Update: “Go Into The Story: The Quest”

Because my email is getting hammered by folks who apparently are waiting with bated breath for results regarding “The Quest,” here’s another update. It’s a long one. If interested, click continue.

As you will recall [or for those who missed it], I posted this on Monday detailing the following:

* Because I received what I’m estimating to be 4000+ loglines, I am pushing back the scheduled and now am targeting Monday, June 25 as the date I will contact writers about loglines that have made the first cut.

* In response to the 1800 individual emails I received from “Quest” entrants, I have come up with three ways to ensure that every entrant has the opportunity to take a free Screenwriting Master Class Core or Craft course with me: (1) First-come, first-serve admission into courses as I offer them [my entire schedule through the end of 2012 is here]. (2) As each course is offered, you may request the lectures in lieu of waiting to take a class. (3) A series of 2-hour webinars, condensed version of the classes with a live Q&A component.

* And for those who are not selected for this inaugural session of “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” we will have this:

What I thought I could do is track the same schedule here on GITS. That is when they start week 1 [Core I: Plot], we would focus at least one post per day on that same subject. Obviously I’m not going to provide all the information included in “The Quest” proper, but there’s no reason we can’t engage in a conversation during the week about Plot, and make it a learning opportunity.

Then continue the process: A full 8 weeks for the Core subjects [Plot, Concept, Character, Style, Dialogue, Scene, Theme, Time], each week with a focus on the subject, mimicking what the actual “Quest” participants are working on.

Now here comes the really great part: When “The Quest” writers move into Prep, a six week period during which they take their story idea from concept to outline, you can do the same thing yourself. Again I can’t provide all the information I’m doing on “The Quest” proper, but I can help steer you through a similar process which you can use to develop your own story on your own time, hopefully with you breaking your story and ending up with a complete outline.

Then when “The Quest” writers move into Pages, a ten week period where every week, they are churning out 10–15 script pages, you can do the same thing, too. In effect, you would be using the 24-week time frame as a structure within which to deepen your understanding of screenplay theory through discussions here on GITS and develop, then write your story as the first draft of a screenplay.

All for free. All on your own time.

Which means if you don’t get selected for “The Quest,” you can still use the structure of that workshop as a motivational tool for you to crank out your script.

This “Go On Your Own Quest” concept seemed to be a quite popular judging from your collective response and I want to follow up with thought some of you suggested, but first…

A lot of you are asking about if I’m finding any good loglines. And the answer is yes. As I review a logline I think has promise, I put it onto a list. At present I have gone through about 1500 of the approximately 4000 loglines. Of those I have put a little more than two dozen onto that list. I will continue this process, then I will go through the list with a certain acerbic hard-ass producer type we have all come to know recently and winnow it down to anywhere from 15–20 people [that is a guess and will flex up or down]. That’s who I will contact and request a writing resume, story synopsis, writing sample, bio. The loglines on the current list cover quite a range, some really high concept, others not so much, almost every genre represented. The main thing: I think we will be able to extend offers to four writers to do “The Quest.”

Speaking of that vulgar, opinionated blowhard producer we all experienced from time to time these last couple of weeks, a few words him. As with almost everything related to this “Quest” initiative, things just sort of evolved including this character Producer Scott. He sprang to being from my imagination as I was trying to impress upon you in a GITS post how tough I was going to be in assessing loglines. I suddenly found myself writing in this particular voice of an old-style Hollywood producer. You can check out a few of those posts here and here. Here’s a taste of that persona:

“So the desk jockey gave you the whole passion spiel, huh? Bet he used some nice, flowery words. Well, allow me to bottom line this for you as succinctly and simply as I can. MAKE ME FUCKING FEEL SOMETHING! You writing a horror script? Scare the shit out of me! A comedy? I wanna laugh til my balls drop off. Romance? You gotta turn these spigots on here so I’m a blubbering baby. Action, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, whatever the hell you write, I don’t wanna just read it, I wanna feel it! I read so many goddammed formulaic scripts. This happens on page 25, a big whatcha call reversal at page 60, uh-oh, it’s page 75, time for the guy and gal to do the nasty, bing, bang, boom… [slaps hand on desk]… pass! Fuck structure! Make me feel something! Like right now. I’m angry! I’m furious! I have no damn clue why, but this is what I want, gimme a story that gets me all riled up. JUST. LIKE. THIS! Now get outta here, I gotta call my shrink.”

Well, as it turns out, people seemed to really enjoy this character. What I liked about him was it enabled me — in the form of him — to push you in a graphic over-the-top way to work harder on your ideas, knowing those ideas were going to have to get past this tough nut. Plus by being exposed to his language and world view, that gave you a taste — granted in a hyperbolic way — of what you may expect in Hollywood.

One problem: The name Producer Scott. That’s not how Scott [me] acts as a producer, not when I was producing cable TV series and specials for the last several years, and not for what I am trying to do with movies.

So I hereby announce the demise of the name ‘Producer Scott.’ But not the persona. The foul-mouthed, cantankerous, bloviating bastard we have all come to know and… sort of… love remains. It turns out Producer Scott was a pseudonym I had to use as cover for my colleague. I invited him to participate in “The Quest,” but he insisted on testing the waters and therefore demanded anonymity. As of today, he has formally agreed to come on board to be my “front fucking line of defense” [his words] for the “Quest” initiative. As such, he has agreed to let his name be made known to GITS readers. He is:

Max Millimeter: Hollywood Movie Producer Extraordinaire.

Even though I’ve known Max for several years, he’s a mysterious guy. I have managed to discover certain key things about his background some of which I will be revealing over the course of the next several weeks. But first up, I am excited to announce that beginning tomorrow, Max will be appearing as an occasional guest in The Business of Screenwriting weekly series. I was up at his Laurel Canyon house today and recorded his first… uh… column which I will be posting tomorrow at 10AM Eastern. The topic is aimed at screenwriters and is titled, “Three Ways to Not Be Fucking Stupid.” You can look for that from Max tomorrow.

Finally back to this idea of “Go On Your Own Quest”. A few of you mentioned how cool it would be to have a message board / forum where participants could go to post and analyze pages, and just generally enjoy a group experience as you plowed through your own “Quest.” I’m open to that. What specific suggestions do you have? Would it be a private board? Who would moderate it? Is it one of those ideas that sounds great, but once you drill down into it, the logistics make it too hard to pull off. Or can it work?

I’d like your feedback. I’m happy to consider anything, as long as it works.

Okay, that’s the update. Phew! Sorry it went so long. Besides I’ve got a date with a bunch more loglines today. See you in comments.

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