Hi Everyone in Stage 32 Land,
I've been a member of the Stage 32 community since September 2015. It seems a long time ago and probably goes back to when RB was writing his screenplays with a quill pen!
Lesson to learn here - It takes a village to raise a writer!
I'm an optioned writer and I've recently been working with a designer to help develop the branding for a new project, before it goes onto a website for Execs in the Film and TV industries. I think it will help promote the project, because sometimes words about words just feel a little too dry.
Anyway, the designer wants to go beyond this and work on the 'branding of Geoff', and yes I've listened to the recent Scriptnotes podcast where Craig Mazin gave a thumbs down to the branding of people. But you know what, I disagree. Yes I know he's just won an Emmy. I think if you're new to this business, people need all the help you can give them, to attract their attention. And, you know what, it's been great to work with someone who actually gets what you're trying to do. There is just so much creative juice flowing and it's great to move along with it.
I have a friend, yes another friend, with whom I share all my scripts, followed usually by intense discussion. He said to me once that 'you seem to find the gory scenes really easy to write!' He's right, I do and as we've discussed the style and focus of the stories we tried to come up with a word, yes just one, for the proverbial nutshell. He said to me that it's not quite horror, but creepy, which for him summed me up as well, due to my aforementioned ease with gore! But that's not exactly a word full of hard-edged insight, is it? As a descriptor it's a bit 'soft'. How about this one to end with, that sums up both me and the current script up? CREEP. What would Blumhouse make of that?
Now here's an aside, just like Shakespeare used to write. In 1980's Chicago, a style of music was born called 'House'. As with all contemporaneous cultural phenomena things moved quickly and a little while later DEEP HOUSE was born, which in true creative manner took the existing form and added something to it, what some have called a deep muted bassline. It's the bassline reference that attracted my attention. Higher tones in music are uni-directional, basslines are omni-directional, they spread across a room and get to you wherever you're sat. At the right frequency they can disturb the listener (e.g. black noise). And so with this aside comes a revelation, that I'm going to call what I'm writing, wait for it...DEEP CREEP.
My writing always has a bassline, an element of disturbia. I achieve this by taking a genre, like horror and stretching it beyond the trope, or concept of say the lonely haunted (Blum)house and situate it in a wider social, political or cultural setting: terrorism, trafficking or political conspiracy. I'm not one that gravitates towards the generic. If it's already been done, I don't want to do it. I want to leave my mark with my own footprints and not by borrowing someone else's shoes. I like my stories to go beyond a given genre with its predictable forms and I believe by doing this we can create surprising, shocking and yes even gory twists and turns.
Thanks for reading. If you're here for the first time, WELCOME. When we've finished with the design stage for this project, you'll find some artwork along with the Loglines on my Stage 32 Profile. Welcome to my world of DEEP CREEP! Have a great weekend.
Oh Dear Kay,
Thank you for speaking for the whole of the film industry.
Firstly, I simply responded to RB's call to get involved with Introduce Yourself Weekend. I decided to have a bit of fun with this one and so I'm sorry to hear from you and your reactionary response. You seems very angry.
Just to let you know, I'm not a member of this community to try and 'impress' people, but to build relationships and I find they are not created with or around naysayers.
Branding is not 'manufacturing a reputation' and so your 'this or that' simplicity is misplaced. At least have a little grace about communicating with this community. You may be ahead of me at this stage of your career, I don't know, but we are certainly on different trajectories and so it pays to have a little humility when it comes to feeling you need to judge others.
SHOW ME YOUR SCRIPT? Haha! That seems to me to be akin to the schoolyard bragging rights of "show me yours and I'll show you mine". Well, that would be very unprofessional of me and so I decline, because I think we both know deep down in our hearts that we could never work together. Perhaps a little inhalation of 'sensusarborishumoralis' would help?
So, I was sorry to read your diatribe and thought maybe you'd just had a bad day. With that in mind I will chant for you today and wish you peace and every good.
Geoff
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Bullies come in all shapes and sizes these days. Ah, the wonderful world of social media!!!! Kay. What do you hope to accomplish bullying this guy? With all of your superior experience and success in the industry, it's kind of humorous that you would be on a website putting this guy down. I'd think you would be too busy for that. We've all been bullied online at one time or another...some of us just never get bullied face to face. Funny how that works. Good luck Geoff Hall on your en devours and great success!!!
Dear Kay,
And here’s me thinking you were just having a bad day, but nope, this is you on a good day!
Your business seems to be of one insulting people, so yes, I don’t have what it takes in that department. But I need to ask why you are so offensive? You are talking to someone you don’t know and yet you don’t seem to have any filters at all when it comes to insults. This is a very bizarre conversation, with someone I have no desire to meet, ever.
Thanks Scott. Here am I just trying to do something a little different, and you get this kind of abuse. I hope this isn’t what Stage 32 is becoming, a bullying ground against those who are trying to make it in this business. Surely we need encouragement not this sort of stuff. Totally strange if you ask me.
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I always chuckle a little in these instances if I'm on the receiving end of it. The venom and vitriol that gets spewed from behind a keyboard and I try to imagine them saying these things face to face. Never in a million years would that happen. This business is difficult enough on it's own without having to deal with this, for lack of a better term, crap. I'm very new to this website but if this is what is to bet expected here, I'm sure there are better alternatives. Hopefully Mr. Bigshot has better things to do with his day.
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Thanks for a nice introduction Geoff. I like off-beat and original. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you Juin! Thank goodness the spirit of Stage 32 is still alive and well in people like you. Have a great day.
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Scott, yes, vitriol and venom. I did try and temper that with humour, but that just seems to have made things worse.
I have to say that this is the first time this has happened to me. (Other than the guy who was banned from the site because of his desire to threaten people with guns!) RB’s ethos Richard "RB" Botto seems to win through and he wants us to pay it forward. If you’re successful, then help others. But today, it was just about ‘I’m successful’ and you’re an idiot kinda scenario. So thank you for your help today.