here's a story as cheerful as that uni-cloud, for free, today only.
http://amzn.to/A5iOQS
Stuart
Let's say I'm feeling motivated by the flat grey skies leaning over Manhattan like a threat today.
Here's a story as cheerful as that uni-cloud, for free, today only.
http://amzn.to/A5iOQS
Stuart
January 21, 2012
Nothing Like a Quick Laugh
Over the holidays my brother was giving me a hard time about being such a serious writer. Civil rights, prison riots, politics...
Even the New Yorker has cartoons, he said.
A comment that inspired me to attempt writing something funny.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Why don't you decide?
This weekend only, the new short Defense's Opening Remarks is free at Amazon here: http://amzn.to/xR4fvZ
Even the New Yorker has cartoons, he said.
A comment that inspired me to attempt writing something funny.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Why don't you decide?
This weekend only, the new short Defense's Opening Remarks is free at Amazon here: http://amzn.to/xR4fvZ
December 24, 2011
Christmas Giveaway
Today and tomorrow only, Amazon is giving away my short story bundle Matters of the Heart.
Six surreal stories worth your time.
Click through here: http://bit.ly/sRSkwf
I'd love to move up the ranks to a top five. Please help us out if you've got the time during this busy weekend.
Stuart Connelly
Six surreal stories worth your time.
Click through here: http://bit.ly/sRSkwf
I'd love to move up the ranks to a top five. Please help us out if you've got the time during this busy weekend.
Stuart Connelly
November 23, 2011
November 22, 2011
Oh Me of Little Faith
I've started to notice-if television is any kind of litmus test-that two seasons are kicking off here in America at right about the same time. On their face, they couldn't be more different: the nearly year-long home stretch to the 2012 elections is all about the gritty realities of clashing but heartfelt political ideologies, while the five-week-long sugarplum dance toward Christmas focuses on peace on earth and reminding us how important the simple things in life are.
Yet these seasons have more in common than it might seem at first glance. Christmas promotion and political campaigns are both pushing the same thing at us: mindless action that quite possibly is not in our own self-interest.
Go spend, go vote.
To get us to do this, the capitalistic machinery hides behind abstract concepts that tug at our heartstrings and motivate our mammalian brains. These ideas are inarguably noble. Ideas of giving joy to another without thought of what you're getting in return. Of investing hope in a great experiment in democracy. Yet the practice of co-opting noble ideas is the natural fallout-practically the byproduct-of commerce. The great trick of both party politics and capitalist commerce can found in their PR efforts, which are designed to lead us to believe the activity we're pushed into is for our benefit. That these machinations are designed to bring something of value to the masses, rather than the true design (to have the masses bring something of value to the machinery).
Pick your poison: the wave of a flag, the tear of the wrapping paper, the audacity hope, the merciful quality of charity, fighting for the little guy, fining that perfect something, red white and blue streamers, crackling fires. These tropes are all of a piece. Touchstones that make us want to believe. They are tactics disguised as emotion, deployed to get us to open our wallets and pour out our power into the hands of a few people and corporations.
Picture the waving-wheat campaign ads side-by-side with the big-red-bow car commercials. Both are riddled with false sincerity yet utterly devoid of the genuine article. Now ask yourself, on what level do these accurately prepare you for the non-stop maintenance and expense of car ownership or the endless buck-passing and credit-grabbing behavior of whoever gets elected? They don't.
We know all this and fall for it all again, over and over. The belief of individuals in something more honorable than themselves seems to be our American Achilles Heel; we want there to be selfless people and soulful corporations. It's powerful, and if you're not smart enough to capitalize on that weak spot, well then... you probably don't survive in business or politics for long.
If the corporations, elected officials or media aren't going to encourage us to wipe the lens clean and take a deeper look, then it's up to us. If we don't do it, maybe we deserve what we get.
But there are voices out there with no obligation to the status quo who can shine some light on the realities of power. I'll add my voice to the growing chorus. Let's kick off these seasons by setting the record straight:
Walmart, Gap and BMW don't care about you. No sitting president, congressman or mayor ever has, either.
They care about their own power. Any benefit that accrues to us is either incidental or merely perceived. If you want to care about Christmas, you might consider doing so on your terms, not Coca-Cola's. If you want good government, you might start with the proposition that every candidate-yes, even your guy-is acting out of self-interest, and go from there.
When you shake hands with the candidate on a rope line at a rally, it may be thrilling. What you never get to see is the aftermath, the fat globs of Purell the candidate slathers on from that industrial-size bottle that's always waiting in the back seat of his limousine. The gulf between the political show and the political reality is vast.
The new Kelsey Grammer show Boss isn't spectacular television, but it succeeds at pulling back the curtain on some of this. It is so cynical about politics that as an American your mind is practically attenuated to reject it as paranoid propaganda. It's only when you stop and realize that all markets move toward efficiency does this illustration of American realpolitik suddenly make crystalline sense.
