This Looks Like a Job for…

But as always, he’s not available. So, who can we get??? Blue Blazes, of course. More info as it’s made available. To me. You may have more info than I do, in which case, by all means, share in the comments section. Thanks!!!

Ucreate Comics.

Why am I here?

To drive traffic to my ministry site.

Okay, not what I was originally going to write, so, I’ll have to come up with something more relevant. 

In a weird mood today. I have a ‘friend’ stringing me along with the hopes of an investment into my production company, however, I’ve tripped him up and got him to practically admit he was never serious about it. I’ve written about this guy before, therefore it’s your mission to find out where I did that, as it’s on another site that I wholly own.

At My 168 Project, I’m attempting to decide what my next post there will be. It should be this post, however, I’m keeping with the need to rant randomly here.  I’ll probably write about the need to raise ten times as much money this time around, as over at The 168 Project they’ve upped their game. Now I have to up mine, and you should up yours

Yes, I know I’ve done that one before, however, you may not have heard it there first.

Because we’re here. Well, I’m here, you’re there. You could write the same thing. The stream of consciousness is flowing up today. Downwind of upstream. Just like the salmon.

I guess these are in fact, morning pages. As opposed to mourning pages. Write a page every morning, and a sonnet in the afternoon. At night a screenplay, then start the process again. I guess those are my rules for writing.

Unless you’re a reader, at which point, the rules change. Unless they don’t. Just discovered something depressing, so I won’t elaborate. It would appear that I can’t search my previous content while posting. Damn you, WordPress!!!

That’s right, three exclamation points. Count them, three. Each means something different, and if you stop at 2, you must proceed to three, just like when you prepare to toss the Holy Hand Grenade.

That’s probably enough bloviation for today, so, until next time, stay sane. So I don’t have to.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Is it Okay To Yell Movie in a Crowded Firehouse?

Yes. Or, no. It depends on the scope of your 1st Amendment rights. But that’s not what brings us here today.  It’s because it’s the day before the green tree ceremony that you celebrate in your state/country.

There is a competition which I’ve entered every year since 2008, that has significantly changed the parameters of itself since its inception in 2003.  Those that know I’m talking about The 168 Project, may skip a paragraph or two.

My first year in this competition wherein teams get a week to create an eleven minute short film based on a Bible verse, I was on the team that won Best Picture, plus four other awards. I have very high standards as a result. I’ve been attempting to duplicate this feat ever since.

My site, My 168 Project, has been dedicated to creating at least one 168 Project film a year since its founding in May of 2010.  Tax deductible donations always accepted there, as I can’t post a Paypal button here. Well, I could, but it wouldn’t show up.

So as you know, we survived the end of the Mayan calendar. What you may not know is that everyone that thought we wouldn’t chose not to sign over all their property to me starting two days ago.

So, I sit here, the day before Christmas, contemplating what I want to post, and where. Well, I’ve already chosen here, and you’re reading roughly the thoughts I came up with during my morning walk. In the rain. In LA. Okay, it’s LA County, but you get the idea.

I had a crush on Dale Bozzio in the 80′s. Don’t tell my wife.

The last 5 years of The 168 Project, we would have verse selection in and around the beginning of February, as well as the production week. The festival would take place the end of March. 

That’s all changed this year. A company to be named later has taken upon itself to offer up some sort of wait for it, million dollar prize to the winner of best picture this season. How many people remember The Million Dollar Movie? Anyways, as a result, they moved the dates back to May like in 2005. So instead of disappointing my wife on our Anniversary as I usually have, now, I get to disappoint her on her birthday instead, as the 13th is the evening of verse selection for Southern CA teams, of which I am again, Team 33.

The team you may already be on

What this means for the unwashed masses is that instead of roughly 80-100 entries, they’re expecting about a thousand. That’s a 1 with three, count them three zeroes after it. Now, I’d like to believe that I know what I’m doing, and I’ve already spoken elsewhere about the changes that will come about in my life as a result.

The question is, how does this affect you? If you know, leave a comment. 

I was going to say something pithy here like, “I’ve upped my game. Now up yours,” However, I fear I’ve used that at least one previous time, and I don’t like repeating myself. After all, I’m not Little Sir Echo.

I’d like to believe it’s 72 and sunny in Redondo Beach, however, a simple check of weather.com, and the fact that I took a morning walk, belies this.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Why is it, The Law?!?

