Another Payday...

Another Contest...

Just re-tweaked Orchid and entered it into Shriekfest.

I would ask for "Winning" vibes, but that just opens the door to dated Charlie Sheen jokes.

Hopefully next payday I can enter this bad boy into the NYC Horror Film Festival.  Would it be tacky to ask for donations so I could enter it earlier?

Wish me luck...and nudity...

Later.
-Justin

123

Noticing this is my 123rd post.  Some odd OCD piece of me thinks this is significant somehow.

So...Orchid has been sent to Screamfest...

And I'm gonna enter it into Shriekfest next week.

I emailed my professor and asked him about other contests.  Big mistake.  He sent me to a website that has, like, ALL the current contests.  And now I want to enter craploads of contests.

Which wouldn't be so bad, except that they all have entry fees.  Anywhere from $35-70 a pop.

Anybody know any good Ramen recipes?

Later.
-Justin

Aah...

So.

I just submitted Orchid to Screamfest.

Won't hear anything till, like, November.

Wish me luck.  And sexy.

Feeling like a weight has been lifted.  I don't wanna touch this script for a while...just wanna submit it around and see what feedback I get.


Speaking of feedback, last night I got feedback on the first ten pages, which I submitted to another contest. I didn't win, but I got all high marks.  They really liked me as a writer.  I think I lost points because the first ten pages revolve around the opening murder in a self-contained scenario.

Okay.  Lemme see what other contests I can send this bad boy off to.  And prepare myself for a giallo-thon next week.

Later.
-Justin

Almost Contest Ready...

I finally managed to get around to writing that scene for Orchid I've been wanting to write.

Seven pages in two hours.  Jean Claude Van Damme I'm good!

And that's with a Vicodin.  Damn gout.

So all I think I gotta do is tweak the ending a bit and I'll be ready to enter this bad boy into the contest!

This ending's been bugging me forever.  I'm trying to end it like Tenebrae, but I can't figure out the right stopping point.  Maybe I'll throw that idea out the window.  There's enough giallo-esque goodness in the script.  I don't want it to be a "point out the reference" movie, should it get produced.

Okay.  I gotta go lay down.  Good night.

Later.
-Justin

Breaking my restriction

Laid up with a bum foot.  Gout suck-diddly-ucks.  I had to go to the doc today for it...and got a trifecta of anti-inflammatories, steroids, and even painkillers (first time I've ever been prescribed painkillers for this...it's that bad).

Called out yesterday and today from work.  Darn it...I needed the cash...

I can only watch so many reruns of Judge Judy without going insane.  So I watched my Netflix DVD of Hatchet For the Honeymoon.  Pleasant surprise, with some striking images (the room full of mannequins, especially).

And I decided to give What Have You Done to Solange another try.  I bought it a few years back, and had an incredibly hard time with it.  The killer's MO really disturbed me, to the point where it took three tries to get through it.  I ended up selling it for store credit at FYE.

Since then, I've watched a few movies with similar subject matter, like The New York Ripper, which I managed to actually...er...what's the word...appreciate?

So, here goes round two of Solange...it just arrived from Netflix...lemme check it out with new eyes...

My Siouxsie and the Banshees Downside Up box set also just arrived.  Oh happy day!

Later.

-Justin

Still on restriction...

Is it Thursday yet?

Because that's probably the next day I can sit down and work on this thing to get it into contest shape.

I did enter the first ten pages into another contest, however.  Mainly because every entry gets notes back.  I've tried dropping hints to a couple of my screenwriter friends to see if they wanna read it, but I'm being too subtle or something.

Whatever.  I love my first ten pages and certainly believe they have the power to grab attention.

Okay.  I'm going to bed.

Good night.

Later.
-Justin

Restriction

I am grounding myself from watching gialli until I sit down and revise Orchid.

The early contest deadline isn't that far away (barely over two weeks).  And Dad is coming to visit before then.  So you know I won't get any work done.  Haven't seen him in person in, like, forever.

Tomorrow is laundry day.  So while waiting to fold my unmentionables, I can get workin'.

Okay...I oughta be sleeping.

Later.
-Justin

Have you ever been so bored...

...that you sat around coming up with porno titles for famous movies?

Maybe it's just me.  I am incredibly perverted, after all.

Here's a few porno gialli titles I've come up with.

Reader Discretion is Advised

Bird with the Crystal Poonage
Cat O'Nine Inches
Four Thighs on Gray Velvet
Deep Head
Death Wanks at Midnight
The Night Evelyn Came On Her Grave
Pudd and Black Lace
Do You Like His Cock?
The Girl Who Blew Too Much
Twitch of the Pleasure Nerve (aka Bay of Lust, Last Ass from the Left part 2)
What Do You Want To Do To Solange?
Naked Girl Thrilled in the Park
New York Stripper

Came up with one for Interrabang, but it was too dirty even for me.  And I'm depraved.  Or at least that's what my scout master said.

