Ron Swanson’s "Visions of Nature" art show grand opening speech from Parks and Recreation

Ah Ron Swanson, you are a wonderful creation. I heard this little speech on Parks and Recreation, and I thought: now this is a superb example of a comedic monologue, full of character and point of view; a whole world view hilariously encapsulated:

"Ok, everyone, shut up and look at me. Welcome to Visions of Nature. This room has several paintings in it. Some are big and some are small. People did them and they are here now. I believe that after this is over they will be hung in government buildings. Why the government is involved in an art show is beyond me. I also think it's pointless for a human to paint scenes of nature when they could just go outside and stand in it. Anyway, please do not misinterpret the fact that I am talking right now as genuine interest in art and attempt to discuss it with me further. End of speech." -Ron Swanson

The Mother’s Prayer for Its Daughter

I love this piece below by Ms. Fey-

funny and poignant...

The Mother’s Prayer for Its Daughter

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her
When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

-Tina Fey (From her new book 'Bossypants')

"My Favorite Thing in the World..."

"My favorite thing in the world is when i look at a piece of art

or read a story or watch a movie,

where i walk away feeling like:

Oh my God I have to do something,

I have to make something or I have to talk to someone--

or things are not the same anymore.

And so i try to make work where you walk away with that feeling.

Yeah, you're thinking about what you just saw,

but even more than that you feel able--

you feel propelled."

-Miranda July

Beautiful Losers of Cinema, Part 1: Marty (1955)

As we go through the process of revising HAPPY FUNERAL, I find myself looking at films that possess similar thematic threads.

One archetype I've been studying is that of the "beautiful loser," a perhaps awful shorthand for that character who is beautiful in his brokenness. We can't help but love these compelling misfits, brimming with unrealized potential. You know the type- he can't quite figure out how to navigate his way through life, or is always allowing others to run it. It's the guy who says lines like "I coulda been a contender." It's the character James Dean and Marlon Brando made careers out of playing, and in our time, Juaquin Phoenix and Johnny Depp have had their own go at it... And back in 1955, Ernest Borgnine won a Best Actor Oscar for his own doughy take of it in Marty.

Ernest Borgnine in Marty

We first see Marty (from whom the film takes its name) working in a local butcher shop. He is a 34 year old bachelor, hectored by his own customers about his single life even as they force him to detail the various nuptials of his own siblings. He's a sad, but noble figure, clearly principled with a desire to better his life and surroundings, yet without a sense of agency in his own life, especially when it comes to the question of finding his life partner. It doesn't get better when he gets off of work and meets up with his group of friends at a nearby diner. Their trivial pursuits only further remind him of his own aimlessness.

Perhaps the moment most emblematic is this exchange with Angie, Marty's best friend:

ANGIE

Well, what do you feel like doing tonight?

MARTY

I don't know. What do you feel like doing?

ANGIE

Well, we're back to that, huh? I say to you, "What do you feel like doing tonight?" And you say to me, "I don't know, what do you feel like doing?" And then we wind up sitting around your house with a coupla cansa beer, watching Hit Parade on television...

This conversation reminded me of a lot of the ones I would have with friends in high school- but maybe that's the point, the "beautiful loser" is stuck in an extended adolescence.

This sense of being stuck only worsens when Marty returns home to his mother. But instead of the anxiety he and his friends were trying to distract themselves from, his loving Italian Catholic mother confronts him with it directly:

MRS. PILLETTI

Marty, I don't want you hang arounna

house tonight. I want you to go take

a shave and go out and dance.

MARTY

Ma, when are you gonna give up? You

gotta bachelor on your hands. I ain't

never gonna get married.

MRS. PILLETTI

You gonna get married.

MARTY

Sooner or later, there comes a point

in a man's life when he gotta face

some facts, and one fact I gotta

face is that whatever it is that

women like, I ain't got it. I chased

enough girls in my life. I went to

enough dances. I got hurt enough. I

don't wanna get hurt no more. I just

called a girl just now, and I got a

real brush-off, boy. I figured I was

past the point of being hurt, but

that hurt. Some stupid woman who I

didn't even wanna call up. She gave

me the brush. I don't wanna go to

the Stardust Ballroom because all

that ever happened to me there was

girls made me feel like I was a bug.

I got feelings, you know. I had enough

pain. No, thank you.

MRS. PILLETTI

Marty...

MARTY

Ma, I'm gonna stay home and watch

Jackie Gleason.

MRS. PILLETTI

You gonna die without a son.

MARTY

So I'll die without a son.

Yet in spite of himself, Marty does as his mother advices and as he has done innumerable times before, and goes off to the Stardust Ballroom. There again he is rejected in typical fashion, then forced to watch his best friend Angie dancing. But fate takes a turn when a guy tries to bribe Marty and pawn off his own homely date. Upright as always, the very suggestion offends Marty. Instead he watches as the guy moves on and finds another chump to hand his unwanted girl too. But the attempted hand off goes badly, and in a long take we watch Marty as he watches the transaction go sour. The young woman is devastated and the two jerks wander off bickering about the money. The young woman walks out to the balcony and Marty follows her. It's then the two connect.

