The 8 Sided Blog

I'm packing up and moving out...

Tennyson — 2009-03-28T21:26:00Z

...from Quickblogcast!

As I've discovered with "Who is Sam Bailey?", blogger.com gives me a much wider range of options format-wise, it doesn't spam you, dear reader, with GoDaddy announcements, and I can integrate it with my Ping. What that means is, I can start posting blogs on Blogger, MSpace, and Facebook simultaneously.

Won't that be nice?

I'll leave all this content in place for folks who want to look through the archives, but from now on the 8 Sided Blog gets it's own web address:

www.8sidedblog.com

Thanks for reading, guys! Stay with me!

Yours Truly,
Tennyson

Should I file away Three Hole Pundit?

Tennyson — 2009-03-28T18:25:00Z

Here's a repost of the latest on Three Hole Pundit:

When I first started thie blog, I got plenty of great feedback on the idea, as well as on the first review. How are we doing at this point? Is anyone still reading?

If you're reading and enjoying it, you've got to let me know! On my end, the only folks I'm hearing from are the writers submitting screenplays. In some cases they knew their script was in no shape for a review, but sent it in hoping for more of a consultation.

Are there folks reading who get what this is, and look forward to it as part of their Monday Morning read? If so, then I look forward to giving you script reviews and insight for many years to come. If not, then Three Hole Pundit has served it's purpose.

Weigh in here or in private, and thanks for reading!

Yours Truly,
Tennyson E. Stead

Sam Bailey walks the streets...

Tennyson — 2009-03-28T09:43:00Z

As promised, I've posted the sixth draft of Sam Bailey for the review and edification of you, glorious reader! Follow the link below to download a copy. The password is: "youknowwho"

http://www.8sidedfilms.com/SB6.pdf

I'm not sure how long I'll leave this out for. Not long...

Sam Bailey Brew

Tennyson — 2009-03-27T06:01:00Z

I'm finishing the 6th draft of Sam Bailey, and it's becoming something really special. Finally, the tone is coming into focus. There haven't been a lot of mystery/comedies, and the modern fantasy is usually so full of self-importance. This movie, hopefully, is the cure for Interview with a Vampire, Underworld, Twilight and the M. Night Shyamalan movies. So important! So dire! Come here, quiet angry vampire movie. Let Sam Bailey buy you a beer.

Something Tarkovski Said

Tennyson — 2009-03-25T06:59:00Z

Famed Soviet rebel filmmaker Andrei Tarkovski once wrote: "The dominant, all-powerful factor of the film image is rhythm, expressing the course of time within the frame."

What I get from it, and where I agree, is that it's really important not to think of storytelling time as a constant.

Some shots can express big changes and big ideas. Other shots can express minute change. It's not that the big shots belong in some movies, and the little shots in others. It's the contrast between the two that makes the movie what it is, and dictates the flow of time.

Not every shot in Iron Man is dressed to impress. Some of them are about Robert Downey Jr. realizing something small, but useful.

Ignore the big shots, and you're making crappy student films. Ignore the little ones, and you're making Star Wars prequels. Mind you, his point isn't about production value. It's about the scope of the actions and emotions expressed.

Lost in Translation has both kinds, just as much as Iron Man does.

Of course, I'm not saying there's just these two kinds of shots... It's a gradient, but you get the idea.

Why the Sam Bailey voodoo?

Tennyson — 2009-03-24T01:19:00Z

Today, it occurred to me that I haven't really explained the POINT of all the viral marketing I'm putting together for Sam Bailey. Here's my reasoning:

Part of why I'm doing this is to mitigate the risk of an unknown cast before taking it to investors. Beyond that, I want to make it easier for folks in the industry to support Sam Bailey. In either case, it's about making business easier and less risky.

From a business perspective, producing any film without regard for the "names" involved can be viewed as irresponsible - and rightly so! For exactly that reason, we've got to consider and account for the fact that we are producing a film with no stars. Ignoring it gets us nowhere.

If people already want to see a movie, the popularity of the film's cast becomes less important. That's how it worked with Napoleon Dynamite and Fireproof, and because I have the necessary distribution relationships, I'm in a good position to pull off a success on that kind of scale. If we can make good box office figures in the US, our foreign rights become valuable. By taking things step-by-step, we can open up our markets without spending tons of marketing dollars.

If the film is a celebrity, the cast doesn't need to be.

Of course, the film itself has to live up to audience expectation. In this case, the expectation I'm building is of a quirky, smooth genre picture with good production value, instead of a herky-jerky comedy or the easily fulfilled promise of Christian values. (By the way, I like Napoleon Dynamite and I haven't seen Fireproof. All I'm saying is that delivering on audience expectation wasn't the biggest hurdle those productions faced.)

