teen movie mishaps

[Alethia]

i whole heartedly agree.

sounds pretty cool eb, good luck with it.

[Ernie]

But Ebs, remember, there's nothing wrong with making a few of the teen chicks gorgeous. There were many, according to my memory...

Oh lol, yes...of course. No, you are right.  And about the cliches too...your right about those. I won't throw them all away, don't worry. The last thing I want this film to be is a flailing attempt at originality, I hate when filmmakers try too hard to be original because it always stands out like a sore thumb. That's something Wes Anderson has been accused of but he's too consistent and smart so I don't think of him as a try-too-harder...he could've easily been but he's actually one of my favorite filmmakers. I think of somebody like Todd Solondz like that...with the constant shock and all that...it annoys me so much that he can't just lay off, I think of him as the opposite of DGG with his beautiful subtle scenes and everything. But yea...I digress...I love some of the cliches...definitely...thank you for bringing that up. "another great thread"? thanks a lot...this is another great reply, seriously...very cool.

[Ernie]

i whole heartedly agree.

sounds pretty cool eb, good luck with it.

Great, wow...people are actually going to see this thing? Cause I can guarantee you I'm going to make it, it'll be my first film and hopefully the most successful debut picture about young people since The 400 Blows if it weren't for George Washington and ATRG. It'd be cool if some people saw it too. I'm not one of those people that wants to ALWAYS be indy...I want to make George Clooney movies and be #1 at the box office and do stunts and explosions too...god knows I love that side of film too, it just happens to suck dick now, it didn't back when Spielberg and Kubrick were making films with alotta money, right? Back in the 70's and 80's.

Hey, this is getting such a great response that I wondered if anybody wanted to hear about this other little idea I have in mind called Electric Lemonade...it's a movie idea. This is one of my bigger, more ambitious, more expensive movie for big movie stars and the whole family to see.

[BonBon85]

Sounds interesting

How did your last film project turn out - the one from a few months ago involving the pizza guy?

[Ernie]

Sounds interesting

How did your last film project turn out - the one from a few months ago involving the pizza guy?

It completely fell through actually...I had an on set breakdown as both actor and director...I overdid everything and everything was too big, it was my debut after all. So, I'm doing something smaller this summer...I still wanna do something about keying a car or maybe something like that.

Thanks for remembering though. I'm going to make it someday when I have more experience and actors...I was making it with only my sister after all.

Lol, this is all so pathetic...talk about blatant self promotion.

[Alethia]

i tried to make a film about a poolboy two years ago, but the actor died (!).  it was really peculiar and ironic and strange and sad because he was one of my best friends.  but the script was pretty good , i have it around here somewhere (it was a short) but its still a little too fresh to revisit it.

ebeaman, ill be one of the first in line to see ur films, ur ideas are great.

how did u try to shoot ur first film?

[chainsmoking insomniac]

ebeaman, I like what you have so far...just one comment: What compels Sam and Alice to drive off, to leave everything behind?  It can't just be a whim, can it?

[Ernie]

ebeaman, I like what you have so far...just one comment: What compels Sam and Alice to drive off, to leave everything behind?  It can't just be a whim, can it?

Good question...I didn't really clarify that...

No, it's not a whim at all...it's something they've both always wanted to do but they never really got the chance to, you know? See, they're both kinda controlled by Jessie even though they're his good friends. It's not that they don't like him, it's just that being friends with Jessie is like a full time job...it's one of those type of friendships. They really love him but he's crazy and melodramatic and all that...he can be demanding...he doesn't mean to be, he doesn't intend to be like that, but he is. He's one of those people that isn't really aware of the harm he causes. So, both Alice and Sam want to get away from that. Then with Sam, there's the bullies and his mother which I mentioned briefly, he wants to get away from them.

