Notes from Underdog.

Screenwriting Consultant For Hire (Me.)

FADE IN.

 Have a screenplay idea you're dying to commit to the page? Want help jump-starting a screenplay for the first time? Or a script you started but couldn't continue with?

Writing can be a lonely venture. Get the help you need to get that project to the next level. Award-winning writer Craig Phillips, MFA, will work with you on your pace and level, with script reading and detailed feedback, as well as  recommendations that will inspire you beyond your imagination.

 

Get advice from a scriptwriter who has been through development hell and back (and again). 

There are several levels of consultancy available, depending on your needs and situation.

From a basic script read + feedback, to more intensive week by week consultancy with suggestions (scripts and books to read and films to see) specific to your project, there's something to fit everyone's budget and goals.

 Please email for more details and to see if there's a fit.

I consult with no more than 3 clients at a time in order to provide in-depth attention to each.

Craig Phillips has been a script reader and development associate in Hollywood for directors Jon Avnet, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (My So Called Life, Glory, The Last Samurai); and also worked for HBO, Miramax, Dimension and Mandeville Films. He has optioned several screenplays, most recently "The Prisoners" to director Charles Burnett (To Sleep With Anger; Killer of Sheep); and is now at work on two projects for a Hollywood management company. He has also won the Hollywood Screenplay Award, and a National Society of Arts and Letters TV writing contest. He has taught writing at 826 Valencia, Fort Mason Center and at California College of the Arts (CCA), where he holds an MFA. He is also a longtime film reviewer and editor for GreenCine.

EMAIL for more.

---

 

Testimonials from previous students/clients:

"I found Craig on the internet about a year ago, I had written a novel that I wanted to adapt to a screenplay, but had no idea how to go about it. Thanks to Craig's knowledge and empathy, I am within a month of completing this project. He is an outstanding teacher and coach." - David M, San Mateo

"Working with Craig was a huge boon to my writing process. He was thorough and thoughtful, echoing some of my own thoughts about my script but also bringing up issues and giving advice on aspects I hadn't even thought of.  When he works with you, it is obvious that he has really thought about your piece, analyzing characters and working out the plot in a professional and meaningful way. I would highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for guidance, either on an intensive level or just as a second pair of eyes. - Casey B, filmmaker/writer, Sonoma

More coming soon!

 

FADE OUT.

Confederacy of Dunces movie? I'll believe it when I see it, but have to dig the casting.

This has long been a rumored film, but something always gets in the way -- maybe the ghost of John Kennedy Toole himself. The one-of-a-kind novel, sadly posthumously published and decorated with a Pulitzer Prize, features the truly unforgettable Ignatius J. Reilly at the center, a portly, acerbic, misanthropic nutter. Anyway, now comes word that Zach Galiafianakis may star in a new attempt to get the film made, with Flight of the Conchords and Muppets director James Bobin in charge -- sounds like a perfect match.  But color me skeptical that it will happen, and still somewhat skeptical that it should. 

Anyway, hat tip to Vulture for the report. 

What do you think? Is Zach right for the role, or too "hipster"-ish? I think he can capture the smugness and find some of Reilly's clumsiness. 

10 Comedic Dictators in Film

I wrote up this list (yes, it's a slide show, sorry, but it's fun!) for Fandango, on 10 Comedic Dictators in Film >>

Originally I wanted to do 15 but it was a real stretch at that point (and after revisiting Moon Over Parador, I just...didn't like it enough). Anything I missed?

 

 

More SFIFF Reviews (via GreenCine)

I'm a little late getting these linked up here, but here are more reviews of some interesting films I saw at SFIFF55, as published on GreenCine Daily:

SFIFF 2012: Critic's Notebook

by Craig Phillips

 

[The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival continues through May 3.]