At the same time, delivering a strong picture is a risk and a responsibility I'm well-positioned and prepared to handle. Getting that expectation to develop is going to take lots of time and work. That's what this is about.

To lend your support, visit us at www.8sidedfilms.com.

Why I Love Diablo Cody

Tennyson — 2009-03-21T01:54:00Z

For my second rant of the day, I'd like to know why it's so cool to rag on Diablo Cody all of a sudden? I effing LOVED Juno.

To me, those characters were so real and so great - I was in kind of a special place in High School, and I knew people like Juno McGuff, so maybe I'm a tad unobjective...

But when it comes to movies, we're not s'posed to be objective.

Diablo Cody writes human comedy for people who delight in little oddities, and who think on their feet. It's more than wit - it's a love of her characters, and of her audience.

I totally owe Diablo Cody a big, huge hug. Someday, when I'm successful enough to be invited to the same parties she goes to, I'll bother showing up to one in case she wants to collect. I'll never be too cool to hug Diablo Cody.

No, Diablo Cody is not over-rated. She's rated just right.

Should Screenwriters be Humble?

Tennyson — 2009-03-21T01:48:00Z

What's the nicest way to ask someone to read your script? It's a question commonly posed by screenwriters, and what follows is my response:

Forget humility. Is politeness enough to make me want to put down the most important thing in my life, and replace it with something of yours?

No. Not even close.

So what is enough? Sometimes it's money, right? Sometimes it's star attachment, and sometimes it's production on another feature, but I'm guessing you can't promise those things, right?

It has better be something in your script, because right now that's all you have.

Imagine for a moment that I have a child, and you're trying to take money out of my household budget to produce a movie. What is so goddamned great about your script that it's worth starving a little baby?

THAT's the thing you tell me when we meet. Don't tell me you need me. Listen, my baby NEEDS me. On the other hand, if your script is so great it's worth killing babies over, then I NEED YOU!

Give me the information that makes the value in your script clear, and THEN exercise some humility. Let me know you've been paying attention to my career, and tell me why you want my input instead of someone else's.

Remember. My time is the food in my baby's mouth, and that's what you're asking for. Is your script worth it?

If so, you'd better make that clear!

If not, why are we talking about it?

Alien vs. Predator

Tennyson — 2009-03-17T16:54:00Z

Oh, this made me happy! Thanks to Ain't it Cool News for sharing this with the world. Click on the image for two more, as well as some higher resolution files, should you want this on your desktop...

I would, but my desktop is dominated by my Sam Bailey woodcut, and will be so for the forseeable future. Nevertheless, it's a cold heart indeed that doesn't warm at the sight of this:

More Wisdom from Bob Fraser!

Tennyson — 2009-03-16T17:22:00Z

Today, Bob Fraser posted a newsletter about taking crazy advice from executives and other "experts" on breaking into the business. While he directed his comments at actors, the basic ideas he's wrestling with apply to anyone in film who's getting an earful from agents, managers, execs, and other folks in the business who DON'T MAKE MOVIES...

Young or old, actors are often confused by what they 'hear'
about the role age plays in having success in their career.

==================================================
THE AGE OLD PROBLEM - AND OTHER 'REASONS' TO GIVE UP
==================================================

Here's a letter I got recently that talks about the issue.
(I've changed the name for this actor's privacy.)

Hi Bob,

I enjoy your articles on entertainment industry issues.

Can you address jobs in the entertainment industry for
people over 40. I've been told by well meaning younger
hiring execs to take off anything from my resume that
shows how old I am.

They said I should only go as far back as 1998. I come
from an East coast world where the experience that comes
with age is sought out and rewarded.

Here I am in Los Angeles virtually unemployable because
I'm almost 50. I am struggling to understand that mindset.

My generation built most of the technology that we see
around us, so it's not like we're in a corner scraping
two rocks together to make a fire.

Take Care,

Jane

* * * * *

Here's my answer ...

Dear Jane,

As you know from reading my stuff, I'm pretty blunt and I
have no ax to grind in terms of being admired or loved by
the industry.

So, I'm going to be blunt with you ...

Here's my advice: Do not ever use the words 'well meaning'
and 'executive' in the same sentence. They are not well
meaning. They are crude, ignorant, hangers-on who don't
have a clue about what it takes to be an actor - nor what
it takes to succeed as an actor.

They are functionaries at best and troglodytes at worst.

The advice you have been given is total hogwash!

