Goals

So yeah, it is a new goal for the second half of this year and going forward to post something, anything on this blog at least once a week. Horror related. Movie related. Writing related... ANYTHING. As far as myself I have moved up the chain somehwat in my dayjob to at least a somebody but with that my free time has suffered along with my writing time.

This needs to change.

I am currently writing a treatment for an up and coming producer for an idea he pitched me. We met with an interested director but honestly if this story turns out the way I want it to, well shit, I want to direct it.... maybe. Just thinking that is pretty scary in itself.

Anyway, it is just about that time of the year. You know what I'm talking about... When the blu-rays go on sale and finally... sweet jeebus, finally we get some decent horror flowing into our lives. So far this year V/H/S and Sinister seem to be the winners. A review of VHS will be coming soon on here, once I get the time and the opportunity to watch it as it is currently on demand.

Revenge Films and their lack of B-Story

We all know what a B-story is even if we never really pay any attention to them. It's usually a love arc that develops between the main character and his attractor around the 25-30 minute mark of the movie and keeps them driving toward their goal in the third act when the A and B plot lines will converge. For example Billy Madison meets Veronica when he hits the 3rd grade mark around a half hour in... blah blah... and they break up... and they are back together when he wins the big competition. Boom. B-story.

While watching Man on Fire last night for the first time I couldn't help but thinking where is the b-story? Is he going to hook up with the Mom eventually? Is there another plotline that I am not following here? Nope. No B-story. Why is this?

One of the benefits of working at a production company is that I get to meet and converse with some of the industries best writers while they wait for their meetings. They have no idea who I am or that I am an aspiring writer, but the majority of writers are genuinely happy to be recognized for their work. Writers never get any love from regular people not in the business or trying to write. Anyway, I was fortunate enough to have a 15 minute long conversation with Robert Mark Kamen (Taken, Karate Kid)  about his film Taken. Which was fucking amazing because he was such a nice guy and wanted to hear all about my journey to Hollywood as well. But one thing really stuck out to me during our conversation... and I quote... "What made Taken special is that there is truly no B-story, and we did that on purpose". I even fired back with, "what about that former operative he was friends with and came to find out he was working with the kidnappers?". Shut down. He explained there is not enough for a b-story. That is merely two scenes, when they meet and when Liam punishes him for what he has done. Mr. Kamen said that he wanted Taken to be squarely a revenge film. A father seeking his daughter and his journey to find her. That's it. No more no less.

Now take that theory and apply it to other revenge films you have seen. Kill Bill for example, She wants to kill Bill and the other Deadly Vipers that beat her to the point of losing her baby. There is the possibility of a b-story when she finds out BB is still alive, but since this does not happen until the third act reveal it is getting filed under "twist". How about Last House on the Left? A father sees his child near death floating in the lake by his home. She manages to point out who did this, and just like that it is on...

I think my theory falls into the pretenses that these Revenge films do not NEED a B-story because the goal of the protagonist is that important the audience would be distracted and/or upset if our protagonist did anything else BUT strive for revenge. If Liam Neeson met a beautiful stranger while hunting the bad french guys, wouldn't you be upset? Liam what the fuck are you doing with this lady, your daughter is about to get sold to some fat muslim tycoon? Know what I mean?

Anyway I just thought I would like to point out this little tidbit I noticed and the fact that it came straight from an A-list writer as well. If you can prove me wrong, please do.

-Cjevy

Oh yeah and click that little ad underneath this post. I get a freaking dollar every time someone clicks it!!

The Faithful

So in the midst of working 9-12 hour days, I have managed to finish up 3 projects so far this year. I stated that 2012 was going to be my year and I am trying my damned hardest. So far I've adapted "Beat the Reaper" for an hour long pilot (which NR owns the rights to), written a full length horror original, "The Faithful" and just threw down a sitcom pilot, "The DMV". I can not honestly say that these are 100% done or that I am totally happy with them at this point but thats alot of words down on pages. I've thrown DMV and Faithful into a few contests and am waiting to see how they do before I go back and start from scratch. I think they can both definitely work, and I'm not tooting my own horn or giving away my story on here but I'm hoping I can get them into the hands of people who can do something with them. But anyways I just figured I would dust off this blog a little and post an update into the process. I really need to get back to writing useful posts not just blah blah ME, blah I'm doing ____ now... but when I have time ,  I'll look into it

- Cjevy

All Time Favorite Movies

So I've been thinking about this recently... What are my absolute all time favorite movies? Top 5? Top 10 even... Is there any horror in here? I mean I write horror stories, I have this blog I hardly pay any attention to yet has been seen by over 10 thousand people and I wonder... what are my absolute favs?

SO I am sitting on the floor in front of my dvd library and heres what it is starting to look like--

1. Kill Bill ( '04, '05)- I don't care how you feel about this movie but everything that is this film is me. Revenge. Intricate story. Martial Arts. Pai Mei... and of course QT.

