I'm getting enCaged! (UPDATE - Movie #9: Fire Birds)

shadow_priest_x said:
No shit. That's rough.

Like I said, it's a good movie and it's also one of those Joaquin Phoenix roles that no one ever talks about, but I just tend to prefer a bit lighter fare most of the time.
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8MM is a huge influence on my story. Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Stormare, and James Gandolfini were great in it.
 
There are quicker and easier ways to give yourself brain damage.
 
DIABOLUS said:
8MM is a huge influence on my story. Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Stormare, and James Gandolfini were great in it.
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How did you get into screenwriting BTW?

I've done a bit myself and have gone through a few courses and am doing another short (two week) one next month.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
How did you get into screenwriting BTW?

I've done a bit myself and have gone through a few courses and am doing another short (two week) one next month.
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I never really took any formal writing courses or anything. Way back in middle school my English teacher gave us a short story assignment, something I'd never really done before, and something inside me clicked. I realized I enjoyed the idea of coming up with an original story.

Around that time I was dicking around with this stupid spy vs. spy type adventure serial. Then I moved on to a Dragonball Z fan fiction and invested heavily into it, but gave it up when I realized I'd never be able to do anything with it, not owning the rights to the intellectual property. Around that time I was huge into Cowboy Bebop and toyed around with the idea of a detective story set in a retro-futuristic world.

Over the next twelve years I read a ton of graphic novels, short stories, screenplays, and watched tons of film noir type movies. I did tons of polishing, editing, and revamping of my story to make it something more realistic and less cartoony. Instead of being set in the future, it's set in modern times. It also originally took place in Chicago, then New York before I decided to move it to LA.

This first screenplay is very critical because I'm doing a lot of world-building in the story; establishing key events, character relationships, etc. If all goes according to plan, I will set myself up for many sequels and prequels.
 
DIABOLUS said:
I never really took any formal writing courses or anything. Way back in middle school my English teacher gave us a short story assignment, something I'd never really done before, and something inside me clicked. I realized I enjoyed the idea of coming up with an original story.

Around that time I was dicking around with this stupid spy vs. spy type adventure serial. Then I moved on to a Dragonball Z fan fiction and invested heavily into it, but gave it up when I realized I'd never be able to do anything with it, not owning the rights to the intellectual property. Around that time I was huge into Cowboy Bebop and toyed around with the idea of a detective story set in a retro-futuristic world.

Over the next twelve years I read a ton of graphic novels, short stories, screenplays, and watched tons of film noir type movies. I did tons of polishing, editing, and revamping of my story to make it something more realistic and less cartoony. Instead of being set in the future, it's set in modern times. It also originally took place in Chicago, then New York before I decided to move it to LA.

This first screenplay is very critical because I'm doing a lot of world-building in the story; establishing key events, character relationships, etc. If all goes according to plan, I will set myself up for many sequels and prequels.
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No shit, so you've been working on the same story for several years?

BTW, if you want to go through this two week screenwriting course I mentioned, it's online and it's free. Starts on Sept 12:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/screenwriting
 
shadow_priest_x said:
No shit, so you've been working on the same story for several years?

BTW, if you want to go through this two week screenwriting course I mentioned, it's online and it's free. Starts on Sept 12:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/screenwriting
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Might have actually been a little longer, I seem to recall being in my freshman year of college and doodling some of the characters. Would have been around 2001-2002, so shit, 14-15 years now lol.

Course looks interesting, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!
 
DIABOLUS said:
Might have actually been a little longer, I seem to recall being in my freshman year of college and doodling some of the characters. Would have been around 2001-2002, so shit, 14-15 years now lol.
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Damn, well respect to you for sticking with it. I think that unless I'm planning an epic GoT-level kind of fantasy series, there's no way I work on the same story for that long. I think if I was doing a screenplay and working on the same one for more than a couple of years I'd just be over it.


DIABOLUS said:
Course looks interesting, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!
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It should be interesting. If you actually start it let me know. We can compare notes a bit as we work through it.
 
Kraysla said:
The thing i don't understand about him is that he's been in some good movies, so why all the dogshit, straight to DVD ones? Every actor makes a couple shitty movies, but he just seems to say "yes" to every script offered him. He must be terrible with money.
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He makes Mike Tyson look like Warren Buffet. The guy has just been jumping from one project to the next at breakneck speed to pay off millions of debt.
 
BisexualMMA said:
He makes Mike Tyson look like Warren Buffet. The guy has just been jumping from one project to the next at breakneck speed to pay off millions of debt.
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Here's what I don't understand.

Okay, so he bought a bunch of stuff and spent all his money, fine. And now he's sold a lot of that shit off. So since he's sold most of it off, shouldn't that have eliminated most of the problems? Especially considering he has continued to make money with all these new movies it seems like he should have been in a good place again pretty quickly.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Damn, well respect to you for sticking with it. I think that unless I'm planning an epic GoT-level kind of fantasy series, there's no way I work on the same story for that long. I think if I was doing a screenplay and working on the same one for more than a couple of years I'd just be over it.

