Another blog I frequent, The Unknown Screenwriter, recently came out with an awesome list of sound words, or Onomatopoeias. Very useful.

The spec screenplay I’m writing right now is an action/fantasy flick, and I want it to have that comic book feel. That being said, I’ve been using quite a few sound effect words. I’ve had a few people look at it, and they seem to think it’s a great fit.

This probably won’t work for every script, but for something like I’m doing it’s perfect. And you can use onomatopoeias different ways. You can go all serious, Bourne series-style. You can go campy, 1960’s Batman-style? Or somehwere in between, which is probably closest to the approach I’m using. Correctly done, this method can really add oomph to an action scene.

As a screenwriter, these are not the kind of reviews you want to read about your work. From Rotten Tomatoes:

Hollywood could learn from the Mummy series: better to leave it buried. - Christy Lemire

The movie feels like the direct-to-dvd version of The Mummy, complete with cheesy, already-done CG effects, and best of all, not a single actual mummy in the entire movie. - David Poland

Writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar treat the audience as a simple cat with a small brain - stupid enough that a ball of yard will amuse them for hours. - Brad Miska

Makes the first two Mummy films seem like The Godfather I and II.- Nick Schager

Ouch. Might want to put an icepack on your assholes there, fellas. Then again, I’m sure they got paid handsomely for their work, and are doing pretty well career-wise. I’m also not even sure William Goldman himself could have made something out of this third installment of The Mummy, especially with the whole China angle. Speaking of Goldman, sequels like The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and not The Dark Knight, were why he called them whore’s movies in the first place.

I get migraines. Pretty bad ones. Typically, I get them when I get extremely run down. Monday night was one of those occasions. It actually lasted all day Tuesday as well. So, I unplugged for a day and re-visited my keys to maintaining health despite sitting at the computer all day, sometimes all night as well.

1. Unplug - Every once in awhile. Once a week. Once every ten days. Once every two weeks. Have a day where you check your e-mail a couple times real quick, maybe the news, and that’s it. Limit your time to 30 minutes or so max. Give your eyes, head and body a break.

2. Hydrate - Drink 8-10 cups of good water a day. Get a Brita pitcher. They work extremely well and are easy to both use and maintain. Those of us who work from home can piss as much as we want. There is no excuse for poor hydration. This and this alone will make a huge difference in your life.

3. Stretch - Get up from your computer once every hour or so and take a five-minute break and stretch. At the very least, try to stretch once a day and definitely take breaks from sitting at your computer.

4. Vitamins - A good multi-vitamin, not the crap you buy at Wal-Mart, is key. If you really want to overachieve in this department roll with extra Vitamin C and D as well. C will keep you from getting sick and D deficiency has recently been revealed as a major issue. Writers who don’t get a lot of sun could easily be Vitamin D deficient. After all, most of us are fucking vampires.

5. Sleep - If you don’t average at least close to seven hours a night, you will kill yourself. I’ve found that when I sleep better it takes less time for me to do better writing.

6. Decaf - I used to drink 10-plus cups of black coffee a day easy. Now I drink zero. Not saying you have to go to that extreme, but I was a slave to the java and it was bad news. You shouldn’t rely on coffee to keep your eyes open. Give you some pep? Sure. Keep you upright? No.

7. Nutrition - Get enough protein. Eat something green once a day. It’s not rocket science.

8. Exercise - Even if it’s just 3-4 times a week at 20 minutes a pop on the elliptical, or 30-minute walks every day. My sleep is a lot worse when I don’t sweat a little, and my body definitely feels worse at my computer desk when I don’t.

9. Posture - Get a good chair. Make sure your monitor is at eye level. Watch your posture elsewhere. Nothing is worse on a writer than a jacked-up body. Even writer’s block is better.

10. Outside - A quick walk gets you some air and sunshine. I walk a little ways to get my mail everyday. Keeps me from feeling like a hermit, and it is good for me. Plus, gas is too damn expensive for us poor people to drive to get our mail.

I hope my tips help!

I’ve actually been looking forward to Oliver Stone’s W since it was announced. I know, I know, Stone’s last several outings, at least, have been just awful. For some reason I smell a comeback with this one. After all, the last two movies of his that I’ve enjoyed, other than Natural Born Killers, have been Presidential biopic flicks–JFK and Nixon. The Oval Office just seems to bring the best out of Oliver.

W is going to be different, though. Sure, like his other two Presidential movies, it will be controversial, there’s no arguing that. But, unlike Kennedy and Nixon, George W. Bush is an extremely unpopular President. He’s also the current President. It will be a difficult movie to pull off right now. Half the country, if not more, will want him portrayed as an ex-drunk screw-up turned war criminal President, while the rest of the country will just hate on the film–like they did Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11–and try to paint it as just another example of the liberal media and its propaganda. This film could also have an effect on the upcoming Presidential election, which is about a month after its release. I do think Fahrenheit 9/11 had some effect on the last election, although obviously not enough to make the difference.