Look at this lovely stream-of-consciousness discourse that stumbles out of the mouth of Marty, as he tries to console the dejected Clara:

MARTY
Now I figure, two people get married, and they gonna live together forty, fifty years. So it's just gotta be more than whether they're good looking or not. You tell me you think you're not very good-looking. My father was a really ugly man, but my mother adored him. She told me that she used to get so miserable sometimes, like everybody, you know? And she says my father always tried to understand. I used to see them sometimes when I was a kid, sitting in the living room, talking and talking, and I used to adore my old man, because he was so kind. That's one of the most beautiful things I have in my life, the way my father and mother were. And my father was a real ugly man. So it doesn't matter if you look like a gorilla. So you see, dogs like us, we ain't such dogs as we think we are.

Marty went on to sweep the Oscars that year and was a huge sleeper hit. A huge reason for Marty's success, I'm sure, was the formidable writing of Paddy Chayefsky, whose incisive dialogue is perpetually timeless and always in the now. These days, when cineastes think of Chayefsky, they think of Network (1976), but even back in the 50's, Chayefsky rendered powerful, nuanced dialogue and was king of the monologue.

To this day, Chayefsky's influence looms large. A notable example: Love the stylized and rambling dialogue of Paul Thomas Anderson? The poeticized monologues especially on display in Magnolia? Well look no further than Chayefsky to discover Anderson's own aesthetic roots.

Chayefsky is perhaps most noted for the words that come out of his characters mouths. He stays consistent to their voice and ever faithful to the language and expressions of his time. But look at how he takes these forms and elevates them to the level of music. Look at the rhythmic patterns underneath the monologue. Marty speaks from his heart and wears it on his sleeve. This is dialogue at its most "on-the-nose." But the earnestness works because it is truthful. And a lot of "rules" fall away when we are simply truthful- as long as that verisimilitude takes on the appropriate aesthetic form of its medium.

And in the case of this particular "beautiful loser," his earnestness gives earthiness and texture to our own pain and longing. The truth that shines through in Marty is that people can be beautiful in their brokenness. And that "beauty" is what we call resilience...

This just in...

Sheri Davani, the fantastic producer and AD who will be producing HAPPY FUNERAL, was just featured in a blog post on matchflick.com.

You can read the article about this wonderful midwife of indy films here.

And then you will think to yourself,

Perhaps I am not as broken as I thought I was.

Perhaps I am not broken at all.

Injured yes--

But healing.

Tired yes--

But awakening.

Director's Statement (March 2010)

(NOTE: This director's statement was prepared for a Screenwriting Lab, and part of what I was asked to do was to describe our project status- something I won't go into when the revised version of this statement is posted on the HAPPY FUNERAL website)

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

I have always been fascinated by how people meet their deaths. I had observed in my personal encounters, and later confirmed in my reading, that often people who are approaching death experience a new sense of inner peace. About two years ago, I began to reflect on what it would be like to have these experiences at a relatively young age. The exploration of these themes evolved into HAPPY FUNERAL.

HAPPY FUNERAL is a window into the last days of a troubled young man racing to mend the broken ties in his life before a brutal neighborhood loan shark-- or his terminal cancer-- get a chance to kill him. At it's heart it is a trans-cultural, trans-generational story of forgiveness and redemption. I drew on my own Persian and Iraqi family and heritage as I developed the character of Sulayman “Sully” Hakim, who became the vehicle through which the themes of mortality and atonement are lived out. While the story is undeniably culturally specific, it is not a Middle Eastern-American story. It is a human story with a Middle Eastern-American protagonist. My goal is to create an honest portrayal of people with a full spectrum of human emotions.

In this regard, the Turkish-German director Fatih Akin is a major influence, who manages in films like Head On to illustrate Turkish characters whose lives are train wrecks, but are also fully human and never mere caricatures. Others filmmakers, such as Ramine Bahrani (Chop Shop) and Jacque Audiard (A Prophet) have served as superb tonal and aesthetic references as I craft the outer world that Sully is journeying through in HAPPY FUNERAL. My aim is to take this restrained, understated neo-realist approach and combine it with the kind of hopefulness and light that permeates films like Europa Europa or Shawshank Redemption.

The audience will also experience the world as Sully experiences it-- both emotionally and also at a subjective sensory level, much the way we see the world through the protagonist eyes in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Sully’s condition causes his brain to misfire, and as a result, harrowing visions, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes horrifying, visit him. These episodes will hearken to the poetic interludes found in the stunning films of Andrei Tarkovsky.

In choosing to tell Sully's end-of-life journey, I realized I was in grave danger of wandering into a vast wasteland of cinema clichés. So I began to do as much research as I could. One of my resources was in my friend Daniel Spurgeon who is a brilliant poet, playwright and hospice physician. His insights were so helpful to me, I was compelled to ask him to become a co-writer of HAPPY FUNERAL. He has proved to be an able collaborator and we are both committed to doing are very best to make HAPPY FUNERAL a film of the highest quality. Towards that end we submitted our film to the January 2010 Sundance Screenwriting Lab for which were finalists in consideration. Additionally we had a table reading with a near full cast of actors to further assist us in our revisions of the script.

In the interest of a smooth transition into fundraising, development and eventual pre-production, we realized we needed to begin assembling our team. It was while I was at Sundance this year that I watched the film Night Catches Us and noted that the name of the Associate Producer and 1st Assistant Director for it, Shahrzad “Sheri” Davani was Persian. I later learned that she has worked as a producer and AD on a number of Sundance favorites, and has also worked with many Indy film powerhouses. Thinking she might connect with the material and that she would also bring the necessary know-how as a producer, I tracked her down and persuaded her to read the script. Happily, she enthusiastically came on board as a co-producer for our film.

