I believe that as writers we have on thing above all to honor and learn to trust: our own voice. This is what sets us apart from the animals and the twenty million gazillion other writers out there…our individuality, beliefs and personal freak shows/secret closets sets us apart as unique and wonderful (and freaky). There’s an audience out there for all of us, somewhere.
“Why so philosophical, Deb?” you may be asking. Well, it’s a new year, the dead of winter and the pool’s not heated so what else do I have to do? Also, I have had a series of epiphanies lately that have really given me an education and confidence as a writer, which I would like to share with the dear OSCWA site members and random lurkers, if I may.
One of my fantasy jobs is to become a snarky movie reviewer (BTW, “snarky; snark; to snark” is a British term for snide and cranky). I found that many of the professional critics I currently appreciate fall into that category. Kyle Smith with the NY Post is my homeboy; when he wrote that the primary suspense of “Made of Honor” was if the stars would finally make it the alter before he burnt down the theater, I knew I found the inspiration for my true calling: Queen of Snark. Just let me have a go at Diablo Cody or anything involved with the Twilight ilk and I’m happy as a pig wallowing in mud. I posted film reviews for OSCWA and had a grand time flying my snarky flag. And then, I had an opportunity to review films, DVDs and conduct celebrity interviews for a new online magazine. Woo hoo, more people to expose to my snarky genius, right? I was given very few guidelines outside of word count and caution against revealing plot twists or spoilers, but one rule in particular challenged me to no end: avoid the use of the word “I”.
Wanna-be Snarky reviewer says “Wha?” “I” can’t say what “I” want? Are these people anarchists for something to forbid me from spewing my personal opinion, amusing antidotes and random thoughts? Did they intentionally want me to be mundane and squash my creative voice? How can “I” express myself if “I” can’t put it in first person? How will “I” flex my funny bone?
Guess what, I think I overcame the challenge and became as newly reborn as a Phoenix rising from the snarky ashes. I learned that I didn’t have to lower myself to snide insults, thinly veiled cruelty and inane ramblings to make a review or interview insightful, interesting, humorous and ultimately helpful to those who read it. Another interesting revelation: that’s what movie reviews are ultimately supposed to do, not provide a channel for me to diss the existence of Diablo Cody! (I mean, why the hell does that bit…oops, old habits!)
So it takes a lot longer to write for me these days (a 750 to 1000 word review can take up to three hours to complete and edit, this doesn’t include viewing the film!) and it can be quite excruciating, but I’m grateful I was pushed out of my comfort zone. I experienced personal growth and a sense of improvement. I am daily discovering my true voice as a writer. And in the end, I did not sacrifice any of my humor, which I feel is my ultimate strength as a writer. Growing up is fun-damental!
My resolution for 2010 is this: write with intelligence, irrelevance and wit. Toss in some brevity. With a dollop of snarky, because, you know, if the shoe still fits and all. And maybe one day I will trust myself to use the “I” word again!
(PS: Hey, kids, just for fun, why not play a drinking game and take a swig every time you’ve read any deviation of the word “Snark” from the preceding post? Just don’t drive afterwards, okay? Safe and Sane in 2010!)
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I had the opportunity to interview screenwriter and first time director Josh Goldin (Out on a Limb, Darkman, and Night at the Museum) early this month during a press junket at the Standard Hotel in West Hollywood for his new film Wonderful World which stars his buddy Matthew Broderick. Here’s an important tip for any independent film makers out there looking for financing: befriend an 80’s pop culture icon who’s become a well-rounded and well-respected actor and performer and then write an intriguing, challenging and completely opposite lead character role for him/her. Financing is a snap! Lesson for us all there!
I got to interview Matthew Broderick as well, but I have to admit I was really looking forward to talking with Josh. I saw a screening of Wonderful World a few weeks prior and quite liked it. It’s dark bittersweet comedy about a misanthropic failed children’s singer (Broderick)who is divorced, a terrible weekend father, hates his job as a proof reader and spends a lot of time smoking dope and playing chess with his Senegalese roommate (Michael Kenneth Williams from “The Wire”.) He rails against “The Man” and ironically The Man (Phillip Baker Hall) actually confronts him from time to time when he’s stoned. Oh, listen to this, my old college buddy and fellow theater major comrade Paul T. Taylor plays Doug, the dickhead who lives next door and has Broderick’s car towed away just as he’s trying to get Williams to the hospital after suffering a diabetic shock. (Hey, why didn’t he just call 911? Shut up and watch the movie, Deb.) This chain of events pulls Broderick’s character deeper down his spiral of despair and disgust with the world.
