John Q. Phats Entertainment

A lot of people have asked me what’s going on with Red Hood.  Well, I got to page 72 about three days ago, but got there via a shitty scene that I’m more then likely going to delete.  This was very frustrating and still is.  So, rather then correcting the problem I’ve been avoiding the script all together, because I’m regretting having to highlight three and a half pages and hitting the delete key.  It just sucks to leave a script on a bad note.  I should have just not slept that night and rewrote it right then and there.  Rather then just leaving it because I was pissed that I wrote a terrible scene.  I’m curious to know how other writers deal with writing something they aren’t happy with.  They probably have a much better process then me.  Any other writers out there have any tips or advice of what to do when you write a scene or anything that you really aren’t happy with?  Comment below. 

Me and Caine have split up the workflow rather nicely.  I have an extremely specific vision in mind.  Here’s the problem though, I’ve really only envisioned the cool shit.  The kill scenes, the action sequences, the dark monologues, and the ending.  Everything in between?  Total blank.  No clue what is going on or even what I’m doing.  So, I stumble through some of the build up and set up.  Caine on the other hand seems to have a crystal clear vision of all the gaps in my story.  I’m not sure how, but he just seems to get it.  He’s written the stuff that makes me stare at my monitor with a “not so bright” look on my face for twenty minutes at a time.  I think that’s working out quite nicely. 

You could say that writing this is part of getting over the discomfort of the task at hand.  I’ll go home tonight, delete the scene and move on.  Mainly because I’ve now looked at the positive and it really doesn’t seem that bad. 

Other then this minor setback, it’s going fairly well.  I’m not thrilled with every scene, but it just a first draft.  My goal for the month is to have the first draft completed.  I think I can pull this off.    

Photograph taken and edited by awesome Alyssa Tucker.

I went on a bit of a writing binge last night.  For some reason a script I had an idea for has been popping in to my head a lot.  So, I sat down and started writing it last night.  The whole entire thing has sort of a smart ass tone to it.  I meant for it to be a series, but it’s kind of shaping up in to a movie.  It’s called Dead Girl and it’s kind of fun to write because I haven’t planned anything.  I just sort of sit down and write what ever comes to mind.  I’m not putting any pressure on myself to make it spectacular.  I’m just writing it.  It would be nice to have a full on movie script.  If I were a script writer, I would submit scripts to festivals like crazy.  Printing a script out costs you maybe a dollar.  In fact, I think a lot of festivals will accept an E-Mailed PDF.  Which is no shipping cost, no printing cost, and more importantly no production cost.  Plus, I can’t think of a better way to get a script out there.  If I finish Dead Girl, I’ll send it out to every script writing competition I can find.  Why not, right?
Censored was rejected from the Gangrene Film Festival yesterday.  This is only it’s 2nd rejection and it really only brought me down for roughly 20 seconds.  Mainly because there are about a million festivals out there and if I really wanted to, I could probably get in to another 4 by next month.  However, my focus is on Do Nice Guys Finish Last right now, which honestly, will probably have a much higher rejection rate then Censored.  So, it’s probably a good thing to be developing this tough skin at this stage.  The first rejection letter I got, really got to me.  I was upset about it for like a week.  This time it was 20 seconds.  Maybe next time, I won’t feel a thing.  It’s not that I don’t think Do Nice Guys Finish Last is going to be great when it’s done, it’s just that it’s sort of fighting an uphill battle.  It’s 15 minutes long and very offensive.  That’s pretty long for a short film and I’m guessing that film festivals want to appeal to a wider audience, so they kind of attempt to stay in the PG-13 area.  It doesn’t really matter to me though.  We made the film that we set out to make.  Worst case scenario?  I have a short film that I’m proud of to post on my web site.  Plus, I still have the SoCal Film Festival to look forward to.
By the way, Gabe just threw (literally) me edit six of Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  I think this might be our final cut.  We’ll see.  I’ll have to check it out tonight.  I really want it to be our final cut.  The last edit had very minor changes in it.  So, I’m pretty sure it’s almost there.