» Fringe Blog – Writing on Film, Culture, and Things on the Fringe

A Reading Recommendation

jelewis8 — Wed, 30 May 2007 04:37:13 +0000

How cool is this? Karl Edwards, a stranger to me up to a few weeks ago, recently walked by my table at Starbucks one early morning whilst I was drinking coffee and attempting to wrangle my way through a few finishing scenes in my latest feature script. I noticed he was carrying a book by a Christian author I recognized, and so I “hailed, well met” Mr. Edwards, and we sat together and chatted for a half a sixty spot about everything from business to writing to sleep deprivation. It was amiable and resulted in an exchange of business cards, as well as some information on my part on how to go about purchasing and reading my social science fiction novel, The Cold Goodbye.
Lo and behold, Mr. Edwards actually bought the book and even more delightful, began reading it. He recently sent me an email informing me he had recommended The Cold Goodbye on his website and e-newsletter. It was more kind and generous than I could have asked for or expected, but the ego boost was pretty darn spectacular. He wrote:

I’m locked into this gripping futuristic piece by a gentleman I met at Starbucks recently. He weaves multiple story lines from around the world together into a clever conjunction of entertaining intrigue and societal commentary. He lures you along one credible path only to surprise with a twist on reality and perceptions. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I am.

Along with a link to purchase the novel, that’s going to keep me sailing for days and weeks. Thanks, Mr. Edwards!

A True Maxim

jelewis8 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:22:14 +0000

Target one has been destroyed. My Irish beauty, the script I spent three years on has undergone its first major overhaul, and it’s now complete. Finito. Until the next draft. I won’t have a chance to look at it again until sometime into April. Because it’s on to the next project!
Which is actually three. I enumerated them in an earlier post, so I won’t go into them all. I will say I met with the producer who is interested in the feature script I’m working on. I went over the full treatment, after which he breathed deeply, and said he thought it was really solid. I promised him the script in a month and a half.
Boy, am I brazen…
So the short film project. Came about as I was contemplating the fact that I haven’t directed anything in forever, and that Progeny was quickly approaching. Progeny is my film festival of choice; apparently I’m unable to not get accepted to it, which boosts the ego a fair bit. The other side is that I’m 4 for 4 on winning awards, so statistically, I have the minerals to keep plopping out cinematic turds, putting a fancy title sequence on them, and calling them “films.”
Then again, that’s what Hollywood’s all about, right?
I’d had a short film idea a while back that I had started writing and quickly abandoned because its hook was lame and contrived. After discussing the possibility of doing a short film with the roommate Tim, I remembered my uber-lame 5-pager and retrieved it from the lost-and-found, opened it up, and recalled why it was so lame.
The only thing that’s survived are two names. But in a quick sit-down brainstorm session with Tim, we managed to churn out a story so twisted and perverse it makes Seven look like a French Impressionistic painting of a flower-covered pond, filmed to the sounds of Claude Debussy with a soft-light filter, and a shot of horse tranquilizer administered to your face, for good measure. I’m actually still writing it, but will be done by tonight. Casting has begun for two actresses, one lead and one supporting, and Tim and I will be holding auditions on Saturday.
We move fast when we have to, even when we’re not wearing pants. We will, however, be wearing pants on Saturday…
When we sent out the casting notice, I never suspected we’d be getting actual females. I mean, I knew we’d be getting females, but in what might be a twist of horrible irony, the casting call was exclusively for females, most of whom submitted headshots and/or body shots, which came through in stunning clarity. The realization that if I were a pervert, this would be a top-notch way to pick up girls, was somewhat alarming. Once I got over the initial surreality of it, the I put things into professional fun gear. This is starting out like a real production, with a small crew, a lighting kit, and real actors. I suppose I might be foolish for diving into directing a short film when there’s no money in it and no real hope of attracting attentions wtih it (even if it’s good), and no compensation for time spent on it–it’s sort of a lame duck when you look at it like that.
But it’s good experience, both for me as a producer and director (and writer) but also as a movie fanatic–I think I’ve become jaded about movies in general, having not seen very many good ones last year, and this experience might help instill some of that old love, not because it’s mine, but because it reflects a maxim of Hollywood that’s been in effect for as long as movies have existed: No one in Hollywood watches movies.
It’s because they’re too busy making them.

