Gloom and Doom

[Elsie N]

It's that obvious?

I just came off a year-and-a-half of writing an emotionally heavy-duty Ausvich script based on true events. Had to watch a lot of survivor testimony, read a camp diary, and do some digging through post-war trials and how folks managed to get back to so-called normalcy. All this while trying to keep the cinematic experience in mind. Is it entertaining? Visually engaging? No plot holes? F almighty! I kept another light-hearted work going at the same time just to take a break, but I think you're right. I need something fricken' hilarious right now.

I have three passions in life: writing for film (now making the transition to novels), cooking, and landscaping (stone fireplaces and BBQs, stone benches and palapas, and so on), but seems all three are getting a beating right now. Writing I've spilled on in this thread. I also have a small café, a cool little place my wife and I put together by 'picking', and we fixed up all the stuff we found - old farm tables, chairs and sofas, art work, cabinets and counters. All found and fixed. But a spike in gang violence here means we have to shut it down. Three of my employees have been pistol whipped and robbed - not at the café, but within blocks, and two while leaving work for home. Cars are getting stolen by gunpoint in the adjacent parking lot, and folks are getting blow away on a pretty regular basis. Another of my employees had a guy killed in a gang shoot-out right in front of her home a few blocks from the café. My wife was tossed out of a local convenient store by two robbers so they could go about their business - thankfully she got out. NOT MAKING THIS UP. It really is that bad. We are talking extreme violence. So sad, all that work and years of blood and sweat equity and we need walk away.

For a while though, it was perfect.

For the record, I live in what has been declared the second deadliest combat zone in the world. Syria is the first. Not all 'experts' agree, but either way you get the picture. Up until recently, for the most part, our little corner was relatively low key.


And, I live in front of a park that was a real dump when I moved in, so I got together with a few neighbors and we spent a year fixing it up with lots of stone, lots of flowers and trees and brick pathways. Now? completely fucked up by the non-participating neighbors, their kids and drunk friends. "Oh, look ! A flower patch! Lets set the BBQ up right here!''. They break EVERYTHING, and there is not a thing I can do about it except keep fixing it. I quit doing that a year ago, and the once beautiful park is just a trash heap now - and folks just don't seem to care one way or the other. I should post a photo.

'Oh, look, another tree is dying. Quick, get the pop corn!'

So yeah, kinda in low spirits. Trying to use the writing to process all this and channel-dump it into characters that can beat the snot out of each other, but kinda not working.


There is some really good stuff in this thread, about where things are going, and some positive optimism to keep at it. A smart bunch of guys and gals. Maybe now it's just gloom without the doom.

alex

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!

Someone get some VR goggles for this person... over here!

And make sure it has some uplifting content loaded!

STAT!

 

[a whitmer]

If you try to tell me it's game over for BBQs I don't want to live in this world any more!

I'm with ya!

Here are some sample photos from the café. Probably gonna wrap it up end of July. We used to fill the place every night, now very few want to come to this area. I should add antiques to my passions list.

https://alexmwhitmer.wordpress.com/zz-blue-dog/

Some first-year marketing students put this together for us. Lot of upgrades and new 'old stuff' and fresh paint since, but it's a pretty good idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-jgG53Pd5Q

We have 7 employees, some of whom have been with us since the beginning, but it's just too dangerous for them now. And us. We live in brick and cinder block houses for two reasons: termites, and a place to hide behind walls when the shooting starts. Crimminy! It's odd in that it's common enough to be 'Meh' about it. A customer asked me if I heard the 'shooting last night'. No, but one of my 'girls' said "Oh, yeah, that was in front of my house. My dad grabbed me and my brother and threw us behind the walls below the windows", then she was back to serving up some peanut butter pie like she was explaining seeing two cats get into it. It was a gang hit. And one of the women in the video was pistol whipped in the head for her phone and cash - along with her mother. Okay, that wasn't so Meh, and it took her some time to relax enough. Months.

we worked really hard putting this business together. Started out with just a small plastic table on a street corner. But, all things must pass, right?


Here is the garden project ...

https://alexmwhitmer.wordpress.com/zz-garden/

Missing photos of the BBQs and Chimney and other installations. I'll get them asap. But, this is before. You wouldn't believe what it looks like now. All trashed and full of garbage. I'll get some pics.

All things must pass..

And a pic of my screenwriting stats. 2014 was def my best year, and really good films, too. Like I mentioned, something changed dramatically 3 years ago.

This too shall pass.

alex

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

It's that obvious?

I guess not much out of context and without particular background but I've seen the effect before with various artists and had many discussions about this so can notice the manifestations. Principles are the same.

I just came off a year-and-a-half of writing an emotionally heavy-duty Ausvich script based on true events. Had to watch a lot of survivor testimony, read a camp diary, and do some digging through post-war trials and how folks managed to get back to so-called normalcy. All this while trying to keep the cinematic experience in mind. Is it entertaining? Visually engaging? No plot holes? F almighty!

So...heavy and negative emotions and mind states with longer exposure.

