Nathanial Covell's Blog, page 3

eScrolls by Nathanial Covell

True art does not reveal its skill.

Spires of Aurora Quiz! Win a free prize!

Spires of Aurora Quiz!

Get them all correct and win a free copy of Spires of Aurora!!!  Booyah!

1. What is an amigasa?

a. A lightning sword

b. An electric eel

c. A non-conductive cloak

d. A conical hat

2. What is engraved on Shotoku’s sword?

a. Bad-ass Motherfisser

b. Spire of Aurora

c. Proctector of the Innocent

d. Lightning-eater

3. What is the ‘bounty’ of Aurora?

a. Magnetism

b. Inazuma

c. Lightning

d. Fulgarite

4. What is fulgarite?

a. A loadstone

b. A seasoning for stew

c. A vulgar person

d. Melted glass

5. Who is the familiar of the gods?

a. Lucian

b. Mxyzptlk

c. Thunderbolt

d. Kurt Russell

6. What do monks say to provoke a lightning showdown?

a. “Let’s start some static!”

b. “Amp up!”

c. “Let’s go, you fissin’, fiss, fisser!”

d. “Leroy Jenkins!”

7. What plant does Shotoku use in his final showdown with Saiak?

a. Crackleweed

b. Lightning Bamboo

c. Golden Goat

d. Spark Thistle

8. Originally, from where does Starov hail?

a. Mujong

b. Grand Rapids

c. Yvan

d. Lunabi

9. What is the name of the tavern they visit in Sterling?

a. The Broken Spire

b. The Rava’s Horn

c. The Lucky Spire

d. The First Spark

10. What does Makiko see for the first time in Sterling?

a. Glow Shrooms

b. Luminescent Koi

c. Blue Algae

d. Inazuma

11. What does the inazuma roar sound like?

a. A lion’s roar

b. A bleating calf

c. An organ

d. Digital tones

No More Pitchfests! All you need is luck … oh, and years of soul-twisting torture.

Okay, I have been to one of these:  Great American Pitchfest back in 2010.  It was an amazing experience and I have been extended a lot of respect for attending one.  People look at you differently … with disbelief, wonder or pity, I can’t discern.

I flew in from Italy, so the trek was not a short one.  Upon my arrival at the Marriott in Los Angeles, I met a guy named Chris Moloney (who is just a great guy … seriously easy to like!) and we proceeded to drink too much and have too much fun, talking about writing and the industry (of which I knew little).  During the course of the GAPF, I endured a hangover mixed with the naseau of nakedly presenting my most precious of life’s works to strangers who largely couldn’t give a shit.  Not to scare the faint of heart:  remember that most producers just aren’t looking for what you’ve written at THAT particular moment.  I tried to pick companies who had made films like mine, of course.   I would say I pitched to about 10-12 companies that day and had 2 be very interested.  I deign the two as “interested” by the following acts:  One gave me her personal contact info and the other (Village Roadshow) told me I was in the top 5 pitches for the day.  It was the end of the day when I pitched to Village Roadshow and they were pretty animated in their excitement.  I was pumped.  On a side note, it was two other attendees I had mingled with previously who tipped me off that pitching to Roadshow was a good idea.  They knew I had a big budget film and that’s what Roadshow was looking for.  Socializing helps …  I never heard from Roadshow, however.  Khhhhhaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn!!!!!

Also of note, I was pitching Spires of Aurora, which is my big budget, scifi/adventure screenplay.  Big budget films are harder to sell since fewer producers can afford them.

If you are looking for inspiration, I highly recommend the On the Page podcast by Pilar Alessandria (who is totally gorgeous, by the way!).  Her podcasts make you feel like you are at the bar after work with a bunch of people living and breathing the industry you seek to join!  After about 100 of these, I felt confident I knew how to get in to writing … and a lot of it had to do with wuck.

Wuck:  Working your ass off, writing a lot and marketing yourself, so that one day in an elevator when you meet a Producer you have material to show them.  Not really luck … wuck.

