Keep running the race, yo!

How was your 2011? Are you looking forward to the new year?

Finding the idea for my next story is never easy and I am never sure where it’s going to come from. So I never stop looking. Sometimes, ideas come from other scripts, conversations, newspaper articles, paintings, carts and new discoveries.

But when I am stuck, there are a few sure ideas that will definitely get the ball rolling.

1. Read fiction. I used to read a lot of fiction before I started grad school. But since then, I’ve read nothing but trade books. Whenever I need to keep my mind off the craft, I turn to my fiction books and suddenly, just like that, the ideas start to come. Most of the time, I don’t end up developing about 90% of it. But it doesn’t matter because there’s still 10% of the ideas left to develop.

2. Museums. I especially love sculptures. Because more people crowd around paintings and drawings and rarely notice the sculptures. So I spend more time there and my imagination goes wild. I’ve actually developed more ideas and written more scripts based on ideas inspired by sculptures.

3. People watching. I love to watch people. Sometimes I listen to their conversation. But their body language is more fun to watch. Besides, the fun part is not eavesdropping but pretending what they could be talking, fighting or thinking about. Whether it’s true or not is never the point.

4. Going out. I don’t go out all the time because I work a lot. But I do get together with friends a couple times a month and share stories. And most of those stories are interesting enough to be developed into something more.

The point really is to gather as much ideas as I can and hopefully, there’ll be one there that’ll be worth developing.

There are people I go to every time for writing guidance, Christopher Vogler and Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey, Jacob Krueger and his 7-Act Structure, Ellen Sandler and her book, TV Writer’s Workbook. My mentors from AAU have also taught me techniques that I still use until now. I’ve also attended Q&As and talks from writer/directors who have talked about their writing processes.

But all of them have one thing in common: they put importance in character development. After all, a movie is basically about a person, a character’s journey. You, the writer, definitely have to spend time getting to know your character. You need to humanize your characters and make them complete instead of a stereotype and a cliche. Most of the time, when I struggle with story development, it’s because I still don’t know my character that well. The Script Lab has a great set of questions to develop character. It’s lengthy but it’s tremendous help.

Another process that I do, besides character development, is outlining. Not a lot of writers outline. But I believe this process helps me focused in one direction, especially when I have a deadline. I usually write several scripts at the same time so outlining helps me avoid going off too far from the story. And it helps tremendously, when I write a visual outline, when I start to write the script already. It cuts down the writing time because there’s already a detailed description of how the scene will look like already written.

But like I said, some people use outlines, some people don’t. I envy those people, wish I could write as freely as that, but I like having and working on the structure of an outline.

Which technique do you use? How do you get to know your characters? Do you outline or prosper with free writing? Let’s discuss and share ideas!

On my next post, I’ll mention some of the books that I love about screenwriting, TV writing and filmmaking in general.

In the meantime, happy writing!

The conference is still ongoing until Thursday, Sept 22, and if you’re lucky enough, you should catch a day’s panel or two.

I’ll try to do a recap of the conference and the panels soon.

Personally, I support the RH Bill. It’s a great solution for overpopulation and poverty in the Philippines. And, according to Carlos Celdran during one of the debates, if this is not the perfect solution, you better come up with a solution that will help. Because after all, “if you’re not part of the problem, you’re part of the solution”.

I’m currently working as a translator/editor for a documentary filmmaker based in NYC working on a documentary about population growth, focusing on the RH Bill in the Philippines. I’ve been watching the debates and interviews and nobody’s giving way.

Go Forth And Multiply: A Documentary

There is another Filipino filmmaker producing a documentary about the RH Bill. Go Forth And Multiply captures the supporting and opposing views on the bill and invite you to pay attention, take a part and take your stand regarding the RH Bill.  And, although they’ve done a lot of production, they still need help with post-production and bringing the documentary to the people.

Help them raise their funds for post-production and distribution. Any amount will help. But if you can’t, help spread the word. Get the word out to people you know will be able to contribute. You can contribute via Indiegogo.

It doesn’t matter if you’re pro-RH or anti-RH, we need to get the word out to the people about the RH Bill. We need to educate people about the two sides and help them make a decision for themselves. Don’t let anyone think for you.

Check out these links to find out more about the documentary and the filmmakers:

• The Philippine Reproductive Health Bill: A Documentary
• Facebook
• Indiegogo
• Youtube
• Fritz Kohle IMDb
• Arleen Cuevas IMDb

Another thing I got to do at the festival was watch movies and one of the movies I watched was Filipino filmmaker, Ramona S. Diaz‘, latest documentary, The Learning. The Learning follows the lives four female teachers hired by the city of Baltimore, MD from the Philippines to teach in their schools.