Very serious stuff which needs high caution. Do not take this lightly. If left to inertia the effect is destructive.

I kept another light-hearted work going at the same time just to take a break, but I think you're right. I need something fricken' hilarious right now.

Exactly. Write something which brings positive emotions to you. And makes you burst in laughter.

It works. Spoken from experience.

I have three passions in life: writing for film (now making the transition to novels), cooking, and landscaping (stone fireplaces and BBQs, stone benches and palapas, and so on), but seems all three are getting a beating right now. Writing I've spilled on in this thread. I also have a small café, a cool little place my wife and I put together by 'picking', and we fixed up all the stuff we found - old farm tables, chairs and sofas, art work, cabinets and counters. All found and fixed. But a spike in gang violence here means we have to shut it down. Three of my employees have been pistol whipped and robbed - not at the café, but within blocks, and two while leaving work for home. Cars are getting stolen by gunpoint in the adjacent parking lot, and folks are getting blow away on a pretty regular basis. Another of my employees had a guy killed in a gang shoot-out right in front of her home a few blocks from the café. My wife was tossed out of a local convenient store by two robbers so they could go about their business - thankfully she got out. NOT MAKING THIS UP. It really is that bad. We are talking extreme violence. So sad, all that work and years of blood and sweat equity and we need walk away.

For a while though, it was perfect.

For the record, I live in what has been declared the second deadliest combat zone in the world. Syria is the first. Not all 'experts' agree, but either way you get the picture. Up until recently, for the most part, our little corner was relatively low key.


And, I live in front of a park that was a real dump when I moved in, so I got together with a few neighbors and we spent a year fixing it up with lots of stone, lots of flowers and trees and brick pathways. Now? completely fucked up by the non-participating neighbors, their kids and drunk friends. "Oh, look ! A flower patch! Lets set the BBQ up right here!''. They break EVERYTHING, and there is not a thing I can do about it except keep fixing it. I quit doing that a year ago, and the once beautiful park is just a trash heap now - and folks just don't seem to care one way or the other. I should post a photo.

'Oh, look, another tree is dying. Quick, get the pop corn!'

So yeah, kinda in low spirits. Trying to use the writing to process all this and channel-dump it into characters that can beat the snot out of each other, but kinda not working.

You have a setup for a story right in front of you.

Not necessarily for the prior example but does have a potential for a great story.
I added one more thing.

"The owner of a small caffe in a violent neighbourhood finds a special way to transform the local community".

 

[a whitmer]

"The owner of a small caffe in a violent neighbourhood finds a special way to transform the local community".

Worth a shot !!! I started on a few years back about the garden, but back-burnered it. Time to dust it off?

Ran across this today ...


Sam Mendes warns budget films can not compete

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertai...udget-films-can-not-compete-with-blockbusters




alex

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

"The owner of a small caffe in a violent neighbourhood finds a special way to transform the local community".

Worth a shot !!!

I'd buy a ticket.

Sam Mendes warns budget films can not compete

Don't worry about that.

They don't have to compete.

World needs great stories more than it needs blockbusters and times are changing. In business models as well.
Creatives are now more powerful then ever and the change depends on the choice between passively awaiting things to fall in one's lap or actively participating in making that change...

 

[Matt Bai]

"You have a setup for a story right in front of you.

Not necessarily for the prior example but does have a potential for a great story.
I added one more thing.

"The owner of a small caffe in a violent neighbourhood finds a special way to transform the local community"."

 

[Matt Bai]

From my perspective going by these pictures you have a sweet life.

Where do you live? US?

At least the catering is covered when you make the film, also going buy the pictures... muffins.

Quiche, Vegetarian eggplant parm, Tamal pie.

 

[a whitmer]

From my perspective going by these pictures you have a sweet life.

Where do you live? US?

At least the catering is covered when you make the film, also going buy the pictures... muffins.

Quiche, Vegetarian eggplant parm, Tamal pie.

I mean, I'm not Bana Alabed by any stretch, but not sure losing my cafe to vicious gang violence, my garden to ass wipe neighbors, and my screenwriting career to bad choices and an industry in some yet-to-be-defined chaos, counts as a sweet life, but I can see the silver linings. They are always there.

Always down, never beaten. A bullet a day keeps the customers away. You get the idea. It's too bad, because we didn't just open a cafe. We found 90% of the stuff we have in the trash or in garages, barns, farms, welding shops and rim yards. We fixed them all up ourselves, got some cool art and stuff on eBay to decorate along with found art, some gifts from customers, and so on. Only place you could have a cup of Joe and type on 70-year-old machines, read 70-year-old comics or 400-year-old books. Read 800+ year-old pages, or eat with 500-year-old spoons, play with 60-year-old toys and old rotary phones, eat on 200-year-old doors re-purposed into tables, and so on and on and on. It was hella-fun putting it together. We developed all of our own recipes, and made everything from scratch. We were the first to develop our kind of fusion menu - now it' all over the place. We were heavily copied, but with none really being a direct threat. If anything it 'spread the word'. We kicked and screamed to get specialty items imported, made deals with farmers and trash collectors. And so much more. And now we need to walk away. There are some economic and political factors at play as well, but it is the violence driving most of our decision. We just don't want our 'girls' around it.