It should be interesting. If you actually start it let me know. We can compare notes a bit as we work through it.
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This story has been my way of battling my own personal demons. My detective is an idealized version of myself, the kind of person I wish I was in real life. Other characters represent other facets of my personality. And the overall theme of the entire story (not just this specific screenplay) deals with issues that have plagued me for much of my life; depression, isolation, disillusionment, suicide, sexual conflict between men and women, etc. It's so ingrained with who I am that I don't see it as a chore at all to have worked on it for so long.

But at this point, I've invested too much time and energy to NOT do something with it, which is why I'm trying to turn it into a screenplay and pitch it to a studio. If I can make lots of money off of it, so much the better.

I have my reservations about what I could learn from a two week course that I hadn't read or seen over the last 15 years but since it's free I'll definitely be taking it. Who knows, I may find a nugget of info that could prove hugely helpful with my script. And I'm definitely down with comparing notes and such.
 
DIABOLUS said:
This story has been my way of battling my own personal demons. My detective is an idealized version of myself, the kind of person I wish I was in real life. Other characters represent other facets of my personality. And the overall theme of the entire story (not just this specific screenplay) deals with issues that have plagued me for much of my life; depression, isolation, disillusionment, suicide, sexual conflict between men and women, etc. It's so ingrained with who I am that I don't see it as a chore at all to have worked on it for so long.

But at this point, I've invested too much time and energy to NOT do something with it, which is why I'm trying to turn it into a screenplay and pitch it to a studio. If I can make lots of money off of it, so much the better.
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Interesting. So it's very personal for you. Sounds like it's probably even therapeutic for you to work on.

That's cool. I'd be curious to see how it turns out. How long before you think you've dotted you're last I and crossed your last T?


DIABOLUS said:
I have my reservations about what I could learn from a two week course that I hadn't read or seen over the last 15 years but since it's free I'll definitely be taking it. Who knows, I may find a nugget of info that could prove hugely helpful with my script. And I'm definitely down with comparing notes and such.
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I see two main benefits:

1. It's always good to reinforce things you already know. Going over familiar material (three-act structure for instance) can really help to push it into your subconscious.
2. Every teacher comes from a slightly different angle and will have insights that you're not going to get anywhere else.

I've taken some film production classes, and have a few books on screenwriting, and have gone through a screenwriting course on Lynda.com. I don't expect that this course will teach a lot of stuff that's revolutionary for me but it will be beneficial for the reasons listed above.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
You nailed it with the last statement. Here you go:

http://financebuzz.io/finance-nicolas-cage-buying-spree
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Wow. Reading that article at first i was like, "yeah, that's not too much considering his income..." and then i got to the yachts, properties, and jet and thought, "well, that would do it." It's like he has no concept of money. Lucky for him he's still got time to sell some of that stuff and make more movies to get out of that mess.
 
TS after 10 films:
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Kraysla said:
Wow. Reading that article at first i was like, "yeah, that's not too much considering his income..." and then i got to the yachts, properties, and jet and thought, "well, that would do it." It's like he has no concept of money. Lucky for him he's still got time to sell some of that stuff and make more movies to get out of that mess.
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Yeah, the dude just loves to spend money. I mean, he owned multiple castles for God's sake. CASTLES!

But it's been a while now I really think he's got to be in okay shape at this point. I just hope that starring in all these bullshit movies hasn't permanently damaged his reputation amongst top directors.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Yeah, the dude just loves to spend money. I mean, he owned multiple castles for God's sake. CASTLES!

But it's been a while now I really think he's got to be in okay shape at this point. I just hope that starring in all these bullshit movies hasn't permanently damaged his reputation amongst top directors.
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Well, he came back from Zandalee...
 
BisexualMMA said:
He makes Mike Tyson look like Warren Buffet. The guy has just been jumping from one project to the next at breakneck speed to pay off millions of debt.
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I just read the article Shadow Priest linked and it is fucking crazy how much he spends. Especially with all the properties, yachts, cars, and the jet he purchased. He reminds me of those stories you read about lottery winners who go broke, only Cage has been wealthy for a long damn time. You'd think either he'd learn to somewhat control it or just hire a lawyer to strong arm him every time he tried to make an irrational purchase. He doesn't seem to factor in maintenance, insurance, renovations, gas, etc. for any of these things.
 
Kraysla said:
I just read the article Shadow Priest linked and it is fucking crazy how much he spends. Especially with all the properties, yachts, cars, and the jet he purchased. He reminds me of those stories you read about lottery winners who go broke, only Cage has been wealthy for a long damn time. You'd think either he'd learn to somewhat control it or just hire a lawyer to strong arm him every time he tried to make an irrational purchase. He doesn't seem to factor in maintenance, insurance, renovations, gas, etc. for any of these things.
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Maybe he just never learned any restraint since he was born into Hollywood royalty.

And yet Michael Douglas became an incredibly astute businessman.
 
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