As many have rightly pointed out, in the aftermath of the distribution meltdown, it is necessary for filmmakers to integrate a marketing and distribution strategy into their approach from the inception of their project. For this reason, we decided that planning for marketing and distribution needed to go hand in hand with our revision process. For that purpose, I asked my friend Kristy Thomley, a successful young publicist who works under the radar for many filmmakers and production companies, to come on board as the Producer of Marketing and Distribution. Our aim then is to smoothly transition into social network marketing when we have a final draft of the script in Summer 2010, and it will be Kristy who will execute the strategy we develop together.

As we slowly assemble our team, our primary goal is refine the screenplay of HAPPY FUNERAL until its craft and art are as solid as possible. When we arrive at a final draft, we will bear full steam ahead in filling all of the primary roles necessary to make the film a reality. Along with this we will do everything in our power to target niche audiences, carry out our social media marketing and pursue crowdsourcing. First the aim is to raise enough money to create a trailer and shoot selected scenes, and then based on the strength of these samples, continue to build the crowdsourcing community, and also to pursue more traditional avenues of fundraising.

After finishing the script with Daniel, I will continue on as a producer for HAPPY FUNERAL and will eventually direct and edit it as well. I plan to shoot HAPPY FUNERAL on location in Los Angeles. The bulk of the film will most likely be shot on the RED, but Sully's vision sequences will be shot on the Canon D7, both because of it's nimbleness and its beautiful look. However, I must confess that committed as I am to making this film, I'll shoot it on my own HVX-200 if necessary. I project the budget to come in under $300,000, a budget which also reflects costs for marketing and self- distribution after post-production is complete. Fortunately I edit for a living and believe that this skill- set will prove invaluable in making this film as inexpensively and efficiently as possible, whatever the budget or the format that we will eventually shoot with.

Re-reading what I have written about our plans, I must be honest and state frankly that I am daunted by the work ahead. However, I do not know what to live for, if not to strive to make films that bring joy and meaning to our world. At its core, HAPPY FUNERAL is about the human heart’s struggle to find peace with itself and an often cruel and violent world. As Sully makes his rapid march towards death, he rediscovers what it is to live. My hope, above all else, is to create a film where the audience experiences something similar.

-- Samah Tokmachi, Writer/Director, HAPPY FUNERAL

Twitterific

For many people, Twitter is about getting as many followers as possible.

I think there's some obvious benefit in that, but I think that singular goal overlooks other, sometimes even more important uses for Twitter.

So, for example, there is the opportunity to be made aware of all kinds of new happenings and sources of information out there. Already I have been made hip to several movie reviews, movies, blog posts on technical matters, music and artists I would have never otherwise known about.

But there's more to it than that.

Here are some case studies of connections I've made with people on Twitter, presented in order of occurrence:

1) My new friend Clara:

Clara Aranovich is a very smart, very lovely film grad student at USC. She found me on Twitter because we were both finalists in consideration for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab. We've become good friends and a lot of good things have come out of it.

2) Jesse Dylan and the good people of FreeForm

Jesse Dylan, the acclaimed commercial director, who directed the Obama "Yes We Can" video and also founded the production companies Form and FreeForm started following me on Twitter. It took me a second to realize who he was, but as soon as I did, I followed him back and reached out. I arranged to meet with him, though our meeting was twice cancelled. I persevered, and we finally met. He was very gracious and gave me lots of advice and encouragement. I told him that I wanted to learn from his model of both commercial and non-profit work and that what he was doing was exactly the kind of work I wanted to do. I offered my services for his non-profit work pro-bono, but he told me that anybody that works for him gets paid. That was meaningful I thought.

I then received a tour of the facilities and had an extended meeting with the Director of Development at FreeForm. We've been in touch and discussed some future projects. No work as of yet, but regardless, I value the friendship and finding a community of like-minded individuals who are making work with the highest ethics and aesthetics in their content. I'll probably blog more about this unique relationship in the future.

3) Duraid Munajim, Director of Photography for Son of Babylon

I tweeted about this film as soon as I arrived back Park City. It was by far my favorite of the films I saw at Sundance. I tweeted exactly that, and it was retweeted by SundanceBuzz. In turn, the DP's girlfriend retweeted, and then the DP himself retweeted it and started following me on Twitter. This was Duraid Munajim. Duraid offered to meet with me and have some coffee in Park City, but I was already gone. I said let's talk after the Sundance dust has settled.

Then in February, I sent him another follow up e-mail. i didn't hear from him that month, but then a few days ago, he told me he was here in LA. Today we met and it was a fantastic connection. He gave me his reel, told me war stories from the set of Son of Babylon (almost literally, since they were shooting in Iraq) and we generally talked shop and life. And since my father is of Persian descent and Iraqi-born, and Duraid is half-Iraqi and half-Persian, we had a lot in common.

So what's my point? My point is that Twitter helps you connect with like-minded people who you can build personal and professional relationships with, and if you focus on giving, you will naturally receive.

The end.

Connecting the dots, building the system, assembling the team...

This year at Sundance proved to be an important one for me.  Every film I saw spoke directly to my life and my heart.  A few films especially, some in more ways then one.