We (and I'm talking about producers, directors, writers
and actors) do not give a rat's hiney how old you are. We
are looking for solutions to specific problems. We are
looking for characters to tell our stories.

I'm sure it has not escaped your attention that there are
people (including women) of every age, every nationality,
every look - in practically every production you've ever
seen.

The advice you were given comes from someone who is using
any 'reasonable' excuse to say no (since saying 'no' is
their real job).

And, by the way - the word 'hiring' is another thing you
should never attach to the word executive. Those people
do not hire actors - producers hire actors - and once in
awhile directors.

All those executives can do (and even this is 'iffy') is
say 'no.'

Frankly, I don't know a single producer of any repute who
wouldn't fight to have the actors he or she wants. Believe
me, no executive ever successfully stopped me from using
any actor I wanted to use - no matter how how high up in
the executive ranks they happened to be.

It just doesn't work the way this executive thinks it does.

For instance, I want you to imagine an immigrant who has
a thick accent, an impossible name, who can't act a lick -
coming to Hollywood. He is told, in no uncertain terms -
by every 'well meaning' agent, manager, and film company
executive that he is too foreign, not talented, and pretty
strange looking - and he should just forget ever making
a living as an actor.

Now, imagine his name is Schwarzenegger.

(By the way, the highest paid entertainer in the history
of the business.)

They do not know!

Don't listen to them!

It's like an Olympic runner getting training advice from
a couch potato.

Now here's some advice that WILL help you ...

Define your product!

Get clear about precisely what you are trying to market to
the industry. "I'm an actor with experience and training"
is a generic product. No one buys generic in our business.

I looked at your IMDb thingie - and your FB pictures. I'll
give you my own impression:

Your pictures are far too generic. They show a woman of 50,
who (because she can) dresses younger, wears her hair in a
younger style, and in short looks like an attractive woman
between 40 and 50.

I'm left to guess who this woman really is.

Keep in mind that we (producers) don't buy generic 'actors'
- we buy specific characters.

So, step one - stop promoting a generic actor and start
marketing a specific character 'solution.'

Given your eyes, facial structure and physical shape you
have an enormous potential - but you have to be thinking
clearly about the CHARACTERS you can and should be playing
(and there are a lot of wonderful roles for someone like
you). Success is the result of an actor selling a unique
one-of-a-kind product - so that's where your real work
begins.

Step two: stop focusing your attention on the questionable
'reasons' that you aren't working as much as you'd like.
This is especially true when those 'reasons' come from
someone who has no idea how or why actors succeed.

As I point out in my courses - 'consider the source.'

Start putting more effort in defining what it is you have
to contribute to the making of product - where you fit in
the telling of a story - who are the characters you were
born to play.

Do yourself a big favor - invest in You Must Act! (I feel
okay about this obvious plug for my course, because I
offer a money-back guarantee - but more importantly, I
address the very issues you bring up and offer real
solutions which can change your results dramatically.)

And please, for your own sanity, stop listening to those
people whose jobs have no real connection to the reasons
actors succeed. They are just there to 'guard the door' -
and like most guards, they have little or no information
that is of any use to you in the pursuit of your career.

In fact, if you read the bios of every successful actor on
the planet, you will discover that those 'well meaning'
folks are always off-base. Their record is an unblemished
one of being 100% totally, unrepentantly, irretrievably
... WRONG!

Hope that helps.

Have a great week and, as always ...

Much Success,

Bob

Bob Fraser is one of the most successful actors and showrunners in television, who now directs his creative energies towards helping actors succeed in Hollywood. Check out more of his stuff, at:

http://www.showbizhowto.com
http://www.youmustact.com
http://www.theagentcode.com
http://www.headshotsecrets.com
http://www.hypnoticaudition.com
http://www.anactorworks.com

New Three Hole Pundit!

Tennyson — 2009-03-15T22:13:00Z

Today's Three Hole Pundit is on Soi Dogs by David Fisher, wherein we discuss the virtue of knowing what an actor's job really is.

Check it out at http://www.threeholepundit.com!

The Perfect Sleep Reviewed!

Tennyson — 2009-03-12T20:32:00Z

More than one reviewer is telling us that Jerry's movie scratches that down deep, bone marrow itch:

"Think of it as an ode to film noir, where the lead is supposed to get crushed on a regular basis. Overwhelming odds are part of the job for The Narrator. There’s no redemption for him, no hope of going home. This is a one way ticket to the most beautifully shot version of hell you can imagine."

http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php

"I could waste this paragraph explaining the densely-layered plot threads, the amusingly pulpy tough-guy banter, or Alter's unquestionable gift for throwing shadows and light together, but The Perfect Sleep is a fine little indie concoction that's best left for the viewer to sift through."

