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Inside-Out, Outside-In

~ Every journey worth taking…starts on the inside.

Inside-Out, Outside-In

Tag Archives: Screenwriting

Version 2.0: The Second Screenplay Reading

06 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Development, The Script

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Ann Russo, bossa nova, Charles Hoyes, friends, gaydar, how to do a screenplay reading, hunter lee hughes, jason fracaro, Jeord Meagher, Luke Massy, making movies with friends, revising your script, rewriting, rex lee, screenplay reading, Screenwriting, story analysts, Tracey Verhoeven, Whitney Anderson

An intimate, elegant screening room fittingly served as the locale for our second reading of “Inside-Out, Outside-In”, unconsciously expressing the ethos and hopes of the project. At first scheduled for the more grand space on the 5th floor, I decided to relocate our reading downstairs so my WeWork colleague Kristin Nedopak could more easily access the 5th floor screening room to celebrate the release of her webseries, “Skyrim Parodies.” At first obstinate over a change requiring more emails and a slightly smaller room, I relented. After all, the number four is the number of spiritual wholeness and maybe a bit of good luck might follow a bit of a good deed. Turns out, the fifteen actors and three invited guests fit perfectly into an imperfect circle of chairs of differing sizes, styles and fabrics.

Like all readings, despite my best efforts, we started late. Still, as director, I felt is was my responsibility to properly frame the evening and send us in the right direction. So I somewhat awkwardly told our group that the script was intensely personal to me, hoping that such a revelation would increase the chances that they would also bring an intensely personal approach to the night. Building on that notion, I asked the actors to let go any sense of a “professional veneer.” Lately, I find the acting in studio films so boring because a sense of the actors’ professionalism prevents me from relating to them no_egoas human beings.  They almost know the beats too well – it’s like watching an emotionally resonant cuckoo clock. Even at an early stage, I didn’t want to see that happen to my actors. So I suggested they see the reading as a “practice round” and encouraged them to just be a human being in a situation, not a professional actor at a reading.

Just before we dove in, television’s Rex Lee once again blurted out a quote of the night, “Is that buzzing, like, going to go on for infinity?” Apparently, a smoke alarm needed more acknowledgement than a roomful of actors and went off with annoying regularly throughout the reading. But something amazing about a good story and good acting – once we got past page 10, I didn’t hear the buzzing anymore and not because of a decrease of its decibel level.

I’d made a number of changes in the cast of the reading – about half the people were new. Sometimes, it was a result of a desire to try a new angle with the character, sometimes a scheduling conflict forced a change. Also, my friend Zsa Zsa Gershick, an accomplished playwright and director, previously implored me to see different people in many of the parts before settling on someone, as part of the process of understanding the character as deeply as possible. Indeed, the fragility of casting and character development pervades my thinking at the moment – add a few years to this character’s age and another character needs to be younger. If we go with a more quirky sensibility for one character, it requires a different character to step up as an authority, changing the requirements for the actor playing him.

An interesting addition to the evening was Jerod Meagher, an unrepresented actor just starting out at Ivana Chubbuck’s studio, where so many of us have trained. He stopped by the office a few days before the reading in hyper-ripped jeans to get some direction on the Jerod Meagher, actorcharacter. I immediately liked that he took notes with a pen and crudely folded piece of paper rather than an iPhone or some other secondary device. It’s a good thing if notes are fragile enough to be lost. He apparently made a good impression on at least four female attendees whose comments after the reading ranged from, “He’s got something” to “He’s sincere” to perhaps the most powerful – “I don’t know, I just like Jerod.” The ever-quirky and entertaining Tracey Verhoeven went a step further and said, “He’s just like a little angel. I mean, not like one of those fat cherub angels but like a good-looking one.” Also new this time were talented veterans Whitney Anderson, Luke Massy, Ethan Rains whitney aand Charles Hoyes. Whitney, who recently forwarded my acting reel to a director for a mind-bending fright flick for the role of a juicy psycho guy, is one of the most helpful people to know in terms of making recommendations. She’s savvy about seeing when colleagues might be a good fit and has no problem connecting them, a refreshing attitude in this town.

Afterwards, the approval of the adjustments I made to the script were heartening and the discussion turned more to “which way to go” with certain characters and practical concerns for the shooting rather than folks suggesting major overhauls. I even got one, “It was fuckin’ awesome” from a guest. That felt good. I am still worried about the climactic scene being too talk-y and Ann Russo echoed that concern. But we both felt the visual element of the choreography in that section might compensate for a dialogue-heavy stretch. Ms. Russo easily could’ve been a colleague of mine as a story analyst. She consistently airs notes that my foggy unconscious hasn’t yet articulated, so I was especially grateful for her feedback throughout the night on characters, plot and pre-production. There’s always a chance people are holding back their doubts out of respect or fear, but I now feel confident enough with the script to go ahead and create a shooting script to schedule the film and start getting more detailed with the budget.

Speaking of budget, the one startling bit of feedback came from high fashion designer Sphetim Zero, who passionately declared that he would need $50,000 to properly costume the feature. I appreciated his ambition, but warned him that was impossible with our current budget constraints. He encouraged me to open myself up to receiving more from the Universe. I agreed to be more vigilant about hoping for the best, but warned him to think of a back-up plan. We both agreed that he would help me clothe people from their closets for the industry read in February and take it from there.

