Jacob Taylor's Lounge Discussions

For me, I would say that the most important thing is to ask yourself is why am I making this and what do I want to say? It will help keep you focused on the task ahead.

Location permission for interiors. Go through budget of cost of crew. Check DOP and rest of key crew are familiar with documentary style because it is not a pre planned shoot most times or written in stone script. (You can plan it as MUCH as you want but if you are dealing with the public, especially if core standards are being challenged, it could get heated.) You maybe filming people where you get a reaction nobody expects. If it is political you should try to obtain interviews before hand that are all under wraps and controlled. Personally I would contrast the smoother running chats with wild card asking folks on the street their views. I've not made a documentary myself although helped out generally but not directing because a documentary takes you where "IT" wants to go. The people I helped on the day who made the documentary had public insurance. Always bring in personality. Audience remember characters and rarely remember their political views.

Study project management

I agree with Solange. Figure out what you want your piece to say and it will help guide your edits. Also interview people with a wide range of perspectives. It will make your film interesting to watch. And while interviewing people, try not to react to what they say bc sometimes it breaks the raw emotion that they are about to give. So like if they start to cry, don’t lean in to give them a tissue. Just let them cry and give it a few moments before saying cut.

Thank you guys for all your comments, sorry for the very slack delay on my part. My premise is this; I've lived in Georgia my whole life, which has traditionally been a Red State, but the recent changes in the last few years in our government and various minorities who have established a life in Georgia have begun to turn it into a "purple state." I would like to interview members of my hometown community(and possibly other nearby towns) and find out what matters to them, why they think(or don't think) Georgia is experiencing a demographic shift, and how the last four years under President Trump has treated them while also examining the future election and their thoughts on it.

Music is a big motivator for me. Listen to as much as you can from a wide variety. If a song sparks something within me then I write that idea down and start fiddling with it to see if there's a story there.

Hi Jacob,

"Tell me a story I haven't heard before."

Those are the words of a studio development exec that guide me. That might sound confusing to some, since some of us feel that "every story has been done before." But they really haven't, because the people, the times, and the locations change every day.

Sometimes I read about real-life events that inspire me. Sometimes a painting, or a song's lyrics can inspire me. Sometimes the face of a stranger, or something that I overhear can inspire me. Sometimes I start with themes and premises that inspire me. Or a sunrise or a sunset. And then I start to develop my premise, my characters and my story line. I have more ideas and story lines than I'll ever be able to write, and every day brings even more ideas. Stop, ideas, stop! Heh-heh.

Hope that helps!

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Jacob!

REST IN PEACE, DANNY AIELLO (June 20, 1933 - December 12, 2019)

Some of my writer friends swear by mental "warm-up" exercise every day. They'll pick a random location, character, genre, etc. and create a story from the combination.

Jacob - Go out and watch people. Take a notebook & pen or pencil with you and make notes on what you see and what is going on around you. Don't go after an idea - let the idea come to you as you go about your daily life. I was a member of a small town gym with the most eclectic clientele you've ever seen. When I wasn't working out I spent a lot of time laughing at what was going around me. I finally started taking a notebook to the gym and writing down all the best stories and best lines I heard. I ended up using that to write a deck for a gym based TV reality series and then a 30-minute sitcom. I'm not a comedian but tried to use the funniest things I'd heard and seen. The latter will need a lot of polishing. But the reality TV series went to a gym trainer who was working with a well-known New York producer (and a director, writer, and financier) trying to put together a reality TV series that takes place in a small gym.

Dan M - you're right. If my muse & I showed up before 9:00, we got some of the coffee. It wasn't glamours, sexy or romantic - but it did pay the rent.

You could try starting the story with your heroine seen as different but not because of her gender. For instance, I'm writing a story about Dragon Warriors. And I am also writing a woman as the protagonist. How I'm doing it is that she's seen as less than equal, but only because she wasn't raised in a Dragon Warrior family. Throughout the film, she earns her way here and there. By the end of the story, she earns the respect of everyone around her while at the same time showing the audience that she belongs there as the protagonist.