The Learning by Ramona S. Diaz

The film follows their first year as they try to adjust to living in a vastly different land with different conditions and culture, away from the anything familiar, including their families and loved ones. It wasn’t easy. One teacher had to leave her baby, miss his first birthday and struggle with her baby not recognizing her as his mother. One teacher had to leave her family and witness her husband breaking down because of her absence. One teacher had to deal with her husband’s drug problems while struggling to do good at her job. And one teacher had to struggle with her family’s demands, financially. It wasn’t easy and everyday is still a struggle for them.

The Learning is a wonderful film on embracing change. It’s not always necessary and it’s never easy. But when it’s needed, a lot of tough decisions have to be made and a lot of consequences have to be accepted and lived with. The four teachers have different but strong, determined personalities. They’re not passive, they’re reactive and they take action. It’s a wonderful film about dreams and what they cost to get it.

The Learning will be showing on PBS on September 20, 2011. Check out the PBS website for local listings.

About the Filmmaker

Ramona S. Diaz is a Filipino documentary filmmaker living in Baltimore, MD. She founded the independent production company, Cinediaz, in 2000 to produce feature length documentary films. Her previous full-length documentary feature, IMELDA, premiered in the Film Forum in New York City and has been screened in over thirty film festivals all over the world. She is currently on her next full-length documentary feature, Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s journey, a documentary about the iconic 80s band, Journey, and their new front man, Filipino singer, Arnel Pineda, who they discovered on YouTube.

There are three that I’m super looking forward to. And when I say looking forward to, that means will make a conscious effort to watch every week.

New Girl

New Girl on FOX

Zooey Deschanel stars as Jess, an adorable girl in her 20s who has just broken up with her boyfriend. But she was also living with him and now she’s homeless. She finds a room in an apartment she’ll be sharing with three guys, Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Coach (Damon Wayans, Jr). In an effort to stop the non-stop Dirty Dancing on their TV and constant crying, they make Jess their project and get her to go out into the real world again. But although Jess may be adorable, she’s not comfortable hanging out with guys.

I’ve watched the trailer several times and it still cracks me up. We’ve been talking about new shows over at #tvwriterchat and development executive Zac Sanford read and watched the pilot and loved it. I cannot wait! It’s funny and unique, which is what I love. It doesn’t try to be witty and smart, it’s just funny.

New Girl premieres on FOX, Sept 20, Tuesday, 9/8c.

Apartment 23

Apartment 23 on ABC

Originally titled, Don’t Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23, Apartment 23 stars Dreama Walker as June, who moves to New York from the Midwest. She moves in with Chloe (Krysten Ritter), the bitch in Apartment 23, who swindles everyone, including her roommates. But when June fights back, Chloe is shocked because nobody has ever done it to her before and pulls June in to her circle of friends.

I wasn’t a fan of the original title and thought it wasn’t interesting. But when I saw the trailer, I immediately loved it, first because of Krysten Ritter (I’m glad she’s finally getting her break!), and the premise is unlike anything I’ve watched before. There have been similar shows in the past but they were all “opposites attract” show and they become best friends by embracing their opposing personalities. Apartment 23 is different. They fight back and that’s why they become best friends. Love it!

Apartment 23 will premiere in midseasons 2012 on ABC.

Awake

Awake on NBC

Awake stars Jason Isaacs as Detective Michael Britten, who survived a car accident that took the life of his wife. He and his son survives and learn to live their lives without his wife. But the next day, he wakes up next to his wife and finds out his son died in the accident. Now, he doesn’t know which waking moment is reality and which is a dream. Is he awake or dreaming? What is real and what is not?

I love Jason Isaacs. Everytime he’s on somewhere, on TV, in a movie, I watch it just so I can watch him. This is no exception and the premise is actually captivating. It also comes from Kyle Killen of short-lived Lone Star, which got rave reviews from critics. So yes, I am looking forward to Awake.

Awake will premiere in midseasons 2012 on NBC.

So which shows are you looking forward to this season?

I came across this short film via Scott Myers‘ Go Into The Story. It’s so beautiful and powerful and the whole film had only six lines. Watch it on Youtube. (Unfortunately, I can’t embed it here since WordPress wants me to spend a certain amount per month just to be able to do that.)