2. Wall Street (1987)- The ultimate villain set in the hayday of stock market madness and the beginning of outlandish corporate greed. Back when I was a "trainee" at the joke of a firm I drove an hour and a half to get to for a month, all I could think about was this movie 24/7. Dollar bills on top of dollar bills. I also have a ton of love for this film's little brother Boiler Room but not quite top 10, maybe 25.

3. Tombstone (1993)- Motherfucking Tombstone. The most quoteable non-comedy put onto 35mm if you ask me. Kurt Russell just epitomizes everything that I would hope your protagonist is. And this movie just reminds me of my family...

4. Inglorious Basterds (2009)- The Basterds. The perfect screenplay. Literally the first twenty pages are one scene but that scene is just breathtaking. We know everything we need to about the tone and our antagonist. By the way, it is rare that we are introduced to the bad guy before the good guy in a non-horror film don't cha think?

5. Pulp Fiction (1994)- What can I say... QT is god and I will worship him at the altar that is my 47" LG 240hz mini theatre until I die.

6. Boogie Nights (1997)- Best character driven drama I can think of. Who can forget William H Macy barging into that party and blowing his brains out indicating that the 80s would be the perfect 2b act, the hardest part of a screenplay.

7. Casino (1995) - I have always been a fan of the gangster/Scorcese films but I think this one is my favorite of the bunch. Three hours of non stop "fuck this" and "fuck that"... can't beat it.

8. Halloween (1979)- The classic. I don't know how many times Ive seen this. Maybe 100 times? I used to have a double VHS boxed set and the tapes were orange and me and my boy Chris Hogue used to watch this every weekend. The tapes were fucking orange! Ah the good ol days.

9. The Shining (1980)- Another classic. I think I have enjoyed this film more as I have gotten older than I used to as a kid. It was too slow for me back when but now I really appreciate every tense beat and every other strange occurrence (furry BJ) that makes this film terrifying.

10. Anchorman/ Dumb and Dumber (2004, 1994)- A tie for the basement spot. Both classics everyone has seen but I could not look past either one... How did the hell did they know I got gas? These guys must be pros...

Bonus- The Devil's Rejects- There is just something about this fucked up dilusion from Rob Zombie that I attached myself to. The thing is I could literally skip the first half and be contempt with watching the move... Business is business baby. 

Back in this bitch...

Wow so eight months since my last post. I really have to stop doing that, but anyway I am knee deep in my next horror script. I think I have settled on calling it "The Faithful". Sounds creepy right? Anyway here is the logline and hopefully will start getting it out to folks as soon as I can.

The Faithful: A small group must transport the recently executed body of a cult leader through an underground tunnel because his followers have laid siege to the jail. Also in the style of found footage.

That is not the best logline but there are really too many parts to this story and trying to condense it all into one sentence is just blah. Anyway, more updates to come as I wrap it up, and I will also try to write some new articles...

btw, seeing the stats on this blog has me blown away a little... over 10k hits. what?? So def more postings in the near future.

-Cjevy

Mondo Posters

So, my latest obsession has been with the Alamo Drafthouse and their bi-weekly releasing of their custom posters. I stumbled onto this great find because I was fortunate enough to check out a screening of "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" down at the New Beverly theater in Hollywood. And Mr. Tarantino himself had commissioned the Drafthouse and more importantly one of their most talented artists, Tyler Stout to draw something for the event. The result was beyond belief and quickly spread throughout the internet.

Mondo Posters, http://www.mondotees.com/ , has since been an object of my obsession. They announce their sales via twitter and at a random time in the morning, ususally about a half hour after I get into work, and are usually sold out within 3-5 minutes. So yea, you've got that small window to make your purchase or pay double/triple on ebay.

Here are some of my personal favorites... yes they are bad ass, and yes I want all of them...

Update from Beyond the Grave

Wow, so the last time I've updated this thing was May? Where has the time gone? Well, not its July... I've finally got a gig at a mid-major production studio and have been working diligently. I have been attempting to write 2 seperate projects at once. Pretty crazy/stupid right? The first is titled "Scarsdale" and is a thriller about a husband who awakens from a drunken evening to find his wife (seperated but not divorced) dead in the back yard. This idea was not my own, but submitted for the Insiders screenwriting compeition at the writers store. This contest sounds pretty awesome, you write 15 pages, they pick a top then and you get a writing coach for 3 months to help you finish the script. Winners get guanteed meetings with Benderspink as well as a sit down lunch with Robert Mark Kamen (Fifth Element, Taken, The Transporter). So I've got that to look forward to... and I am also working on my next spec... again not a horror script. BOOOOO, but my idea is very promising, very funny, and very commercial so hopefully I can find my way into an agency/management company with this bad boy.

On a side note, where is all the horror movies? Last thing I saw was Scream 4 and I fell asleep while watching it... I was a half bottle of Captain Morgan deep but still... come on

I will try to keep posting on this thing if anyone out there reads it..