Steampunk

I have recently been perusing Brian Robb's lovely Steampunk:  An Illustrated History of fantastical Fiction, Fanciful Film, and Other Victorian Visions...

 ... and may I digress to say that peruse is one of those words that, like bemused, have come to mean its opposite, and therefore is of rather dubious usefulness. Peruse theoretically means "to read thoroughly," and "bemused" to mean "bewilder, stun"; but we seem to use peruse to mean "browse," and bemuse to mean "mildly surprised"...

 ... but no matter. It is a lovely book that investigates the phenomenon of science fiction set in a more technologically competent Victorian Age, where Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's Analytical Engine enables steam-powered airships and, possible, Captain Nemo's Nautilus. If the science fiction of the future is getting a little hard to follow, then the science fiction of the past is more easily swallowed. 

Some of my favorite authors are in here. Tim Powers (of The Anubis Gates, although it is not strictly steam-powered), and Neal Stephenson (of The Diamond Age, although that's really nanotech); and I imagine when I have the time I can get into James Blaylock some more, the chap who actually invented Steampunk as a lifestyle choice and not merely a territory.




 I would not have minded a few more pictures of modern steampunk cosplay, especially if they involved Lady Clankington. But this is a survey, and it needs to leave room for Manga and Wild, Wild West. My only real quibble is that when the book fell to the floor, the binding took it rather badly. I guess I will have to encase it in some sort of leather and springloaded iron contraption...

Montreal Rehearsal Space?

I need to rehearse a scene with two actresses on Saturday the 24th, for about 4 hours. We need about 15' x 20' room to move around. Can anyone recommend a free rehearsal space? Or if not free, very very cheap?

In related news, we need to find a finished basement we can shoot in for two days, December 10-11, ideally with ceilings not too low, a visible stairway, and a couple of high basement-type windows. Would anyone be willing to volunteer a basement?

Use Your Flaws

I spent the day at the Montreal International Game Summit. Among the more interesting talks was Amir Rao's post-mortem on Bastion, a fine downloadable game which has sold 1.5 million copies and won a slew of awards. He said that many of the most innovative and freshest aspects of the game came about when he and his team were attempting to solve their design problems. They just attempted to come up with ways to solve these problems that players hadn't seen before.

For example:  in a 2D isomorphic game, you don't get to see the sky. Solution:  place the fantasy landscape in the sky, so that we see the sky below the landscape. And have the landscape form under the player's feet as he walks, rather than just have it there all the time.

I interviewed Ron Shusett last night. He's been working on his current screenplay for a year. He got the structure down a long time. He's been holding the script back, though, until he could come up with three totally fresh and new special effects. 

Dan O'Bannon had been working on ALIEN year and a half, but he hadn't figured out how to get the alien on board the ship in a fresh way. Then Ron Shusett came up with the chest-burster. Without that, would the movie have got made? Would it have been iconic? Would it have spawned a franchise?

Point is:  the best creators are not satisfied with the traditional. They go the extra mile, or the extra month, or in some cases, the extra year, to come up with something that no one has seen before. 

Web Series War Stories

Interested in how people make web series? My buddy Elize Morgan has gone to the trouble of interviewing a whole slew of people who make web series. And she has made a book, How to Make a Web Series, out of it. I particularly liked the conversation with Jane Espenson about her series HUSBANDS, which is more or less a TV pilot episode shot and aired in two minute chunks.

 What Elize doesn't cover is the financing and monetization of web series. Annoying Orange and Têtes à Claques sell merchandise, but how does a series with a viewership of, say, fifty thousand or a hundred thousand make money for its makers?

 But if you're looking for exposure, it is pretty cool that you can now shoot, cut and distribute your own series for the price of a computer and a phone. Elize has the goods -- check it out.

Kubrick Liked One Point Perspective

Kubrick // One-Point Perspective from kogonada on Vimeo.

Hilary Mantel Says...

Interesting trick novelist Hilary Mantel uses (from The New Yorker feature on her):

When she's starting a new book, she needs to feel her way inside the characters, to know what it's like to be them... Sit quietly and withdraw your attention from the room you're in until your'e focussed inside your mind. Imagine a chair and invite your character to come and sit in it; once he is comfortable, you may ask him questions. She tried this for the first time when she was writing "The Giant, O'Brien": the giant came in, but, before sitting down in the chair, he bent down and tested it, to see if it would take his weight. On that occasion, she never got an further, because she was so excited that she punched the air and shouted "Yes!" but from then on she could imagine herself in the giant's body."

Try it, see how it works.

Insanely Great Deal.

Friend of the Blog Guy Goldstein writes:

I'm a screenwriter and I created a website, www.ReadThrough.com, where real voice actors will perform scripts on-line. You get a full audio performance for your own edification, as well as to share with friends, agents, etc. (though scripts are private by default). It's free for the first month (no credit card required), and extremely cheap after that (less than $5/month).

Q. How many scripts can you have read during a month? How does that work?

Essentially as many as you want - 6 scripts at a time in the max plan, and up to 90 total revisions. Only one person's hit the limit, and we boosted them. How it works:

1. Upload a script. We instantly perform it using computer voices, automatically cast by age and gender.
2. Describe the script and characters you'd like cast for real. We recommend our "optimal" cast, but you can cycle through many options.
3. Typically within a day or two you'll start getting actors performing their roles.
4. You can review the recordings and add notes to any lines you want changed (or love!).
5. Once it's ready, optionally add music/sound effects and share it. You can even track when guests access your script (and see how far they get).

Q. How can you possibly make any money doing this? Or even break even?

Short answer: it'll be tough. We're hoping that word of mouth (and helpful bloggers!) will get us enough sign-ups that we stop leaking money. We're doing an introductory price right now, which will go up slightly (but fyi anyone who signs up soon and sticks with us can keep the current offer). 

We also have plans for premium read-through services, but that's mostly to get actors paid (right now they're volunteer).

Long-term, we're hoping that studios will use ReadThrough to receive script submissions. By the time we transform the whole industry's script reviewing process, hopefully we'll have figured out how to make a few bucks ourselves. Or fled the country. 

But right now my focus is to make something really useful. Hope you'll try it for yourself!

Okay, so this is a classic insane Internet business plan. They are offering to record a reading of your script for nothing, but they'll make it up on volume.

 However, this is a huge opportunity for you guys to hear your scripts read out loud by actors. I highly recommend you guys try out this service before they come to their senses and realize they're giving away a service that's worth at least $250.

Out on Kindle

Incidentally, both CRAFTY SCREENWRITING and CRAFTY TV WRITING are now out on Kindle and other electronic devices.

I did a bit of cleanup on CRAFTY SCREENWRITING. It's not a second edition, but I have updated it where the industry has moved -- for example, queries are now mostly by email, and it's rare that you would actually mail someone a script.

Enjoy!