Hey guys...I know it's been awhile since I've posted. But things have been going so well with our development package that I was simply caught up in the euphoria and excitement of filmmaking. It has been a pure pleasure and thrill. So much of the past few weeks have been this harmonious orchestration of life experiences and my talents. It just felt so natural. I was doing what I think I was made to do. At the same time, there were definitely pockets of myself that still had to "grow up" and develop. It's like discovering the sport you were made to play, and at the same time you realize how rusty your posture is and weak some muscles are. This strives one to exercise and practice, to develop and become a formidable athlete. I feel this exact thing for my craft. I need to grow up. I need more confidence. I need more clarity. I need more boldness. But in sum -- I LOVE IT!!!
AND THEN CAME THE TWIST OF ALL TWISTS. My wife and I decided to celebrate our progress and relax with a movie. Right there, in the theater, I saw the setup. About 25 minutes into the movie, they introduced a character and his humorous quirk. I immediately knew what this would mean -- THIS MOVIE WAS GOING TO HAVE THE SAME ENDING AS MINE! I held my breath as the movie continued. About 25 minutes from the end of the movie, my wife realized the same thing. She held my hand tight. So tight. Our spirits were thinking the same thing as the movie progressed slowly to the end: "Please no. Please no. Please no." And then...it happened. SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ONE OF THEIR SIDE-KICK CHARACTERS WHICH IS IDENTICAL TO WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR LEAD CHARACTER!!! They even used the same iconic closing image!!! Dude...I cannot tell you how this felt. I turned to my wife and saw her eyes water. We were deflated. The painful thing is that I wrote my ending YEARS ago and it is rooted to the through-line of my lead characters story. In fact, I've created a whole new mythology with my ending. And now...here was the SAME ENDING in this movie!!! The difference is that their ending did not have to do with the core of the story. It was only with one of the side-characters. BUT IT WAS THEIR ICONIC ENDING TO THE PIECE!!!!
I was livid. My ending iconic image through a much tighter story line was "stolen" by the ending iconic image of a weaker, "studio" story line.
Guys...I've had my ending for years and I really don't know what to say. I just don't think the "fates" work towards the good guys and hard-working people anymore. Life is hard, Hollywood is dog-eat-dog, and so much is left to chance. I am utterly deflated.
I have no other choice but to keep going and hope that two years from now, that ending is somewhat forgotten. I know for a fact people will think I stole their ending for my movie. I mean...I think that all the time!!! But this is not the case with my movie and it is utterly heart-breaking. I know what people will think when they see my ending, and it will not be true. They will probably wonder if I am a schlock storyteller/filmmaker. They will probably wonder "how many original ideas has this guy actually had." I really don't know what to say. I hate this feeling and I hate that we fought so hard to get this moving only to face this at the moment we thought things were going so well.
As much as I want to be poetic and talk about life's "poetic ironies", I simply can't. This scenario sucks hole and I have no choice but to keep going.
HOW ARE YOU GONA USE MY MONEY, CIF GUY?
The donated funds will go into paying back a loan from my father (CIFpop) who is currently funding our DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE. The development package includes the creation of a fully animated scene, character and location designs, and CG animated character tests.
CIFpop is pulling the funds from his line of credit. Unfortunately, this means that his house is being used for the loan collateral (yes, he could potentially lose his house). However, we are both convinced that with my growing fan-base, and your continued support, this movie will come to fruition, and in time make a significant profit that can pay back the loan.
In the meantime, we still need your support! By donating, you will help pay back this loan directly and ASAP to ease the burden on my pop!
CIFpop is pulling the funds from his line of credit. Unfortunately, this means that his house is being used for the loan collateral (yes, he could potentially lose his house). However, we are both convinced that with my growing fan-base, and your continued support, this movie will come to fruition, and in time make a significant profit that can pay back the loan.
In the meantime, we still need your support! By donating, you will help pay back this loan directly and ASAP to ease the burden on my pop!
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THE FINE PRINT
(1)Happy invisible butterflies MAY evoke a happy good feeling in your heart. If not, they may cause indigestion. Do not forget to feed happy invisible butterflies regularly to prevent apocalyptic swarms and global devastation. I do not know what happy invisible butterflies eat. My only guess is that it must also be invisible and somewhat “happy”. Perhaps something invisible and ”joyful” would suffice. Or maybe even invisible and “feeling blah”. But definitely nothing invisible and angry because that would most certainly irritate the happy invisible butterflies, and when that happens, you can kiss this movie (and mankind) good-bye. (2)Due to our ever-evolving technology, this DVD may become a Blu-Ray disc or perhaps a 100% online featurette. If technology excels further and DVD’s become obsolete because entertainment is distributed via brain-chip installation through mucus membrane transfusions, then this “Special Feature” will be included in that cyber-synthetic bio-electrode unless the implantation of the “Special Feature” coupled with the “Feature Presentation” causes brain damage. In that event, for your safety, you'll be sent a rusty old DVD and it’s up to you to find a DVD player (if they still exist). (3)Webisode appearance requires contributor to record him/herself. Footage will be sent directly to me so I can edit you into an official Confession! If you do not have the technical means to record yourself, or prefer not to appear in a ‘Confession’, the character sketch is really cool too. I’ll even sign it if you ask. (4)In addition to this, I can probably get my mom to send you a bag of her homemade beef jerky! It’s good. I’m probably eating some right now. (5)To forewarn you, my saliva may smell like beef jerky. (6)Or, I’ll have my mom make a lot of beef jerky.
* My movie is not yet part of a trilogy, but if you would like to donate the required amount, I will gladly create one.
* My movie is not yet part of a trilogy, but if you would like to donate the required amount, I will gladly create one.
I picked up a book last year with almost the same title and extremely similar content (except personal stories) as a manuscript I submitted. It made me sick.
ReplyDeleteRemember that one year there were all those movies about meteors and asteroids or whatever? Let the best integrated narrative win (yours)-RC
dude , you have the power to change the ending still.
ReplyDeletewhat is the matter with you?. heed my advice or be damned. change it now. guitardash
I have had this happen to me several times, it may be plot lines, story lines or even key lines of dialogue in key scenes leading to key incidents (I kid you not) - a year back, a friend of mine and I were deep in the late treatment stages of a script set during the middle ages in Europe - I went to pitch it to a production company, and guess what, they had a medieval story already in pre-production! That's not all; as I pitched, I watched the exec. nod his head and smile - I thought "damn, I'm going to sell this" - only to discover to my horror that the medieval story they were developing where set in the same "place and time" as ours, had an equal number of characters (and similar relations between them) with the only difference in the end being that theirs was a fantasy film and ours had a horror-feel to it. Thrust me, it happens to everyone in this industry at least (I say at least because it has happened to me more times than this, but this was so scary because it was SO similar to our story) - once. Just do your film and don't care. Either you change your ending or you don't. Thrust, however, that your story will never be the EXACT SAME REPLICA as the film you saw. It can't be that way , but similarities can and will occur. It is the nature of making a film dude.. :)
ReplyDelete