Normally, I wouldn’t trust Stone. But after watching the film’s trailer (below) and seeing that Stanley Weiser (Wall Street) is the scribe, I’m on board. Regardless if W is any good, it will be a groundbreaking project. Biopics are hardly ever done when its subject is still in the public spotlight like this. Sure, there was The Queen, but there is still something about this that is unprecedented. I definitely don’t envy Weiser for getting to pen this project. Then again, with a President this unpopular, won’t just making him look bad make Weiser look good? We’ll see.

Enjoy the trailer, compliments of Lions Gate:

I’m pretty sure all screenwriters try and keep up with the latest developments in Hollywood, the trades and such. It’s always good to know what’s coming out so you don’t slave on your reverse-aging spec script for a year only to find out that David Fincher’s upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is going to kill your baby once and for all. Well, while you’re checking out AICN, Coming Soon or Variety, why not have a little fun, too?

What in the hell am I talking about? The Hollywood Stock Exchange, that’s what. HSX is a mock stock exchange where you trade stocks that are based on Hollywood’s players and projects. I actually just cracked the top 4,000 players out of around 2 million. So, yeah, I’ve been playing for five years and I’m hooked. But it’s a great way to stay caught up on the film industry. Because of my involvement in HSX, there is basically never a film that sneaks up on me. I’m always in the know, and I always have fun trying to stay there.

Make sure to head on over there and start playing–you’ll enjoy yourself. That way you also won’t be left in the dark when I post on HSX developments from time to time. My username is absolutebest if you want to add me to your league, or list me as a referral ($50,000 in my digital pocket, baby).

I read John August’s blog pretty frequently, and that’s where I saw his recommendation for Christopher Riley’s script format and style book The Hollywood Standard. Here’s what he says about the book:

This is strictly about formatting, and on that level, it’s solid enough that I hereby abdicate all common formatting questions..

After buying and using the book–from Half.com, one of my favorites sites, for a good price–I couldn’t agree more. From binocular POVs to intercutting telephone conversations and beyond, Riley’s answered all of my questions. All screenwriters should own this book and keep it at their desk, right next to their thesaurus.

I was already pumped about August’s Tropic Thunder, but now I’m really psyched. One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Hearts of Darkness, which chronicles Francis Ford Coppola making Apocalypse Now. I just recently Netflixed and re-watched it, and it doesn’t get any less interesting with time. Probably the opposite, actually. A must-see movie for any serious fan of film.

Now, Paramont has been clever enough to come up with a Hearts of Darkness mockumentary called Rain of Madness, which even has its own site. What a great idea. After seeing how well The Dark Knight’s viral marketing did, and knowing that they’ll be able to put this on the DVD–just brilliant. What I’m wondering is how long Rain of Madness will actually end up being, and if scribes Etah Cohen and Justin Theroux penned it in addition to Tropic Thunder? If I had to guess, I’d guess that they were heavily involved with the project.

Regardless, with the emergence of both Blu-Ray and its increased storage capacity and Internet viral marketing, expect opportunities for screenwriters to extend beyond the initial script.

Here’s that Rain of Madness trailer. To download in glorious QuickTime, go here. Enjoy:

(hat tip: First Showing)

Is there anything worse than having your computer crash? I was searching for a torrent of an older TV series somehwat similar to my spec script (er, no I wasn’t) late last night, and after finally finding it my tired, lazy, ignorent ass didn’t scan it. Guess what? Yep, I got a virus and my computer crashed. Guess what else? Yep, I hadn’t yet backed up the first 38 pages of my script or my exhaustive set of notes.

Luckily, I’m pretty computer profecient and was able to do a non-destructive system restore, which only took a couple of hours after I figured it out. I didn’t lose anything, except my mind temporarily.

The moral of the story: back up your shit.

The Paramont is currently running its Summer Film Series. I went to see Chinatown earlier this summer, but perhaps the showing I am most psyched about is Vertigo, one of my all-time favorite movies. Vertigo shows three times over the weekend of August 22. I’ve never seen it on the big screen, but with the vivid colors and locations I expect it to look fantastic. If you live in the area, definitely check out this series. There’s definitely something for film lovers of all sorts

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently writing an action/fantasy spec script. Of course, I’m not going to divulge my story here, but what I will share is something I discovered during the process of crafting said story. When it comes to scripting action, fantasy and sci-fi flicks, you really have to start things off with a bang.

Not only do you have to grab the audience’s attention right away in these genres, but you also have to set the stage for the rest of the film. This is especially true when the protagonist and audience will be journeying into a new world. Nine times out of 10, an introduction into that world as a prologue will be more entertaining than kicking things off in your protagonist’s ordinary world. Additionally, the foreshadowing of the new world the protagonist will enter makes their introduction much more fascinating. The audience instinctively knows that the protagonist and new world will collide at some point, and that makes them much more interested in your protagonist. After all, if nothing extraordinary is going to happen to your main character, why should the audience give a damn about them any more than the fat guy who’s chomping popcorn next to them? Show your audience where you are going to take them right off the bat, because in these genres that’s what they paid for.

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