24 September 2007
WAX ON, WAX OFF, WAX CREATIVE
“Best way to avoid punch, no be there.” — Mr. Miyagi, The Karate Kid
I see a punch coming on.
I’ve lived in New York for over three years now and am finding myself falling into the same kind of creative rut that I’d encountered back in the hometown. Creative frustration. Each time I find a way to get out of it but mostly it was an escape, not a solution.
Perhaps you can see something I’m not and feel free to offer up a solution. I’d love that.
The problem is this: I work as a web designer. I derive much creative satisfaction from photography. But under all of that, I want to make films. I keep coming up with premises for films, but end up discarding most of them, or shelving them in the back of my brain. I do it mostly because I feel that I should hold myself up to some kind of standard, in terms of theme and plot. I could write a goofy comedy, or some love story, or something along those lines but they’re not the kind of films I’d like to make. Also, I don’t want to spend my time (and other people’s valuable time) making something no one will ever watch, that won’t be submitted to YouTube even, let alone any festivals.
“What kind of movies do you make?” I get that a lot. The answer is: NONE. But if I had to answer it’d be to make a movie that’s dark, fucked up, or twisted in some way. Think Palahniuk novels before he became so fucking formulaic (I loved Rant, though.) Think Warren Ellis comics. Think David Fincher movies. Think Hitchcock. Sardonic, quirky, witty.
My problem? My brain’s not churning out those ideas. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m not a writer. I have no problem admitting that, but I think I can write, it’s just that the ideas don’t pour out of me like some others I know.
Are there writing exercises I can do to get the creative juices flowing? Should I suck it up and start making ANY kind of film, so that when I’m ready with a good idea my filmmaking chops will be up to par and I won’t make something that sucks? I’m not ready to give up on this.
Lastly, I might bitch and moan about this and I might not be making films but I am a busy guy. But I won’t let my business be an excuse not to pursue this. That’s lame.
Feedback. Give it.
I’d like to write like Warren Ellis or Chuck or James Ellroy. But I don’t write like them - I write like me. I can adjust my plot to a particular genre, but it’s always going to be me.
You’ve got two choices, as I see it. You can solicit for material that’s the sort of material you want to write and figure out how to put together the financing to make it. Or you can write how you write, and direct that. But clearly what’s happening now isn’t working.
26 September 2007: 12:54 am
It’s not so much that I want to write like Warren or Chuck or anyone else. It’s that I want my stories to be twisted in a similar way. Basically I was moaning about the ideas I actually come up with aren’t the kind of ideas I’d like to film. My style of writing will still be “how I write” — it’s just my ideas aren’t what I was happy with.
The short and long of it is, I need to write more, and more often.
I actually came up with an idea and instead of mulling it over in my head as I find myself doing all the time, I started writing character studies and plotlines and outlines and am already four pages into a new short.
26 September 2007: 1:01 am
He ate and drank the precious Words —
His Spirit grew robust —
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was Dust —
He danced along the dingy Days
And this Bequest of Wings
Was but a Book — What Liberty
A loosened spirit brings —
-Emily Dickinson
Books! Perhaps reading some new material will set your brain off in a new direction. You never know.
28 September 2007: 12:03 am
Hey Bill,
Your boss here. Where’s my website. Go back to work.
;-)
4 October 2007: 3:14 pm
Listen here, you crazy frosted haired Viking. You’re on MY site now. Don’t give me any shit.
It’s YOUR fault I don’t have any creative juices when I get home.
4 October 2007: 3:18 pm
PS - It could be worse. I could be playing fantasy football.
4 October 2007: 3:21 pm
For whatever it’s worth, in my opinion you don’t need to take it for granted that movies have a plot, ’cause they don’t have to. Some of my favourites don’t, and neither did my student shorts from many a year ago. From my limited experience in film and elsewhere (but maybe it’s not your thing) when you cut yourself loose from this it opens up a whole lot…
28 October 2007: 3:43 pm
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