VIDEO GAMES INSPIRED BY MOVIES, MOVIES INSPIRED BY VIDEO GAMES
AND THE NERDS INSPIRED BY BOTH.
Today the line between movies and video games is paper thin. Cinematic experiences can be found in movie theaters and your favorite console at home. I’m an average gamer. I’m usually into at least one game on any given day. They’ve influenced me artistically since I unwrapped my original NES long ago. I’ve written a lot about video games and their affect on me over the years. Certain games have truly inspired me. Others have inspired movies I love and movies I’m bound to love if they ever get made.
My favorite Oscar category. The award pretty much every screenwriter aspires to win someday. Like any Oscar category there will always be losers who deserved their nomination but didn’t quite get there.
Here are the Top 10 Best Original Screenplay Losers:
Inglourious Basterds
by Quentin Tarantino
LOST TO: The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal
Braveheart
by Randall Wallace
LOST TO: The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie
Monster’s Ball
by Milo Addica and Will Rokos
LOST TO: Gosford Park Julian Fellowes
Gladiator
by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson
LOST TO: Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe
In Bruges
by Martin McDonagh
LOST TO: Milt by Dustin Lance Black
Finding Nemo
by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds
I read IGN a lot. I visit the site multiple times a day for movie, television and video game news. When you visit the largest gaming site on the net as often as I do, big stories like Minecraft don’t go unnoticed. I just never took the time to really find out what this indie game was all about. Now it’s one of my favorite games of all time.
Minecraft is essentially a giant sandbox. A massive world that allows you to create virtually anything you can think of. Your character is essentially thrust into a unique world with nothing. You must rush to gather resources, create shelters and survive the onslaught of monsters that await you when the sun goes down. After a few days in the game, you can branch out and begin collecting better materials and creating better structures. It’s pretty much limitless.
The more you play, the more rare types of materials you find and the more ‘things’ you can create. Feel like exploring enormous caves? Go for it. Is it your goal to create huge towers? Why not? Did you decide to create a bridge that links the towers and a water slide that leads into the caves? Of course you can.
Curious as to what is possible when you really dive into a game like Minecraft? Check these creations out:
The only limit truly is your imagination. Sound familiar?
Before I get into screenwriting, I’d like to first make mention of the inspirational story behind the phenomenon known as Minecraft. The game was created by Markus Alexej Persson or Notch as he’s commonly referred to. He’s a talented and passionate game designer who had an idea and got to work. The game is a massive achievement and has taken the gaming world by storm. Notch is a superstar now and the development world is eagerly awaiting his company Mojang’s next project.
Notch had a vision, executed that vision and found an audience who adores his work. That level of commitment and dedication is universally inspiring to anyone looking to start a new creative project. Personally, his story inspires me as a screenwriter.
FINAL DRAFT, MINECRAFT & ME
When I’m developing a story, I can’t just sit at a table and spit out a treatment. I need something to do while I think. Eventually I need a quiet place to work but in the early stages I like to have something to do. Obviously, I can’t do anything that requires a ton of brain power because that would be counter productive.
Normally, I think about stories while I’m being active. I play basketball, I swim, I go to the gym or I take my dog for a walk. But sometimes, I rely on video games. Again that sounds counter productive but it has to be a specific type of game. For me, the all time champ is Sim City. It’s an open world that allows you to do whatever you want. I used to play Sim City all the time with a notepad close by.
Minecraft takes all the things I love about Sim City to the next level. I’m not limited to buildings and roads anymore. I can build absolutely anything I want as long as I’ve gathered the resources to pull it off. The resource gathering is monotonous, repetitive and takes forever which is perfect for brainstorming screenplay ideas. I’ve spent hours demolishing mountains and digging in caves while thinking about new screenplays.
It’s just me, an empty cave and a blank page.
TWO MONITORS = MORE CREATIVE SPACE
Every time I launch Minecraft, I set it up on one monitor. On the other, I alternate between Microsoft Word for story notes & Final Draft for screenwriting. Typically on the left, I’d be creating a tower because I felt like it. On the right, I’d be typing notes about new characters and story points. The system works perfectly…
Except, I don’t play Minecraft anymore.
Why? Because I’m actually writing now. I don’t need my latest brainstorming device anymore. I’m sure when it’s time to begin a new tale, I’ll jump back into my Minecraft world but right now, I’m focused on the story the game helped me create. It’s a strange relationship. I’m absolutely addicted to the game but I never play it unless there is a story problem or scene I want to work out. Thankfully, there are always new screenplays to write and there will always be giant structures to create in the process.