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/03/12/review-the-perfect-sleep/

"If Dashiell Hammett met Bruce Lee by way of Dostoevsky the results might be close to what we get in The Perfect Sleep, a contemporary film noir that has enough fighting and killings for five martial arts flicks but wraps itself up in the best tradition of Bogart.""

http://boxoffice.com/reviews/2009/03/the-perfect-sleep.php

You know you want it! Join us Friday at the Sunset 5 in Hollywood!

Click here for tickets.

What do my birthday and The Perfect Sleep have in common?

Tennyson — 2009-03-12T19:08:00Z

We celebrate then both tomorrow!

I'll be at the Sunset 5 for the 7 PM show of the Unified Picture The Perfect Sleep, and afterwards, depending on how many friends show up, we'll either follow the cast and crew to a righeous afterparty or scoot off by ourselves for fine food and drink.

Everyone is invited. I'm very proud of everyone involved in TPS - which for those not in the know is very much a classic samurai film, set in the bullet-ridden "noir-ish dreamscape" created by Jeremy Alter and Anton Pardoe. My favorite part is Dave Vanian's score, which perfectly combines your classic James Bond theme music with the surf music used by Quentin Tarantino.

Is The Perfect Sleep the last word on cool? Come for the answer! Stay for the booze!

Get your tickets here: http://www.laemmle.com/viewmovie.php?mid=4725

And as a historical footnote, my birthday is today. But God invented Thursdays for Kung Fu!

See you tomorrow, cats!

Much love,
T

"Who is Sam Bailey" gets real good, real fast!

Tennyson — 2009-03-12T17:41:00Z

Already, I've got someone sending in material - suggesting that Sam Bailey is SATAN!!! He's SAAAEEEEEEEEETAAN!!!!

How awesome is that? Naturally, my readers waste no time in cutting to the chase. Get your butt over to the site and weigh in on this madness! Just please remember to behave - these people don't know Sam Bailey is a moobie from moobieland, and we mustn't tell them. Anything else goes!

Visit us at http://www.whoissambailey.com

Satan. Fantastic! If you know Aaron, you saw this coming...

Who is Sam Bailey?

Tennyson — 2009-03-10T23:40:00Z

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I said SPOILER ALERT!!!

Ok. Dig this, if you will.

Sam Bailey is about a 600 year old man named Sam Bailey who has tracked the last remaining evidence of his existence, an illuminated manuscript, to Boston. There, a small quirk of fate has him hiring a cabbie named Max DeStefano to help find it. While the mystery surrounding the manuscript drives the film, it ends up being a movie about unlikely friends.

What I've done is this: www.whoissambailey.com

My idea is to get a group of Sam Bailey watchers blogging about the historical evidence that suggests Sam Bailey has been living all this time, about Sam Bailey sightings, and about theories regarding how (and why) he's managed to live this long. My production team and my cast will be blogging, and I hope to involve fans and other industry people as Sam Bailey catches on.

Using a fake woodcut I had done for the site as key art, I'll start putting fliers in industry hotspots and indie movie theaters, driving traffic to the site.

If anyone so much as Googles my name or checks out my Blogger profile, (where I'm keeping the viral site,) they'll be driven here: www.8sidedfilms.com

From there, they can join the Sam Bailey mailing list, sign a petition to help us open the film, and become Sam Bailey watchers themselves.

My plan is to give exclusive interviews with the cast and crew, opportunities to review the screenplay, and other viral perks to the people who send the best posts for the "Who is Sam Bailey" site. Those who wind up getting these kinds of guerrilla journalism opportunities can do whatever they want with their work, so long as they don't reprint copyrighted material, like the screenplay. We'd rather people not spoil the ending of the movie, of course.

Right now, the site is brand new - I've only got one post. More posts are coming soon. For now, I'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback!

Thanks, everyone!

New Review on Three Hole Pundit

Tennyson — 2009-03-09T01:29:00Z

This morning, I read and reviewed Perception, by Wade Wofford of my own Northampton, Massachusetts!

Check it out, and discover why the same things that make a script critic-proof will also probably make it impossible for studios to produce.

3rd Draft of Heartsgaard

Tennyson — 2009-03-09T01:17:00Z

Writing comedy is so tricky. In Heartsgaard, I'm seeing a phenomenon similar to what I saw in Digit. As I work through the script, the need to cover plot points overrides the comedy.

At this point, the structure of Heartsgaard is loose enough to be funny, and Conrad still arrives somewhere in the end. What I'm finding is that the more I stress about making the arcs deliberate and goal-oriented, the less funny the movie gets.

