My New Thing

This is the first time I have headed directly from one script and to the next - without being forced to it by necessity. But I had entered the vacuum of having-just-finished-a-big-thing and was going a little bananas, and so my cure was to readily throw myself into the next big thing. In this thing, which I will only speak in the most broad terms so far, I at last embrace my interest in quantum physics and pair it with my passion for drama. I see some overlapping ideas between the principles of drama and some of the theories of quantum physics - and this is exactly what I am going to explore in this new thing.
Quantum physics are mind-winningly fascinating and completely spins your world around - as Niels Bohr said: "If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet." And some of the basic concepts are not that difficult to get understand for a layman - apart from them contradicting fundamental stuff we assume in ordinary reality. In my next life I want to be a scientist!
So right now I am both researching a lot of stuff about quantum physics and fleshing out the basic idea of the drama - the main characters, their basic conflict, the structure of the script and of course fumbling around in the dark to get a grasp of the hidden meaning of it all.
In all this it is also a joy to gang up with an old friend to explore this world. Danish film director Thomas Bjerregaard has some of the same fascinations as I do with the whole quantum-thing, and he is reading as I write, and will look into the best ways to get this produced as a film. Maybe as a Danish-Greek co-production, which would be really great for a lot of reasons. Read more!

FIRST DRAFT OF "THE MOUNTAIN"

Friday I finished the first draft of The Mountain, a supernatural political thriller hopefully to be directed within a foreseeable future by Yorgos Siougas a.k.a as my good friend George, director of short films and TV-series. Based on an idea of his I wrote a short film for him, Is love a Tender Thing, which he directed and shot in early june. It's soon out of post-production and it's first public appearance will be at the Drama International Short Film Festival in september.

So first draft is finished. Which means it has gone to George, the director, and George, the producer. Who happens to be two different persons. I have begun to call the latter by a short form of his last name, Lykairdopoulos, pronounced in a French fashion Luc or if you will Danish fashion Lyk. The two Georges will read (eventually - they are busy people. and yes, I have threatened to lock them inside a toilet until they finish). Then when they come out of the toilet we will meet to discuss what the next steps are. Is the draft good enough to send out as is? If not, what kind of improvement is needed. When it gets send out, to who? The Greek Film Center? Star-actors we want on board from this early stage? Potential co-producers? All-in-all in boils down to this: This script that I have been living in an intense relationship with for the last many days will suddenly not be a part of my daily life. And so what do you do? My theory is all about moving on as quickly as possible. Pick up another project you left behind earlier, throw yourself into a crazy new idea - anything - because even though the finished first draft will come back to you and demand your attention it will never be that intense again - if you have done your work well. You will make some cuts, perhaps re-arrange some scenes, maybe even add a little stuff to clarify certain aspects, but you will not be as deeply immersed in its world again - hopefully. The next guy who will be that is the director. Not you. So move on.

And I believe I have found the next thing. More about that later. Have fun... Read more!

OMG - An Ode to Jesper

I miss my friend Jesper, who used to work at the Danish Cultural Institute here in Athens, but stopped by New Year and returned to the old mother country, Denmark.

We used to hang out whenever - discussing everything from food, TV-series, art, archeology, comic books, the roots of drama and not entirely unimportant - women. He is fun and easy-going company and it would fool a lot of people into thinking he didn't have depth or intellectual prowess.

And so, he has gone away from dirty, lively, ever-unexpected Athens to live in Copenhagen, paragon of order, cleanliness and the expected - and I really miss him. Most of my friends here has kids, wives, girl-friends, super-busy jobs or even all those together - and it can at times be difficult to hunt down anyone ready to grab a coffee and solve the world situation in an hour or so. Jesper was - despite having a busy job and in no short supply of friends - almost always ready to that.

So, that's my Ode to Jesper. And even though we keep in touch through that internet-thing-y, it's just not the same as a kafedaki or a cold drink at Booze. Read more!

OVERDUE UPDATE

I am in Athens all summer. Working.

Don't really have the money to go on a vacation. Or the time.

Things have been going very well with my co-operation with Yorgos Siougas. Right after meeting him in April he got a short film financed, but he only had the basic idea, and not really a script ready. And he had to start shooting in 3 weeks. So I discussed the scenario with him and then I wrote the script. The short-film has now been shot, is in post and is titled in English: "Is love a tender thing?". Is has been chosen for the main competition at the big Greek short film festival in Drama.

And after that I went on to write a feature film script for Siougas, The Mountain, which I have just finished the 3rd act of. So I have the last act remaining and then we have a full first draft. Its a supernatural political thriller and so far I quite happy with it. Not the worst I have written.

A script I was coaching the writer/director on is almost finished shooting these days. I think the final shootings take place in the up-coming week. It is "Black Field" and there are some nice photos coming from the shoot - the one at the top is one of them. You can find more through my Facebook entry here. I'm really curious to see the film.

The other 'big' project I have been involved with, Constantine Giannaris' "Overboard" seems close to a final draft now. Its becoming a really good script. Most of financing is in place, but to really make the film as it should be, we still need to find further financing. Maybe also with the hope of attracting one or two well-known international actors to take the lead parts.

