This blog is not really about Iowa or the Midwest. It’s focus is on screenwriting. But I do put an emphasis on Iowa and the Midwest as it is a fitting metaphor to discuss the process of growing your creative career from unlikely places. Filmmaking in general, and screenwriting specifically, are both usually thought of in terms of L.A. and New York City.
That’s because that is where the honey is stored. It’s the end of the rainbow. It’s the climax found somewhere in the third act. Perhaps it’s best to think of Screenwriting from Iowa…or wherever you live outside L.A. as a good look at Act 1. The set-up of the story. How writers (and sometimes others) prepare for their moment in the spotlight. (Though I do think that new opportunities are popping all over the place outside of traditional Hollywood circles.)
Which leads me to Super Bowl XLIV. The Indianapolis Colts verses the New Orléans Saints. The obvious Midwest angle to the 2010 game is quarterback Payton Manning and entire Indianapolis Colts team are from the Midwest. A little less know is Colts tight end Dallas Clark (who had seven catches in the game) is from Livermore, Iowa. (pop. 431 ). But those aren’t my focus.
The key three people in this year’s Super Bowl with a Midwest connection are Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Saints defensive back Tracy Porter , and the Saints coach Sean Payton.
Drew Brees– After Brees finished his high school career in Austin, Texas undefeated as starting quarterback, he chose to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. I’m not sure why he ended up in Indiana, but I imagine it had something to do with him being relatively short (six-foot) and known for not having the strongest arm. But he left Purdue with several Big Ten passing records and was twice a Heisman Trophy finalist. Two days ago he lead the Saints in their first Super Bowl victory and was named the Super Bowl MVP.
Tracy Porter–Late in the fourth quarter, with Peyton Manning appearing to lead a game tying drive, Porter intercepted Manning and ran it back for a touchdown sealing the victory for the Saints. (Just happens to be the same guy who intercepted Brett Favre in the NFC title game just a couple weeks ago that sealed that victory.) Porter played college ball at Indiana University. How did a kid from Louisiana end up playing for a college not known as a football powerhouse? Probably because he was undersized and just started playing football in his junior year in high school. But his time in Indiana served him well. The school in Bloomington is less than an hours drive to Indianapolis. Porter said after the game, ”I’ve been watching (Manning) since my time at Indiana put up points on the scoreboard.”
Sean Peyton– Payton was born in California but raised in Naperville, Illinois (just outside Chicago) and played quarterback at Naperville Central High School and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. When his playing days were over he began assistant coaching and gained experience at various schools including Indiana State, Miami University (in Ohio), and at the University of Illinois. He eventually made his way to become an NFL head coach in 2005 with the New Orleans Saints. The team was long known as the “aints” and in the year before he took over had a record of 3-13. In his first season the Saints were 10-6 and first in the NFC South and Payton was voted NFL Coach of the Year by AP. This season the Saints finished 13-3 and are now Super Bowl champs for the first time.
So there you have it, three men originally from outside the Midwest, who were shaped by their experiences in the Midwest and who would all go on to achieved the highest level of success in the biggest game of their chosen field.
P.S. You may never have heard of Eastern Illinois University, but it has more than one tie to the NFL as Brad Childress, head coach of Minnesota Vikings, Mike Shanahan, head coach of Washington Redskins (and who just happened to be the head coach when John Elway and the Denver Broncos won back to back Super Bowls), and Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo are all alumni of the school. Hollywood? Actor (and Juno producer) John Malkovich attended Eastern Illinois before transferring to Illinois State and going on to help found the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.
“Life is a lot like jazz. It’s best when you improvise.”
George Gershwin
So I was looking for an excuse to show some pictures of the recent multi-media project I worked on that debuted Saturday night and I landed on Gershwin. The concert called “Kelley’s Blues” featured the artwork of Gary Kelley and the music of Duke Ellington and George Gershwin performed by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony (and guest pianist Genadi Zagor) under the direction of Jason Weinberger.
As a composer Gershwin is perhaps best known for his Rhapsody in Blue, though much of his music has had a long life in Hollywood, beginning with a forgotten film called Delicious in 1931 to his music being used in an episode of The Simpsons in 2010. IMDB has Gershwin’s music being credited (or at least used if not credited) in more than 300 films and TV shows. Among the list are An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess, and Manhattan.
When Rhapsody in Blue was used in The King of Jazz (1930) he was paid $50,000. It’s well-known that at one time in the 1930s that baseball great Babe Ruth made more than President Hoover, but writer Walter Rimler (George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait) has said that Gershwin made more than both of them combined. Gershwin’s loan Oscar nomination came in 1938 for the lyrics he wrote (with his brother, Ira) for the song They Can’t take that Away from Me used in the 1937 film Shall We Dance.
