Future Filmmaker Friday: "The Strong One" - CMF Best Picture & Best Director Winner

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Campus MovieFest red carpet gala on the Universal lot.  CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week.  Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood.

That's right - one week to make a film that can be no more than five minutes.  Back when I was taking film classes, there are students who would spend an entire semester making a five minute film on 16mm.  I would have killed for the opportunity that CMF offers.  Even better is that CMF goes to many campuses that don't have film programs.  I saw a couple of shorts from those schools and if I may speak frankly, some of them were better than many projects I've seen come out of film school festivals.

I was so impressed with the talent I saw there that I've decided to start a new feature on the blog: Future Filmmaker Friday.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to showcase several of the best CMF shorts on my blog.  This is where I plead with each of you to take five minutes out of your Friday and give some attention to the work of some promising young filmmakers.  If you like the work, leave comments here or on their YouTube page.  Filmmakers thrive on feedback and I know it would mean a lot for the filmmakers I feature if you lent some support.

Even though I featured this next film on my blog a while back, I can't possibly overlook a short that walked away with the Best Picture and Best Director awards last week.  From North Carolina State University, this is THE STRONG ONE, directed by Nicholas Sailer.  Scroll down for an interview with him.




So tell us a little about yourself. How did you get interested in film?

I've always had a passion for stories and storytelling, and that was probably due to my parents reading novels, short stories, and good literature to me all throughout my childhood. I wrote and directed my first short film when I was 16. I have made at least one film every year since then, and it has been fun to watch the quality slowly improve. I don't think I would show you the first film that I made- maybe it will be an easter egg on a dvd of mine in the future- Who knows?

Where are you in your school career? 

I am currently a senior at the College of Design at NC State University. There are lots of people that are surprised to find that I'm not in a film program or at a film school. I chose design as my course of study because I see it as the easiest way to study creativity. The craft of filmmaking is something that I am living and learning outside of my academics. I never want my creativity to be constricted to one medium, but I will always be making films.

How did THE STRONG ONE come together? 

THE STRONG ONE came together in a really unique way. Josh Bielick (the cinematographer of THE STRONG ONE) and I both entered films into CMF the previous year- I won Best Picture and he won Best Drama. At the time, I saw his work and reacted in a competitive way- I recognized that his work was very good and that his film was very well done.

Several months later, last fall, we met randomly at an entrepreneur event- We exchanged business cards, and because the team that I worked with previously had all graduated, I made the effort to start talking about a collaboration. At the same time, Josh had been talking with Tim Reavis (Writer of the poem "Jurassic Parking Lot", on which THE STRONG ONE is based). Tim was actually a mutual friend of mine, and I had heard some of his poems, but never thought to adapt one into film. I sent Josh a script that I wrote, and Josh sort of indicated that he really wanted to use some of Tim's poems as source material. He sent me a text that said "I know a guy that writes damn good poetry" and from then on we decided on adapting one of Tim's poems. Josh and I met up and looked over 5 of Tim's poems. We settled on "Jurassic Parking Lot", and slowly things began to come together. During shooting we titled the film, "THE STRONG ONE".

How did the limitations of one-week to shoot and edit it play into how you developed your idea?

Shooting THE STRONG ONE in a week was not extremely difficult- There were late nights and early mornings, for sure, but the latest we stayed up was around 4 am during editing. We had to pay special attention to scheduling some of our shoots due to the sunrise shots, and ended up seeing the sunrise 3 days in a row.

What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film?

There are so many different rules and principles that I try and bring into a good story and film, these are just a few of them. I think the same things that make a good feature film apply, just in a smaller context:

1) The audience must have a reason to like or relate to the main character. So many people have come up to me and said that they went through something like the story that THE STRONG ONE depicts, and because of that, it hits home for them.

2) There should always be a journey of change or transition that the audience goes through- In the case of THE STRONG ONE, the child begins the story dependent on the dinosaur, and in the end, we sort of understand that the child has gone through this journey and is now independent, but revisits the dinosaur to remember how he got to where he is now.

3) Not all films have this, but one thing that puts a film at another level is a reversal of expectation: A good end to a story should be unexpected, but inevitable. In other words, like a good joke: You don't expect the ending, but when you look back and think about it, there is no other way that it could have ended better. THE STRONG ONE does this at the end when it's established that the dinosaur is 'The Strong One', and in the final scene, the dinosaur reveals to the child that the child himself is 'The Strong One'.

Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't, due to time restrictions?

I can't think of anything in particular that we tried to do that we couldn't because of time restrictions. There were a couple of shots that we had initially envisioned differently, but we ended up getting shots that were similar or maybe even better in some respects.


What have you taken from the CMF experience? What were your impressions of CMFHollywood?

The CMF experience has been a great networking tool, as well as an amazing platform for screening and sharing work publicly. CMF Hollywood was an exciting way of meeting so many different student filmmakers, and I hope to see some collaboration through that.

If you are interested, you can view more of my work at my websites, below:
www.nicholassailer.com 
www.vimeo.com/nicholassailer 
www.twitter.com/nicholas_sailer 

AND my blog at http://writerdirector-nicholassailer.blogspot.com/ 

Congrats again Nicholas!  And we'll be featuring another CMF film next week.