The distinctly deadpan feature debut of Lebanese filmmaker Rania Attieh and her American co-director Daniel Garcia, OK, Enough, Goodbye is a warm but not overly sentimental, low-key character comedy. Like the Middle Eastern answer to Azazel Jacobs' Momma's Man, the film concerns a 40-year-old schlub (Daniel Arzrouni) who still lives at home in Tripoli—a seaport city with a rich history dating back to the 14th century, which has since fallen on hard economic times.

The locale has an air of sadness about it; not just war-torn malaise but a feeling for things lost between generations, palpably seeping into this household as a mother regrets that her son is such a loser. She speaks of wedding ceremonies and gowns she used to make, while her sociophobic son can't get a date with anyone other than a prostitute. The unnamed protagonist works in a bakery and doesn't otherwise get out much. When his mother takes off unexpectedly, leaving him on his own, the story becomes about one man's searching—first for his ma, then for himself. It's hard to blame anyone's downbeat demeanor in a decaying, depressing environment, but this sourpuss only becomes more irritable after he's "abandoned." To the directors' credit, the film doesn't deride him but also isn't afraid to mine his neuroses for comedy.

The characters are candidly depicted in documentary-like interviews (one of whom is a neighbor child our sad-sack hero must babysit against his will), though the conceit is a bit awkward in conjunction with the film's running voiceover narration. But OK, Enough, Goodbye has an immediate, realistic feel that subtly grounds the humor. The energy level threatens to flag at times, but Arzrouni proves to be a compelling presence. He hires a poor Ethiopian maid to clean house, except she's really there to keep him company; of course, she doesn't speak a lick of Arabic and doesn't understand his rants. The unlikely pair, along with the neighbor boy briefly form an oddball family unit, at least until our momma's man finds himself a more fitting companion. And, OK, that's enough, goodbye.

Read the rest on GreenCine Daily >>

SFIFF Review: Somebody Up There Likes Me

(I'll have another SFIFF piece, with several film reviews, up on GreenCine shortly. But for now, here's one film I'd definitely recommend, with some reservations. Hopefully it will get a theatrical release this year and you can judge for yourself, if you missed it at SFIFF or SXSW.--cgp) 

Somebody Up There Likes Me [official site], which is not a remake of a boxing biopic but a deadpan, genial comedy fable by Bob Byington, who also made the endearing Harmony and Me. The film is slight but appealing and the cast buoys it along—especially the winning presence of Nick Offerman a.k.a. the one-of-a-kind Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec, here playing a genial, dope-smoking waiter, with a goofy beard rather than Swanson’s famous moustache.

 

Keith Poulson, who’s worked with Byington before, and may remind a bit of Casey Affleck if he were an oddball, goofball non-professional actor, plays Max, a rascal whose mysterious suitcase seems to have rendered him literally ageless. He's not always especially likable, which is either part of the film’s charm or an annoyance. Is it about a man who never matures, who sleepwalks through his life, or is it about how time passes in speeded-up fashion the older we get? Thankfully, don’t expect any sort of Benjamin Button vibe here--although it is in a sense a gentle parody of just that, in low-key comedic vignettes.

Max seems to have a type: blonde, guileless gals, most notably Jess Weixler (Teeth), who plays a nervously shy waitress at the steakhouse and has an addiction to breadsticks, and becomes his second bride. "Are you good in bed?" he asks her. "I get about eight hours," she responds.

Somebody Up There Likes Me has just a little bit of that twee-indie-quirk we've begun to OD on lately. But the comedy is goofier than it is strained, and the script offers its share of amusing tangents and witty observations; Byington has a nice eye for American kitsch and back roads. (Okay, the music score signifies quirk a bit too much for my taste.) The film also features appealing cameos, including ubiquitous indie comedy presence Kevin Corrigan (briefly), plus Offerman's wife Megan Mullally as a couple’s therapist and indie popster Bob Schneider.

A little goes a long way, but it has just the right running time--just as I started to grow weary, it wraps up nicely. You may not care deeply for the characters, but like a good salty breadstick, this tale will please well enough at the time.

