Breaking it down

My year got off to a shitty start. I'll admit it, it blew. It sucked in so many ways, I won't go into the boorish details. I will, admit, however, that I let it happen. I let things slip through my fingers when I should have focused on work and dove right in. Maybe one of these days I'll actually listen to my friends and my own advice.

But I'm back on track. No damage has been done to the career track. Though I was afraid that if I let things continue on the way they were any longer, there would be hell to pay - my ass on a lovely little platter.

Here's how everything is breaking down:

Beyond the Mat. Mine again. After meeting with the other writer, the director decided that the other writer couldn't really bring anything new to the script and that working with me was in his best interest. I made myself a damn good commodity to the project. Not to mention, when you get advice from a professional screenwriter (working on a high profile sequel) that says your writer is doing damn good work and that the script itself is pretty good, too, you tend to listen.

And they're thinking about filming in my hometown. Draft 11 is in the works.

Blood Bond. The script is at Hyde Park, doing what, I don't know. I think it's fermenting on a shelf in their offices. Kirk is in Taiwan. That's all I really know about that subject.

Californio: The Ballad of Joaquin Murrieta. No news yet. After a little trouble getting things in order with the release form they finally received it about a week and half after the script. We're crossing our fingers, waiting to hear something. If worse comes to worse, we're considering trying to get it off the ground ourselves.

Coyotes. The new treatment is about halfway finished, roughly eight pages. I should be getting notes back from Mark at Treasure to see what our next couple of moves are.

When the Sleeper Wakes. A comic book I've been fiddling around with as a collaboration with Mark Andrew Smith, who writes The Amazing Joy Buzzards over at Image Comics. First issue is in the can, working on the second right now, next three issues are in a rough outline form. We'll be finding an artist soon.

Linda. She's a bad ass assassin/bounty hunter; pure pulpy, Hong Kong style fun. Two features in the can, I'm brainstorming a new idea for a comic book. My meeting with Mark Smith put me in the right frame of mind to get this off the ground.

Future Projects. Nick and I will be cooking up some new screenplay projects very soon.

Dvdtown.com reviews are piling up.

Writing needs to be done... and in all honesty I'm looking for more.

It's good to be back.

Boundin' and reboundin'

I woke up ass early to take my friend/producer of Beyond the Mat to the airport. Why I wake up and do these things for people is beyond me, oh wait I have a nice guy complex. Anyhow, she really hasn't been completely up on the porject the last few weeks. Her day job is being an associate producer ona reality TV show - she's pretty kick as at her job. She fights for my work, on getting BTM as tight and as "non-cliche" as possible, hard to do when the directorwas considering working on an Asian version of "The Notebook."

Well, I get a call from the director this morning to inform me (and seek approval to a degree) that I am being replaced as the writer of the film. A swift kick in the nuts. But also something of a relief. I've written 10 drafts, which vary from being page one rewrites to polishes and verything in between. Maybe I've written more, all I know is that I'm so close to the project that I do need a break, to come back with it with a fresh set of eyes.

I'm being replaced by an Asian-American writer. The director said he'd only be comfortable with this if I was. It'll make things easier to sell to Asian investors I suppose. But there's nothing like the feeling I'm having right now of knwoing that someone else is going to be rewriting something I've invested so much time and energy into. I still get credit, I still get paid, I still get to be involved with the production, develop the script, etc. I also get to feel anomsity towards someone I've never even met.

I often work with a co-writer but this is vastly different. My work with Nick is seamless and easy, Californio is my best piece of writing and it saddens me that I can't get him inolved on certain projects (yet) because of race. It's kind of ironic, but the truth of the matter is that we work well together. Very well. I really wish he was the writer that would be handling the rewrite on this but the director really wants an Asian-American writer.


Well, I am off for now. I have to go work on my Latino, Urban themed, music driven film treatment. Hijole.

Update: So, I spoke to the director of Beyond the Mat last night; the business plan/package still hasn't gone out. He' says Tuesday. But on a good note we've been getting a lot of good coverage from various readers. Yay.

I need a new day job.

El Gran Silencio

I handed off the 10th draft of Beyond the Mat to the producers the 2nd week of January. I hustled to get the thing done to meet a deadline they had imposed on the production. This was so they could get the script and business plan out by that weekend. We met on a Sunday, they expected the script on Friday, Saturday at the latest. They got it Weds. morning Jan. 11th. The last I heard the business package was going out this past Monday (the 30th). Nobody tells the writer anything.

