Screenwriting and Music…

Question: Do you listen to music when you’re writing? Do you think it can help or hinder the creative process?

Ok, so I’m in the middle of writing this crazy SciFi feature which I was just notified of a few days ago, and started writing promptly thereafter (which I have about 9 days to finish) and I ran across this little gem of a question which I wanted to answer right away (which also gives me another excuse to procrastinate more). To put it simply, YES. I definitely listen to music both while I’m writing and while I’m conceptualizing a story. Music is a BIG part of my life, I listen to all kinds of music from rock to pop, classical, and TONS of movie soundtracks. To be honest, I’m a little bit of a sucker when it comes to quality film scores of all types.

When it comes to the relationship between music and writing, at least for me, I often find myself flipping through hundreds if not thousands of songs while conceptualizing a story and actually building a playlist of sorts of music which both moves and inspires me that I feel relates to the story I’m trying to tell. One thing I love about film scores is that the best of them are written for an emotional mood or specific character moment within a film, which, unlike classical music, or most music with lyrics (at least for me) truly speaks to me when I find just the right track for just the right moment in the story I’m trying to write. If you were to sit in the room with me while I’m writing (which would be terribly distracting by the way, and would never happen) you’d find that I’ll often put a specific track (or tracks) on repeat while working through and writing (or conceptualizing) a specific scene where I’m trying to portray a specific emotion or event. This would probably drive you nuts if you were sitting in the room with me since you’d have no clue what is going through my mind, but to me, when I hit just the right line of dialogue or just the right moment and read it back to myself with the music playing, I can tell it’s just right. I’ll admit, I’ve spent hours, even weeks compiling just the right set of songs to “write to” (and they are often a combination of genres that each speak to different characters, emotions, or moments in the story… rock for action moments, strings for heavy drama, or exact opposites when the scene calls for it) I try to mix it up as much as possible, depending on the film I’m trying to write. I often find I focus on one musical “sound” for each film.

One other note of interest here is that since I also direct most of the screenplays I write, so the music I listen to while writing then often becomes the “temp track” of the score for the film during post-production, since I know the music fits the mood of what I was aiming for precisely. Then the final original score of the film is written based off of the same temp music which I send to the composer with the cut of the film, so he can see (generally) what I’m looking for musically in each moment. Again, the music in the final film is NOT the music I listened to while writing, it is completely original, written for the film, but it is often based off of my initial tracks.

So, all that just to say, YES, music plays a huge role in the writing process for me, and often finding the right music can mean the difference between writing a crappy and/or bland moment or a truly moving one. It honestly has less to do with the specific music I choose and more to do with how the music affects me emotionally; it puts me in the mood to write what my characters are feeling.

The LA Move…

Ok… so it’s been a while here, my apologies… there’s been both way too much going on and a lot of nothing. Let me explain, since the film fest at the end of July I’ve been packing up for the move out west and dealing with all the fun details that come with it… including the financial annoyances (ie: cost of moving) and all the details that come with not only moving myself, but also transferring our main production office as well. Basically, due to all the crazy projects I’ve got in the tubes both personally, and through my production company (Star Com Productions LLC) I felt it was time to make the move out west, but not only myself, but for the company’s main office as well. Now, don’t get me wrong, we’re not a huge company, and a lot of what we do can be done from home-offices, but the fact of the matter is, changing everything (and moving everyone) from one coast to the other is a heck of an undertaking and so while I’ve now been living in Los Angeles for about 3 weeks, it’s taken me until now to get things situated to the point of getting back to the fun world of “internetz”.

Before I get into some brief updates on ongoing film/event projects I just want to clear up one important question I’ve been asked rather frequently recently regarding the move and my continuing relationship with the Oxford International Film Festival. Yes, I know live primarily in Los Angeles, but I am continuing to work with the festival on a regular basis. A good friend of mine and a long-time supporter of the festival, Eric Chatterjee, has been very gracious in accepting the reigns as the new “Executive Director” of the festival starting in 2010, and is now handling all the day-to-day operations and planning. I’ve taken on the new position as the festival’s “Producer”. Basically what that means is that I still have the final say in most festival matters, including programming, but I’m no longer the day-to-day person. Due to the crazy amount of work involved in putting on the festival every year I felt it necessary to hand over a considerable amount of the yearly work load to someone new, not only because I’m no longer directly local (you’ll find that I’ll still be in Ohio rather frequently through – we still plan to shoot most of our productions there) but also to allow me to have more time to focus on Star Com, our ever-growing slate of films, tv projects, and concerts (not to mention my own Directing endeavors). So there you have it… no worries about the fest! I’m still a major player in the festival, but I’ve intentionally passed on the “Executive Director” title and daily duties.