Okay.  Fun time over.  I really need a mini-giallothon.  To restore my sanity.

Later.
-Justin

Now that I am good and un-fatigued...

Is "un-fatigued" a word?  I don't feel like looking it up right now.

I think I've taken enough of a sabbatical.  Managed to start watching gialli again.  Watched Eyeball the other night (good, clean, stupid fun).  Started watching The Killer is One of Thirteen, too, but it was too late.  So I'm gonna finish it later (I'm pleasantly surprised by it so far, though).  Also cracking open my copy of La Dolce Morte from time to time (okay, during bathroom breaks).  All I need to do is unpack my copy of Blood and Black Lace.

I'm gonna enter Orchid in the Screamfest Screenplay contest and see how it fares.  I do have some more tinkering to do, though.  Mainly fleshing out Gia and the Detectives.  And a dialogue wash.

And I gotta do it quick.  June 15th is the early deadline.  Any later, and I'll have to pay an extra $15.  I'm a student.  I can't afford that.  I can barely afford to cut my hair...hence my Bieber-esque coif (I am SO rectifying that this Friday...maybe some highlights if my paycheck allows it...or maybe completely blonde simply to say I did it once--what'cha think?).

Getting back on the giallo train, and it's like I never fell off.  Feels good.

Okay.  I gotta go to bed.  Meeting at work tomorrow 9:30-10:30.  Then working 12-7.  BLARGH.  My whole day is shot.

Later.
-Justin

P.S.-What's up with the DVD of Death Will Have Your Eyes?  Amazon cancelled my order.  Is it postponed?  Cancelled?

I think I feel...

...a mini-giallothon coming on...

Off Thursday and Friday.  Not planning anything (except a workout on Friday, and a couple naps).

So maybe I'll see how many gialli I can cram in.


Also, already thinking about the next screenplay I wanna write.

Debating between a comedy that takes place at a store like where I work and a giallo that's been brewing in my head in longer than Orchid...

Dunno.

Gonna spend some time revising Orchid, too.  Already fixed the "is/are" problem my professor talked about.  Need to go over the dialogue next.

Okay.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I had a big honkin' dinner and the Amazing Race finale is on.  Go Zev and Justin!


Later.
-Justin

Merlin

So I've been going to ZDD Visual Media for quite some time now (www.zddvisualmedia.com).  I think I own, like, 30 DVDs from them.  Maybe more.  I lost count.

Anyhow, roaming the site again (15% off orders of 2 or more DVDs through May 8...damn work paying me on the 13th), I was reminded of how many movies had been "fansubbed," or subtitled by someone who doesn't have any affiliation with the film.

And the name that pops up the most is Merlin.

Many of the movies I've purchased from ZDD, it turns out, were subtitled by this Merlin guy.

So now I'm wondering...

Who is Merlin?  Does anybody know him?  Is he one person, or an elite group of ninja fansubbers?

And also, does he take requests?

For as long as I've had my copy of Blood and Black Lace by Adrian Luther Smith, I've been dying to see a little movie called Amore e morte nel giardino degli dei,  or Love and Death in the Garden of the Gods.


ZDD has it available, but only in Italian.  And my Italian is limited to giallo titles and the menu at the Olive Garden.  And I can't afford Rosetta Stone.


If there were a subtitled copy out there, I could finally have one of my most coveted gialli...and be like Gollum...with a thyroid problem and a sexier voice...


So, Merlin, if you're reading this...I'd really super appreciate it if you tackled this movie.  Like, REALLY appreciate it.  PLEASE...


I'll name my firstborn after you...unless the future Mrs. vetoes it...


And if anybody knows Merlin, please forward this blog his way.


Okay.  Off to bed.  Still awaiting grades from my classes to be posted...only Acting has been posted so far (B+!).


Later.
-Justin

My Grade on Orchid...

The end of the semester is in three days.  Things are finally starting to wind down.  Two papers and a final edit of my final video project are all that stand between me and extra hours at work (and the gym...I promised myself I'd get back into the swing of things and quit feeling so damn lethargic).

Normally I'm scheduled to work Mondays until 3.  Today I was scheduled till 2.  Not like I am complaining.

So I went straight to school.  Changed in the parking garage.  I learned this past semester that I am incredibly adept at changing pants in the front seat of an Oldsmobile Ninety Eight.

As I finished a final draft for my Short Script class, the suspense started hitting me full force.  Not quite diarrhea-inducing suspense, but close.

I tried anything and everything to pass the time.  I had three hours to kill and no money to eat a full meal.  Just enough for a Diet Dew...then later a Dew Throwback (and a bottle of water, in case all the caffeine I consumed today started turning me into Cornholio).