By the end of this draft, Conrad had learned that life has a funny way of taking us in new directions. Sometimes, we mistake the steps we want to take to get somewhere for the destination itself. In the end, walking up the stairs is something we just do. Having a plan for that isn't necessary. Or helpful. Or funny after thirty pages.

If life has a funny way of doing anything, I should probably be taking notes, right? This is a comedy!

On to Sam Bailey! After I get my Sam Bailey voodoo on and rework that script, I may dive back into The Judgment of Elizabeth Sawyer. Thanks to the radical Christie Insley for inspiration.

And of course, a big thank you to my partner Gerard for bringing Heartsgaard into the light of day from the recesses of the "I don't know what to do with this damn script" file.

Love to all,
T

Zach Snyder's Ten Golden Rules

Tennyson — 2009-03-04T16:42:00Z

Zach Snyder, director of 300 and Watchmen, posted his ten inviolate rules of filmmaking in Moviemaker Magazine today. Methinks it a good, quick read: http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/zack_snyder_golden_rules_watchmen_300_20090127/

Note on my Relationship with Actors

Tennyson — 2009-03-04T07:25:00Z

When I was in the seventh grade, my mother took my sister to the mall to pick out my birthday present from her. For reasons that remain more or less a mystery, she settled on a football, passed it to my sister, and told her “teach your brother how to have fun.”

Both my sister and I found the gift preposterous. For a few years I dutifully kept track of the football, until it eventually deflated into the recesses of my memory.

For the last few months, I’ve been taking a martial arts class under Sifu Marcus Lovemore, and today my development as a martial artist, and ultimately as a person, came to an impasse. I have to learn how to play. From now on, I need to make my life fun. Sifu seems to think this is an easy task – he used Nintendo as an example. We don’t stress out over Nintendo, right? It’s just something we do.

Little does Sifu know that I quit Super Mario Bros. because I was always doing it wrong. Nintendo caused me so much anxiety that playing it for longer than ten minutes made me sick. On my twelfth birthday my Mom observed that play was missing from my daily regimen, but none of us took the problem too seriously. After all, one doesn’t play around with success, right? For the most part, we were in agreement: fun is overrated.

What I’m learning in my class is that when you’re worked up about doing something right, the second-guessing detracts from the focus. Playing is more efficient than work.

None of this background is terribly useful to consider, it’s just something I have to do. All the same, it got me thinking about making movies. Don’t I create a space for play in my screenplays? Isn’t there play on my sets?

Funny enough, there is – but maybe not for me. I think I live vicariously through my actors. I think my love of actors is a bit co-dependent. I think they play for me. I’m like the host who never gets a chance to eat.

Suddenly I find myself up against that age-old dilemma. Will healing make me a crappy artist? Is my hunger for playtime what drives me to make good art, or will learning to play give me a deeper level of creative power?

Smart money is on the latter. To my actors and fellow filmmakers, I apologize for not being as present as I might have been in the past. I can do better.

Or, wait… Hang on a second…

Three Hole Pundit

Tennyson — 2009-02-27T23:14:00Z

So, the other day I got a bug up my ass.

We'll see what comes of it: www.threeholepundit.com.

In the past, I've wished that someone was out there reviewing undiscovered screenplays. When I see film bloggers getting their hands on scripts from folks like Quentin Tarantino and George Lucas, I dream wistfully about what that kind of exposure would do to my own career as a screenwriter. Imagine having someone write about a script of mine, without the pressure of the studio system or the expectations of execs and agents who don't really understand film. Imagine that reader being someone who knows the industry, knows how films are made, and knows what actors and directors need.

If someone was out there reviewing screenplays I hadn't read, would I read? What if that person was a damn good writer, and had a deep, well-honed insight into issues like story and character? What if they knew the industry backwards and forewards, not just in terms of what it takes to appease development executives, but in terms of what it actually takes to produce or release a successful film?

What if there was a voice out there that represented the place where creativity and money intersect? Would that be worth reading?

And what if he used new screenplays as a window through which to see the industry, and as a tool to raise important issues?

I'd read that column every day, and I'd love to see my writing reviewed in that light.

Maybe there are other people in the industry who feel the same way.

This weekend, I'll be reviewing my first script. The website is www.threeholepundit.com, and hopefully it will give me the opportunity to entertain and challenge people new to the industry, as well as the people I admire and look up to in film.

I won't be commenting on my own career in this blog - this is exclusively for script reviews on unoptioned, unproduced material, mostly from unknown writers - so you can expect business as usual at the 8 Sided Blog. If you're interested in submitting a screenplay, there's information on the site.

I hope you guys enjoy the read!