Night Catches Us was beautifully crafted and connected to a sense of American history.

Taqwacores dealt with the confrontation of religion and modernity.

Son of Babylon was a masterpiece of the highest order.  I wept many times as I watched it.  This beautiful and important work should be moving to a stone, but as a son of a son of Babylon it was especially moving.  I could die happy  if I ever made a film with as much depth, craft and humanity as it.  I am especially happy that it was made by an Iraqi.

But in spite of these cinematic gifts, perhaps the best thing that comes out of an event like Sundance, is the chance to connect with potential collaborators and like-minded supporters.

For example, at Taqwacores I met several young actors with heritages from around the world- all people I would be happy to cast and who were interested in my work and the things I wanted to say- you can't ask for more.

And when I saw Night Catches Us, I noticed a Persian name for 1st AD and Associate Producer, that of Shahrzad Davani.  Seeing as tbe main character (and several other characters) are Iranian-American in HAPPY FUNERAL, I thought she might perhaps connect with and appreciate the material.  I looked for her after the screening, but she wasn't there, although I did make some great heart connections with some others associated with the film...

When I saw Shahrzad Davani's name again in a Twitter feed, it made me think perhaps that I should reach out to her.  I asked Rainn Wilson if he wouldn't mind connecting us, and sure enough he did.  Sheri (that's what she goes by) turned out to be very supportive and totally like-minded.  She immediately agreed to read the script that Daniel Spurgeon and I have written,  She said she'd get back to me over the weekend. I didn't hear back from her right away and started getting a little nervous.  Then she sent me a one sentence e-mail asking if I was free to meet.  I immediately said yes and we set up a day and time...  But I felt a little unsure, given the terseness of her response.  I thought, perhaps, she didn't like it.

But than I saw her tweet: "Looking forward to mtg with @samahcinema and talking about his great script."

The best part was when Rainn retweeted it and took credit for the meeting.  That's cool, I'm glad Rainn can take time between Emmy nominations and Office episodes to take credit for connecting Sheri and I.  I figure he confused his two million followers that day, though ten of them did start to follow me...

Anway, the meeting went swimmingly and later my co-writer Daniel and I met with Sheri to map out a strategy for the next few months.

Little by little, we're organizing our we're creating a solid and dynamic team...

Avatars of a new (as of yet unrealized) age...

So I just saw Avatar and as you'll no doubt agree, I found it visually supreme.

Many, many people have already commented on this remarkable and revolutionary spectacle... So I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade with what I have to say. In fact I agree with most of David Denby's breathless homage:

"James Cameron’s “Avatar” is the most beautiful film I’ve seen in years. Amid the hoopla over the new power of 3-D as a narrative form, and the excitement about the complicated mix of digital animation and live action that made the movie possible, no one should ignore how lovely “Avatar” looks, how luscious yet freewheeling, bounteous yet strange. As Cameron surges through the picture plane, brushing past tree branches, coursing alongside foaming-mouthed creatures, we may be overcome by an uncanny sense of emerging, becoming, transcending—a sustained mood of elation produced by vaulting into space..."

All of that gushing, deserved praise aside, one might notice that for all the Emperor's fine haberdashery, there were a few spots of nakedness...

After it was done, I turned to a friend and said “Even if you hated you would have to be impressed.” And he said, “That’s kind of where I am.”

And I can understand why. It has all the trademark hokey things you would expect from a James Cameron film: the dialogue is not exceptional (it’s very on the nose in many places).

The disparity between the dialogue and visual imagery is indeed striking. And I can understand why the mind that might be great at creating such stunning visuals might not be the best for crafting evocative, subtle dialogue. In some ways, they have almost opposite requirements.

In dialogue it’s rarely a good thing for a line to be on the nose- the only time I think it works is when a character really would say something on the nose- but even that should be done sparingly. On the other hand, visually it’s not unusual for a very striking, beautiful, powerful image to also be very transparent in it’s meaning- but of course it still has to be organic to the story and not contrived. (Contrivance, rather than literalness of meaning, would seem to be the greater danger from a visual point of view).

An example of where the literalness worked visually but was a bit annoying in the dialogue was the constant reference made to the “web of life”. It felt didactic and forced. On the other hand, when the central character found himself accepted by the Na’vi people, the moment was conveyed with the perfect visual metaphor. A small group approached him and put their hands on him. Then others followed suit and laid their hands on those touching him, and yet evermore followed. Flowing out from this one center were several hundred Na’vis connected hand to shoulder to hand, forming their very own “web of life”. This worked beautifully I thought.

The point I wouldn't want to lose here is that some of these 3D images were astonishing in ways that I've never seen before in film. One of the opening images begins with the Jake Sully roused from a cryogenic state, released from his frozen catacomb into a sub zero gravity ward. His attendant floats towards us, and the distance we see several other attendants drifting in space. It is both magical and mundane. I loved it, and other moments like it.

Unfortunately, the screen in the Arclight Dome was not as bright as I felt it should’ve been. It all looked a little too dark with the glasses on. And the 3D glass did strain my eyes. I long for the day when 3D means not wearing glasses , but rather the stereoscopic images are projected on multiple screens for a diorama like effect. That would be pretty cool I think- much more pleasurable and less strain on the eyes.

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF CGI?