That said though, we’re now all setup here in LA and getting right back into the game head-first. So, a brief update on some projects that I’ve got in the works: The “In Dreams” (formerly titled “Slipping Away”) feature is still very much alive and kicking, indie financing in this economy to be honest just plain sucks… I’m actively in talks with a couple different backers and we’re still pushing ahead, though we have not yet set production dates, and yes, we still have some VERY interesting actors in talks.

Ok, on to some NEW stuff… I’ve recently been asked to develop and write a network tv/family drama for a Disney starlet which would basically start as an online “webisode” series and then make the transition to one of 3 networks. I finished the pilot script a few weeks ago, which everyone very much liked, so like everything else, now it’s basically just a waiting game to see what the producer/studio/sponsors decide to do next. I’ve also been asked just last week to write and direct a low-budget SciFi/Thriller aimed as a SyFy channel original movie, which, I’ll be honest, I was a bit hesitant to do originally, but now I’m getting very excited about the more I think about it and continue to develop the story. We’re still very much in negotiations about it (again, like everything in this biz.. you never REALLY know if anything will ever happen until it’s finished) but I’m happy with where it’s going and really starting to get to know and like the producer (which is a good sign).
Hum… I think that’s about it for now… lots of other random things in the works, but not too much far enough along yet to really mention, but I’ll certainly let you all know if/when things start to progress, the great thing about LA (and this industry in general) is that things move SO fast (and, ironically, often SO slow) that predictability and planning is often all but irrelevant, but hey, that’s half the fun of it. 🙂

More soon.

–JC

09 Film Festival Wrap Up…

While somewhat of a transition year for the Oxford International Film Festival, the event went VERY well this year, we made a lot of people and filmmakers very happy, and given so many financial/sponsorship setbacks, managed to have a simply wonderful event! We actually received more local press this year than we EVER have in the past, with morning show segments on 3 local stations, headline/cover stories in local arts publications, 2 of the biggest regional radio stations covering the event for weeks, and more! Not to mention that the Awards Gala was simply gorgeous and people really had a great time despite a tough year… for a festival wrap-up and list of award-winners and more, visit www.oxfordfilms.com, and another big THANK YOU to all who attended and supported the event, you guys are wonderful!

09 Film Festival is ON!

So, I haven’t written in a while, mainly because I’ve simply been SO ridiculously busy with the film festival coming up here soon (and with so many things up in the air) that I haven’t really had much to post. That said though, this has been a very tough year economically for everyone, and the festival is not magically excluded from that, with such severe cutbacks in sponsorships from across the board (think about it, major corporations are laying off employees, and we’re asking them for money?) we’ve had to make some tough last minute cutbacks and changes to keep the festival alive, at one point we seriously thought we’d have to cancel it altogether, but I think it’s now safe to say that we’ve (for the most part) succeeded in steadying the event to go on for another year, with the help of a great deal of long time (and new) friends, and even though I know it will be a tough year for attendance numbers (simply because of all the last minute changes) I honestly feel that the changes and moves will be better for the event in the long run, this is a transition year of sorts, and knowing that, I’m excited to see where we go from here.

That said, most of the festival’s screenings will now be held at the wonderful indie cinema “The Esquire” in Cincinnati, with special events still held in West Chester at the Savannah Center as previously planned, and now with EXTENDED dates, from July 24-30, 2009! For all those of you who stood by us and helped make this possible, THANK YOU!

OIFF Promos & Music Vid…

While I may not be producing another film until the feature later this year, I have been and will be writing/directing/producing several promos for the Oxford International Film Festival which will be released online every few weeks from now until the festival in July. We’ll be switching off posting one of mine a few promos by other director friends of mine throughout the coming months. The promos for the 09 fest can be found here: www.youtube.com/oxfordfilmfestival other new promos will also be posted on the festival’s Official Website, MySpace page, Facebook page, and of course on the fest’s YouTube page. You can actually submit your own promo for the fest by going here: www.oxfordfilms.com/promo/

I’ll also be directing a music video for a new band called Above Only here coming up in June. The song is “Hear Me” which is featured on their debut EP. This is a thoroughly impressive band that’s going to be huge here in the next few years, so stay tuned, I’ll let you know when we get the video finished and out to the world.