Finally class came.  And since there weren't cops waiting for me at the door wanting to arrest me for my gory death scenes, I knew I'd be all right.

My instructor came in with a big honking' stack of scripts in his arms.  Probably 30 pounds of paper.

And he handed them out, with his critique tucked into it neatly (and my classmate's, since he emailed his).

And...

I...

GOT AN A!

I wanted to jump up and dance.  But I knew that never ends pretty.

I did lose points for typos/format problems (he wrote a paper on how we are not supposed to use "is/are" phrases...and I used them).  But whatever...I still got an A.

Lemme pull out his critique and plaster some quotes like review excerpts.

"Your homage to Giallo is really working.  And as a mystery it works pretty well."

"You open with the murder of...(spoiler deleted)...and did a real good suspense thing by delaying it a bit."

"The surprise ending worked and I liked the double surprise, which is also kind of expected in a giallo.  Good job there."

"This is definitely an A project...I hope you'll continue working on it and enter it in contests."


I am feeling good right now.  Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

I've spent all semester (heck, all year) working on Orchid.  Sure, the majority of the actual script was written in four days.  But I've spent all this time incubating this little kernel of an idea and nurturing it into a full-fledged script...and the first screenplay I've completed in 11 years.

Couldn't have done it without your support.

Thank you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the season finale of RuPaul's Drag Race is about to come on.

Later.
-Justin

Running on fumes...and caffeine...and other stuff...

What is it about the end of the semester?  I end up tired, irritable, gaining weight...

It's finally starting to wind down, however.

I have two papers to write for Acting.  I could probably churn both out tomorrow.  One of them revolves around a play I have to watch tonight (2nd Thursday in a row I had to buy a ticket and watch a show).  And I have a monologue.  Somehow I figured a way to play a Moliere character like a country bumpkin.

Revision for Short Script.  Due Tuesday.  Will work on it on Sunday.

Final edit of my Video Project.  Doing a series of still shots leading to the image of someone who has committed suicide.  Figured out how to play music backwards on Final Cut, so I reversed Moonlight Sonata to score it.  I wanna record some voice overs, but didn't get to do that for the rough cut.

And I have to evaluate a classmate's screenplay.  More worried about him evaluating mine.  He wrote what looks like a courtroom drama.  And here I am writing death scenes that even Fulci hasn't attempted.  Feeling a bit cheated because he wrote 79 pages, but I was told to aim for 100 on mine...

My professor has already read Orchid.  Hasn't given me much feedback yet.  Probably waiting to finish reading all of them, first.  Dammit, why did I have to be the first one to turn it in?  Now that I know he'd read it, I wanna know what he thinks.  I'm all OCD that way.  I'm the person who checks my grades every five minutes the morning after taking my final.

Can't wait to get this semester over with.  Love my classes, but I'll also be glad to see Summer Break.  More hours at work, more time to work out, and more time to do that comedy voodoo I do so well.

BTW, the more I listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Kiss in the Dreamhouse," the more I love it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to relax a bit before class at 3.  I think we're gonna watch rough cuts.  Hope mine doesn't get ripped to shreds.

Later.
-Justin

My PSA for Video Project class...

Check it out.  Here's the finished PSA I did for my Video Project class.

And the movement I used is called "Uranus, the Magician."  True story.

That End-Of-The-Semester Brain Fry...

Ah, yes.

Ever see Hannibal?

Remember the dinner scene?

I feel like Ray Liotta.


Feeling a strange post-partem depression, having turned Orchid in on Tuesday.  I'll meet my professor in about two weeks regarding it.  And since we get to evaluate each other's work, another student will read it, too.  Now THAT one will be interesting...Really interesting...

For the most part I really only have two classes to majorly worry about: Acting and Video Project.

In Acting, I have, like, three papers due in the same two week period.  One about the character I wanna play in a monologue (I can only choose from the works of Moliere).  One about a play I have to watch (gonna try to catch it tonight).  One about how I've grown in class.

Video Project shouldn't be too bad.  I have one big project left.  Have to make a short that "plays with conventional storytelling structure."  Checking the camera out tomorrow.  And I learned recently that I am incredibly adept at editing under time constraints.  The rough edit of my last project was finished in one hour and got good reviews.  Just need to figure out how to do voice over.

In Short Script, I just need to write another draft of an adaptation piece.  Same instructor as Video Project.  He said I'm a good student and I'm getting the hang of it.  So I must be doing something right.


Registered for classes today.  Got all the classes I wanted (needed), but my work schedule is gonna suffer.  I'm sure I'll figure something out.  But I'm taking Intro to Production Technology, Television Production, Lighting for Stage and Film, and American Film History.


