In this video I catch viewers and readers up on what I’ve been doing lately, but more importantly I try to figure out why I can’t think of any hard boiled detective movies that have come out in the last ten to fifteen years.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

Today my buddy Curt and I checked out a new place for lunch called Ormsby’s. It’s got a real Irish pub type of vibe and similarly themed menu. I thought it was a pretty neat place, so I decided to shoot some footage and share with everyone.

If you’re in Atlanta and want to check it out good luck finding it. It’s basically under this nondescript stairwell and has no signs.

Enjoy.
-Steve

Even with a headache I was able to complete my high level outline for “Pride is Forever.” Below you’ll find all 56 beats. I’ve already started to flesh out a lot of the scenes and sequences behind each of the beats, but I won’t post those up until I have them completed. If you see a beat that seems overly ambiguous, that’s likely one of the beats where I’ve already got a significant amount of fleshing out done. There will likely be some additional changes made to the outline as I go through the fleshing out process, but that’s to be expected.

Here are the beats, split up by Acts (with Act Two being split into parts A and B):

Act One

1. Doug Brown jogs in his Notre Dame sweats through snow covered streets.
2. Grand Rapids, Michigan – Grand Rapids High School – Schafer Relay – [May, 1970] – Similar scenario to what we just saw. Doug in the warm up area, nervous. Other runners focused. He goes on to win the race with a time of 9:14, breaking the state record of 9:18.
3. Knoxville, TN – University of Tennessee Campus – April 1972 – Doug running with members of the distance team. Doug’s upset their coach is making him specialize in the 10K. He wants to run the 5K.
4. Head Coach Stan Huntsman, Asst. Coach Mike Quillan, and two other members of the coaching staff hold a team meeting. Ask for volunteers to run the steeple.
5. Some party. Doug, and some of the other track guys (who refer to themselves as “Phi Track Attack”). Talk of their chances at the steeple. Doug and Danny dip, Peterman stays behind.
6. Walking back from the party, Doug and Peterman find a girl being attacked by an older man. Doug “saves” her, and the man drives off him his truck. The girls thanks him, but hustles into her apartment and shuts off the lights.
7. Doug running at daybreak. The campus is quiet. Most people still in bed.
8. Doug receives a letter from Father Stevens in his mailbox. He mentions a new athlete (Ronny Weaver) he’s been working with. Reminds him a lot of Doug.
9. Doug leaving class and he spots Victoria in the halls. He goes over to her, she tries to avoid him, has sunglasses on. She drops a paper, her sunglasses fall off, he sees her black eye. She hustles off, leaving papers behind.
10. Peterman working in the Bursars office. Doug convinces him to get Victoria’s class schedule for him.
11. Doug waiting for Victoria outside of her German class. Victoria says she’ll go on a date with him if he wins his race. Basically, a losing proposition.
12. Doug practicing the steeple hurdles. Things don’t go so well.
13. Race Day – Doug getting ready for the 3000M steeple.
14. Plot Point 1 – Doug beats the Big Ten champion.

Act Two A

1. Doug knocks on Victoria’s door to pick her up. She opens it and slips out. Is in a hurry to get him away from the apartment.
2. Victoria and Doug at the Coffee House.
3. Doug drops Victoria off. Doug goes in for the kiss, but it doesn’t happen. She doesn’t want him to get his hopes up.
4. Dogwood Relays – Doug running. He kicks it on the last lap but only finishes second.
5. Later, Doug in the locker room, upset at his finish. Stan talks to him about the steeple chase at the Kentucky Relays. Stan mentions Sid Sink will be there running, best steeple guy in the country.
6. The team arrives at the hotel for the Kentucky Relays. Walk past the Bowling Green team in the lobby. Huntsman points out Dave Wottle and Sid Sink. He finds Father Stevens and company waiting for him in the lobby.
7. Father Stevens and Doug on a walk, Stevens with a cup of coffee. Stevens and some of the other ND teachers came down to watch him run. He has a rough cough the whole time.
8. Pinch 1 – Doug getting set for the race. It’s cold and harsh out. Father Stevens tells Doug about the slow times. Doug wins the 3000M steeple against Sid Sink.
9. Doug at the grocery store. Doug spots Victoria working in the deli. He surprises her. She heard about his win in Kentucky.
10. Doug training. Comes back to find a letter from Father Stevens. Encourages him to continue on with the steeple. Complains about a cough.
11. Doug gets a call from Victoria and rushes over. He kicks her dad out again. Meets Samantha, Victoria’s younger teen sister.
12. Doug stays the night to stand watch over the house. Victoria fills him in her relationship with her father. And why her sister lives with her. She starts to cry, he holds her, they kiss.
13. Des Moines, Iowa Drake Relays – Doug has to back out of the 10K. He’s just not ready. Not feeling it. Stan understands.
14. Mid Point – THe next day – Doug and Stan. Stan wants him to get serious about the steeple. Doug is cautious. Still wants to run the 5K and 10K too. Stan brings up the Olympics.