"Any chance they just want to buy my idea and have someone else rewrite it?"

A writer calling themselves "Inconsolable Cat" sent me the following question:


How likely are you to pass up the line a script that has a great concept, but which is merely competently executed? Have you ever written, "The only good thing here is the idea. But what a great idea!"? How likely is a studio to buy a script just to own the concept, opting to send it to an established pro for a re-write?

I've been asked variations on this question before, and usually with a specific subtext to the query.  I'm not saying "Inconsolable" is guilty of this motivation, but this seems like a good opportunity to address those who are.

When I'm asked, "If the idea is great, would the studio buy that and get someone else to rewrite it?" my first thought is that I'm dealing with a writer who doesn't have confidence that their writing is up to the level of other professionals.  But somehow, they're convinced their idea is wildly original, so original that they can cash in by selling that and banking on someone else to get hired to do all the hard work.

I hate this sort of attitude.

It smacks of the laziest sort of writer, the kind of writer who's just in it to "cash in."  A real writer with a brilliant idea shouldn't want to give it up.  A true writer resists someone else coming in to work on his baby.

If you want to be a writer and you have an idea you believe in, they should have to pry that script out of your cold dead hands.  The only reason you should ask the question above is out of the fear that you won't get to complete the project on your own.

If  you welcome the idea of someone just tossing a nominal fee at you to buy the idea and then do what they want with it, just get the fuck out right now.

I mean it.  This isn't a profession for dilettantes.  When you treat screenwriting in that manner, it's disrespectful to the people who work hard to develop their craft and better their product.  If you don't show respect to the profession, I'm under no obligation to show respect to you.

As I said, Inconsolable Cat might not be coming at the question from the motivations I ascribe above, but I know that there are people out there who DO think like that.

To cover the rest of the questions, yes, there have been plenty of coverages where I've said, "Good concept, terrible execution."  It's somewhat rare to find an EXCELLENT concept and terrible execution, only because the work of a weak writer might end up undermining anything good about the script.

A weak writer also is less likely to conceive with an entirely unique concept.  If it's an idea they came up with, odds are someone ELSE has thought of something similar, and they might have done it even better.  So while readers like me can always champion the concept while slamming the script, a sub-par writing sample does no one any favors.

The decisions about that kind of purchase are made above my paygrade.  While it might happen now and then that a concept is SO impressive that it merits immediate purchase, I can't say I've ever seen that scenario happen at any of the companies I've worked for.  In other words, don't bank on it.

I'd say it's more likely that a script would sell if it's by written by a writer just short of professional level.  That writer would then get their guild-obligated rewrite and then the script would get passed on to another pro only after it was decided the original writer couldn't get the script to where it needed to be.  That kind of thing is probably more common than the concept being bought and the original writer being immediately removed.

Your goal should to sell that script, and be strong enough to be hired on even after the requisite rewrite.  Strive to be a writer, not a concept farmer.

12-Step Screenwriting: Week 5 - Mid-point

It's time for another episode of the Bitter Script Reader YouTube series!

This is the fifth chapter of a 12-part series designed to guide and motivate a writer to complete a screenplay within three months.  Recognizing that I had an opportunity to reach a new audience via YouTube, I decided to start with the basics.

This week's video covers the importance of a strong mid-point.



As you can see, this is back-to-basics information, but hopefully some of you will take up the challenge of completing a screenplay alongside the weekly lessons in this series.  I've done my best to minimize the jargon here.  So while at some point we'll be talking things like Act Breaks and Climaxes, but I won't ask you to commit things like "Fun & Games" to memory.


As always, it really helps me out to see some engagement with these videos, so please click through to the YouTube page, subscribe and leave a few comments there.  Feel free to embed these on your blogs, and if you find the tips useful, tweet about them or put the videos on your Facebook page.

I hope that in two months time, a lot of you will be reporting back with completed screenplays.  Has anyone been keeping up so far?

Tuesday Talkback: Your biggest pet peeve... with yourself?

I get asked all the time what things annoy me about the scripts I read, so it seems only fair to turn that question back on you guys.  What about your own writing annoys you?

C'mon!  Be honest.

Using original songs in a spec

If you sent in a question recently I need to apologize because I've been incredibly lax in answering those.  Let's see if we can do something about that now.  This one comes from Damiano:


I have a story revolving around a soul singer. In one scene a musician on stage sings one of his songs in front of him. The song I want to use is a song I co-wrote myself with a friend of mine. How would this fly? Would this be problematic? Any thoughts or opinions you can offer me on this? 

It's a tricky spot to be in.  I know the conventional wisdom is to warn writers away from using copy written music in their scripts due to the expensive of licensing rights.  By that logic, writing original songs should be smooth sailing, right?

Well, maybe not entirely. 

The biggest problem I can see is that since your song isn't known, the reader won't have a good idea of what it would sound like.  In the grand scheme of things, that's probably not a fatal error, though.  The story and the writing of your spec are going to need to be strong enough to move up the ladder on their own.