Personally, I don't think it should matter what gender the protagonist is. Just worry about making the story good. Hope this was helpful.

Concentrate on the wants of the character and how they go about achieving their goal and contrast that with their true needs ( which might be something different to the goal they are chasing.) Add obstacles in the way of goal together with personal conflicts. An interesting character is NOT "male or female" but a character that comes out as strong in the way they NAVIGATE THEIR PARTICULAR MAZE.

Make her taboo...let's say a successful banker, spec ops commander, NASA chief, Formula 1 driver...see how she fits these male world's...but more important how will we (audience) respond to that.

Good suggestion above from @Kirril. A woman in a “taboo” work/social role causes automatic conflict in the initial sense. I think a sting in the tail scenario might work also Eg Give character name like Pat which could be either sex and concentrate solely on their thoughts and feelings in set up, then reveal they are a woman later on. Eg Tall firefighter with gear covering all but their eyes and mouth, story where they save hostages from peril etc then sudden reveal. A twist reader not expected yet is totally plausible. The beginning of Breaking Bad pilot starts with a character wearing a gas mask and driving erratically (Walt). I did not see pilot because only read but it could have been filmed in a way that driver coulda been a woman or man. The rest of the script reveals how a mild mannered school teacher chemist turns into the “weirdo” the cops pull over in car. Bring in character with a BANG! So reader thinks how did this person come to this?

It's pretty easy, actually. I just wrote 4 of 5 scripts of an ongoing series that have strong female leads. Turns out, if you write them like human beings with their own wants and needs, they come out fully rounded. It's no trick. Just don't write them as if they're objects.

Just my humble pov: I see no evidence that the 'film industry' is withering but I do see it morphing/evolving into a new form. Hollywood is basically pricing itself into extinction but small time independent filmmakers are popping up all over like mushrooms after a Spring rain - most of 'em will last about that long too. Atlanta seems to be a beacon in the dark that appears to be developing more than just a little 'stay-power'. My guess is that it has a bright future in the film industry. But what do I know?

CJ is completely correct.

They sell more printed T Shirts than Oil Paintings. Both art in their own way.

All I can say is, don't write TV off as an avenue to get a film made. In some cases, it may be a more viable and profitable route. Spielberg started in for TV movies and Tarantino's "True Romance" was originally optioned by a network.

I’m not sure there’s much of a divide. Digital distributors want short-form for accessibility and long-form for legitimacy/gold statues.

There is a point in all things when “it all changed”.

For acting it was “on the water front”

For rally racing it was “Audi Quattro”

For TV “Game of Thrones”.

After G.O.T TV has changed forever. Better budgets and even if the budget is small, an expectation of better story telling.

I think writers will drift between all media in the future.

Great thread! Way to put the intel out there

Sam Borowski, you are totally on the money, my friend, and I'm certain you'll go places with your attitude. Love to see someone chasing the dream with some vigour and passing the knowledge learned back down in detail. Hats off to you.

I know this is just an Australian thing. But some of our TV networks but content directly. They then resell international right and end up with free content.

I don’t know if they buy from overseas as this defeats the business model.

SBS in Australia has a distribution like arm. A friend worked in it for a while. She said that they worked their butts off for the first 12 months. Bought and sold heaps of films. Only made a profit of $3,000. But the station had a library which cost them zero to acquire.

She left SBS and sells furniture now. Obviously TV is all it’s meant to be from a back room POV.

Hey Jacob Taylor I am the Director of Script Services at Stage 32. Drop me a note and let me know what you are working on! I have some ideas on how you might start to get work out there and get some feedback from professionals. Look forward to hearing from you!

I just want to thank you guys, every single one of you for all of your input, this has been a tremendous help!

Luckily, I am a big believer in "less is more," I tend to write more thriller, drama or personal stories with minimal cast or effects in mind.

There always is a market for truly compelling stories presented in a tightly written script in an industry recognized format no matter what genre. The real question is the size of the market in relationship to the cost of production.