Sundance Film Festival 2008 - Park City - NOT!

Filmmaking - Sundance Journal

Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker
Paul Fraser, who has just enough time in the numbing
Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to
snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.


Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sam,

Thousands pack the streets of Park City, Utah, for
the Sundance Film Festival. One of them this year is me,
and I'm happy to be here. It's every independent filmmaker's
dream come true.

I don't know what will happen, but nobody does. There are
lots of great movies, and crazy colorful characters. It's
really the filmmaking business in a teaspoon.

Just meeting people here is a positive step. I'm astonished
how few people have business cards. They just meet and
bounce away, only colliding occasionally in the chaos.

My strategy? I'm finding out where people go, and going there.
Hardest part is parking my car. I drive from Salt Lake City,
and park miles away and ride the shuttle bus.

I expected lots of parking for my car because
of the name, Park City, but no.














What I wasn't expecting - I've been interviewed a couple
of times today, about my filmmaking, and my film,
"The Battles of Tim Eyman."

It's a documentary about a Mukilteo, WA
watch-salesman / citizen-activist, and his battles
to get his tax-cutting agenda onto Washington state
ballots, using the initiative process.

It has Tim Eyman, and Washington State Senator
Ken Jacobsen, and radio talk-show hosts Michael Medved,
B.J. Shea, and Dori Munson. It was a fun film to make.

















I'm surprised I was interviewed. I didn't expect much
interest in Washington state politics. Nobody's ever
heard of any of the people in my film, but they pointed
video cameras at me, so I told them about it.

Documentaries are very big right now, and I hope to
see what others are doing with their filmmaking.
Gotta go, it's freezing, and lots to see.
Write more tomorrow.

Paul

Filmmaking

© 2008 Sam Longoria, All Rights Reserved

Filmmaking - Getting Started Writing

Filmmaking - Scriptwriting

My thanks to Rodney of Marietta GA, who writes me this letter:


Hey Sam, :)

...Yeah, I'm pretty new and want to start actually, in the writing area first. I like to use my imagination, but still haven't written my first screen play. The formatting gives me fear, and procrastination stalls, but my goal for the next couple of years is to move to L.A.

- Rodney

Dear Rodney,

At least you've identified the problem!

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”
– Edward Young (1683-1765)

No excuses. You're smart and young, the problem is thinking you have a lot of time. The fact is, none of us knows how much time we have, only that it's going away every second. Get going!

Screenplay work is the easiest work there is, and among the highest-paying, if you work at it. All you need is a pencil and paper. Let somebody else type it in, or you can, of course.

The good thing is, you work when you want to. The bad thing is, most persons (including writers) don't want to, and they spend a whole lot of time "getting ready."

Moving to LA is nice, but it's even better to have a job ready for you when you get there, or at least something to sell.

That means start writing NOW. You can write from anywhere. When your scripts are done, all it takes to get them to people who buy scripts is some stamps.

Formatting? No problem. Get software. I use Final Draft, but just as good (and FREE) for any computer is celtx.

Download it, install it, and write something. Anything. If you write a word, I guarantee you'll write some more. The only way to learn to write, is to WRITE!

Classes and books are good, (for people selling classes and books), but reading is reading, talking is talking, thinking is thinking, and only "writing" is writing. It's the only thing that makes you a better writer, too.

If you must have a book, spend $10 measley dollars, and buy my friend Viki King's book, "How To Write A Screenplay In 21 Days." It's good, and it really works.

I write from an outline. I jot down scenes and lines I see and hear in my head, and then sort out the order they happen in, later.

I spend the most time getting the story to work, before I write any scenes or dialogue, I put that part off as long as possible.

When I finally start writing what people do and say, it bursts forth in a flood, and I write as fast as I can, until it's done. I don't write any better slowly.

Don't ever re-write until you're done with the whole thing, or you'll never finish. Re-writing is a trap to avoid. So is "getting ready."

Good luck! Write any time, I'm your friend in Hollywood.

Best to you,


Sam Longoria

filmmaking
secret film school

filmmaking

Filmmaking

© 2007 Sam Longoria, All Rights Reserved