Then I have a couple of new projects coming up as soon as I'm finished with the mountain. But most of them are long term projects. And my biggest worry right now is that I don't see any money coming in until maybe december or something like that. So I'm really looking for here-and-now jobs at the time being. Read more!

Too perfect

Well, I'm back in Denmark where I am born and lived the first half of my life (given I will live up until around 70). Here is a small snippet of conversation from the train platform of the airport, that I picked up:

Her: Great, the train is here 17.04
Him: Yes.
Her: How long for us to get to the central station?
Him: Hmm, I'm not sure, but I think we can catch the 17.25 from the central to Roskilde
Her: Then call your mother and tell her we will be in Roskilde 17.54

My greek friends wouldn't believe this. They would find it laughable, admirable or just plain weird, but they would have a really hard time believing it. The small conversation reflects some things about the DK.
1. The use of precise time measurements show a deep trust in the train systems ability to operate on time.
2. There are people who know the train schedule by heart.
3. They are going to announce to the mother the exact minute of their arrival. Every minute counts. Time must be precious.

This thing reminded me a little of why I'm certainly not moving back to the DK ever. I live very badly with this design of a country to attain operational perfection. It just doesn't sit well with my private psych system. I do like an amount of chaos and unpredictability. Denmark is just too perfect for me.

Disclaimer: Don't use the train times specified above, as they are quoted from my memory and almost certainly wrong. Read more!

Creating drama

My workshop continues. This time I began by talking principles again. How principles comes before the forms. And never to trust any rules or models or such stuff as the golden standard, but only use such as the simple tools they are - and then know your principles of Drama. Yes, I say drama and I don't mean the same as in the video store, where everything serious and with emotions as centerpiece is filed under that definition. Drama is the definition
for the whole mega-genre, as opposed to the mega-genres of poetry, music, dance and epos (the novel&short-story). And the founding principle of drama is simply that drama deals with conflicts. This is the raison d'etre of the genre. Yes, all the other mega-genres also has some elements of conflict and deal with them. But for drama this is our main issue - and this is so because in our form we have characters acting in the here and now - which is the recipe for conflicts. The novel in comparison has the basic form (writing) where thoughts and reflections can be presented in its natural form (without necessarily being boring) and this gives us, the audience, a perspective outside the here and now. But in our genre, Drama, we deal in the moment, of what is happening right now in front of us. This is our main strength and this is why in film scripts or theatre plays using flashbacks can be very tricky - because the moment you loose the moment you loose the audience. After talking about the very basic principle for our genre I introduced the 4 act structure I mainly use, but I kept stressing that this is just one of many forms. One that I find useful, but one that I by no means swear to as the only one. I told the workshop participants that its useful to get acquainted with as many models as possible, to better understand that none of them is the only one, and to be able to pick and mix depending upon your needs for a specific project.
Then it was time to talk about the participants own projects. And this part of the workshop I can't really refer to in any level of detail, because what is being discussed is confidential and stays between me and the participants. But each participant tells the rest of us about their project, what's its about, where they are, what problems they experience and then I try and deal with it, give the best questions and suggestions I can come up with - and also very important are the questions from the other participants - as a part of the workshop experience is to become better at working in a group dynamic. Read more!

The forge is glowing hot

And tonight it began. My workshop on scriptwriting. And - wow - it's good to be doing this again. It is for me the perfect combo of teaching, telling anecdotes, sharing stories (both fictional and personal) and a solid basis of hands on problem solving. Basically I'm trying to put all the elements inside that has been most beneficial in my own development as a writer - both in form and in material.
Teaching: For me teaching and learning should come in high intensity. It should be highly distilled insights into what make things work, how and why. I'm not a fan of lengthy discourse with a lot of theory and reference and so on. Let me get to core of things - both when I'm a student and a teacher. So I'm trying to get to the point and not talk about it for hours.
Anecdotes: because they can tell you so much about the real world. They are small condensed stories that convey moments of experience. And as a form they are great to digress into from the more abstract kind of teaching. They tell you not only about how to do things, but how to do things in the real world. Or: "what can happen to you in the industry and how to deal or how you shouldn't deal with it". Some of my best anecdotes are about times I have fucked up.
Sharing stories: Because this the fundamental passion if you are a writer. In the workshop you have a immediate outlet for that passion. Tell your stories and hear some stories. And I like to throw in the occasional personal story because I believe we have to remain anchored in the personal. To draw upon it - and being honest and direct about it, not hiding it - even for those script that are not evidently personal.
Hands-on: Yes, I'm a great believer in learning by doing. So much time in school was wasted on just listening, being a good student, while all the real lessons were picked up by actually doing things, writing stuff that had to be produced - and often failing but taking your lesson. So in the workshop the core activity is getting the stories on the table and regard them as projects destined for production. What are the problems, how to go about solving them and then back home and come with solutions for the next session of the workshop.
So right now I can't wait until next wednesday night and another session of the workshop. I always get curious about the participants and their stories. How will things develop. Lets see. I'm tuned in. Read more!