One thing that felt like a shortcoming of Avatar was the "animated" look of the Na'vi people and much of their envionment. I think this disparity between the impressive 3D elements versus the sometimes cartoonish ones has to do with an absence of physical references for the CGI artists. If you ever work with a CGI studio they’ll always tell you it’s better to work with an actual physical reference. Once I directed a PSA with a girl flying a kite. Since we weren't able to get the kite into the air, it was necessary to make a fake CGI one.

Still from the PSA I made for Full Circle Learning, CGI by Eight VFX

The CGI studio that made the kite that she was flying asked me for the actual kite so they could scan it in and create a 3D model from it. And this from what I understand is always the preferred route. I remember hearing Bryan Singer talking about this when he made Superman Returns. They actually shot Brandon Routh in the air with wires, and then removed them in post. They did this rather than shooting him against a green screen. And if you watch Superman, the flying is really convincing.

Same with Where the Wild things Are.

Spike Jonze was very insistent about not only shooting on location, but also having the Wild Things be actual puppet outfits (which the Jim Henson team did a wonderful job creating). This way when the CGI artists manipulated the puppet costume’s face, they actually had something to work with- almost a tactile clay- rather than having to construct it from digital scratch. And in doing so, there’s a certain photorealism that they have that Avatar does not. As one of my favorite artists, David McKean tweeted, there's almost an anti-CGI quality to the Wild Things- a real weight that the Na'vi do not possess.

While the Na’vi digital avatars are true to the actors' performances, their actual physical being still looks cartoonish and obviously animated. It’s a long way from Roger Rabbit, but it still closer to the Phantom Menace than I think is ideal.

They kind of look like a lot of angry Gumbys don't they?

However, it might be a while before we can get that total photorealism without the aid of a photographed physical reference. Perhaps when a vast catalogue of 3D models made from real physical objects comes into being- perhaps that’s when we’ll finally cross that digital threshold…

HAPPY FUNERAL Table Reading

On Monday of this week, we had the first ever table reading for HAPPY FUNERAL, the feature-length screenplay I am co-writing with Daniel Spurgeon.

We have been working on it for about nine months together, and I had been developing the concept for about a year before then... So it's been in process for a long time.

For me, it was thrilling to see the characters come to life. We had thirteen actors performing the parts of twenty speaking parts. While it would've been nice to have all the speaking parts filled, the area was so full with performers, it probably was for the best. Everyone did a great job.

Sam Golzari, a long time acquaintance of mine read the part of the lead, while the heavy of the film, was played by Assaf Cohen.

The cool thing for me was to see the main character and the main antagonist actually played by actors of the ethnicity to which they belong.

The fact that Sam's heritage is actually Iranian and Assaf's is genuinely Israeli helped bring a lot of subtlety and nuance to the part, and both made real culturally specific elements that had been written into the script, but which actors of another ethnicities would probably be unaware.

I really should have taken some pictures, but alas things were a bit hectic.

The reading took place at a Kombucha making facility in Pasadena that is right next to Daniel's apartment. I wasn't sure about it at first- I thought it might be a little too cold an environment.

But in fact, when it filled out with an audience, it worked incredibly well.

The audience itself was a mix- professionals Daniel knows from his work as a hospice doctor and other filmmakers and artists.

I explained to the audience the genesis of the story, about how when I heard that often people approaching their death experience a great change. They begin to feel a peace they never before, they appreciate the small things of life, they are less troubled by the day to day struggles. It is, I said, not the result of changing religions, reading a book, finding a guru or having a life changing experience (other than learning they are dying).

What has happened is that they start to live in the highest pitch of awareness of what they already knew. I then explained that I thought about this, and thought, how great would it be to experience this now, while still relatively young. And then I thought about my family, particularly my Persian and Iraqi heritage, and the rich pathos and stories I wanted to mine from it.

And this thought was the the genesis of what would become HAPPY FUNERAL.

Watching and listening to the reading unfold, besides the power of watching it come to life (in thumbnail sketch-drawn-on-a-napkin form) it was also really interesting to watch listen to the responses of the audience. Their laughter and tears at very specific moments seemed to vindicate our main choices and story thrust.

At the same time, seeing where there was a drop in energy and also looking at the points where we were perhaps excessive in our exposition or a little too on the nose was also very instructive.

I look forward to advancing to the next stage and next week I plan to meet with a casting director.

We are making progress...

"We are pleased to inform you..."

For years one of my goals has been to participate in the Sundance Labs. The Labs are some of the most important efforts undertaken by the Sundance Institute, the famous non-profit that Robert Redford founded for the purpose of discovering and developing independent artists and audiences.

The mission of the Labs is to provide a training grounds for What's Next in independent filmmaking. Alumni that have gone through the Screenwriting and Directing Labs include Quentin Tarantino, Allison Anders, Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, Miranda July and countless others. In order to be considered for the Producing and Directing Labs, you must first go through the Screenwriting Lab. So applying to the Sundance Screenwriting Lab is the first step in a potentially long and life changing journey...

To give you a taste of what it's like, here's a YouTube video that does a good job of conveying the feeling of participating in the Directors Lab:



It's with this awareness that I submitted my project, HAPPY FUNERAL, for consideration by the Lab. I emotionally prepared myself by remembering that the odds were against me, and that regardless of the outcome I would persevere in making HAPPY FUNERAL a film, no matter what.