 

The Fields: American Gothic independent thrill-horror, review

 

Tom Mattera and Dave Mazzoni's independent horror film The Fields, not to be confused with sodden Irish drama The Field nor to be confused with The Texas Killing Fields (formerly The Fields), is apparently "based on a true story" as experienced by screenwriter Harrison Smith. This might be one issue with the film--rather than letting go and turning it into a more cohesive thriller; for a good part of its running time it's more of a creepy but ambling coming of age story. But for a low-budget film both the look and the sound are quite nice--soundscapes are an overlooked, important aspect of effective thriller-horror--adding to the American gothic feel. It also does fairly well to capture the feel and atmosphere of the early 70s, which is not easy to do when working on a budget.

October 1973: Cherubic curly haired lad Steven goes to live on his grandparents farm while his parents work out their problems.  I'm always a little worried about films, horror, or otherwise, centered around a cute younger kid, but the little actor (Joshua Ormond, who has a lil' Danny Partridge-ish look), is at least sweet and earnest.  Steven keeps a Godzilla toy nearby to protect him from both the monsters outside and the scary clown bank inside his room. Tara Reid plays the mother-getting-her-act-together, looks a little Marisa Tomei-ish here but isn't in Tomei's league as an actress. But she's also not in much of the film, which is instead buoyed along considerably by the presence of veteran actress Cloris Leachman, by far the strongest actor here. Leachman adds to the black comedy (including her blunt warning to the boy about staying out of the corn); not quite as hilariously loopy as she is these days on "Raising Hope" but she seems poised to make a living playing kooky grandmas. 

The script is erratic, though there are some good lines mixed in ("You should be more afraid of the living than the dead"--not exactly reassuring to a kid worrying about Manson coming over.) There are a few scenes that feel low-key and improvised and the narrative has a bit of a ramshackle flow--like its young protagonist, it has a tendency to wander, which makes it both a bit charming and also frustrating. Neighboring farms and the handicapped aunt who lives nearby: all these places seem populated by the cast of Freaks and the Manson Family players. Farmer "Eugene" is Jeremy Davies-ish by way of, well, a certain certain infamous serial killing cultist frequently referred to in this film and who was just up for parole again, making this somewhat relevant. 

Of course creepy cornfields naturally call to mind the Children of the Corn films, but The Fields doesn't really share much with that slasher series, nor is there all that much time spent in the actual cornfield (though it does offer a symbolically scary, if ludicrous, moment in the cornfield near the end).

How much is the boy's imagination and how much is real. It's part of the danger of structuring a narrative from a younger child's POV in that we the audience can end up just as puzzled as he is. 

Clearly, for better and possibly for worse, The Fields comes from the heart. The film is in short, best at recreating the atmosphere--using sounds, lighting, characters who are slightly off--from the boy's point of view, how things that are darkly odd can become downright scarringly freaky to a sensitive child. While it's meant to be more a thriller than out-and-out horror, both the feel of it and the marketing make one have certain horror expectations that may be unmet--and the "thrill" and "scare" aspects are harder to grasp on to. It does offer up some genuinely scary moments later on and there's at least enough here to want to see what these makers do next. Maybe something not based on real events?

B-movie horror actor Tommy Lee Wallace is one of the film's executive producers.

 

MyPDFScripts: RIP?

Sorry gang, it appeasr the MYPDFScripts site is an empty vessel. Probably hit copyright issues and so on. Saw it coming, it was fun while it lasted, etc.  If anyone has any other good new places to download screenplays--preferably legit--let me know.

 

cgp

(Via The Black List's Going Into the Story:) What do managers look for in a potential client’s spec script?

What do managers look for in a potential client’s spec script?

The subsequent discussion/comments are worth reading, as well. Connected to that, read the screenwriter's roundtable they collected here.

All stuff I'm still wrestling with and learning about myself.