Many of you may take offense to the word luck, but if we point at some of the folks in the business and the movies that get made, I think you may acquiesce.  Great works do not put you in that Producer-who-finally-gets-you’s inbox!  Write because you love it and market your ass off.  Be cool to others and know absolutely that your writing career will go from zero to hero in a night.  The most common tale I hear is that one day you have no career and the next you’re immersed in work, attention and deadlines.  Booyah!  (I got to meet Pilar at the pitchfest and told her how inspirational she’d been to me as I helped her move some chairs!  Not sure if she felt that as a thanks or an OMG-get-this-stalker-away-from-me vibe!  )

Oh yeah, another guy who struck me as awesome at the GAPF was Shane Black.  He wrote Lethal Weapon, etc.  He was on an open panel taking questions about the industry and was dressed informally and in a baseball cap.  Just a down-to-earth guy … liked him immediately.  He also seemed equally frustrated with questions attendees were asking.  Again, I am talking about the wuck factor.  IN MY OPINION, lay folk show these guys a lot of respect and come looking for answers many times these nice, famous guys don’t have.  I think their discomfort is born from the fact that many talented people will not be discovered for a variety of reasons.  Shane fidgeted in frustration just like me when people asked how you get discovered, etc.  Wuck, people!  Wuck!  People with ideas far more intoxicating than mine will never be discovered because they won’t market or socialize those ideas!  Do it, work, work, make your own film, join a contest, invest in story art, network, work, get lucky and you will get discovered!  When you get noticed, you will look back and say it was anything but luck.  It was wuck.  Like trying to hit a 1000-meter target with an uzi:  If you keep reloading and shooting, when you hit the target 4 years later, was it luck???  I don’t know, man, there’s a lot of fucking brass on the ground …!

My writing has transformed since the pitchfest.  As writing has become more of a habit, I am less interested in a quick sale.  We all put a lot of work into the stories we create and, yes I will say it, love and tears.  Do we really want to see something bought and potentially cannibalized?  I guess I would rather score with a quickie RomCom and save my true favorites for when I have clout enough to see them done right.  Or, if not done right, then maybe produced and directed by my bumbling hands.

I love what I’ve written and know the stories will be appreciated … someday … possibly by Golem … *goooachlem**goooachlem*.  Every step you can take closer to marketing your works will get you more control when you do get discovered.  A pitchfest is like a hail-mary pass:  It is one play that could go very well, but is not the entire game.

War, Inc.

So last year I went to Afghanistan for two months to help stand up some computer systems.  I had never been in a forward area (“down-range” they call it).  I was struck by the sheer number of guns and how they were treated with indifference:  laying on the ground while soldiers slept, on the belts of civilians, etc.  It’s just a bit surreal, albeit necessary.  Another thing is the moon dust.  These installations seem to kick up an interminable amount of dirt powder that cakes everything and sneaks into every pore; people walk around looking like they jumped into a pile of wheat flour.

Me and a few others hopped on an SUV transport after arrival in Kabul.  The reinforced, bulletproof SUV was driven by active duty military dudes.  They basically shuttle people around between secure locations.  They burst-transmit you the spiel:  In-the-event-of-attack-do-this-not-that-pull-on-this-yank-on-that-grab-this-if-we-are-disabled-toggle-this-and-sqwuak-halo-mary-chief-sierra-7-lefttoe-pancreas-hotel-california.  I just imagined getting out, grabbing two guns and saying, “I’m a lead farmer, mutha f**ers!”  Not.  We weren’t 10 seconds out of the first base and an Afghan army vehicle cut us off and got out with their AK’s or whatever.  The driver offers, “I’ve never seen this before,” and both dudes chamber rounds, with pat “chick-cock” sounds.  Turns out they were escorting some vehicles.  No biggie.  I mean piss dries, right? 

I was really struck during my time at the base by the shear amounts of food and supplies being delivered.  Knowing how lucrative contracting can be, I could just imagine how full the pockets of the few owners were getting … securing their families for generations.  Staggering.

There’s not much to do in your free time there.  You share a room with 1-3 people and someone is always sleeping.  A good set of headphones are key whether you’re watching a movie in your rack or music at work or muffling the noise of the huey or airplane or your roommate is a wicked snorer.  Oh, and a light so you can see around your room with the lights out.

One bright spot was when I was waiting for a helicopter and saw people playing street hockey in an out of the way area.  I love hockey and had to find out how to get involved.  They were Canadian, hahahaha.  That was awesome.  I started playing with them every Friday.

Going to Afghanistan, I thought I was pretty cool returning through Dubai until I met a bunch of non-governmental organization (NGO) civilians who live OFF BASE UNDER THE THREAT OF ATTACK EVERY DAY.  Ego promptly deflated.  They are cooler.