HEROIC HOLLYWOOD UPDATE
Read how I got kicked out of Hollywood here!
Read my screenplay Global Village Idiot here for free!
It's said that Bertrand Russell was so exhausted by the intellectual effort he expended on his philosophical masterwork Principia Mathematica, that he lay bedridden for several months after its completion, unable to speak or write, and in such a deteriorated mental state that the great thinker could only communicate with his caretakers using a combination of facial ticks and the humming of popular showtunes.
I know how he felt.
For many long weeks now, I've been working feverishly on the new videos to accompany my Heroic Hollywood screenwriting posts on Big Hollywood.
I wish I could say I'm nearing completion of my work, but finishing the first batch of videos is still a long ways off. In the meantime, here's an advance look at some of the sophisticated analysis I hope to reveal in my first video lesson on screenwriting.
It took many hours of focused thought and several highballs of scotch and soda to create this graph, which automatically calculates the precise page and paragraph position of key plot points of any Hollywood screenplay by analyzing the mathematical relationships of storyline variables and applying them across a matrix of quantum mechanical forces, Higgs transformations and single-malt scotch. I'll provide a full explanation of its use in my first video, which is tentatively titled An Introduction to the Ethical Principles and Moral Theory of Hollywood Hack Writing.
Writing for Hollywood ain't rocket science...
...it's much harder!
Read my screenplay Global Village Idiot here for free!
It's said that Bertrand Russell was so exhausted by the intellectual effort he expended on his philosophical masterwork Principia Mathematica, that he lay bedridden for several months after its completion, unable to speak or write, and in such a deteriorated mental state that the great thinker could only communicate with his caretakers using a combination of facial ticks and the humming of popular showtunes.
I know how he felt.
For many long weeks now, I've been working feverishly on the new videos to accompany my Heroic Hollywood screenwriting posts on Big Hollywood.
I wish I could say I'm nearing completion of my work, but finishing the first batch of videos is still a long ways off. In the meantime, here's an advance look at some of the sophisticated analysis I hope to reveal in my first video lesson on screenwriting.
It took many hours of focused thought and several highballs of scotch and soda to create this graph, which automatically calculates the precise page and paragraph position of key plot points of any Hollywood screenplay by analyzing the mathematical relationships of storyline variables and applying them across a matrix of quantum mechanical forces, Higgs transformations and single-malt scotch. I'll provide a full explanation of its use in my first video, which is tentatively titled An Introduction to the Ethical Principles and Moral Theory of Hollywood Hack Writing.
Writing for Hollywood ain't rocket science...
...it's much harder!
Posted by Henry Halloway at 3/3/2010 8:54 PM 
Categories: Heroic Hollywood, Big Hollywood, Me Myself and I, Screenwriting
Categories: Heroic Hollywood, Big Hollywood, Me Myself and I, Screenwriting
Oh boy, all my math skills I learnt in high school just flew right out the window.
I'm looking forward to seeing the videos!
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Russ, please email - I want to talk to you about "Rock and Roll Hotel" - there has been an interesting development in my research for a story.
Dale
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That graph analysis sure must have taken long of hours of deliberation and deep thinking to be put into paper! This must be a novel concept as I have never heard or anything like that before! Once seen with the videos with proper explanation it will make better sense and really bring out how it works!! It's amazing how you can work out the precise page and paragraph position of key plot points of any screenplay by analyzing the mathematical relationship of storyline variables and applying them across a matrix of quantum mechanical forces! Awesome!!
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Have you quit this blog? I continually check back and find the same posts. Your previous posts were very informative and I hope you have something soon... Will check one last time soon. Hope to find you're still an active blog...
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Thanks for the kind words, MT. True, there is not much going on with the blog in public, but behind the scenes I am still very active in creating something new for this blog and Big Hollywood.
I felt that the ideas I want to get across about screenwriting needed to be taken to another level. I really want to give my audience a look at the actual process of writing the screenplay, as opposed to airy theorizing.
A good mechanic needs his automobile maintenance manual for guidance, but it’s his hands-on experience that really teaches him how to repair the engine. Eventually, an experienced mechanic can listen to the squeaks and rattles of an engine and figure out what needs to be done from those cues, alone.
It’s the same way with screenplay writing – experience teaches you what the problems are that need to be solved in the screenplay, and how to focus your mind on solving those particular problems, and not go racing off down blind alleys and dead ends.
In other words, I’m trying to capture on paper the creative process, but that’s a very difficult thing to do. If I want to teach you how it’s done, it’s much better to actually show you the process.
Back to my engine repair example, instead of studying several pages of exploded-view diagrams to figure out car repair, it’s much better to watch the mechanic getting his hands dirty working on the engine and listening to his real-time advice – “You hear how the engine sputters? That means the timing is off. Let me show you how to use the timing light.”
That’s what I’m trying to accomplish, now…to lift the hood on the creative writing engine and show you what actually happens during the screenwriting process. To watch the writer as he gets his hands dirty.
And I needed video for that. But boy, creating the video has turned out to be a very hard thing to do.
I work on it every evening, for at least an hour, as I did tonight.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to start over from scratch, because it just wasn’t working out. But in every failure I’ve learned something new, and I feel myself getting closer to something good, so I’m going to keep at it.
In the meantime, I plan to put up a few posts during this month on personal things, all of them good news. I promise a new post by the weekend!
Again, thanks for checking in and asking. All my friends are asking, too, so I’ve got a lot of pressure to get it done…and make it right!
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Thank you for responding. I'm very glad to hear that you are still offering some of your expertise to people like me that really get a lot out of what you have in your posts. Please keep posting in between your video shoots. Like an apprentice to an experienced mechanic, even the little off the cuff things you take for granted expand our understanding. So the more you post the better the overall understanding...keep`em coming!
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Thanks MT -- the next two weeks are going to be pretty busy around here. There's a deep, dark secret in my past that's been dragged into the spotlight after having been buried for nearly 30s years. Please don't think less of me as a writer when you read THIS!
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