I have deadlines. And I love deadlines because they make me get things done. Except my current deadlines are more deadly than usual. My deadlines are the end of this month. That's just twelve days.
1. I have four movie posters to design. And they are all presell, which means I start with nada. No pictures provided, no stars to sell...just a title and a loose idea of a synopsis. Wait, I forgot...three of them don't even have titles yet. I call this making something from nothing. Sometimes it's easier that way, but sometimes it gets really frustrating. The client might have an idea in their head that isn't articulated (and is usually impossible to render anyway) and when I don't give them what's in their head, we go round and round...well, use your imagination. Also, within this deadline the posters have to be printed. And then at the last minute, I'll get calls from other clients saying they just acquired a new movie and could I please create something by the end of the week. Whatever I'm getting paid, it isn't enough. You can see some of my somethings from nothing HERE. If anybody out there can create this stuff as good or better than me, please let me know. I have work for you.
2. My latest screenplay. The first 75 pages are written and rewritten. My total page count in the file is 94. Some of those 19 pages have written scenes and some have notes or snippets of scenes. I expect the final page count to around 110. I know everything that happens but it has to be flushed out (of my brain) and then I have to go back and make sure it's all there and working. After that, I have to find a few willing colleagues to read it and have a day or two left over to fix what's broken. I also have to write a synopsis for the screenplay (yuck). Since blogdom types all seem to love coming up with song lists...I'm looking for song suggestions for this script. The songs have to have been written and charted prior to March/April, 1967. The story is about two 14 year-old girls who run away from home (Canada) to start a rock band in California. The girls will sing one of the songs at a club's talent night. I've already used California Dreamin', To Sir With Love, Happy Jack and Yesterday in other parts of the script.
3. I also want to catch up on this blog to where I'm at with the book so I can move forward in real time by May. What's coming...a re-connection with a musician from my past who played with one of the guys in the book, a ghost story and a few stories about the musicians I've already scanned.
4. Get the last 5 or so entries I need on the Robin Gibb photo caption contest so I can send it to my panel of independent judges and declare a winner. If you haven't participated - go for it. If you have - tell a friend to go for it.
5. The last thing on my plate: I have a sore throat. My fourth one in the last two months. I think I have to stop writing at Starbucks where they like to keep the thermostat at 65. The deadline for my sore throat to go away is NOW!
What's on your plate?
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5 comments:
Put me to work, I'll do one for ya.
So that's how the movie-poster process works! Why am I not surprised that no one has a clue. Except for the artist, of course. You must have a lot of patience!
Hope you're feeling better.
This is giving me a flashback. In 1978, for a high school English class, I wrote a story about a couple of teenagers (guy and girl) who went to California in 1967 to form a rock band. And believe it or not, they were from Canada! Isn't that strange. I hadn't thought about that in close to three decades.
As for your song selection, one that really resonates with me for that time/place is the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)." That might be too esoteric for your project, but there may be enough "Nuggets" fans to appreciate its presence.
Hi Harry,
Re your movie poster comment: trust me, I don't have a clue either.
And as for my/your story: Uh oh...is there a lawsuit in my future?
I totally forgot about I Had Too Much To Dream. Great song. Gonna have to get it on my ipod. Thanks for taking me away from my work to look up the Electric Prunes - (shouldn't they have been a band of geriatrics?) - did you know they still play? And they have an official website. Wow.
The song could work and I will think about it. But I wrote those pages yesterday, so for now, it's As Tears Go By, which also kind of relates to the theme.
Yes, I'm feeling better, now that I'm just hanging at the home office, but I'm missing the gang at Starbucks...and the coffee(decaf).
I'll guarantee that any evidence of my "Canadian hippies" story disappeared into a Harrisburg, PA, landfill by the close of the '70s!
Actually, I've become sort of a Prune-head (wow, there's an image ...) since Collector's Choice Music and others have been reissuing their old albums, plus I've picked up the couple they've put out since re-forming in the late '90s. Quality stuff! Vintage '60s -- even some of the new material.
(You'd think that being in their 60s, they'd tone it down and be the Acoustic Prunes.)
"As Tears Go By" is a nice mood piece, proving Mick could sing if he wanted to. Unless you're using Marianne's version. (She couldn't sing, at least not at that point. "Broken English" -- now, there's some singing!)
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