Outside of Hollywood he had his first hit in 1919 with the song Swanee, and La, La, Lucille was his first Broadway play. In 1932 he won the Pulitzer Prize for the musical Of Theee I Sing (on collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin.) He had quite a run, especally when you consider he was only 38-years-old when he died.
Here are some photos I took of the artwork being created and at the rehearsal last Saturday.
“The National Football League’s Super Bowl is not just the crowning glory of American Football. It is the Super Bowl of Advertising , the most watched, most anticipated, most expensive, most influential arena for major-television advertising.” Bernice Kanner The Super Bowl of Advertising
It’s estimated that 100 million people will be watching the Super Bowl this year. Of course, there’s a lot more going on than just football.In fact, you don’t even have to be a football fan to get caught-up in all the activities. Some churches even build their Sunday evenings around the big game by using their large screen projectors to show the game. Can stained-glass John Elway and Jerry Rice be far behind? (I’m afraid to Google that one.) Perhaps the culture war is over.
For the last couple years Doritos has sponsored a competition where anyone can submit a commercial with the winning ad playing during the Super Bowl. Since ads during that time usually cost around $3 million per thirty-second slot it was a bold move. But last years’ ad actually was rated higher by viewers and critics than many of the expensively produced high quality commercials. It’s one more link in the chain that is an indication of the direction that media is heading.
This year a freelance edited I use and his buddy wanted to compete in the Doritos ad so we spent a little time talking through ideas and I helped them flesh out a concept. A couple days later they shot and edited the spot and I was so inspired that I decided a day before the deadline to do one myself. I called a friend of my, spray paint artist Paco Rosic, and told him my idea and we shot it in two hours and it took me about two hours to edit. I was the entire crew and Paco’s girlfriend, Amy Anderson, was the additional talent.
Since I had little time (four hours) or money (under $10 for two bags of chips) invested in the little project. I wasn’t too disappointed that of the 4,000 commercials submitted this year that I didn’t make the top five. (Though the $25,000. each of them received, or the million dollar top prize, would have been nice.) But I’ll be watching tonight during the Super Bowl to which Doritos commercial(s) air. And I’ll take great solace in a couple friends who will tell me, “Dude, yours was way better than….”
But it was a good excercise in embracing your limitations and creating something. You never know where these things will lead. (Back in 2006 I produced a short video for Paco’s website and it ended up on the front page of Yahoo! for about an hour with a link to a news show they had back then called The 9 with host Maria Sansone. It landed Paco an appearance on Rachael Ray’s TV Show.)
Keep in mind what you are about to see is the result of three people working half a day, not a production and advertising team if dozens of people and weeks or months of preparation. Let me know how it stacks up against the big dogs. (Best viewed in the 720p HD version.)
For those interested in the technical aspects, I shot it on a Panasonic HPX 170 P2 camera, 720p mode, Miller tri-pod, and two Arri lights (a 300 fresnel and one open face 1K with a Chimera small softbox. Editing was done on Apple Final Cut Pro.
Tonight the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra will perform a concert called “Kelley’s Blue” that I had the opportunity to work on. Part of the concert will be a 40 minute section featuring the music of Duke Ellington’s “Three Black Kings” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and visuals by artist Gary Kelley.
Whether it’s opportunities like this or writing this blog, I am reminded of the Tom Peter’s quote that helped change my mindset when I moved to Iowa back in ‘03–”Sometimes it’s best to go where the hotspots aren’t.”
Keep that in mind wherever find yourself in this world.
Over the last couple decades Kelley’s clients have included New Yorker Magazine, Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, CBS Records and the large murals seen at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. In 2007, Kelley was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. My role in this concert came in the shooting and editing of 50 pieces of Kelley’s artwork that will be shown on a large screen for between 1,200 and 1,500 people.
Photographer Chase Jarvis has said something to the effect that right now within 10 feet of you there are 100 great photos that can be taken. I think the wherever you live there are not only stories to be told, but opportunities to use your creativity in ways you ‘ve never dreamed of.
If you have really big dreams about really big mountains that’s great—but keep in mind that mountain climbers start with small climbs. As the saying goes, “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Then build on what you’ve done.
By the way, this won’t be your standard symphony concert tonight as conductor Jason Weinberger ( a Santa Monica native who came to Cedar Falls via Yale & Peabody Conservatory) will also be “incorporating music from William Grant Still and J Dilla (James Yancy), a Grammy-nominated record producer and one of the music industry’s most influential hip-hop artists.”
“I can easily tell you what (Children of the Corn) doesn’t have, namely a solid narrative, good direction, complex characters, strong performances, and genuine terror. And yet, it remains an undyingly popular movie 25 years on.” DVD Review
All week I’ve been in Sioux City, Iowa working on a production and I picked up a book yesterday that said the first feature film shot in this area was the 1984 Children of the Corn based on a Stephen King short story. The 92 minute film has a strong enough fan base to recently have been released in Blu-Ray for its 25th anniversary edition.