There's this great void of uncertainty, waiting, and nail biting agony that I'm trying to push into the back of my mind. I need to focus on these two new projects I have going, they're very promising and could lead to great deals for myself and the production/managment comapny involved. Not to mention the anticipation over Olmos productions reading Californio (they did, however, just request that we sign a release form before anything else - why didn't they ask for that BEFORE we sent the script?). I can't help but feel a little helpless, considering I can really do nothing at this point to influence what will happen. It's something of a great silence, un gran silencio.

Whine, whine, whine. Negativity is a bitch. But I know how fortunate I am to be in this position. Three scripts in various hands, doing various things, that could kick start my career. It's scary, exciting to think about. I know plenty of people who would kill to be in my position. I am every bit a struggling writer and I'm making things happen, or so I hope. I dream. I ain't got much else.

But you know what, life is good.

Check it

The 'Bu

She never felt like home

The pre-wrtiting process has begun. Two treatments for a potential (paid) writing gig are currently brewing over in these parts. One is reworking of my human trafficking script, whcih seems to be all the rage of political discussion these days. The idea is to focus more on the main relationship in the film, a brother and sister at odds with their decisions about becoming involved in this underworld.

The second is kind of a Chicano/a "Garden State" with a rougher edge, and hopefully a female lead, that could be good. This one is a little closer to my heart considering it deals with a lot of issues and things closely related to my growing up in the community and the enviornment that I did. I had a friend, a popular white kid, who was murdered by gang bangers about 8 years ago. Some people say it was motivated by a riff between his close circle of friends and the gang bangers. Others say that it was for dating a very popular Mexican girl. Reasoning aside, someone very close to me knew details that could have led to much quicker arrests. This person never came forward and I never knew about their inolvement until after the police caught the guys almost year after the fact. Very sad.

In other news, the business plan for Beyond the Mat has gone out to financers and now we're just waiting to hear back from people. Crossing fingers.

Olmos Productions has requested to read our latest draft of Californio. The script goes out tomorrow.

Blood Bond is supposed to be making the rounds at Fox. Kirk is in Taiwan doing prep work on another project.

I'm about to start writing something new. It feels prett f'ing good. Hasta.

Up to Bat

Warren at The Screenwriting Life tagged me for the now infamous Scribosphere Meme, which I hadn’t noticed until this morning since I’ve been MIA the last few days. Argh, I hate being on the tail end of things. But thanks, Warren, much obliged.

ONE (1) earliest film-related memory:
My parents, mis padres, love the movies. Married 45 anos, their earliest dates consisted of going to el cine in their small, Texas town and when they had seen all of the films playing locally, they’d hop on a bus and head over to the nearest town to catch movies they hadn’t seen there. That said, they didn’t stop when they started having kids, movies became and important part of tiempo con el familia, family time together. My earliest memories are of Luke in the Rancor pit (sp?) in Return of the Jedi and watching Indiana Jones run away from the impending stone ball rushing after him in Raiders of the Lost Ark. There’s also an early memory I have of watching Rebel Without a Cause with my dad. “You’re tearing me apart!!!” Then there's also watching and crying at La Bamba con mi familia.


TWO (2) favorite lines from movies:
“It can’t rain all the time.” – Eric Draven, The Crow
“Stay frosty.” – Cpl. Hicks, Aliens.

THREE (3) jobs you’d do if you could not work in the “biz”:
Film Studies Professor/teacher
Own a Comic Book Shop
Journalist

FOUR (4) jobs you actually have held outside the industry:
Graduate Assistant to a Professor of Business
English/Math tutor
Boys and Girls Club Counselor
Hardware Handyman, True Value Hardware

THREE (3) book authors I like:
Sherman Alexie
John Steakley
Luis J. Rodriguez

TWO (2) movies you’d like to remake or properties you’d like to adapt:
John Steakley’s Armor, a great, pulpy sci-fi epic... and another project which I’ve been developing off and on for a while which I will leave unnamed for now. Gotta keep one in the bag. Con Safos.

ONE (1) screenwriter you think is underrated:
Tom Mankiewicz, who was responsible for making Superman into the film we all know and love. He turned what was originally a completely campy script into what we now know as one of the greatest Superhero films of all time.