It’s a compelling script and I was drawn to Josh’s technique of using his characters to present various themes in the script. “That’s how movies work. Maybe that’s how life works. Most of the characters have only a tenuous connection to society. They have fringe jobs or have married into security. They are people who, as the Navajo put it, will pass through life like fish passing through water, leaving no trace.”
Josh admits he was his own research for Broderick’s character and pulled from his past life experiences, producing some intriguing characters and plot devices. “I’m a method writer,” Josh joked, but this is a great example of how the old adage of writing what you know really works. Whimsical touches such as flying fish, a dance scene that seemed to be inspired from All That Jazz (in a good way) and “The Man” guarantee that this film will stick with you for awhile. The cast kicks ass. I also appreciated that Josh did not resort to an archetypical happy ending for the main character. I mentioned this to him and he said, “I think it’s stronger for him [Broderick’s character] to make a change based on loss rather than make a change based on being rewarded.”
Wonderful World debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and at the time did not have a distributor. Magnolia Productions picked it up soon after and took a different approach for marketing: the movie was available on Video on Demand about three weeks prior to the theatrical release. Josh says that Magnolia has been wonderful to work with and that the marketing strategy has been very successful. Wonderful World is doing well on VOD, getting exposure in areas where the limited release film will not be available. Also, not a bad ploy to support a small budget film during the recession.
Josh’s first break story sounds very simplistic: He graduated from Columbia College, earning a B.A. in English Literature and went on to earn an M.F.A. at Columbia Film School. He and brother Daniel wrote their first screenplay, Welcome to Buzzsaw, came to Hollywood and talked to anyone they could find who knew an agent and sold the script. After a few years, the script was produced under the title Out on a Limb. He met Matthew on the set, and both gentlemen allude to the fact that it was a godawful experience but being the gentlemen they are will say no more on the matter. They have maintained their friendship for twenty years, which says a lot about both of them. They are happy to have had an opportunity to work together and respect each other as colleagues and friends.
Self-depreciating and witty, Josh is also generally low key about most of his achievements. How did he get in with Sam Raimi to work on Darkman? Oh, he and Dan were in a trailer next to Raimi, who needed someone to do a re-write. So they did it for him. Sam is a cool guy. Could happen to any of us, right? And what compels a screenwriter to take the leap into directing? “I think any writer/director, even the most auteur, if they were asked about the most important part of making a movie, they would all say writing, I’m just sure of it.”
“I wanted to direct before I wanted to write. I’m in love with filmmaking and telling stories through film,” Josh explained. “Screenwriting is one part of it. I always wanted to make films and I always thought of screenwriting as just one part of the process and directing is just one part of the process.” Did he also want to ensure he maintained control over a project as personal to him as Wonderful World? Josh insisted he’s not a control freak, but, “I’ve also been in Hollywood long enough to know that when you give your movie to someone else to make, it’s not just giving your movie to someone else to make, it’s giving your movie to someone else to rewrite and then make. Whatever resemblance then to your project is just going to be painful.”
Josh’s master plan is to continue directing his own scripts, “I want to do movies that I’ve written. I see directing someone else’s script as only partly mine, if that, just adding some interpretation. The reason for doing anything creative is to express yourself and to me, it’s not exciting.” Also, the independent route to film making suits him just fine. “I’m for wrestling the control away from the executives and corporate decisions because I think there’s just a formulaic quality that movies have gone into …I won’t name any names, but you look at the poster and you know the whole movie. “
He has begun work on his next project, Look at Me, a dysfunctional love story between a young comic who hasn’t made it yet and a waitress. Another character based loosely on himself? “It’s funny because the character in Look at Me and the character in Wonderful World could not be more different. But I do think that they are sort of aspects of my personality. I do have a personality that at times will just go to the joke and this guy is an extreme part of that. I do think I take little parts of me and I just sort of magnify them…turn them into a pathology.”
Josh is satisfied with the final results of Wonderful World, “It did what I like to see in movies, which it created a world that you feel like you’re in that’s different and separate from the usual one.”
(By the way, my friend Paul T. Taylor is not really a dickhead; he just played one in the movies.)