There's a Christmas tree at my wife's church decorated with paper tags, requests for holiday gifts for the children of struggling parish families. One of them read:
Gift Certificate to the Heating Oil Company
I found this heartbreaking, but as soon as I saw it I also understood its power. The specificity of the situation and how it could seamlessly transition into making a broader political point stick. I instantly knew how any number of politicians on any side of the economy could use that stirring in my chest as a weapon against an opponent and by extension, a weapon against us all. Those transparent State of the Union speeches with the "regular folks" audience members come to mind.
But we don't need to make a political point here. The only real point is the tragedy of a struggling family facing winter without knowing how they can afford to heat their home for the holidays. It speaks for itself. Those people don't need spin, they need help.
Maybe that's what the season should be all about.
Yet these seasons have more in common than it might seem at first glance. Christmas promotion and political campaigns are both pushing the same thing at us: mindless action that quite possibly is not in our own self-interest.
Go spend, go vote.
To get us to do this, the capitalistic machinery hides behind abstract concepts that tug at our heartstrings and motivate our mammalian brains. These ideas are inarguably noble. Ideas of giving joy to another without thought of what you're getting in return. Of investing hope in a great experiment in democracy. Yet the practice of co-opting noble ideas is the natural fallout-practically the byproduct-of commerce. The great trick of both party politics and capitalist commerce can found in their PR efforts, which are designed to lead us to believe the activity we're pushed into is for our benefit. That these machinations are designed to bring something of value to the masses, rather than the true design (to have the masses bring something of value to the machinery).
Pick your poison: the wave of a flag, the tear of the wrapping paper, the audacity hope, the merciful quality of charity, fighting for the little guy, fining that perfect something, red white and blue streamers, crackling fires. These tropes are all of a piece. Touchstones that make us want to believe. They are tactics disguised as emotion, deployed to get us to open our wallets and pour out our power into the hands of a few people and corporations.
Picture the waving-wheat campaign ads side-by-side with the big-red-bow car commercials. Both are riddled with false sincerity yet utterly devoid of the genuine article. Now ask yourself, on what level do these accurately prepare you for the non-stop maintenance and expense of car ownership or the endless buck-passing and credit-grabbing behavior of whoever gets elected? They don't.
We know all this and fall for it all again, over and over. The belief of individuals in something more honorable than themselves seems to be our American Achilles Heel; we want there to be selfless people and soulful corporations. It's powerful, and if you're not smart enough to capitalize on that weak spot, well then... you probably don't survive in business or politics for long.
If the corporations, elected officials or media aren't going to encourage us to wipe the lens clean and take a deeper look, then it's up to us. If we don't do it, maybe we deserve what we get.
But there are voices out there with no obligation to the status quo who can shine some light on the realities of power. I'll add my voice to the growing chorus. Let's kick off these seasons by setting the record straight:
Walmart, Gap and BMW don't care about you. No sitting president, congressman or mayor ever has, either.
They care about their own power. Any benefit that accrues to us is either incidental or merely perceived. If you want to care about Christmas, you might consider doing so on your terms, not Coca-Cola's. If you want good government, you might start with the proposition that every candidate-yes, even your guy-is acting out of self-interest, and go from there.
When you shake hands with the candidate on a rope line at a rally, it may be thrilling. What you never get to see is the aftermath, the fat globs of Purell the candidate slathers on from that industrial-size bottle that's always waiting in the back seat of his limousine. The gulf between the political show and the political reality is vast.
The new Kelsey Grammer show Boss isn't spectacular television, but it succeeds at pulling back the curtain on some of this. It is so cynical about politics that as an American your mind is practically attenuated to reject it as paranoid propaganda. It's only when you stop and realize that all markets move toward efficiency does this illustration of American realpolitik suddenly make crystalline sense.
There's a Christmas tree at my wife's church decorated with paper tags, requests for holiday gifts for the children of struggling parish families. One of them read:
Gift Certificate to the Heating Oil Company
I found this heartbreaking, but as soon as I saw it I also understood its power. The specificity of the situation and how it could seamlessly transition into making a broader political point stick. I instantly knew how any number of politicians on any side of the economy could use that stirring in my chest as a weapon against an opponent and by extension, a weapon against us all. Those transparent State of the Union speeches with the "regular folks" audience members come to mind.
But we don't need to make a political point here. The only real point is the tragedy of a struggling family facing winter without knowing how they can afford to heat their home for the holidays. It speaks for itself. Those people don't need spin, they need help.
Maybe that's what the season should be all about.
May 12, 2011
Short Stories, Low Prices
After the flurry of downloads for the free short story "The Allnighter," (almost 1,200 in 24 hrs.) I've lowered the price of the entire anthology to make it as painless as possible for people to enjoy the rest of the pieces.
$1.00 through Goodreads, $0.99 on Amazon here: Confessions of a Velour-Shirted Man
$1.00 through Goodreads, $0.99 on Amazon here: Confessions of a Velour-Shirted Man