So when I got an e-mail from the Sundance Institute and read in the subject line: Sundance Feature Film Program Application - January 2010, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that it was going to read something like: "We receive many excellent submissions every year, and it was really tough to make our decisions and... Anyway, long story short, you didn't get in."

Imagine my surprise then when instead I read:

"Dear Samah,

We are pleased to inform you that your script HAPPY FUNERAL has been selected for the second round of consideration for the 2010 January Screenwriters Lab! Please send a hard copy of the complete script…"

I saw the words and instantly yelled out a joyful profanity. Thankfully no one was around...

After a few moments, the euphoria wore off and I realized how much work I had to do. Tomorrow I will begin the intense process of revising HAPPY FUNERAL with my co-writer, the poet and physician Daniel Spurgeon.

We have laid out an intense schedule for the next week and a half: Thursday through Saturday, we wake up at dawn, jog, eat a healthy breakfast and get our script into shape. Then, Sunday is our day of rest. My friend and Sundance Alumnus Tze Chun has agreed to read the script and give us notes by Monday morning. We will revise on Tuesday, have a handful of trusted friends who are also highly accomplished actors do a reading of the script, and pay close attention to how it sounds out loud. Taking into account the feedback we receive we will then work Wednesday through Thursday and revise, revise, revise and try to catch the lightning. Then on Friday, the day it is due (July 24th), we will edit for any errors or typos. And before the end of the day, we will release it into the universe- via FedEx that is.

To get to this point in the submission process, my writing partner and I first had to submit a cover letter, a two page synopsis, the first five pages of our screenplay and our bios.

Before we finished the packet, I made a valiant effort to find examples of the former that had gotten people into the second round, but couldn't find any.

Since i am a strong believer in studying precedence and NOT reinventing the wheel, I thought I'd share the two page synopsis we submitted to the Lab. In doing so, I want to say it's definitely not perfect, but it did help get us to the second round. Here it is below:

HAPPY FUNERAL: A SYNOPSIS

by Samah Tokmachi & Daniel Spurgeon

A while back, small-time hustler, Sulaymon Hakim, a.k.a. SULLY (27), made a desperate deal and borrowed a huge sum of money to pay for his mother’s medical bills. Now she is dead and Sully has to repay the $10,000.00 debt to UDI, (30), an underground mobster in his neighborhood. His best friend ROLLO (26) tries to get Sully to skip town, but Sully is so paralyzed by denial he doesn’t realize the gravity of his situation. Anxiety seems to be getting the best of him, with episodes of fainting spells and haunting visions invading his psyche.

Clutching at straws, Sully tries to find some money in a hurry. All of his connections, however, have gone legit, are in jail, or are just plain unwilling to help. Empty handed, Sully is on the lam but Udi still manages to track him down. Instead of killing him, Udi makes an offer Sully can’t refuse: a small job to repay his debt. It sounds simple enough-- just deliver an unknown package to a faceless client. But when Sully arrives at the rendezvous, the “package” turns out to be NATASHA (22), a forced sex worker from Eastern Europe. Sully tries to back out until Udi threatens him into submission. Sully departs with Natasha and tries to make small talk with her. She is in no mood for conversation. While driving, one of Sully’s episodes overtakes him. He slips between consciousness and unconsciousness. Natasha takes the opportunity and escapes, leaving Sully passed out on the side of a highway. While in his dream state, he has visions of RAFAELA (27), an ex-girlfriend he dearly loved, but badly mistreated.

Sully wakes up in the hospital with Rollo at his side. As he regains consciousness, Sully is overwhelmed with remorse for his past actions. After an MRI and a battery of tests, a doctor breaks the news to Sully—he has a tumor in his brain and only a few weeks left to live. Facing his impending death, Sully considers what to do with his last days. He decides he must find Rafaela and make amends with her. He finds her and discovers that she is now a mother. Even more shocking, he learns that ZION, her three year-old boy, is in fact his son.

Refusing to talk, Rafaela shuts the door in his face. Sully is about to explode with anger-- but remembers how his own abusive father treated his mother-- and instead restrains himself and patiently waits for Rafaela to open up. After telling her that he’s dying, Rafaela lets him inside. For the first time in a long time, the two connect. Rafaela slowly lets go of her anger and Sully falls in love with his son.

Back in town, Udi discovers Sully and brutally beats him, threatening to kill him for his failure. Already facing death from cancer, Sully is at first indifferent to Udi’s threats, but then thinks of his newly found son. He convinces Udi to give him another chance.

But that chance is dashed when Rollo reports Udi’s trafficking to the police and Udi is arrested. Enraged, Udi sics his thugs onto Sully and rats him out to the cops. With time running out, Sully prepares to leave town… But looking at his son, he remembers his lost father. And so, with Rafaella and Zion at his side, Sully sets out to find him. On the road, Sully has his final episode and passes away, leaving Rafaela and Zion to complete his journey for him…

I hope that was useful in at least providing perspective on one project that has managed to make it at least this far in the process...

And now I conclude this post to begin my journey into the Land of Story, a scary and magical world of astonishing sights...

