We All Have Our Own Gifts.

“What if we had food and shelter and safe streets and running cars, but no stories to tell? What would be the point of any of it? The world is screwed up; we’ve always needed security, but we’ve also needed stories to give us a sense of our place in the universe. Stories suggest there’s order in the chaos, the possibility of redemption for our mistakes, and the hope there’s something bigger and more meaningful pulsing underneath it all. 

I can’t balance a checkbook, but I can tell a story. If I tried to be a mechanic, I’d destroy your engine. If I tried to be a cop, I’d probably accidentally taze myself. If I tried to be a doctor, I’d kill you for sure. I greatly admire the people who do all those professions, but I’m not cut out for those things. The best thing I can do is tell stories, in film or books or whatever medium. 

When someone once told Mother Teresa they wanted to join her in her charity work in Calcutta, she responded, “Find your own Calcutta.” So don’t think you’re less important than somebody else because you can’t throw a football or read a medical chart or practice law. We all have our own gifts. Find yours and use it. You aren’t called to be someone else, you’re called to be you.” 

-Chris Easterly

My writer friend wrote this and posted it on FaceBook. I thought it was great and wanted to share it.

I’m in NEED of a MIRACLE!

It’s crazy how the biggest opportunities in life come at the worst possible times. I wonder why that is? Maybe God is testing my faith? Maybe it’s a test to see just how badly I want it… It being this dream of working in TV as a writer. Who knows… all I know is that an opportunity has fallen into my lap and I’d be STUPID NOT to take advantage of it. So, even though I don’t have the resources to make it happen, the opportunity has come at the worst time, I need a Miracle with a capital “M”, and things look bleak, I’m still going to RUN through this open door and take this chance of a lifetime.

Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, my life has not been easy lately… the death of my parents really set me back and put me into a major depression. It seemed my life was going nowhere, fast. My health and finances reached an ultimate low. However, there is hope for me! I have THE opportunity of a lifetime to finally move on in life and pursue my dream, writing for television. Through the kindness of a friend, I can live rent free for a season in California as I get established. While I’m there I’ll work as writing partners with my friend Kandice Johnston on television scripts, go to writers meetings, pound the pavement looking for an agent to sign us, enter fellowships and contests, and look for grunt work in the TV industry as a PA or Writers’ Assistant. It’s just $3000 holding me back from allowing this opportunity to happen. I need $1500 for the cross-country move from New York to Riverside, California and another $1500 to take care of my car and other logistics before I leave. Would you pray for me and consider helping me take this step in life? The Lord has really swung open this door for me and opportunities like this don’t come around all that often. I really need to take this gift, move on to the next chapter, and start my life. I don’t want to miss this chance to finally make the big move to California. As my writing mentor Karen Hall once told me: “If you want to make it in TV, you’ve got to be in California, near LA. There’s no way around it.” I believe her. She’s been working steadily as a TV writer since she got her big break through Alan Alda who got her a job on the writing staff of MASH! 

~Joey

I Started a GO FUND ME! I know everyone does them but I thought it would be an easy way for people to lend a helping hand!

The photos below are from the week I spent in LA in May of 2014 when I started the Act One Writing for Film & Television Program.

 

So Easy a Monkey Can Do It?

If you’re a screenwriter with hopes of writing feature films or television series you’ve heard it before: “That’s easy writing. Anyone can do it. How hard can it be? Have you seen the crap on TV? There’s no good movies coming out of Hollywood anymore. Even a monkey can write a movie!” So, can a monkey really write a screenplay?

Hell no! Here’s my soap box rant on the topic! I wrote this in one shot as a Facebook status. Enjoy. If you’re a writer and this spoke to you, please comment, like, and share.