THREE (3) people I’m tagging to answer this meme next:
Well since almost everyone I know has been tagged already, I’ll try:
The Write Brother
Phillip Morton (as Warren stated before me, let’s see if we can get any of the big boys involved in this)

She was a poem on legs.

Reboundin'

It's always interesting to me the kind of influence the people near and dear to us have over our writing process, wether we like it or not. Certain inflections of personality, speech, their way of doing things, it all rubs off some. My process has always been informed by the people around me, they engage me and challenge me to think of things in a different light. This is also one of the blessings of having a solid writing partner. I'm fortunate to have an almost constant sounding board with Nick. My dear friend Ingrid has always been extremely helpful in this capacity as well. Other people ain't too shabby in this capacity either.

I've been stifled lately, unable to really write ANYTHING in the last few weeks - outside of the few posts here, of course. A potetnial (new and paid) writing job might break this cycle of zero output. Me hopes. Nine drafts (with a few more on the horizon) of Beyond the Mat was starting to get to me. Not to mention I also have three new DVDs to review for dvdtown.com. I needed the break.

March 1st is the tentative first day of production for Beyond the Mat.

"Un revolucionario verdadero cree en el mejor de las personas, en su valor y su listo."

It's been a while

Qucikly, a few new things on the horizon. A potential pitch meeting and paying gig, if things pan out. Beyond the Mat is moving along nicely and as long as things keep moving as they are, the film is going into production in two months.

No word on Blood Bond.

Sent Californio out to another actor, waiting to hear back.

Coyotes outline rewrite is going slow, but I'll have something new soon.

Goals: Agent, Career start, New Script, Network, Californio, Assertive

Sometimes you'll watch a movie and it'll pull just the right heart strings to get you balling like a baby. Happy New Year everyone!

A snippet

I need to revise my credo, here's a taste:

I believe that what it means to be Chicano today, as was once said, lies metaphorically in the hyphen between Mexican-American. It’s an ambiguous, at best, notion of identity. I live in two worlds, a white one and a “brown” one; where sometimes you are not “American” enough for the Americans or Mexican enough for the Mexicans. It’s a difficult path to navigate sometimes, knowing that I am of one of the smallest percentages of “my people” reaching an educational level this high. I represent “us” without ever having been asked, but such is the role of minorities in America.

But I often wonder if Chicano is a term that represents me. The term is taken a group of people who split from the Aztec nation, who fancied themselves the sons and daughters of Huitzilpochtli (god of fire, war and the sun). They called themselves the Mexica (Mechica), hence the derived Chicano. Some find it offensive, associating it with a militant ideal, others not so much. Myself, I really don’t know. Maybe I’m Spanglish, what writer Ed Morales, claims is a “metaphor for what a mixed race culture means – a hybrid language, an informal code…Spanglish is what we speak, but it is also who we Latinos are, and how we act, and how we perceive the world… it is an immediate declaration that translation is definition, that movement is status quo.” Or maybe I am just the son of a couple of Mexicans from Texas, from a family who has had roots there long before Mexico or the U.S.

Tengo un mil solo para usted

Beyond the Mat draft 9 has been completed. I finished it up late last night and did a read through earlier this morning and then sent it off to Van for his notes, thoughts. Seems like financing will go through early in Januaruy and the production is pushing along as planned. If things keep progressing as they are, my first feature film will go into production in late Feb., early March - right around the corner.

Blood Bond is in the director's hands now and I'm now playing the waiting game yet again to see if the project is given the greenlight.

Still no further word about Californio and the big three Nick and I sent it out to. We're still waiting to hear back from Sal Lopez, Julio Mechoso and others.We al recieved our first "non-connection" request to read the script from an agent named Suzanne Camejo, who produced a version of the Joaquin Murrieta story over 20 years ago for PBS.

Todo esta bien en mi mundo. Hasta.

Walking Contradictions

Life has a funny way of throwing you curve balls during the writing process. I suppose it's all really a matter of how you deal with them that matters. If you can take that apparent hindrance, regardless of what form it takes, and make something positive out of it, that's what makes the difference. In screenwriting it's called a test of character.

There's plenty of reasons to turn tail and give up in this town, especially in this profession. I have the fortunate nature of personality that includes an overhwelmingly optimistic outlook on everything (it can often be a curse). But if it wasn't for this and the love and support of family and friends, I would have turned tail by now. Then there's that whole "talent" thing - but honestly who really cares about that.