 

Birth of Mennonite movement (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Or, is it more of a guideline, than a rule? Here’s what I know, and not necessarily, when I knew it. The Law of Unintended Consequences exists in all endeavors, simply because you can’t plan for the unknown. The reason should be obvious, however, for the Amish among you, if you could plan for it, it would be known, and of course, not unknown.

 

What this means is, nobody knows anything. All we have are facts. The facts may lead you to a conclusion, however, your conclusion may be erroneous. Simply because some outside factor that you can’t possibly plan for because you don’t know that it exists, will take place, and then you’re hosed. Or screwed. Or, scrod in the future pluperfect tense.

 

I realize that I’ve buried the lead, but I can do that, as this isn’t news, it’s an opinion column, that is mine, as I do have one, but thusly, The Law of Unintended Consequences states that no matter what precautions you take, something unexpected will take place, and you’ll be at a point where maybe, things have gone horribly wrong. At which point, you may have to start over, accept the unintended consequences, or bail altogether.

 

For instance, you’re reading this after the election in the US, and I’m writing it beforehand. Therefore, you know who’s won, and I don’t. The media thinks they know, but they may be wrong. Hey, it could happen. According to those in the know, it already has, but I digress….

 

So, what this means is, you know more than I do by the time you read this. But I don’t know what you know. I may think I know, but I don’t. Because of the aforementioned law, which may only be a rule, or a guideline. If we are to define insanity, as some would, by doing the same thing and expecting to achieve different results, it follows that a definition of sanity would be the obverse, or, doing different things to achieve the same result.

 

The problem is, due to The Law, we don’t know what that result actually is. And, it may not be what you were originally going for. Sure, when walking forward, you may reasonably assume that at some point, you may get to where you’re going. However, to travel from here to there, you first have to take half the distance to get from there back to here. And, you must repeat the process ad nauseam, until you almost get to where you’re going.

 

Almost anything can happen during the time you’re traversing half the distance. Or to put more succinctly, you have a choice to make. If you make either one of two or possibly three choices as we’ve previously discussed, you can feel confident in the fact that you’ve made a choice, but not that you know how that choice is going to turn out.

 

For instance, when you come to a fork in the road, as we’ve previously discussed, and for sake of illustration, you can go either left or right. Now, you would think you have two possible outcomes with the choice you’re making, however, there’s actually four, as you must accept the fact that you didn’t make the other choice. How does this make you feel? You can’t know, because, It’s the LAW!!!

Disclaimer:  As described above, I wrote this before the 2008 elections, and it was published after we knew who won. I’ve left it intact, as the same rule applies to the repost. I haven’t added any links, and I’d like to hope I’m 4 years wiser.

Related articles

• The Law of Unintended Consequences (davidcroberts.co.uk)
• The law of unintended consequences (whysoangry.ca)
• The law of unintended consequences? (macleans.ca)
• The Law of Unintended Consequences Video (capitalogix.typepad.com)

On the Money Trail: Are Chinese Distributors Paying Producers What They Owe?

Reblogged from chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务:

Follow me on Twitter @robcain or Sina Weibo @robcain, or connect with me on LinkedIn.By Robert Cain for China Film Biz

November 5, 2012

With the American Film Market going on this week, Chinese buyers are in town in L.A., haggling with non-Chinese producers over prices for their films and reportedly making record-breaking offers. As the non-Chinese producers enter into these deals, one thing that is sure to be on their minds is the concern as to whether Chinese distributors will pay them their fair, contractually negotiated share of box office receipts.

Read more… 1,140 more words

It follows that everyone wants their piece of the pie, and most feel that their pie slice should be bigger than everyone else. Top down, or bottom up? It should be simple to make a movie profitably, without all the graft going on in the article described. Would love any additional comments you can provide me. Thanks!!!

Life, The Ultimate Role Playing Game

Someone once told me, “Life’s a game. Play the game.” Thank you, Jack Kennedy. Not THE Jack Kennedy, but one of my old chiropractors, who coincidentally dated my cousin, which is how we met. However, not relevant to the matter at hand, so, we’ll move on, and hope that mention of his name gets me a free adjustment.

So, to continue, you’re playing a game. Unfortunately, when you were born, you weren’t handed instructions on how to play. Fortunately for most of you, you had two parents that helped you along in this area, for the most part. For the next 18-20 years depending on how sick you are of your parents, you accept these rules growing up.