Once again, a core group ended up at Bossa Nova for late night steak. This time, Dumbass Filmmakers! producer Jason Fracaro joined myself and aspiring social media guru Richard Scharfenberg (more on this effort in a future post). Jason, back from a 10-week basic training for the Army and his inclusion in the National Guard, has a reputation as one of the best guys to know (and one of the worst gaydars – ask me privately) and he gamely filled our quota for at least one “straight guy” at the dinner. Rex arrived late and this time, we were able to order his “ribeye steak cooked ‘medium rare plus’ with plantains, extra pico de gallo, extra salsa” before he arrived. But, just like last time, he paid for all of us with the quick move of a credit card and a declaration that, “I don’t believe in splitting checks.” He’s one of those guys that picks up the check when it’s kinda expensive or a big group and lets you return the favor at a hamburger joint. Ah, friends.

Correction: Ah, friends…and filmmaking.

Cast of the 2nd reading of “Inside-Out, Outside-In” (in alphabetical order): Whitney Anderson, Camille Carida, Marilyn Chase, Jason Fracaro, James Lee Hernandez, Charles Hoyes, Hunter Lee Hughes, Marcus Kaye, Rex Lee, Luke Massy, Jerod Meagher, Ashley Osler, Ethan Rains, Ann Russo, Tracey Verhoeven. Invited guests included Mr. Richard Scharfenberg, Mr. Jay Walters and Mr. Sphetim Zero.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker and actor living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Interpreting Dreams – an artist’s shortcut to the unconscious

25 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Development, The Script

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blue horses, creative writing, developing characters through dreams, how to interpret dreams, interpreating dreams to help with your creativity, interpreting dreams, jungian approach to dreams, revising your screenplay, river of fire, robert a johnson, Screenwriting, symbolism

Few books have changed my life as much as Robert A. Johnson’s Inner Work. In it, Johnson describes a systematic approach to understand the unconscious forces bubbling in our psyches and a way to access them. For an artist, nothing is more important. As I revise the script, I’m seeking to understand the main characters more deeply and since all the characters are a reflection of my own psyche, the key to that process is understanding and communicating with elements of my unconscious that currently remain unseen to my waking self.

Johnson’s system is relatively simple, but profound when applied rightly. First, write down your dream in great detail. Then, identify all the different important symbols of that dream and circle or underline them. Then, create a sort of mindmap for each individual symbol with all the associations that come to mind with regards to that symbol. Next, using your intuition, feel out which interpretation of each individual symbol “feels right” to you, and using those interpretations, write out an analysis of the dream. At the end of the process, you should be startled, shocked or taken aback because the dream should be bringing you information about yourself that you DO NOT ALREADY KNOW. And remember, that when you see yourself in the dream, your own image represents your EGO while the other symbols and people in your dream represent aspects of your psyche that your ego doesn’t want to see.

So, here is a dream I had back in 2006 that was profound for me and important to analyze.

In the dream, I was the adolescent eldest brother in a rural village from long ago. The land was suffering because of a cruel curse. The ravines, which once held rivers that nourished our town and many others, had been replaced by rivers of fire that never burned out. There was a legend that told of a prescription for the current suffering of the people. If a blue horse were to willingly sacrifice itself and walk into the ravine of fires, they would transform once more into flourishing rivers and the townspeople could resume a normal life. However, the people had become so desperate, anxious and terrified of the rivers of fire that they begin to use blue spray paint to coat normal horses, which are then torturously dragged into the rivers of fire, neighing and screaming as they die. Having seen one too many horses die unnaturally, I realize that I am the only one who can find the real blue horse. I say goodbye to my worried family and set out to find it.

In Johnson’s system, I have already performed steps one and two. Step one came with my detailed writing of the dream. Step two came with the bolding of the key symbols and characters in the dream. Step three would involve me listing each of these symbols on a separate piece of paper and brainstorming as to what I associate with each of the bolded symbols. Then, I would “feel out” which association seems correct to this dream and pull together an interpretation. At the end, I should have valuable insight into a new direction for my life or learn something about myself that I didn’t know. If the dream only feels like a confirmation of a value I’m already holding, then I haven’t gone deep enough.

Obviously, this process takes hours for a dream that seemingly touched the psyche for but a moment. But insights from dreams are gold to every artist. Everything we write is some clumsy attempt to synthesize the psyche and create a wholeness out of it. So the deeper we go with our dreams, the deeper and more interesting our screenplay characters.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker and actor living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Breaking through the Rewrite Resistance

04 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by hunterlh in The Script

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how to rewrite your indie film, rewriting, screenwriter, Screenwriting

The mundane details of life sometimes conspire against your creative process. And, if you’re anything like me, sometimes you conspire with them. These last few months I’ve felt awash in little stuff that’s mildly creative but mostly TCB, as the great Aretha Franklin might say. I’ve relaunched our Fatelink site, long due for an upgrade. I’ve attended Social Media Week, Los Angeles, to attempt to understand how to connect with my fellow indie filmmaker brethren. I’ve written and distributed loads of press releases to support Dumbass Filmmakers! and submitted our show for consideration by the IAWTV. I’ve submitted my taxes to my accountant and written my quarterly report for the LLC. But, until now, I haven’t made much progress on the rewrite of this script.

Today, I cracked open my new Mac Book Pro and started reading the script. And quickly, that developed into eliminating a lot of dialogue. A lot. Which is what always happens with a feature rewrite. And I’m pleased to report that I’m happy with the structure of the script and more dialogue will be coming out tomorrow. Stay tuned…..

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker and actor living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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