Malachi Rempen: Jack of Trades

Monday, February 21, 2011

Of Features and Web Comics

Ten (10) days after landing in Lyon, France, I have conceived of, outlined, plotted, written, deconstructed, re-outlined, rebuilt, and re-written a feature film script. It's on draft 2 and going out for external review (aka, my friends will tell me what sucks). After that and a third draft, it'll be out to ex-professors and other more practiced eyes.

This wouldn't be notable (I've got a shelf of failed first runs at feature scripts) except for a few things. First, I'm excited about it from beginning to end. Most script ideas rely on a single spark of inspiration which guides you through the tedious (to me) process of writing a 90+ page screenplay. With this one, I want to dive right in to doing more and more drafts as often as possible. It's almost obsession - and I think that's a good thing. I haven't felt the same tug since La Nina del Desierto.

Second, it's designed to be made on a shoestring if necessary. All the parts were written specifically thinking about actors I know that I've already worked with before. Most of the locations are places I already have access to or feel confident stealing (shooting at without a permit). Assuming all the ducks lined up, I could get this baby started in less than a month, if that's what it came down to.

And that leads directly to the third reason why it's notable, which is that because I potentially have nothing to risk, I've written it for no one else except myself. I never allowed the external world to sit on my shoulder and say, "does this have enough drama? Is it funny enough? Is it interesting enough?" If something wasn't funny or interesting to me, it was taken out of the script early on. As such, it's a pretty niche film, but god damn if it won't be fun to make.

In other news, I'm still updating my weekly web comic about living in Lyon, Le Spleen en France. It's silly.


Finally, I'm working on redesigning my website. While I like the current style, I feel that it doesn't properly organize my work in an accessible way. It also fails to showcase other things I do, such as cartoons and web design, which are worth putting up (gotta make money somehow).

I've come up with this, and I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Now to actually make it functional...