If you were writing a full-on musical, this probably WOULD be a bigger issue - so those of you in that situation, proceed with caution.

But if I understand Damiano right, we're talking about one song in one scene.  I don't see it making or breaking your script either way under those circumstances.

"Soldiers of Fortune" - a decade in the making

One of the first friends I made out in L.A. was a guy named Alex Coscas and once we realized both of us were writers, naturally we swapped scripts and gave each other feedback.  Thus began a friendship that has lasted the better part of a decade.

The script Alex gave me was then entitled "Billionaire Boys," a straight-up, no apologies Bruckheimer-esque film.  It was somewhat in the mold of Armageddon, where there's a rag-tag group of colorful characters thrown into a high-octane situation. In this case, the idea was that a group of mercenaries would more or less sell spots on their missions to extremely wealthy celebrities looking to live out the life of an action hero.  Basically, it was Action Hero Fantasy Camp.  So you've got the Chris Tucker comedian character, the N'Sync/Backstreet Boy analog, and so on.... all shelling out cash to make like Stallone in The Expendables.

And then on one mission, all of the "real" soldiers are killed and it falls to the "Billionaire Boys" to complete the mission and get back in one piece.

Pretty cool, huh?

(I have to chuckle at the few articles I've seen that draw comparisons between this and City Slickers, The Expendables & Tropic Thunder... because only ONE of those scripts even existed back when I read Alex and his writing partner's first draft.)

Well, despite what seemed like a pretty marketable premise, it would actually take the better part of a decade and a great deal of Alex's own initiative to put this project together.  Don't get me wrong, Alex and his writing partner Joe Kelbley wrote several other scripts, but he never gave up on this one.  It's going to see the light of day under the title Soldiers of Fortune, and features the talents of Christian Slater, Ving Rhames, Sean Bean, Colm Meany, Dominic Monaghan and James Cromwell.

As I understand it, the film will get a brief theatrical run starting August 3, concurrent with a VOD release, before going to DVD.  Alex is an incredibly busy guy, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to do an interview with him around the time the film comes out.  If that's something you guys would be interested in seeing, please chime in in the comments.

I don't think I've ever been prouder to feature a video on here... I give you, the trailer for Soldiers of Fortune.

Pilot sneak peeks: A great premise is no excuse to cut corners on characters

After you've been in L.A. for a few years, you come to anticipate one of the perks of working in the business: getting to see all the network pilots months before they premiere.  For some actors and writers, this is a process marked by envy.  (i.e. "How could they order this script/cast THIS actor and not order/cast mine/me?!")  I've vowed to make this tour as much of a learning experience as possible.

Because it's not unusual for pilots to be retooled, partially reshot or even recast after they're ordered, I'm not going to offer any in-depth thoughts, nor am I going to name any of the pilots that suc---  I mean, that aren't going to find themselves on my DVR this fall.

I will offer that the two efforts I've given A's to are ABC's Last Resort and FOX's The Following.  Last Resort is the story of a submarine crew that defies orders to open fire on Pakistan and then takes over a neutral island, declaring themselves a nuclear power.  It's a solid script from Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek, with feature film quality production values and directing from Martin Campbell.  The cast, headed by Andre Braugher, is solid.  This is efficient storytelling at it's best.  When this pilot was over, I wanted to see what happened next and I couldn't wait to spend time with these characters.

Important lesson here: as plot driven as this first hour is, the characters all have depth and strong dynamics with each other.  All of the actors slip into these roles as if they've been inhabiting those characters for years and it's a reminder that a truly great show isn't just about a great hook or premise; it's about populating it with characters who make the most of that premise.

In other words, being plot-driven isn't an excuse to be lazy.

The Following also has a killer hook.  A notorious serial killer escapes from prison and the retired FBI Agent who brought him in many years ago is recruited as a consultant.  Before long, it's clear that the killer has help from a full cult of followers who've admired his work for years.  Kevin Williamson's script is slick, and frankly, probably more along the lines of what networks expected him to pitch back in 1997 instead of Dawson's Creek.

Williamson's ace-in-the-hole is Kevin Bacon as the lead FBI Agent.  But one doesn't get a movie star like that unless he's got a compelling character to play.  I don't want to say too much, but Bacon's character is haunted by his past mistakes and the pilot makes it clear that while the manhunt for the killer is the show's engine, it's Bacon who'll lure back an audience week-after-week.  There are probably a half-dozen shows featuring FBI agents and/or cops hunting psychopaths, but The Following is no procedural.

Most of the stronger pilots I've watched are all driven by strong characters.  No matter how high the concept, a television series needs distinct residents populating that world week after week once the initial rush of the premise wears off.  The Office thrived because of Michael Scott and his ensemble, The Vampire Diaries gets much of its dramatic tension from the Stefan/Damon dichotomy and the Stefan/Elena/Damon triangle; and where would Revenge be without the damaged Emily Thorne driving events?

When you write a movie, sometimes you can use high concept as a crutch.  TV is less forgiving, and nothing makes you more aware of the importance of strong characters than watching 15 pilots in a short span.