Anyways, we are not the only ones closing up shop. Many are, from cafes to salons and electronics stores, pizza joints and sushi pop-ups, etc. It is a tough, tough time to be a small business owner. Well, it always is. But this is the worst we have ever seen it.


U.S.? No. South.

Actually I don't make any films. Just write for them, but I really would like to make my own films someday. Maybe the whole pocket camera thing will be my calling? Animation is tempting, too. Currently, though, I'm making the transition to fiction, and will also try to finally get my 'Screenwriting for Filmmakers' book published.

alex

 

[a whitmer]

"The owner of a small caffe in a violent neighbourhood finds a special way to transform the local community".

Once we close the cafe, I'll have lots of time on my hands. I think I might just jump on this. Been rolling around my head since you suggested it.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Alex, before I say anything, I'm sorry to hear all the bad news about your business and neighbourhood. Whatever problems I have are trivial compared to that. I hope that you can bounce back soon.

Anyway, perhaps I can supply a little bit of illumination. Not in commercial or moral terms, but in writing and creativity terms.

For the past couple of weeks I've been going through a very uncomfortable physiological issue, including periodic intestinal cramps, which makes me unable to function normally. I can move around, go for my daily walks, and I still have most of my appetite. But I find it hard to relax or read or even write. So I'm not very well (and hopefully this will be over soon).

A couple of months ago, I had the smart idea of watching season 1 of Sex and the City. I don't like binge watching so I did one episode per night. It really is a terrific show and I'm glad I started watching it. It's light, funny, and it makes you feel good. I decided to put some time between seasons, and when I started to have these health problems, I realized that I might enjoy watching more of the show at night, seeing as all I could really do was sit around doing nothing. Basically I'm going through six episodes per night. I'm not in the mood for movies, or anything with a heavy story. I'm not even in the mood for my favourite show of all time, Twin Peaks. I really don't feel like it, and I can't really enjoy it right now.

SATC for some reason is exactly the kind of storytelling that I need. Whether I'm well or unwell, I just like watching it. So that might be worth noting the contrast between what you are thinking about, which is something to do with the Holocaust, and what I really want to watch when I'm unwell. I am a WW2 'enthusiast' but I mostly prefer documentary programs. I have no interest in Holocaust dramas at the best of times (Schindler's List was a good film, but I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole right now). And the fact that SATC is a series means that I can enjoy the same characters across multiple hours of viewing.

I'll be in good health well before I exhaust SATC, but I won't have to lament the end of the show anyway, as I have a lot of Seinfeld to catch up on, which I haven't watched in a long while. Based on how a show makes you feel - very important - I'd put SATC in the great TV shows of all time. Imagine being the creator of something like that. You will have much gratitude, especially from those who are not in the best of health or spirits.

 

[Matt W.]

That's apt. A lot of truth in that. They say escapism is popular in third world countries and among any who feel the desire to escape. I have friends who've lived in the more desperate parts of China and Mexico who see death every day and marvel at how poorly American comedy is received there. Because things aren't funny when the pain is real and it's really life and death. But when they are funny, it's so uplifting. I've been in situations where I can relate, not completely, but enough I think to empathize. So get better soon! Because those situations are no good and I wouldn't wish them on anyone but finding the good in it is all you can do.

Btw, you have some good Twin Peaks waiting for you. But it's not for dark times. Or maybe it is. A lot of people are critical (perhaps rightfully) of certain subplots in the Return, but it's the wide range of tone and emotion that makes that show work so uniquely well for me. But oh boy does the Return get dark. And slow. And frustrating. Gave me nightmares. It's not without a lot of flaws but flaws are the hallmark of bravery.

Also, I believe it was shot digitally after all. It should have been shot on film but if that was the trade off they had to make to get it produced it was more than worth it. The cinematography suits the series well despite the change in format. More importantly, the story and tone don't suffer much. There's some bad CGI that bothers me in Episode 8, but again, the flaws are battle scars. That episode is downright brave.

 

[Stacey Spears]

I had the smart idea of watching season 1 of Sex and the City. I don't like binge watching so I did one episode per night. It really is a terrific show and I'm glad I started watching it. It's light, funny, and it makes you feel good.

When you finish the series, he has a new series called Younger that is really good too.

On the subject of binge watching, I have mixed feelings about it. I am leaning more towards the I don't like binge watching side and prefer the one episode per day approach for an hour long series. I do binge re-watching shows. e.g. I like to fall alseep to a sitcom, such as Big Bang Theory, Friends, Better of Ted, etc...

Alex, sorry to hear about what you are going through too.

This thread is doom and gloom for sure. I have some stuff I want to say, but I am tired and I don't want to post just part of my thoughts. I will return.

 

[Elsie N]

If you haven't done so yet, get someone to come in and take pictures of all the things in the cafe. I'm sure you will be able to call up a memory of everything there, but when describing it to others, a photo helps to affirm the provenance.