It dawned on me after turning Orchid in...this is the first screenplay I've finished in 11 years.  Granted, it's a first draft, but still.  That's an accomplishment.  Darn it.


Gotta stop buying movies.  I also picked up Spider Labyrinth.  And my DVR is full of stuff.  And I think I'm gonna rent Hobo with a Shotgun.


Okay.  I'm rambling, now.

Heading to class.

Later.
-Justin

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Orchid is FINISHED!

I finished about twenty minutes ago.

I didn't necessarily make it to the golden 100 mark, but the story is done.  Completely done.

I am going to give it a once over tomorrow before I turn it in.  Because I wanna look at it again with fresh eyes before clicking SEND.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to relax a bit.  Performance tomorrow.  And a meeting.

Later.
-Justin

Orchid Watch 2011

Hey, y'all.

Ready for another round of post-writing bloggage?

I've finished writing for the day.  My most productive day yet.

I managed to write 16 pages.  16.  Lemme say it one more time.  16!

And that's with a nap halfway through.

So now I am officially at 85 pages.  Only 15 to go.

And, boy, if this ever becomes a film, it'll be bloody.  I won't get into specifics, because I don't wanna spoil anything.  One scene is the realization of something I have always wanted to see in a horror movie since fourth grade.  I don't even think Fulci did this.  Argento came close, but not like this.

Surprisingly, the hardest parts to write have been the death scenes.  They require loads of description and don't allow for any dialogue to break things up.  You have to write every detail, which makes me feel dirty.  What flashes by in mere seconds on film comes from paragraphs.

I've run out of synonyms for "cut" and "slice."

Probably won't be able to reach page 100 tomorrow.  I am off from both work and Screenwriting class, but I have to try to meet my advisor again, and I'm gonna meet some people from Acting class to work on performances for Tuesday...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I deserve a bit of rest.

Later.
-Justin

Marathon Writer

Oh my goodness gracious I am DRAINED.

I am on page 69.

Huh huh...69...huh huh...

Anyhow, I managed to write another death scene (one that even disturbed me in its brutality) and a love scene.  I'm gonna try to write one more death scene before hitting the pillow.

The giallo fatigue is starting to go away.  I'm not exactly clamoring to watch more at the moment, but I'm not wanting to pack them all up and put them away, either.

I am, however, looking for a copy of Spider Labyrinth.  Does Video Search of Miami have it?

Okay.  Enough internet ADD.  Back to work.

Later.
-Justin

P.S.-listened to this song on repeat while writing the love scene.

Before I go to bed.

Just wanted to say I hit page 55.

I am now officially more than halfway done.

If I keep at this pace, I could be done by Wednesday.

I have my Blu Ray of Taxi Driver sitting on my headboard.  Refusing to let myself watch it until I turn the script in to my professor.  And that's really hard, because I've never seen the film and I have always wanted to.

Actually cutting myself off from all movies until this is done.  DVR-ing Dead Ringer with Bette Davis, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Galaxy of Terror, and Coquette.  If I do indeed finish on Wednesday, Friday is gonna be one heck of a marathon day.

Okay.  Gonna relax a bit.  It's almost midnight.

Later.
-Justin

Fresh Eyes, Set Pieces, and Deadlines

Dude.

I'm only on page 38.

This is due in ten days.

Fuck.

Luckily I have the next week and a half off from work.  When I'm not in school, I'll be writing.  Only taking breaks for eating, sleeping, and internet porn.

Went through a period of agonizing over the setting of the script.  My professor's words about changing it to a strip club made me paranoid.  Then again, everything makes me paranoid.  Especially pooping in the restroom at work...But that stems from many poop-at-work traumas I experienced working for Sears (two peeping toms, one stalker co-worker, and many dirty doors).

But I decided I'm keeping the setting the same.  My first professor LOVED the setting.  And I do, too.

Had a buddy read my treatment the other day to get a pair of fresh eyes.  He had some good notes.  Especially regarding disguising the killer's identity.  I will admit, though, I put extra blatant clues in the treatment to please the first professor after he read the synopsis and said it was a cheap surprise.

Also said the murders were a bit too varied.  I get that.

I did manage to finish another spectacular gory set piece last night.  One so spectacular that in the treatment, my first professor went so far as to leave notes on it saying it was "grisly and good."  This coming from a devout Mormon who was obviously uncomfortable whenever I tried to mention anything horror related in his class (He was my advisor last semester, too.  I'm halfway convinced he switched me to somebody else after I asked if Friday the 13th and similar slasher movies were exceptions to Robert McKee's Story structure.  He liked me, don't get me wrong, but I think I annoyed him a bit)...

Okay.  Less bloggy, more screenwritey...after class...

Later.
-Justin

P.S.-NEW TIMBER TIMBRE!!!  Can't wait for this to hit my doorstep!