About a year ago, I took a step back and really thought about where I want my creative career to go. Am I a screenwriter or a director? At the end of the day I’m neither in the professional sense. I don’t apply for directing gigs and I still struggle to REALLY put my screenplays out there. No, I’m a professional editor. That’s my trade. I work in a fast paced live television environment and I’m still addicted to it after nearly 6 years. At work, I tell stories through highlights, reports and features. I love it.
Still, at home, I’m a passionate screenwriter and an aspiring filmmaker.
Like any job it’s important to have a clear focus and a year ago, I felt like I lost that focus. I was still messing around with the footage we shot for The Climb and promoting Playing Through as much as possible. These two shorts are the focus of this post as they are the only two shorts that I wrote and directed. I love both of those films because they taught me something very important about myself:
I don’t want to be a director anymore. I want to be a screenwriter.
I came to this realization for two very distinct reasons. First, I read the original screenplays for those films. They were so much more visual than the film on the screen. I’ve learned that I’m better describing images than making them a reality on set. Second, during the production of both short films, I desperately wanted to write something else. You can’t do both. You can only focus and I fell behind on my screenwriting goals.
However, I’d like to take a second to make one thing clear. I do not regret making Playing Through or The Climb. Those films didn’t scare me away from directing. They just made me realize how badly I wanted to write instead. And so those two short films serve as inspiration for me now. I learned so much by getting out there and yelling action and cut. (Even though I felt self conscious doing so.) Directing has given me a unique perspective that has changed the way I write scripts. But that’s a pretty generic statement to make.
So let’s get into specifics.
PLAYING THROUGH
It’s official. Playing Through will go down as my most successful film. It played in three film festivals and won a few awards along the way. Beyond anything I’m proud of the fact that people laughed and some cried. I saw Playing Through in a packed theater once and it was both terrifying and gratifying all at once. People laughed when I intended them to laugh. I can’t really confirm that they cried but many have told me over the years.
The film won’t reach everyone but I sleep well knowing that it DID reach people. I loved Playing Through. The entire experience with the cast and crew was one I’ll never forget. But looking back, there are still some major lessons learned.
It’s too long. That’s the major criticism I’ve heard since we released the film. When we realized the film was going to be close to 20 minutes long it became a concern. But the way I wrote and directed it left little to cut out without affecting the story. We reordered it a bit and lost a minute or two but the film is still 19 minutes long.
When it comes to writing short screenplays, you have to get the most information across as possible. The script for Playing Through contained one major plot point per scene but I think I could have been more creative and made each page more efficient. It would have been shorter and the pacing would have increased dramatically.
Proof that there are always lessons to take away from a project no matter how happy you are with it.
THE CLIMB
I wrote The Climb a year before I finished the script for Playing Through. Right off the bat, my biggest mistake was ignoring the screenwriting lessons I learned directing Playing Through. The script was nearly 5 years old by the time we started production in May 2010. I didn’t apply what I had learned…
However, I did rewrite the screenplay with length in mind. The original script was 24 pages long. The script we filmed was 16. There were a lot of great moments in those lost pages but I was so concerned with length that I shredded it mercilessly. When I was cutting, I did so with simplicity in mind. We were shooting the film with basically no budget at all so I eliminated complex locations, merged scenes together so they could be filmed easier and deleted entire characters to avoid casting and scheduling conflicts.
That was a mistake.
It’s fine to edit your screenplays but this was a massive lesson that I’m thankful I learned. When I cut those scenes, I lost sight of the story I wanted to tell. The essence of the story is still in there but it’s a lot clearer on the page. I wish I had gone back and stripped the story down and rewrote it entirely.
I learned the most when I was editing the film. It becomes clear right away which lines work and which lines don’t. I mean that from a screenwriting perspective. I got rid of so many lines that weren’t really needed to advance the story. That’s one of the first things you learn in virtually every screenwriting book ever published. You have to make every line count. EVERY WORD. I feel like I failed in that respect because I caught so many that sounded good on the page but didn’t work on screen. That’s not a knock against my actors. That’s fundamental screenwriting.
Editors will agree that when a line doesn’t work, you really have to get creative to keep things moving. Especially when it comes to continuity. I think that’s why The Climb feels choppy in places. From an editing perspective, I’m happy with the way the film turned out but that’s because I eliminated about 3 minutes of dialogue by the time we released it. That’s a lot of dialogue.