I forgot to mention a whole other section of the movie...let me do that really quick. Ok, this has to do with Jessie back home when Sam and Alice are on the road. Early in the movie, Jessie is called by a boyfriend of one of his female friends...not his girlfriend but a very good friend of his that's a girl...somebody he's been friends with since childhood. So, Jessie gets a call from the boyfriend...the guy politely tells Jessie that he doesn't want him to hang out with the girl as much, Jessie politely declines and tells him they've been friends for life and all that. The conversation slowly heats up towards Jessie lashing out at the boyfriend and telling him off with no regard for the trouble it will cause. Later in the movie, the boyfriend and some of his friends come after Jessie and beat him up...not in a mafia kind of way...but in a Boogie Nights kind of way, realistic. One of Jessie's friends gets in touch with Sam and Alice, he tells them what happened and that Jessie is in the hospital and this is what brings them back home...they're friend is in the hospital. This is all very rambling so I think it's making it sound bad but that's pretty much it.

[Ghostboy]

It sounds great. Here are a few things to think about.

You're always going to understand your characters more than the audience will, even if the movie turns out 100% perfect. So when you have relationships like Jessie's and Sam's, where they really are friends, but part of the reason they're real friends is because Jessie needs the car -- that's totally realistic, but you just have to be careful when you're writing to make sure the audience has what they need to understand the relationship (or figure it out as the movie proceeds). You have a lot of grey areas in this story, 'kinda-maybe' areas, that are great but are also places where you'll need to tread carefully. And every now and then, you'll have to make a few things just a little more clearly defined, and it sucks, but it'll end up being for the better.

Don't eliminate sex, because that's a huge part of being a teenager. It doesn't just encapsulate sex, but fear of sex, dismissal of sex, misunderstanding of sex, etc. Masturbation doesn't just have to be a joke like it is in American Pie; it can be scary or romantic or disturbing or sad. I think this would be something that you could deal with once Alice and Sam are in the car together, going wherever it is that they go.

About Jessie being beat up...one thing to think about...when I was in high school, this guy's girl cheated on him, so he and his friends got together and beat HER up. It was totally jacked up. But as far as a movie goes, it's an interesting twist on an old story.

There were other things other people replied to that I was going to comment on, but I've forgotten them...so I'm going to go read back on them now.

[Ernie]

It sounds great. Here are a few things to think about.

You're always going to understand your characters more than the audience will, even if the movie turns out 100% perfect. So when you have relationships like Jessie's and Sam's, where they really are friends, but part of the reason they're real friends is because Jessie needs the car -- that's totally realistic, but you just have to be careful when you're writing to make sure the audience has what they need to understand the relationship (or figure it out as the movie proceeds). You have a lot of grey areas in this story, 'kinda-maybe' areas, that are great but are also places where you'll need to tread carefully. And every now and then, you'll have to make a few things just a little more clearly defined, and it sucks, but it'll end up being for the better.

Don't eliminate sex, because that's a huge part of being a teenager. It doesn't just encapsulate sex, but fear of sex, dismissal of sex, misunderstanding of sex, etc. Masturbation doesn't just have to be a joke like it is in American Pie; it can be scary or romantic or disturbing or sad. I think this would be something that you could deal with once Alice and Sam are in the car together, going wherever it is that they go.

About Jessie being beat up...one thing to think about...when I was in high school, this guy's girl cheated on him, so he and his friends got together and beat HER up. It was totally jacked up. But as far as a movie goes, it's an interesting twist on an old story.

There were other things other people replied to that I was going to comment on, but I've forgotten them...so I'm going to go read back on them now.

Right, I realize this is far from done...I have a lot of work to do still.

And about the eliminating sex thing...yea, I'm not going to eliminate the sexuality of teens which definitely exists, I just don't want to have any sex scenes in there because it's just a part of teen life that's already been covered and is getting played out. Everybody knows how awkward and scary sex is for teens, I don't think I need to show it again with an all out nude sex scene...but again, this is not to say I'm going to eliminate sexuality as a whole, I wouldn't do that.

[Alethia]

good