Why does it seem like writing is the one art medium that people think anyone can do? I have an ongoing battle with one of my brothers that he is NOT a screenwriter because he has a couple of ideas and that I have put in thousands of hours of study and practice and reading and writing… Tons of drafts on close to twenty scripts from feature length to tv pilots, three years of film classes to act one to two classes with Karen Hall, entering contests and fellowships and being torn down and built up and trying again and again. You know what it reminds me of? OPERA! If you know anything about what it takes to become a professional Opera singer you know how daunting it is and how LONG it takes. It’s the same thing with this kind of writing. I speak of specifically of film and TV. So no, it’s not easy. A monkey cannot do it. It’s difficult and painful and heartbreaking and fun and thrilling and it’s not at all like writing a novel. Novels can be a stream of consciousness whereas a screenplay has to have a rhythm, hit certain marks, imagine putting a puzzle together and rearranging it fifteen times but coming up with a better version of the same picture. Imagine a this kind of writing as a mathematical equation or an algorithm. It’s not all creativity and color, it’s just as much left brain, organization, and being analytical. It’s knowing what makes a good story for a movie of the week and what makes a great story that can run for seven to even ten seasons on TV. It’s also knowing subtext and character and character arcs and a million other things! It’s knowing a good idea from a bad idea and that an idea is nothing if you don’t have the skills to execute it. So again, no, screenwriting and TV writing are not so easy a monkey could do them. They’re not the lesser form of writing, they’re just the more complicated form of writing, in my opinion. 

 

Joyce DiDonato – Master Class at Carnegie Hall (day 1)

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show Documentary

The lonely writer.

Luca Pisaroni as Alidoro and Joyce DiDonato as Angelina.

End of Show… An Update on My Personal Writing.

That wonderful feeling having written is the best feeling ever. I just finished my second pilot since I did the Act One writing program this past summer. I feel awesome. Yes, it’s a first draft but for me, first drafts are important. I’m not in the belief that first drafts are garbage, awful, vomit drafts. Sure, things will change, be deleted, be added… but the first draft is the foundation to all of that.

Now the slightly difficult part happens: I wait for my trusted writer friends to read it and give me their feedback and critique.

Off to brainstorm and write my spec for an existing TV show! Once that’s done, I will edit my two original pilots as well as my spec and then I’ll have a portfolio to start sending out to industry professionals! Through amazing circumstances I have a connection to Hollywood and a connection to professional television writers. I’m beyond excited to get this sample of my work done and sent out.

Big things are happening, folks!

Stay tuned. Full pun intended.

TV Writer Tip Tuesday… A Little Late.

I have one simple tip today: purchase and watch the brilliant documentary Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show.

It’s a wonderful film filled with lots of behind scenes information, first hand accounts, and what it’s really like to be a TV Showrunner. Seriously, go to iTunes right now and buy the film. It’s only like $12.99. You will NOT regret it!

TV Writer Tip Tuesday.

Today’s tip is brought to you by my love & respect for acting and the incredible fun I have casting. My tip is simple: fictionally cast actors for your screenplay as you write or even before you start writing. It helps to visualize the character being portrayed by an actor that you believe would bring the character to life. It’ll help you create dialogue unique to the character which will show you’re not a novice. One of the biggest tell-tale signs of a newbie writer is that every character sounds the same. Do everything you can to move past that novice mistake. If you need to visual Jack Nicholson or Meryl Streep, DO IT! If you can visualize your dream cast in every scene, speaking all of your lines, you’ll see a huge difference in your writing. The dialogue will be sharp, unique, and distinct. It will be bring your characters to life, make them feel real, and help the reader of your script imagine your work on the big screen. So, from now on, CAST your characters & let the fun begin!

TV Writer Tip Tuesday.

Today’s tip is brought you by the industry standard on page count. Let’s start with the distinction between a screenplay and a novel. In a novel, you can have lengthy prose filled with descriptive details that go on and on page after page creating a beautiful work of art. In a screenplay you have a formula. A rhythmic a set of marks you have to meet where page count matters and if it’s off, your script will be off. Screenwriting is more about taking your original idea and putting it into the model that works best for film & television. The formula dictates the page count and the rule of thumb is, 1 page of script is equal to 1 minute of film time. So, here are the current standards for page count. Learn them & stick to them. Anything more will make you stand out as a novice. The only thing that should be standing out is your amazing gift of storytelling!

Feature Film: 90 to 120 pages. Though 105 to 120 is reserved for the big wigs i.e. Nolan & Scorcese.

Short Film: 3 to 12 pages. Though I prefer my shorts 3 to 7 minutes long, max. I can’t take shorts that are too long.

Hour-long TV Drama: 45 to 60 pages. Remember, there are commercials so the episode will be about 43-45 minutes long.

Comedy-Single Cam: 25 to 30 pages. This is written in the same style as a feature/hour-long drama, just shorter.

Comedy-Multi-Cam: 42 to 50 pages. This format is vastly different than the others, for example, every line is double spaced.