Then, reality sets in. That’s right, I said it. You realize that maybe your parents whom you worshipped, didn’t necessary know everything. Or, if they did, they didn’t tell you. Of course, no one said, the game was fair. If they did, they were lying. Most likely, through their teeth.

This is the real reality, not the virtual reality you see everyday in computers, or TV, or, that’s right, the ‘net. At some point, you’re going to get to, you’ll come to the realization that you have some choices to make, all on your own. We’ve discussed this before. Well, I have, I don’t know if you were here then. In order to make your choice, you’re going to want to make an informed decision, and weigh all your options, therefore, you’ll take these instructions, lists, rules, etc. Whatever your parents called them, and use them or ignore them at your discretion or peril.

After you decide to decide, you may reap the benefits of your informed choice, unless of course, you chose badly, or incorrectly, or some other such word as to pad my word count. I’ve always believed that why use one word, when five will suffice, is a good axiom to follow. You may choose to use or lose if you so desire.

Now, everyone’s circumstance is different. A correct choice for you, may be an incorrect choice for me. However, since I don’t make them, you might decide to follow a similar tract as I do. And you should remember to do as I say, not as I do.

When navigating the stream of consciousness, it is necessary to take an eddy every once in awhile. Where were we? Well, I’m in Redondo Beach, and as previously stated, I don’t know where you are.

To continue, you’ll come to a point where you’ll want to know all the rules to the game. Or the instructions, or, whatever else you can call them in your neck of the woods. And of course, they’re all governed by, The Law!!! I knew I could make my incessant ramblings coherent if given the opportunity.

Ok, to review, no rules to the game of life. Not to be confused with The Game of Life™ a Milton Bradley company. Simply because, those rules are simple, and The Law!!! does not come into play.

According to Shakespeare’s As You Like It, All the world’s a stage, the men and women merely players, each have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his act being of seven ages. Act II, Scene VII. And yes, I did do that from memory. I could look up the rest, but that would simply be padding my word count at this point, which I don’t need to do….

So, to continue; or proceed, or whichever you’d like to do….

You’ve lived most of your life adhering to some set of rules or another, depending on whom you listen to, which god you worship, or even if you don’t have one to call your own. You’ve boiled that down to some such subset, say that three times fast, that you don’t have to think about as you move throughout your life.

Here’s the kicker. You knew there’d be one, right? What if, everything you learned is just plain flat out wrong? And when I say everything, I do mean everything. Not a subset of everything, but, everything. The only thing you know, is, The Law!!! What would you do? What would you do?? Seriously?!?

Pause for effect.

Now I’m no expert, although, others would claim that I am, and not The Others from LOST, either. Other others. Here’s what I did. Instead of attempting to find a new rule book, instruction set, or yet another self help book, I simply plunged in, and started writing my own. It’s amazing that it took me this long to figure that one out. So, to keep you interested until next time, I leave you with the following rhetorical question: When you work out of your home, how do you call in sick?

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Original Disclaimer: Mike may or may not be having a midlife crisis, depending on how old you think he is.

Current Disclaimer: I originally wrote this at the beginning of 2009 for the Idea Masters™ site, and it was never published. Until now. Most if not all is still relevant.

What Do You Do for a Living?

 

 

 

I got asked this the other day. I didn’t know how to respond right away, however, when I want to mess with people’s heads, I reply:

 

I play poker.

 

To which they’ll almost always respond,

 

You play poker?

 

Now, since you can’t hear the inflection in their collective voices when they respond, it’s usually in one of two ways. Either, unbelievably, as in, “What, are you nuts?” or, interested like, “Cool!”

 

The “What, are you nuts?” faction, herein after referred to as simply, ‘nuts’, usually walk away with a strange look on their face, after they’ve asked the follow up question with the sound of incredulity in their voice, and goes something like this, “How can you earn a living playing poker?” To which I usually reply, “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” or some such other random movie quote, which doesn’t actually answer their question, simply because at its base, poker is a game of deception. And as we know, with any game, ultimately it can’t be won, it can only be played.

 

The fact is, I do, and it’s really none of their business how I do it. Unless, they wish to pay me for the privilege. Rates are available, and pretty steep. Just because I have the ability to teach, doesn’t mean that I want to. I feel that this reaction is judgmental as they’ve formed an opinion based on what I do, and not who I am, and I don’t need them as friends.