My year in movies

The following is a list of movies I’ve seen since Dec. 6^th 2004- Dec.6th, 2005. Many were intentional, some were mistakes, some were for reviews, all took time out of my life. And this doesn't even depict the countless hours watching full seasons of Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls and Lost, among others. I know its fascinating...

Dec. 2004
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Blade: Trinity, The Day After Tomorrow, New Police Story, Elf, Walking Tall (The Rock), Ocean’s Twelve, The Bourne Supremacy, Shrek 2, I, Robot, Spiderman 2, Collateral, Dodge ball, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Extended Edition, The Manchurian Candidate (Denzel), Maria Full of Grace, King Arthur, Garden State, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Jan. 2005
Carnal Knowledge, The Aviator, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, Blue Crush, Hotel Rwanda, Kaena: The Prophecy, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Escape From New York, In Good Company,
Phantom of the Opera, Closer, Twilight Samurai, Assault on Precinct 13, Friday Night Lights, Coach Carter, Million Dollar Baby, Farscape: Peace Keeper Wars, A Very Long Engagement, The Devil’s Playground, The Big Red One (Reconstruction), Rosemary’s Baby

Feb. 2005
Irma Vep, Superman, The Incredibles, Beauty and The Beast (Cocteau), Un Chien Andalou,
King of Comedy (Chow), Land without Bread, Trip to the Moon (Short), Everything in this country must (Short), Constantine, The Bronze Screen, Heat, Viva Zapata, The Mark of Zorro,
Devil in a Blue Dress, Kung Fu Hustle (2), Get Shorty

March 2005
Bachelor Party, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Be Cool, Rocky II, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Rocky, Red River, Selena, The Bad and the Beautiful, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Redemption, Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (2004)

April 2005

Sin City (2), The Last of the Mohicans, Tom Jones, Pistol Opera, House of Fury, Witness, Fireman’s ball, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Silverado, Sahara, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Appleseed (2004), The Interpreter, Cellular, Time and Tide

May 2005
Chop Socky, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Looking for Mr. Perfect, Ju Dou, Kontroll, Ocean’s Twelve, Monster’s Inc., The Fugitive, 2046, Apollo 13, The Notebook, Sideways, Easy, Wet Hot American Summer, Unleashed, Son of the Mask, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2), Vision Quest, The Rookie, Flight of the Phoenix, Crash

June 2005
Say Anything…, E.T., Love Battlefield, Take down, Miracle, Friday Night Lights, Reversal, Before Sunrise, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Young Guns, Young Guns 2, National Treasure, Batman Begins,
Anchorman, DEBS, Batman Begins, Spanglish, Napoleon Dynamite, Finding Neverland, The Incredibles, The Driver, Land of the Dead,Champion (Korea), X Men 2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, House of Wax (2005), The Jerk, War of the Worlds

July 2005
The Last Shot, In Good Company, The Nest (France), Coach Carter, The Pacifier, Almost Famous, Freaked, The Island, Prozac Nation, Hostage, Kung Fu Hustle, Man of the House,
Unleashed, The Jerk, Beyond the Sea

August 2005
Arahan, The Upside of Anger, Million Dollar Baby, Gattaca, The Girl Next Door, Star Trek IV, Broken Flowers, Lightning Bug, Kinsey, Danny the Dog, Four Brothers, XXX: State of the Union, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Nausicaa

September 2005
Unforgiven, Steamboy, Transporter 2, Eros, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Jersey Girl, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, A History of Violence

October 2005
Serenity, Longest Yard, The Interpreter, Soldier’s Girl, A Lot Like Love, Motorcycle Diaries, 11:14, In the Mood for Love, Born into Brothels, Undead, High Fidelity, High Tension, Dracula (1931), Capote, Evil Dead 2, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, The Matrix Revolutions, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary

Nov. 2005
Transmerica, Batman Begins, Happy Together, Freak, The Constant Gardner, Imaginary Heroes, Say Anything…, Safety Last!, The Freshman,Bad Education, Man on Fire, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Dec. 2005
Murderball, Mi Familia/My Family

Murder She Wrote

Via an email from our actress/producer:

"Mark Boone Junior basically said we should get the script to Gael Garcia Bernal and attach him. He also said we should attach a director in order to legitimize the project. But, he said we're doing everything correctly by sending out letters to Hispanic-content prod. companies. Once we have talent (actor, producer, director) attached, we can solicit investors.