Stuff and Nonsense

jelewis8 — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:49:37 +0000

Light posting this week, though I hope to have a review of M. Night’s Lady In the Water tomorrow, and of course a Fringecast on Wednesday. It’s one of those weeks that has the arms of a Kraken, each one capable of ripping you to shreds if you get in its way. I’ll be finishing up a feature script this week, which I’ve been concentrating since mid last week. Once it’s done, I’ll shelve it for a while and get back to the book, the rest of which will be consumed in an apocryphal thundering of word play and verbal gunslingery; that or you will here a single *plunk* as the quinine intravenous does me in and I kick the vomit bucket that’s sitting at the end of my hospital bed.
Hope you can excuse the general slackness around Fringe of late, but we do have some exciting new things on the way, in regards to a bit of overhauling and adding of a new site dedicated to Fringecast related stuff. It won’t be just Fringecast per se, but will feature extra nifty items that’ll make your pants spin. Eventually, we’ll give the entire site a facelift.
In addition, Piper and I are slowly slouching toward starting up a new site, which we’ve decided to gracefully title The Cultural Imperialist. We’ll be the Francis Fukuyama and David Brooks of cultural nonsensical issues and snarky point-counterpoint arguments over issues both high and low. More on that as it evolves.
See you tomorrow with the world’s funniest review of the world’s most expository film ever.

Blogging In the Time of Cholera

jelewis8 — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 17:26:29 +0000

Please excuse the lack of original posting of late. In my spare time I’ve been pumping out a feature script which I started Sunday afternoon and which I am hoping to finish by Thursday evening. That’s 90-120 pages in five days, which for me is unprecedented. It’s more important for me to write uninterupted than to break the flow I’ve got going with blogging. Sorry.
I know it’s a cardinal sin to inform readers that they’re being given the shaft, but at least it’s only temporary.
I’ll be gone all day Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday…basically, I’m pretty strapped for time, and blogging just got moved down the priority list for this week. Don’t worry, I’ve still got some good stuff on the way.
I saw Million Dollar Baby the other night, and will try and post a review before the weekend. In addition, I’m nearly done seeing what Oscar nominated pictures I can get to, though I don’t think I’ll be able to view all of them before the 27th. With that in mind, I’ll be doing my Oscar predictions, with the usual colour commentary you’ve come to expect and hopefully love.
Like I said, sorry for the insubstantial posting of late, but I will get back into the groove after this week. In the meantime, I’ve got a few links for you to check out below.
The Christian Carnival is up at Wittenberg Gate.
Carnival of the Vanities #124 is now up at Ken Sain’s place. Bloggy goodness therein.
I got an odd email from Justin Katz, who I haven’t heard from in a while, not since our last online tete a tete, which was more civil and respectable than the word tete a tete implies. Not that we were ever bosom buddies or anything…anyway, it concerned an article of his that I first read back in December in the National Review, that attempts to explain the rationale of Andrew Sullivan, a man who can’t quite define or pinpoint his own political, cultural, social, and theological beliefs. I’ve stopped reading Sullivan since he started lacking focus with the war issue, and since then have kept up only loosely with his politics since going all blue state over the gay marriage issue.
Justin has now posted his article online at Dust In The Light. It’s long, detailed, but worth a read if you’ve ever, like me, tried to figure Andrew Sullivan out and simply failed after a long bout in the ring.
Greg Piper has a good writeup of the launch of the new DC paper, the Washington Examiner. He notes copious copy errors (no stranger here!), but a launch party filled with champagne and an editorial page note to readers that seems to echo his own alt paper’s (PUNCH) philosophy.
Protein Wisdom (a blog I need to read more) has a McSweeney-like list of 9 names the UN would PREFER we give to the “not genocide” in Darfur. (Via Instapundit)
Lauren is travel blogging. Lots of airport and hotel troubles, so you can probably relate.
Philip Johnson, noted American architect, has died. He founded the US international style of glass towers architecture, and compared corporations to Renaissance figures such as the Medicis and the popes of old.
Languagehat links to an article on the future of the modern Irish language. Speaking of the UK, LH also has a BBC article linked that discusses the ways Londoners speak. Cool stuff.
Okay, I really do have to start my day now, so ta ta for now.