Act Two B

1. Doug training at the track. Stan working with him. Hitting the hurdles smoother. Nailing the water jump. “Looks like a real steeple runner now.”Stan lets on to an assistant he’s got bigger plans for Doug and the steeple.
2. Doug stops by the grocery store, but they say Victoria hasn’t been into work for a few days.
3. Doug stops by Victoria’s apartment. It’s empty. Catches her on her way home.
4. Tom Black Track Classic 8:47 – Doug wins the race, but comes up short of the time Stan wanted.
5. Montage with Doug looking for Victoria. Old apartment. Old job. Her German class. Anything. We end with Victoria watching Doug work out at night at the track, but never going over to talk to him.
6. Pinch 2 – Indiana Dual Meet 8:44 – Doug wins the race but just falls short of the time Stan wanted again.
7. Doug in a bookstore. He stumbles on the book “Peggy Finds The Theater.
7. Doug out in front of Victoria’s Sister’s high school. He follows her bus. Finds out where she lives.
8. Doug confronts Victoria. Gives her the book. She agrees to see him.
9. Doug enters Stan’s office. They talk about running the steeple at the NCAA championships instead of the 50 or 10K.
10. Doug gets another letter from Stevens.
11. Doug and Victoria watch on as her sister practices softball.
12. Doug, Danny, and Peterman all near the warm up area.
13. They’re psyching Doug up. Doug runs at the NCAA meet. He falls on the 3rd lap in the water jump. Still manages to come in third, with a time of 8:33, qualifying him for the Olympic Trials.
14. Plot Point 2 – Doug gets word that Father Stevens has passed away.

Act Three

1. Doug traveling to Detroit by bus. Victoria sees him off.
2. Doug arrives at home, greeted by his family.
3. Doug sitting in a church. Coach Vachon giving the eulogy. We see Doug in the middle of his family, and they literally take up the entire row.
4. After the funeral Doug in a classroom at the school.
5. Doug and Victoria. He doesn’t want to go. She convinces him, if only for Stevens.
6. Doug with the rest of the team in Eugene.
7. They go fishing the day before.
8. Qualifying heat – Doug runs easy, but never makes a movie past third. The coaches are worried.
9. Doug has trouble sleeping.
10. Race day, nervous, warms up early, meets Steve Prefontaine, tried to take a nap, tried watching TV, forget it!
11. The 3000m race begins and Doug wins.
12. The team celebrates out in a bar, Doug looks distant.
13. Doug in bed, tossing and turning. Doug makes his way across campus to the track.
14. He gets to the track, takes it all in, and loses it, his emotions and the significance of the moment finally hitting him.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, writing a straight drama is tough. Or at least it’s a lot harder for me to write than a straight up thriller/action flick. It might not be the same for everyone.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

I’m getting close to having my outline for “Pride is Forever” complete. The story is clicking. I figured out what was wrong. And can feel that I’ve almost got it right.

When I look back, it’s funny how right my intuitions were with what part of the story was bugging me. I knew it was one of three main story arcs: Doug’s struggle to achieve his goal, Doug and Victoria’s relationship, or Doug and Father Stevens’s relationship. I wasn’t satisfied with how any of these were playing out. What I didn’t realize was that by addressing one of the three, the other two would fall into place.

When I stripped everything away from the story I was trying to tell with “Pride is Forever” I realized that my head kept looking at the relationship between Doug and Victoria. More than anything else, this was where my attention kept turning. The more I thought about it, the more I found myself exploring the dynamic between these two. And as I explored that dynamic the story arcs about Doug’s struggle and his relationship with Father Stevens started to fall into place too.

I’ve probably spent more time figuring out who Victoria is than any other character in “Pride is Forever.” That’s not to say I’m neglecting Doug. I’m not. Number one, I know who he is since he’s real, and he’s my uncle. Two, I’ve had his character so clear in my mind that there isn’t a whole lot I need to think about. Three, what he does seems so natural already that I know I’ve got his character set inside and out. But, what I was able to realize was that it was Victoria and Doug’s relationship that everything else hinged on. That was the glue that tied the whole story together.

When I set out to create a love interest for Doug she was very much generic. Doug was a handsome, successful athlete, who didn’t have much problem picking up girls. So it cam natural to develop a character opposite of him, and somehow I settled on a somewhat feminist female who loathed everything Doug was about. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because the story takes place in 1971, and the women’s lib movement was just starting to really gain steam. Who knows? And that was the problem. I didn’t know, and I came to realize that I wasn’t interested in exploring the dynamic between Doug and this Victoria, if that makes any sense.