It made me realize how many moments I could have saved when I was cutting scenes and characters before we started. If only I had simplified the dialogue. From a story perspective, the film comes across as a first act instead of a tale with a beginning, middle and end. Actually, it’s kind of like a prologue. On the page, I had two great characters with really interesting back stories and as the film evolved, I fell in love with those back stories and that became the focus. A back story is supposed to lead you somewhere. In the script, these characters changed but I don’t think it comes across in the final product.
There was a time when I planned to turn The Climb into a feature screenplay. I wrote a great scene in a cemetery where ‘Cameron’ faces his past and it helps him. I really can’t explain why I didn’t put that in the story.
Having said that, I do enjoy the theme of hope these characters talk about. There is more to their dialogue than simply words that have to advance the plot. There is subtext. This is a lesson that’s truly important when you are shaping your creative style. No matter what you don’t like about your films, your writing, your paintings or your music, do not let these things blind you from the things you do like. Every creative endeavor moves you forward.
Screenwriting aside, I had so much fun working on The Climb. It was stressful on set with weather issues and bitter cold but our cast and crew laughed together and created together. These are experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything.
The two films I have made are based on screenplays I wrote 6 and 7 years ago respectively. I think that’s why leaving directing behind is so important to me. I never stopped writing but I do not have anything recent that showcases what I can do. Every writer gets better by WRITING. I’m 100% confident that my work has improved but nobody knows that except for me. I write about passion and dedication all the time on this blog but I never really follow through by sending my work into the world. To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair to the people who read this blog regularly. I intend to change that.
Obviously, I’m refocused now and hopefully that will change in the coming year. It’s time for something new. It’s the reason why I put screenwriting aside to finish The Climb and the new website. I wanted to clear my slate. I wanted 2012 to be the year I put the past behind me while bringing the lessons I’ve learned along for the ride.
I’m obsessed with movies, I’m addicted to filmmaking and I’m deeply passionate about screenwriting. Most of all, I want to tell stories.
We are the sum of our experiences.
Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
You learn by trying.
Find a job you love, never work a day in your life.
These are just a few of my favorite quotes and words I live by. But I think one quote in particular describes my personal creative journey:
There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same at it’s peak.
At the peak of the mountain is a successful screenwriter. I know it. I just have to find my way up there.
Click here to check out 17west.ca and watch Playing Through, The Climb and more. Have any thoughts on the films? Comment below!
Mylo is a 4 year old shih tzu and one of the most laid back dogs I’ve ever met… I suppose ‘laid back’ is a fancy word for lazy sometimes but that’s part of his charm. He enjoys sox, pizza crusts and his stuffed tiger Chester.
Little Mylo has a very strict routine in the morning. We both get out of bed around 9 and head out to the living room. I usually turn on the computer and Mylo heads straight for his ‘living room bed’ to sleep.
About an hour later he’ll get up, stretch, eat a little and take his place on the window sill. We are over 30 stories above the ground so he just looks at the water most of the time.
After our morning walk and some food, I get started on whatever project I want to tackle that day. Sometimes it’s a new blog post or a Photoshop project. But something funny happens to Mylo when I sit down to write screenplays.
This is the exact look I get when I’m about to start writing. He stares. He sniffs and he moves around my chair until I pick him up. He doesn’t stop.
“Ahem… We both know I’m not going anywhere so pick me up and let’s get going.”
Once he’s on my lap he immediately lays down. To be honest, I think he just likes laying there because he knows I’ll be sitting still for a while. It’s been like this for years. Just about every page I’ve written has been with Mylo resting on my lap looking up at me every once in a while.
Most recently, I’ve been working on a fairly emotional and personal screenplay. I tend to get upset while I’m writing it and constantly speak dialogue out loud. We all know dogs are perceptive and when I’m genuinely angry about a scene, (or the inspiration behind it) Mylo does everything he can to try and cheer me up. He sits up and climbs as high as he can. He looks me right in the eyes wiggling his tail back and forth.
“You’re upset. What can I do? How’s the scene shaping up?”
In this way, he’s become my emotional barometer. If he sits up, I know what I’m writing is truly honest. Little Mylo sitting on my lap when I write is part of my comfort zone now. I find it amazing that he only wants to sit on my lap when I write screenplays. How does he know?!