The original film starred Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton and cost $300,000. to make and went on to make over $17 million. at the box office. Six spin-offs have been made and while none were wildly successful there are some actresses who picked up some early experience working on one of the franchise films. The 1995 Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest was the début film of Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts starred in the Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, and Eva Mendes is one of the stars in Children of the Corn V.
A TV version of the film was shot in Lost Nation, Iowa in ‘08 (see photos) and shown on the Sci Fi channel in 2009. It was written and directed by Donald P. Borchers who was a producer on the original 1984 Children of the Corn.
And not that long ago Variety announced that the Weinsteins where producing a remake of the original with Ehren Kruger writing the script. (But I couldn’t find any other evidence that the movie was still in development. Maybe the TV version killed it.) But with the success of Avatar 3-D can Children of the Corn 3-D be too far off?
Though the stories take place in Nebraska (usually a place called Hastings), for various reasons the films have been shot in various states including the first one in Iowa. Not sure why the original Children of the Corn was shot in and around Sioux City but I know it’s par of their folklore. Just like Lewis & Clark (and gang) passing through here on their famous journey west. They even have a monument for Sergeant Charles Floyd who died here in Aug. 20, 1804.
I couldn’t find a monument for anything related to the filming of Children of the Corn. Maybe it’s hidden in a corn field somewhere. (Then again, I wasn’t looking for one.) But what I did find an something somewhat related to Children of the Corn from a screenwriting perspective in a Q&A with Stephen King.
Gilbert Cruz: There have been so many movies and TV miniseries made from your stories and, not to be disrespectful, but some of them are stinkers. Sleepwalkers, Sometimes They Come Back and its various sequels, etc… How do you maintain quality control? Do you even try?
Stephen King: I’d go crazy. I don’t try to maintain quality control. Except I try to get good people involved. The thing is, when you put together a script, a director, and all the other variables, you never really know what’s going to come out. And so you start with the idea that it’s like a baseball game — you put the best team you can on the field, and you know that, more times than not, you’re gonna win.
And in my case, more of the movies than not — if we except things like Return to Salem’s Lot, Children of the Corn 4,The Children of the Corn Meet the Leprechaun or whatever it is — if you do that, then most times you’re going to have something that’s interesting anyway. That doesn’t mean you’re going to have the occasional thing that’s just a train wreck like Dreamcatcher, because that happens, right?
May all your train wrecks be as interesting as Stephen Kings.
“It’s my first Oscar nomination, my first screenplay. I think I should quit now, and take up a bonsai tree.” Mark Boal
Quick what do screenwriters William Goldman and Mark Boel’s have in common? Let me back-up. You may be asking who is Mark Boal? He was just nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay The Hurt Locker. Though he received a story credit on In The Valley of Elah, The Hurt Locker is his first screenplay.
Since I write a lot about how common it is for writers to write anywhere between 6 & 23 screenplays before they make their make their first sale, I thought it would be fair to point out the exception to the rule. But before you think it’s that easy, let me get back to what Boal’s and Goldman have in common.
They both went to Oberlin College in Ohio. (Goldman was an English major and Boal graduated in ‘95 with honors in philosophy.)
Boal went on to write articles for The Village Voice, Rolling Stone Magazine, Budapest Sun, Mother Jones, The New York Observer and Playboy.
“Before 9/11, I covered politics, the war on drugs, technology and the Internet in relationship to privacy, but it was always hard news and investigative reporting. Then Sept. 11th happened, which was a big turning point for me in terms of what I wrote about. After that, I started covering the war on terror and writing about the military. “
Mark Boal Variety
It was while being embedded as a journalist in Iraq that he came up with both ideas forIn The Valley of Elah andThe Hurt Locker. The later being a film that equaled Avatarwith nine Oscar nominations and that Roger Ebert named as the second best film of the last decade. Not a bad start for Mr. Boal.
“Iowa man sets WGA record by registering 50th script before selling his first…” Fake Headline on The Hollywood Roaster
Imagine if you were a junior high school English teacher in Minneapolis and decided you wanted to be a screenwriter. What’s the next step?
According to an interview with the Writers Store, here’s what screenwriter John Wirth did when in was in that same situation.
“I came to Los Angeles not knowing anyone or anything. Never had written anything, I still thought if I didn’t do it then I would never have the chance to do it. So, I immersed myself in the learning process: I took extension courses, I studied other scripts, and just sat down and wrote. In fact I wrote 25 screenplays before I got my first job.”