So I looked at Victoria’s character on a deeper level. I started to really try to figure out what she was, who she was, what she stood for. I shifted away from a “man hating feminist” to somewhat vulnerable, yet strong character. I took some parts of the Kate Austin character from LOST, and mixed it up with a bit of the Mathilda character from “The Professional.” And once I figured out who the Victoria was that I wanted Doug to fall for, everything opened up for me.

Anyway, just thought I’d write a bit about how I worked through my problems, and what I determined the issue and solutions were. I’ll have the outlines posted as soon as I have them complete.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

I’d like to think that if I lived in L.A. I’d find myself doing stuff like this a lot:

Enjoy.
-Steve

Click here to see the list yourself at the official Oscar website.

Actor in a Leading Role
• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role
• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role
• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role
• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film
• “Coraline” Henry Selick
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
• “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
• “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
• “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction
• “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography
• “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design
• “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing
• “Avatar” James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)
• “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
• “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)
• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing
• “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9” Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film
• “Ajami” Israel
• “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
• “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
• “Un Prophète” France
• “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup
• “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)
• “Avatar” James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
• “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)
• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture
• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
• “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
• “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
• “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
• “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing
• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects
• “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
• “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
• “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

In this video I show you one of the places in Atlanta I go to when I want some coffee. I think it’s a nice little cafe with some decent character, and I’ve used the location in one of my scripts. Nothing too exciting, but I figured I’d share nonetheless.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

I read a good deal of the current edition of “Creative Screenwriting” this weekend, paying extra special attention to the “Now Playing” series of articles. The “Now Playing” articles are little stories/interviews with screenwriters who’ve written either movies that just came out, or movies that will be coming out shortly. It’s a really neat way to stay on top of what active screenwriters are doing, and in every article they delve a bit into their creative process.

One such interview written by Adam Stovall, was with Mark and Robb Cullen, who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming movie “A Couple of Cops,” which actually had the original title “A Couple of Dicks.” The Cullen’s script will be the first movie Kevin Smith directs that he didn’t write himself. Being a fan of Smith (or at least most of his work), I’m personally interested to see how this flick turns out.

One of the interesting things about the Cullens is that they set out to write “A Couple of Cops” because they were just fans of the buddy-cop action-comedy genre. They hadn’t seen their type of movie in a while, and with the passing of their father (who was also a fan of the genre) they decided to get busy. Working with your brother has it’s plusses and minuses, but since they’re family, you can’t really split up when an argument happened. And with the amount of time they two put into their scrit, I can only imagine that they ran into a lot of arguments.

Here’s how their work schedule was summed up:

“The Cullen brothers met every morning to discuss the story, typically for three to four hours. After this, they broke off to write separately for the rest of the day. Then they sent each other pages and patched them together. All in all, they spent seven to ten hours writing a day, five to seven days a week.“[Emphasis mine.]

So they guys put in 35-70 hours a week writing. You can see that screenwriting is very much like any other full time job. Sometimes you’re putting in a full day, sometimes you’re putting in a full day plus.

Another “Now Playing” article, this one written by Peter Clines, was with David Self, who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming “The Wolfman.” I found this article interesting because it revealed something I had always wondered if other writers do, ready what they wrote before starting to add to it. I often find myself going back and reading the last 10-15 pages I’ve written before adding to it. Usually it’s just so I can make sure I’m int he same voice, or the same rhythm, but sometimes it’s purely to remind myself where I am in the story. bSo it was kind of funny to read that Self does the same thing:

”When writing, [David] Self prefers to set daily goals of scenes or sequences rather than page counts, and says that he breaks up his writing schedule into “during the day” and “after the kids go to bed,” which has made him more of a nocturnal writer. “It was different when I was younger,” he says. He also tends to slow down as he nears the end of a script, because he begins every day by re-reading the entire script from page one, so all of it stays fresh in his mind as he writes.” [Emphasis mine.]

Again, if you haven’t subscribed to “Creative Screenwriting” and are an amateur screenwriter, you really need to look into doing so soon. It’s really a great magazine, and I couldn’t be more than happy that I signed up for it. If you don’t have the money to order it now, consider checking out their podcasts, which have long format interviews with a bunch of writers, directors, and other industry professionals.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

Nothing new to report on the outline front. I’m still tinkering away, and getting closer and closer with each change.

While I was looking for inspiration I decided to watch a few steeplechase videos on YouTube. It wasn’t long until I started to watch videos where people started to trip, fall, and otherwise eat it when going over the hurdles, specifically the water jump.

However, one YouTube account in-particular stood out to me, and that is of TheRunation. This guy sits at the water jump and actively roots for people to bit it. I know this guy is a jerk, but his videos are hilarious.

Here’s a warm up:

Here’s some sweet fail action:

Enjoy.
-Steve

One of my favorite sequences of all time…

Enjoy.
-Steve