A Sundance Director's Cheat Sheet

Keith Gordon is an actor-turned-director whose work has been extremely varied, and lately he's been directing episodes of Dexter. But one really cool thing he does is work as a mentor for the Fellows at the Sundance Labs. As part of that experience, he wrote a great 'cheat sheet' for filmmakers working on set:

KEITH GORDON'S SUNDANCE DIRECTORS' CHEAT SHEET

I was working with a young director who was very talented, but who was also prone to panic — causing her to lose her perspective and clarity (an issue I’ve had to deal with myself at times). So I wrote this ‘"cheat sheet" for the fellows to carry with them for when they felt lost. To be honest, I created it just as much for myself…

The Unofficial Sundance Shooting Cheat Sheet

You may never need this, but if you’re feeling a little lost, or out of control, or not sure, remember…

1. Breathe. Calm down. Fear and anxiety are the enemies of complex, open, creative thought. A calm leader inspires confidence. If you need a minute to clear your head, or decide what you want, take it. Everyone can wait.

2. Slow down — rushing is not the same as efficiency.

3. Remember what your scene is really about: Why is this scene in your film? What do you want the audience to feel or understand from it? What are you trying to achieve emotionally with your use of camera and image? What do each of the characters want in this scene? How are they trying to achieve it? Which character’s scene is it? What is their journey in this scene?

While all of the above SHOULD seem obvious, there isn’t a director alive who hasn’t lost sight of some or all of the above while they were shooting a difficult scene.

4. In both rehearsal and shooting — try giving your actors actions — things their character is trying to achieve in the scene, instead of emotional states to play. Get back to what the character WANTS.

Let’s say you’re doing a scene where one character wants to intimidate another.

If you tell the actor "yell" you may just get a general, obvious performance.

But if you give them something to DO (e.g. ‘try and scare the crap out of the other character’), you will allow them into the creative process, and they may find ways of achieving what you want that weren’t what you expecting, but that are more interesting. Maybe instead of the screaming you imagined, you’ll discover they’re more frightening with a whisper. Maybe a chilling smile is more effective than a glare.

Be brave enough to let your actors (and your crew) make you better. No one is genius enough to do it alone. Then you can gently guide those creative impulses, picking the ones you like best, and helping the actor shade what you find together

5. When you have the scene on film the way you think you want, if you have a little time, do an extra take or two in a different way. Why not see what happens if you try something a bit different. If your actor has been intimidating the other with a lot of outward emotion and intensity, suggest they try one with everything held in, like a snake. See what you get.

What’s the worse that happens? You hate it and don’t use it. What’s the best that happens? Unexpected magic. Plus, a good actor will often have something they want to try, but are scared it might not work or will look foolish. Give them their chance to go out on a limb.

6. Remember the scene will NEVER be just like it is in your head. It may be better, it may be worse, it may just be different. But if you get stuck trying to make it "just the way you imagined it" you may well get stuck on the road to hell. Remember what Truffaut said: "The secret of good directing is knowing exactly what you want, but having no ego about giving it up the second anyone has a better idea."

Remember the script is a blueprint, an outline. But when building a house you often deviate from blueprints to make things better. — Keith Gordon

7. Remember to thank, praise and take care of your cast and crew. They’re your team. They’re your army. If they feel unappreciated and ignored you will not get their best efforts and thus your best scene. Don’t leave your actors standing out in the sun, wondering what’s going on while you talk to your DP for a half hour.

8. Have fun. Breathe. Smile. There are so few people lucky enough to have the adventure you’re on.

The cracks are just breakthroughs waiting to happen...

I was talking to a friend of mine about the screenplay I'm working on.  He pointed out a possible weak point.  Instead of trying to justify the idea that's there, or contort the idea as it exists to meet the gap in logic, I went down the rabbit hole.

I asked myself, "well if this is where we go, how would we get there given these circumstances."

 

And I realized something- when I have been brave enough to manfully confront the weaknesses in my work, often those very points of weakness yield and alchemize before my eyes.  Suddenly, those points that were the red-headed step children I was trying to hide from the penetrating gaze of the audience become turning points.  They evolve from distracting details into revelatory windows that elevate the entire project...

And so, to my co-writer on HAPPY FUNERAL, i wrote this following note:

let us see:

the cracks
as breakthroughs
waiting to happen

the weaknesses
as points of strength
ready to emerge

the moments of confusion
as opportunities to bring clarity

---

it came as a revelation to me:

before: i saw cracks and holes to be filled with spackle-

now: i see walls to be torn down, for on the other side waits a new room, a new hall, a new something...

...something to astonish the world...

The funny thing is- it seems this insight is just as valid in life as it is in the process of creating art...  Don't you?

Going Global: Learning About Film Distribution for a Global Community

A while ago my friend (and sometimes collaborator) Todd Brown referred me to Stacey Parks.  Stacey was looking to make a viral video for her website, www.filmspecific.com, a distribution resource for filmmakers.  As part of the deal for making the video for her, Stacey gave me a pass to her weekend boot camp on global distribution.

So here I am at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, listening and learning about global distribution at a time of world disarray.  The funniest thing was running into the Carberry twins, who I've blogged about in the past.  These 19 year old kids managed to finangle a job videotaping the event.  I'm convinced in 5 years we're all be working for them.   Sitting next to me right now is Bilal Khan, a graphic designer/social media consultant/businessman who is doing a documentary on relief work done by Islamic charities during Hurrican Katrina.  Such an interesting person who effortlessly blends piety and modernity.