Top 10 Oscar Snubs of 2012

Something I wrote for Fandango:

Top 10 Snubs From This Year's Oscars  

What/who else would you add? To the Academy's credit, this year I didn't find quite as many overt snubs as I usually do, especially in some of the individual/performing categories, but Best Picture is still a bit of a silly messy. Extremely Loud? I put A Separation there as one possible replacement for the former, but could name 6-10 other films that could go there instead. Or, you know, just have less nominees this year.

Variety: Oscar previews for Best Actor, Actress and Screenplay.

For Variety's Eye on the Oscar preview section, I wrote the little "How We Got Here" pieces looking at the race for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Original and Adapted Screenplay. 

Variety: "How they got here: Lead Actor"
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050204/

(Prediction: Jean Dujardin)

And: "How they got here: Lead actress"
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050205/ 

(I didn't say it but my money is on Viola Davis)

Lastly, my look at the two races for Screenplay, Original and Adapted:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050207/

(Predictions: Descendants; Midnight in Paris)

Other pieces in this section, if you're curious:
http://www.variety.com/awardcentral/2012/featured-news/wrap/

MARGARET: Short review (script comparison review coming).

MARGARET

Film: ***1/2

Kenneth Lonergan's long, tortured journey to get this moving, sweeping drama both made and released has been covered well in many places by this point. But it's not until you see the film itself that you can both more palpably feel the pain and see why he--and a number of critics--cared so much about it. After dumping it quietly in selected theaters last year, Fox Seachlight got the message and has re-released Margaret...quietly in selected theaters.  

While the film does suffer at times from histrionics--where instead of being an actors' showcase, as it is quite often, it crosses the line into overtly shrew-y shriekfest--it is often undeniably heartfelt and moving, too.  Lonergan's experience as a playwright helps (and occasionally harms) him here, not just in the series of brief but winning glimpses set on stage, not just in his understanding of the theater actor's world, but in giving his actors scenery to chew, words to swing from.

And so naturally he's an actors director, too, and the cast is for the most part excellent. Small roles are given to Matt Damon and Matthew Broderick as teachers, and they're fine--though their casting obviously did not ultimately help the film avoid being delayed and dumped. Mark Ruffalo does his earnest best in a difficult role as a bus driver responsible for a tragic accident at the center of the story, and Kieran Culkin and John Gallagher also lend capable support as two friends who may or may not be part of Lisa's love life. But the best work is from Anna Paquin as Lisa--the main character (Margaret is a literary reference that will become clear when you see the film)--and J. Smith Cameron as her divorced mom, a neurotic stage actress struggling to cope with her precocious, moody teenage daughter. Cameron is Lonergan's wife but she is superbly well-cast, having been a stage actress herself, and a tremendous actress, she and Paquin have great chemistry. You truly believe they are a mother-daughter pair in both love and hatefulness.

The film's story lives in the shadow of 9/11, having been written and then shot fairly soon after, and some of those elements already feel a little dated. But unlike Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, this rarely feels coyly manipulative, even if it does get didactic at times; but it lives with its skin off and its organs exposed, with the characters own micro-neuroses and self-involvement coming on the heels of an epic tragedy. And Lisa as a character properly reflects the probing, aching ego exploration of a smart, fumbling teen, who means well and yearns to be approved, even when she causes more damage in her wake.

In short, Margaret is a mess at times, frustrating, too, but it's earnest, powerful, painful and poignant. It deserves an audience, and to be discussed.

And I do hope to someday get a chance to see the longer, Lonergan-Scorsese cut, which may cut down on some of the rushed-choppiness in the narrative. 

---

Meanwhile, I managed to procure a copy of Lonergan's script, a draft dated July 2003.  The draft I have is a whopping 183 pages. As has been reported in many places, the film was delayed for several years as Lonergan wrestled with the studio and several outside editors were brought in (as well as Lonergan bringing in Martin Scorsese, whose cut is reportedly longer than this theatrical version). 

In a follow-up post I will look at the screenplay vs. the finished film that I saw, but for now wanted to post this since it's only playing here in San Francisco for a few more days (the SF Film Society Cinema on Post Street).