According to his credits on IMDB that worked out well for Wirth as he now has been a writer and/or producer for the last 30 years working on a variety of TV shows including Remington Steele,Picket Fences, Nash Bridges, Ghost Whisper, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Wirth also added,“It’s very helpful to have been in film school, writing programs like Iowa University’s writing programs. These writing programs clue you into the world of the screenwriter. How to network, make friends with people who may one day be colleagues of yours. Beyond that, once you’re out of there, you have to continue to write.”
When millions of people tune in tonight to watch the season six première of Lost (The Final Season), they won’t be thinking about the state of Iowa—but that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have a Hawkeye connection. It actually has several.
Fans of the show know that fictional character Kate (Evangeline Lilly) was born and raised in Iowa. But a lot less people know that in real life both Michael Emerson (who plays Ben Linus) and Terry O’Quinn (who plays John Locke) have Iowa roots. When season five ended Ben Linus and John Locke were central figures in the final plot.
What are the odds of two actors going to college in Iowa 30 plus years ago ending up in the middle of a cultural TV phenomenon?
According to a news release at the University of Iowa, O’Quinn attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City back in ‘74 & ‘75 and Emerson received a BFA from Drake University in Des Moines in 1976.
According to the news release, “Both actors are also Emmy winners. O’Quinn won the Best Supporting Actor award in 2007 for his work as Locke. Emerson won for Outstanding Guest Actor/Drama in 2001 for his recurring character William Hinks, a psychotic serial killer, on the series The Practice.”
More proof that talent is talent and sometimes comes from unusual places.
Speaking of Emmys and Lost, I learned last week that a fellow I graduated from film school with (Jay Keiser) has been nominated twice for Primetime Emmy’s for sound design while working on the TV series Lost.
I look forward to this season to see how the writers pull all the storylines together.
While J.D Salinger is legendary for lack of a high volume of published literature, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t writing while tucked away from the public in his farmhouse in Cornish, New Hampshire. And while it was well known that he didn’t do interviews I did read that back in ‘74 he told Dorothy Olding, his New York literary agent, that he was he writing a lot everyday even though he didn’t have a book contract.
“There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It’s peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.”
J.D. Salinger New York Times Article by Lacey Fosburgh
Time will tell if he has decades of writings tucked away in that old farmhouse. But, I will say that if you just want to write for your own pleasure, it’s best if you write at least one book like Catcher in the Rye. That book is said to still sell 250,000 copies a year. Even at a dollar a pop, Salinger would be pulling in $250,000. I don’t know about Cornish, New Hampshire–or where you live– but in Cedar Falls, Iowa $250,000. a year can more than heat your home for a month or two during those long winters.
“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.”
Holden Caulfield Catcher in the Rye
Written by J.D. Salinger
How did J.D. Salinger become one of the most wanted writers in Hollywood? By not wanting Hollywood. Perhaps it would be better said that it was not the reclusive Salinger who was wanted but his work, Catcher in the Rye. When Salinger died a few days ago I imagine producers were excited about the possibility of finally bringing the book to the screen.
Selling the film rights to Catcher in the Rye would be very lucrative for the Salinger estate.
The story goes that Salinger was so upset with the adaption of Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (made into the 1949 film My Foolish Heart) that he was done with Hollywood. (Though I did notice on IMDB that he is credited a couple times in the last 30 years.)
I don’t know if Salinger ever stepped foot in Iowa but his spirit was drawn here. In the Field of Dreams, the character that James Earl Jones plays (Terrance Mann) was based on Salinger. In the W.P Kinsella book (Shoeless Joe) that the movie is based on the character actually is J.D. Salinger himself, but he did not allow his name to be used in the film so changes were made. Good thing, too. It would be hard to imagine that film without James Earl Jones, a fine actor but one who doesn’t quite look like Salinger.
Not much is known about Salinger and that’s the way that he wanted it. But that will all change since his death. Screenwriter Shane Salerno (Shaft, Armageddon) has spent five years working on a self-funded documentary on Salinger. One in which he interviewed over 150 people who “had contact with him otherwise, or were greatly influenced by him.” (Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Philip Seymour Hoffman) The documentary is based on Salinger: A Biography, written by Paul Alexander.
“I loved (Salinger’s) work, and how he had the world at his doorstep, and said no thanks. He somehow understood in 1951 the corrosive effect that fame and money could have on his writing. He was singular, and in this Internet age where people pursue their 15 minutes of fame, nobody did what Salinger did: living in the woods in New Hampshire, writing to please only himself.”
Maybe in the future it will be hip to pursue 15 minutes of reclusiveness. I think it was Blaise Pascal who said a few centuries ago that the chief problem of man was that he could not stand to be in room by himself. (I might update that to “by himself—without a TV, a computer and the Internet.”)