 

On the other hand, those that reply, “Cool!” usually become some of my newest best friends. People that I’d want to hangout with, when I’m not playing poker, or doing whatever else it is that I do on any given day.

 

Of course, the context of the question is sometimes taken into account. It comes down to where I am when I get asked. I was once at a poker tournament when someone made the grandiose statement, “There are no professionals here.” To which I replied, “I guess I’m not here then.” Now, at this point, I could’ve gotten up and left, however, I did achieve the desired effect, and took all his money later in the tournament. Then he got up and left, shaking his head all the way.

 

Usually, if I get asked the question at the poker table, I tell the other players that I’m a filmmaker, except as noted above. I do this, simply to mess with the players’ heads. Most of the time, if I can get you to talk about anything else while at the table, you’re not going to be concentrating on the game. It also helps that I am indeed a filmmaker, and a pretty good one at that.

 

Yes, there’s more to poker than life. No matter what it is you’re doing for a living, ultimately, it’s none of my concern. Tell me what you want. I’m not going to check you out or anything. There’s no background check involved. Of course, I’m not going to ask in the first place. Unless of course, I want to mess with your head, or, put it on virtual film.

 

Disclaimer: I originally wrote this in late November of 2008, and it was published shortly thereafter on the now defunct Idea Masters™ site. This was #6 in that series.

 

The Spoon in the Road

Yogi Berra once said, “When you get to the fork in the road, you should take it.” Not to be confused with Yogi Bear, who more than once said, “Hey, Boo Boo, look at the picnic basket.”

Boo-Boo Bear (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Both of the above involves a choice. Now you may think you have two of them, in the first case, either the left or right path, and the second is whether or not to take the aforementioned picnic basket.

There is however a logical third choice, which is to stand at the fork in the road, and wait, or to stare at the picnic basket, and do nothing. Both of these involve waiting. Now, I’m not going to extoll the virtues of what these particular choices should be, just that they need to be made, no matter what you’re trying to decide….

You’ve heard the term, “Deer in the headlights.” Why is this phenomenon so universal? As opposed to Universal, the movie studio. Which is owned by NBC, but I digress….

Universal truths are true 100% of the time. What is the deer thinking? Which path to take. Jump over the car, Continue across the road, or, make an emergency Bat-Turn, and go back the way it came. Now, the reason that sometimes, the deer gets plowed into by the SUV and ends up tied to its hood, is that it took too long to make one of three simple choices. Deers used to choose run away, however, their friends saw that choice led to being tied on the hood as well.

What I’m saying here in my borderline passive/aggressive manner is, deciding not to decide yet, is and of itself, a decision.

Let’s think about that for a moment. It’s ok, I’ll wait.

The conclusion you should’ve drawn here is that I’m right, in no matter what endeavor you pursue. Remembering that if you’re on the stand, and the prosecutor asks you, ”Have you stopped beating your wife?“ Neither a yes or no answer is correct here. The third logical choice is, ”To my recollection, I have never beaten your wife.“ Other possible answers include, but are not limited to, ”I’m single.“ Or, ”Why, what have you heard?“

Call, raise, or fold. Yes, no, or wait in the poker arena. Of course, these lead to how much, and when, but that’s another conversation for another column on an entirely different site….

So, the next time you get to the fork in the road, take the 3rd path. Because the next time you get there, you may find that the fork is actually a spoon.

Tune in Next Week... When I discuss why no matter what choice you make, you’re actually screwed in another edition of, It’s the Law!!!

Disclaimer: This was #3 in a series, originally posted in the fall of 2008. I could give you the exact date, however, some in the online blogging community believe it’s not good to date your posts. After all, that could get lonely.

I Recently Discovered….

That a site that I contributed to has permanently shutdown. As a result, I can no longer link to those articles. I’m going to use the next seven posts to remedy that, and I’ll send them out over the next 24 hours.

Stay tuned…

Software Developer Bob McFarlane on STC and the Late, Great Blake Snyder

The Save the Cat!® story structure software developed by Bob McFarlane helps writers create meaningful stories.  A powerful logline and title, a genre with recognizable traits, a beat sheet with 15 key beats for every screenplay or novel and a boar

via scriptmag.com

It should be possible to use this software in order to write a screenplay. Just like all the other software that’s out there that does the same thing….