I've learned a lot of interesting things from the event, and when I finish producing the marketing video for Stacey's site, I'll post it in the future.

Sleep Dealer

There's been some great sci-fi in the last few years, work that's really brought the best of the tradition of sci-fi in its ability to critique and present insights about the world we live in.

Sleep Dealer seems to fit into this mold.

This is the description I found on IMDB:

"Set in a near-future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology."

What made me really want to see this film was this- a walk through one of the scenes by the director Alex Rivera.

One In A Million

The New York Times has a great series profiling various interesting people in the city: there's the maid to New York mayors, a tabloid photographer, and my favorite, the principal of a Muslim high school. The essays are told through photo essays and narration by the subjects themselves.

Check it out here.

A story well told will find an audience...

In the same year that Barack Obama became President, 'Slumdog Millionaire' was announced as best picture by the Academy.

Our world is changing in profound ways, and it's affecting every art and industry, including the most powerful of them all, cinema.

Here's another excerpt from the NYT that just came out today:

"American film is one of the last remaining exports, a kind of bejeweled software that the rest of the world clearly loves. More than half of the money American movies make at the box office comes from elsewhere in the world, and given the downward trajectory of DVD sales domestically, those global markets are only going to grow in importance.

But global imperatives go both ways. When a film with a British director, Indian actors and French co-financing goes home with eight Oscars, it’s hard not to see a message.

“I think it demonstrates that a good story well told, whether it is about someone in Mumbai, China or around the corner, will find an audience,” said Nancy Utley, chief operating officer at Fox Searchlight, the division of 20th Century Fox that found Oscar (and box office) gold after picking up “Slumdog Millionaire.” She added that the studio specialty division knew it had a winner on its hands when it screen-tested the film in Orange County, Calif. — sort of a ground zero of a conventional American audience — without any marketing or explanation, and the room loved it...

The winner of the documentary short category, “Smile Pinki,” was filmed in India as well. Working the carpet, I spent time making nice with its young subject, Pinki Sonkar, radiant after a cleft palate repair and a film about her journey. At the end of the interview with her and the film’s director, Megan Mylan, I awkwardly folded my hands together at my chin and bowed, as I had when the kids of “Slumdog” came through.

“I’m going to have to learn how to do that,” said a reporter next to me. It will be clumsy for everyone. Hollywood’s efforts to globalize its content as well as its business have been a train wreck for the most part, but for a stagnant industry under duress at home, the rest of the world is waiting for their stories to be told as well."

You can read the whole article here.

Oscars gone global...

Just read this in the NYT and I thought, yup, that's right:

'Hollywood has been taking on more and more of a global tilt with each passing year, but on this evening iat was especially evident in the show and in the awards themselves.

After Penélope Cruz won for best supporting actress for her role in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” she gave part of her speech in Spanish — she said backstage it was a dedication to the actors and people of Spain — and then suggested backstage that the movies had to grow beyond the bounds of strictly American stories. “We are all mixed together, and it has to be reflected in the cinema,” she said.'

And here's the rest of the article, if you're interested.

Becoming a hollow reed...

Here's a fantastic poem from Hafez wherein he speaks of the difference between the mature artist and the immature one:

 

The Vintage Man

The 
Difference 
Between a good artist 
And a great one

Is:

The novice 
Will often lay down his tool 
Or brush

Then pick up an invisible club 
On the mind’s table

And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.

Whereas the vintage man 
No longer hurts himself or anyone

And keeps on 
Sculpting

Light.

-- Hafiz, (translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

As alluded to in the above poem, there is much to say about the way artists often hurt themselves in their creative path.  I am personally of the opinion that 90% of this anguish and self-sabotage is unrelated to our actual work- it is not the fire that burns us, it is the fear of the fire.

It's become clear to me that work should always be joyous.  Even when it is hard and painful and we have to sacrifice for it, there should always be an element of joy present.  It seems very difficult to realize our potential, otherwise, for how can you pour your into the very thing you resist? 

My goal is to create in a sustainable, authentic manner.  Why let success or failure, or fear of either stand in my way?

I recently heard a great TED talk by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert that explored these ideas and more.  I encourage you to listen to it if you get a chance. 

And after you watch that talk, perhaps you will have time to read another poem that speaks to the essence of what art is, this one by the extraordinary Jorge Luis Borges:

The Art of Poetry 

To gaze at a river made of time and water 

and remember Time is another river. 

To know we stray like a river 

and our faces vanish like water. 

 

To feel that waking is another dream 

that dreams of not dreaming and that the death 

we fear in our bones is the death 

that every night we call a dream. 

 

To see in every day and year a symbol 

of all the days of man and his years, 

and convert the outrage of the years 

into a music, a sound, and a symbol. 

 

To see in death a dream, in the sunset 

a golden sadness such is poetry, 

humble and immortal, poetry, 

returning, like dawn and the sunset. 

 

Sometimes at evening there's a face 

that sees us from the deeps of a mirror. 

Art must be that sort of mirror, 

disclosing to each of us his face. 

 

They say Ulysses, wearied of wonders, 

wept with love on seeing Ithaca, 

humble and green. Art is that Ithaca, 

a green eternity, not wonders. 

 

Art is endless like a river flowing,

passing, yet remaining, a mirror to the same 

inconstant Heraclitus, who is the same 

and yet another, like the river flowing. 

-Jorge Luis Borges