One Screenplay finished

Writing a screenplay is harder work than people give it credit. I just recently finished my first screenplay, and it took a total of 3-4 months (not sure if it was three or four... lost track of the days).

I plan on writing another screenplay, and hopefully quickening the pace so that I can write in a more fastpaced environment (and that way I can also work at the same time... so that my average schmuck job doesn't slow down my writing).

I still haven't successfully written an entire novel, though I had two in the making... ideas that roughly got abandoned for their immaturity and whatnot.

But I am very exceedingly happy and satisfied after the completion of my first screenplay. I am banging out ways of describing it for a pitch to some companies, and plan on sending it to the eerie film festival, hopefully with some interesting results.

This is also why I plan on writing a second screenplay... or at least having one mostly written. That way, if I win the contest, and schmooze with the biggies of the horror industry, and they ask, "say, I really liked your script, do you have any others?" I can be like... "fo shizzle ma dizzle!"

Okay, so I won't use that language, but you get the point.

At any rate, I am off to work my superpowers of writing...

Shaggy-out

Dark Red Handprint

Having just finished reading The Ring (Manga), I feel pleased to be a part of the horror society (not an actual club, I am referring to the fact that I write horror).

You see, as H. P. Lovecraft put it, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear" (Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1). And indeed, horror is still alive and in dire need of a creative influence. Although a handful of movies as of late, such as 28 Days Later, The Grudge, and The Ring, have managed to portray this subtle emotion in a relatively creative light, there still remains a deep fear in each of us that remains untapped.

Each of us enjoy the concept of fear... so long as it can be a catharsis as opposed to a real experience. No one enjoys true fear, the fear of being robbed or raped, for instance, but channelled correctly, it can be a life-affirming rush. This is why the horror movie industry has never really died, although it has suffered some slumps.

We are living in, roughly, one of those slumps. Either through an extended violence in the world, as we see it in the media, or through a general trepidation, the horror industry has churned out some less-than-stellar pics in the past decade. Such delights as Jason X, Faust, or even, if you classify it due to its gore, which could categorize it as splatterpunk, the recent dog-doo, Sin City, the industry is in a slump. People either no longer wish to be scared, or they want to be entertained with "prettiness" more than they truly wish to be scared (hence, the highly-stylized but uber-shallow Sin City).

Let's face it, if you have a choice between camp-fire tales, filled with Dickensian wit and pacing, or a movie whose main selling point is Jessica Alba as a stripper, it doesn't take a genius to realize the smart people go for the camp-fire tales, but the masses will suck up the strippers.

It's a proven fact, guys... if the majority had their way, I'd be out of a job, the world would be boring as hell, but there'd be lots of strippers and booze!

And people wonder why I border on misanthropic somedays...

At any rate, I intend to change this. Not all of a sudden, not in one shot... but subtly... so you don't notice me coming. So you are sure that you locked your door, even though I have proof that you didn't. So you are positive that you escaped me... but I watch you... and I know what scares you, and I will only get more knowledgeable.

I will have my day to usurp Tittie-bars and computer generated cop-cars (why would you computer generate what can be actually put on set??? Especially in a stunt that would cost less with the real car, as well as be more realistic and effective??? Sin City, ANSWER FOR YOURSELF!!) as the main selling point of movies... hell, even my favourites (28 Days Later, The Ring, The Grudge, The Alien series when they have a half-decent production value, and the ol' classic, The Exorcist) will have to bow down before me, and worship the fear that I will create...

But you will be entertained, so it won't be too harsh. Some movies that I also enjoy suffer from a lack of release (Saw was a notable sufferer of this)... that is, one must not be on edge for too long. Although this can often place a movie on the "classics of arthouse" film list, making the movie a cult-classic, the best effect always needs a release... comic release, action release, what have you. Another sufferer of this was Donny Darko, a wonderful movie that was just too heavy and serious a film to be sufficiently entertaining.

I am not saying that I dislike those movies... but they detract from the brilliancy that they could have attained by being more subtle. We remember films with a good mix, like Patch Adams, or Jakob The Liar. These are films we would not mind watching again and again... and horror suffers from a lack of this.

Evil Dead and its sequel had moments of intense humor to balance the moments of intense gore (I will not say horror as that would presume that the movies actually succeeded in being scary... which, for all my love of them, they did not).

Hopefully, with movies coming out like Undead, or possibly High Tension, I might get a little bit of competition for making you squirm and jump. You know I get a sick sense of satisfaction when I see you scream and jump... that fear on your face looks so darn cute...

... and I know you hate it when I smile that way I do when I frighten you... you never said it, but I know it makes you that little bit more scared...

Hehe... see, I'm already in character, now all you have to do is prepare for my movies!!!

Broke and tired student wanting to write films... Any interested offers, email shaggy673@hotmail.com

*sigh* well I just spent the entire day trying to find a job that is at least somewhat in my station. Nearest I can get is a photocopier. I am probably going to get a job at Tim Horton's... don't get me wrong, there are worse things...

But how does a Bibliophile with an Undergrad settle for sloshing out coffee???!!!

*sigh* However, you know what? I give this a chance to flip the proverbial bird at academia. I'm not bitter... but I am tired of academia within my discipline, because I am tired of critiquing other people's work without putting myself out there. So I'm going to do it. And you know what?

I'm going to become rich with just an undergrad.

Screw you, Dal. You don't want me, I'll get by. By myself!

...

Unless you want to accept me into your film study program...