Movie ideas
May/100
I’ve made no secret that I wanted to be a screenwriter before. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do as long as I can remember and I have a lot of ideas. The problem with my ideas though is that they are all movies I would want to see. Most of the movies that I end up loving are ones that don’t make millions and millions of dollars. I have been trying to change my thought process of late to think of the kind of movies that Hollywood actually buys and makes into movies and the kind of movies that become hits. This is actually a really difficult exercise.
I came up with one idea, called “When We’re 30 (or 40)” (or “The Marriage Pact”). It’s about a guy and a girl who are best friends in high school or college and after one breaks up with their girlfriend/boyfriend the two of them make a pact that if they don’t find anyone by a certain age that they will get married. Well, what if when they got to be that age one of them actually tried to take the other up on it. What would happen then? My thought process was that this is a familiar idea among people. I think it was on Friends and I know I have seen it somewhere else before too. Also, romantic comedies are cheap and one seemingly comes out every single week for the entire year. Some are good, most are bad, but almost all of them turn a profit. It speaks to the entire point of movie theaters in the first place, so people have a place to take their dates. Now, the problem with this idea is that I would never want to write this movie because I would never want to see this movie and even if I did write it I would be viewed as a bad writer because this movie probably wouldn’t be that good. It would most definitely star Kate Hudson and she is incapable of making a good movie. Still, I think I am on the right track with thinking about the kind of movies that are actually made in Hollywood.
What I am trying to do now is think of something more “high-concept”. A BIG idea, if you will. When I think high-concept I think about Brian K Vaughn selling a spec script for a million dollars after a bidding war. It was an incredible idea that went something like this:
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Jan/100
I watched my very first Curb Your Enthusiasm on 12/25/09, Christmas Day. I watched the last aired episodes, #70, on 1/21/09. To anyone that knows me, this probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but honestly even for me this was a breakneck pace that I watched these episodes. 70 episodes in 28 days is intense. Especially for a comedy where it’s easy to get “laughed out”.
Curb Your Enthusiasm is a different animal though. It’s one of, if not the, greatest comedies of all time. Of course it’s really funny, but what struck me about the show was how intricate the stories were. In Seinfeld there was usually one or two jokes that came back around at the end of the episode to pay you off, but with Curb it’s like there are three or four coming back around per episode. Sometimes there are jokes that come back around in later episodes or even later seasons that really play well. I am a fan of shows rewarding continuity like that and to find that in a comedy is extremely rare. I just love every minute of this show and give it my highest recommendation.
Look at me accomplishing goals, writing professionally
Jul/090
Pretty much since I can remember wanting to do something I wanted to be a writer. Movies, books, magazines, in flight catalogs, anything. It didn’t matter. I just knew that it was something that I could do and something that I thought I would enjoy doing. Well, after years of NOT doing anything to make that a reality I have finally made my first step.
In February of this year I started Miller Park Drunk. It was meant to just be a distraction, something to get me through the days while filling the void in my life to talk/write about baseball. Well, as it got going I started to realize more and more that it was better off as a comedy blog about baseball than any sort of serious baseball blog that featured comedy. As soon as I realized that the blog really took off. Currently, it’s averaging over 300 a day and has had almost 20,000 visitors since it’s debut. Of course, there is no money involved. I do it for the adulation. People don’t make money off the internet. Unless they get an email like this:
I’m the Milwaukee city editor for Decider.com, the local version of The Onion A.V. Club. I’m writing because I’m a fan of your blog and I was wondering if you’d like to write a guest column for our weekly “Talkin’ Baseball” feature devoted to the Brewers.
I’m basically looking for you to bring some of that Miller Park Drunk magic to Decider. I envision the column being a lot like a Miller Park Drunk post, except a little longer and maybe with a few more swear words.
If you’re interested, we can start talking about ideas and deadlines. And, yes, we will pay you for this.
Of course I said yes and today that article is running. I did as I was asked and made it longer with more swear words, then turned it into an editor who didn’t make too many changes. They titled it Miller Park Drunk’s Guide To How Not Be a Brewers Fan (which I’m not sure makes complete sense when read aloud) and I can now call myself a professional writer. Why? Because professional’s get paid. No matter how immature they are. 