So, check out all these new vids, rate them, comment, and have some fun. I’ll be doing some other fun little side-projects over the next few months which I’ll cue you in on latter, but will hopefully hold you all over until the feature comes out sometime next year. Peace.

OIFF makes MovieMaker top 25!

I’m excited to announce that the Oxford International Film Festival was just selected by MovieMaker magazine as one of their top “25 Festivals Worth The Entry Fee” in their spring 2009 issue which hit newsstands across the US and Europe this past Tuesday (April 28th). So, pick up a copy and check it out! (It’s the one with Seth Rogan and Anna Farris on the cover, with big letters “25 Festivals Worth the Fee” across the top : ) you can’t miss it!

Twitter and another screening…

Ok, so after much deliberation and procrastination, I finally caved and joined “Twitter” yesterday, (as if I didn’t already have enough to do 🙂 that said though, you can follow my spontaneous and somewhat random updates at www.twitter.com/jcschroder. I will still be posting my regular blogs.

Also, another screening to announce: The “final cut” of The End of All Things will have its regional debut this SUNDAY, April 19th at 7:00pm at the KNOW THEATRE (1120 Jackson Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45202) as a part of Underneath Cincinnati, featuring a number of shorts by local filmmakers. Tickets are $7 public/ $5 students for the whole program. I plan to attend, so stop in, say “Hi”, see the FINAL cut of the film, meet some other filmmakers, and have some fun! For questions/times/tickets contact the theater directly at: (513) 300-5669 – See you there!

Life Lessons I Learned From the Movies: More Bullets…

Ok… so while this may be a given at this point in movie history, it’s good to know that all guns on earth (and apparently in space and even in parallel universes as well) have unlimited ammunition. I was almost concerned there for a minute. I could easily list a couple hundred movies here, but I’m not going to, because honestly that would be a significant waste of both my and your time (should you actually decide to read the list I’m not posting). I’m a huge fan of “realism,” and while I respect the need of movies like “Rambo” that require a certain “un-countable” number of rounds in each weapon, at some point I really start to wonder if they missed the point… or maybe just shot it so many times that it’s unrecognizable. The fact is, guns that have a limited number of bullets actually create a great edge-of-your seat experience, a certain danger that is simply not present when a hero (or villain) has unlimited rounds… you know they will have to run out eventually, and therefore it becomes more a test of skill, intellect, and sheer courage instead of irrelevant noise. Now, again, this is only my opinion, and I do tend to enjoy most movies with lots of guns, but still, it does make me wonder if we’ve gotten to the point with audiences now where people are more distracted with counting how many bullets a guy fired, instead of actually paying attention to (or even enjoying) what’s happening on screen. Food for thought.

PBS “Viewfinder” and other shenanigans…

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I’m featured this month on the PBS/CET show “Viewfinder”. So, if you live in the tri-state region make sure to check your local listings, and tune in to PBS/CET this Thursday, March 24th at 7:30pm EST. I’m honored to be on the show this week as well as with an actress, Meredith Meeks, who worked on “End of All Things” with me, and will join me later on in the show to chat about that (now award-winning) film. For those of you who haven’t seen my recent shorts “Freedomland” or “End of All Things” this is an excellent chance to get a taste of them and hear me blabber on about how many things had to fall into place to get those films made. So check that out.

Also, I want to give a shout-out to the kids at the Cincinnati Country Day School (High School) which I gave a keynote to a few weeks ago. It was great getting to chat with you, and having a chance to meet many of you. Hopefully I’ll be back again before too long to bug you some more. You guys are awesome, keep up the good work, and ignore everything I said about throwing things at people 🙂 .

Park City Award…

Ok, so for those of you who have been following my blog for a few months, you may remember that a film of mine “The End of All Things” screened at the 2009 Park City Film Music Festival back in January (which takes place in Park City, Utah, during Sundance). Well, I just found out yesterday that apparently my film won “Director’s Choice: GOLD MEDAL” Award which is one of that festival’s highest honors… which is pretty exciting and honestly made my day. I guess it just took them a while to get the awards out, but hey, it’s great to find out we won an award 2-months ago :). While I truly think that any Award presented to a film is really a testament to everyone in the Cast & Crew’s work on that film, this award is specifically shared with the film’s composer, Douglas Romayne, who is simply amazing, and did an incredible job on the score. You can check out the film’s website here: starcomproductions.net/theendmovie and Douglas’ website here: douglasromayne.com