Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
07-24-2020, 04:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-15-2020, 01:51 PM by Greg.)
I'm klickety klacking at the keys to write about my experience in the film industry. It's giving me something to do while I wait for Burbank Film Festival to finally make up it's goddamned mind.
I've just started writing about Child's Play 2. I'm just under 17k words.
Thank goodness for IMDB to help me keep things straight. Although I just noticed that Dante's Peak nor Starship Troopers were in the list.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 33,878
Threads: 2,549
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
3
07-24-2020, 04:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2020, 04:53 PM by Drunk Monk.)
You could call in 'Stories from the Trenches'...
...oh wait...
http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/show...ood-Movies
![[Image: tumblr_phubdr840P1tdhimpo1_400.gifv]](https://66.media.tumblr.com/857407b70444cedb70b85313873e141b/tumblr_phubdr840P1tdhimpo1_400.gifv)
![[Image: tumblr_phqp67uCPj1tdhimpo1_400.gif]](https://69.media.tumblr.com/24fd0634b45ec1392ad1e0727a3e9532/tumblr_phqp67uCPj1tdhimpo1_400.gif)
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Roger Corman has a similar title for his stories.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Rather than doing any writing, I'm scrolling through Twitter. What comes up on the Feed? Tales about Batman Returns. Where am I currently struggling to get writing? Batman Returns.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 33,878
Threads: 2,549
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
3
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Fair. I expect I'll be watching Basic Instinct later this evening.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
My question for the day is how did people write film memoirs before IMDB? I find myself checking it constantly to make sure I'm on course. There are even a few films in there that I have no memory I worked on. Which makes me kick myself for not taking more pictures.
I've been pretty good about making sure that the films I work on are part of my listing, but I can keep finding omissions. For instance today, I realized I had never put in The Bodyguard or Mars Attacks.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Another crappy day. I got distracted by the BIFF news. But I got a few words in.
My word total at the end of the week is 26840. I'm currently writing tales from 1993.
I'm kind of in a weird batch where I worked on a lot of stuff but nothing about those shows stands out.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 33,878
Threads: 2,549
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
3
I feel ya. At least you have IMDB. I was nibbling at my Unfinished Concert Memoir before I lost my job and it's harder to track concerts. There's some resources, like JamBase, and I have ticket stubs and assorted notes, but it's such a mess. Perhaps that story will never get told.
Keep plugging.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Just remembered three films I worked on that weren't on the IMDB page.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Am I doing this right? Or is the universe just poking me?
I'm doom scrolling through Twitter when I come across this tweet:
Originally, I wasn't going to watch it because it was about James Cameron who totally takes a shit on sets. He has a terrible reputation with crews. But I like Sam Raimi who I talked with on Planet of the Apes and clicked the link. If you haven't seen it, it shows Raimi talking about not having time to use hair care products while he is directing. And then shows a french director using hair care products. Funny. Cute. At the end, Raimi tells the camera if you need more filler, he has clips.
Then they show some clips from Darkman. The clips are of Ted Raimi getting shoved up through a manhole cover in the middle of a busy Hollywood street. It immediately dawns on me, that I was there for those shots. I helped cut up the manhole cover so it would fit in the street. And yet, it's not on my IMDB list. It's not in the memoir.
Time to go back and fill in some details.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
Okay. I have 40, 524 word in total. Beautiful untouchable words. Every one I'm sure is perfect.
I made it through Dante's Peak and Alien: Resurrection and I just got started on Paulie: A Parrot's tale.
The goal was to make it to 40K by the end of the week and I'm glad I did. Sat in the chair a little extra to make the goal.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 15,847
Threads: 977
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation:
1
As I prod my mind for stories from the movies, occasionally stories will appear, or sometimes just scenes, and I can't remember which movie those occurred on. I do have notes but I'm going to get all the stories I know out before I crawl through the notebooks. I'm putting the notebooks off because there will be a lot of me yelling at me for not taking enough notes. I do the same about the photographs. I'm constantly chastising myself for not taking more photographs of the film sets. Although for a lot of the films, it was verboten and it's kind of hard to sneak the old film camera onto the set.
I'm struggling with two lost scenes at the moment. I remember distinctly having to cut candy glass for a film. Our production designer ordered the glass and it was all too long and some needed to be removed. First rule, never let the production designer measure. It always ends badly. Secondly, you can't cut candy glass. All candy glass wants to do is break. Candy glass is just waiting for you to look at it wrong and it shatters. But I had to figure out a way to cut it since we didn't have time to get more candy glass and the film crew needed it for that night's shot. I figured out that if I scored the candy glass very slowly and carefully with an x-acto knife, I could remove the excess glass. Pain in the ass.
The problem is I distinctly remembering doing this. I just don't remember the picture.
the other one is the Greystone or Doheny Mansion visit. I've been there twice for movies. I don't remember when. It's a beautiful place complete with a murder. The blood stain is still visible in the hardwood floor. They use the mansion a lot for film shoots. Jerry Lewis filmed in there and destroyed most of the woodwork by painting it green. They had to sandblast the green paint off which destroyed everything. See? I know I was there. The rat warren that is my brain stored stories. But I can't remember the picture.
I also think on the same movie we had to drop off some exercise equipment to the producers house.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
Posts: 4,082
Threads: 681
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
0
I presume that candy glass eventually got broken in the filming.
Then again, most films have breaking glass and defenestrations -- or the ones I watch.
Further then again, I suppose candy glass isn't just used for breaking. Is it used just for quick and cheap construction?
I'm nobody's pony.
Posts: 33,878
Threads: 2,549
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
3
I think it's fair to retell such stories and not identify the film. You can play it out as still being under some sort of NDA or a 'names changed to protect the innocent' or just say you can't remember because that adds to the mystique. I'd also include some version of the comments you've made here - how you wish you had taken more pix but it's verboten, how hard it was to smuggle film cameras, and how you had to dig back through imdb and your notes to sort the story.
Obvs this is a 1st person narrative and all that stuff is part of your 1st person experience. It could be presented in an engaging way, particularly if you play your cliched annoyance and frustration with your own shortcomings. That'll be old news for DOOM but there's only a few of us.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
|