...He said he would take the project under his wings, but that he's trying to get a script off the ground himself. So, basically, I'd say we're at ground zero. However, the good thing is that CALIFORNIO is in his head and if anyone is looking for a Western he'll let us know. "

Still no word from Sal Lopez, I imagine we'll hear something this week.

No word on Blood Bond as Kirk is in Hong Kong at the moment.

I'm off for now as I get to work on the 8th draft of Beyond the Mat (which may start securing investors, very soon - crossing fingers).

The Faith of a Writer

" 'An affinity for risk, danger, mystery, a certain derangement of the soul; a craving for distress... the predilection for insomnia' - these are some of the ingredients in the personalities of writers. Such are the people who create what Joyce Carol Oates calls 'the highest expression of the human spirits,' art. Oates writes that it requires solitude to create a counterworld, seeming to agree with Virginia Woolf, whom she quotes: ' A book should be unwriteable.' In other words, one can't lay it all out ahead. The writer is damned. While some used alcohol to rest, Oates admits an addiction to running. But Oates gives us something larger, something worthy of faith. She reminds us of the irrelevance of the writer's ego: 'The "artist" can inhabit any individual,' she writes, 'for the individual is irrelevant to "art." "

Quickly

Californio query letters went out last week. So far we have received about 4 rejections, all from agents, two return to senders, from production companies, and one request for our resumes and a copy of the script from actor Sal Lopez (Sleeping Giant Productions). We've had an in with him for a while since the music producer for Nick's thesis film is Sal's nephew. We're hoping to hear from Edward James Olmos and a few other big guns soon.

Blood Bond has been polished and sent out to director Kirk, who in turn is supposed to send it out to Hyde Park, who in turn are supposed to get it out to Fox in hopes of securing some financing.

Beyond the Mat is going through its 8th draft and director Van is hoping to have a finished draft in the next few days, by me, to get out to a potential investor/co-producer who may be able to fund the entire thing himself. We shall see.

400 Horse Power

...Abro la puerta y camino fuera de mi mundo, el tiempo despliega para dar la bienvenidame, y el aire de la noche descanse en mis hombros como una chaqueta fresca. Empiezo el motor envuelto en la nostalgia. Es un maneja largo y lluvioso al pasado. Tiro mi colcha de la memoria alrededor de mí tibio, en momentos calientes, cruza cosido juntos. Y entonces recuerdo...

My mouth tastes like envelope glue

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

--Pablo Neruda

An amazing poet and writer, Neruda wrote a play about the life of Joaquin Murrieta. It's an interesting take, to say the least.

Query letters for Californio go out this week. Were going out to about 30 agents, producers and companies, including personal letters/requests from our actress to Moctezuma Esparza, Gregory Nava and Edward James Olmos.

Let the anxiety begin.

The definition of Chicano exists somewhere between Mexican and American

I've been racking my brain for a new idea. Something to slowly research off and on that I can work up to. The last few days The Braceros have been on my mind and I'm considering working on, at the very least, a treatment of their story. This ties into my own childhood, growing up in a migrant labor camp, the son of migrant parents - it's close to home.

"...the emergence of a demand in manual labor in the U.S. brought about by World War II. On August 4, 1942, the U.S. and the Mexican government instituted the Bracero program. Thousands of impoverished Mexicans abandoned their rural communities and headed north to work as braceros.

The majority of the braceros were experienced farm laborers who came from places such as "la Comarca Lagunera," Coahuila, and other important agricultural regions of Mexico. They stopped working their land and growing food for their families with the illusion that they would be able to earn a vast amount of money on the other side of the border.

Huge numbers of bracero candidates arrived by train to the northern border. Their arrival altered the social environment and economy of many border towns. Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, across from El Paso, Texas, became a historic recruitment site and substantial gathering point for the agricultural labor force.

The bracero contracts were controlled by independent farmers associations and the "Farm Bureau." The contracts were in English and the braceros would sign them without understanding their full rights and the conditions of employment. When the contracts expired, the braceros were required to turn in their permits and return to Mexico. The braceros could return to their native lands in case of an emergency, only with written permission from their boss.

Despite their enormous contribution to the American economy, the braceros suffered harassment and oppression from extremist groups and racist authorities."