Austin Screenwriter's Conference Report from Father Geek

Father Geek here reporting in with my thoughts on the Austin Screenwriter's Conference's various Panel Discussions, Luncheons, Etc... These will be brief looks at the different events I attended in the first 4 days of the conference and film festival, however I will withhold my remarks concerning the films until that part of the festivities concludes next Thursday. There were over 65 separate functions not counting film viewing in the 4 days of the conference itself and I managed to attend 12 of these which I will cover here for you. Some events required a special invite or an additional fee on top of your all- excess (?) pass. I got into some of these, some I did not. Further, like all events of this nature it is impossible to attend everything no matter how connected one may be because as many as 6 events may be scheduled at the same time. The attendee must simply make choices and hope they are the correct ones for him, or her.

My first choice was the Writing for Feature Animation Panel in the Crystal Ballroom of Austin's 113 year-old Driskill Hotel. The panelists were Paul Dini of Warner's Animation, Rita Hsiao of Disney Animation, and Bob Poole a writer on OUTBREAK, ARMAGEDDON, and currently working on the CGI heavy EXHIBITION with Tippit Studios. There wasn't really any earth shattering news dropped in this panel. They each talked about what it was like to work for their companies and they all agreed that to write an animation screenplay on spec was a waste of time because their companies wouldn't even read them much less put them into production. They said animation projects always come from in house. Four time Emmy winner Dini said that BATMAN MASK OF THE PHANTASM was completely re-edited by Warners suits at the last minute without informing him or Bruce Timm, and that they (the suits) then withheld nearly all the promised ad money insuring a tough road at the box-office. Rita, a writer on MULAN, DINOSAUR, and TOY STORY 2, said Disney is in a real rush because of the new competion and that writers can expect to see their stories cut and recut over and over to the point that little of your original may remain. Poole said only 5 to 10 minutes of his Armageddon script remained in the film. He didn't really drop any blockbuster news about Exhibition, the Phil Tippit / Wayne Barlow designed, 100% CGI space actioner set 2000 years in our future. All the humans will be computer created, there will be no love affairs between the sexually mixed crews and they are on pace to become the 1st CGI realistic humans feature. Dini said IRON GIANT is Warners move to escape films like Camelot which was rushed by execs and doomed to fail. He say that Giant looks very very good at this point in time.

The next event on my schedule was the welcoming Bar B-Q held at the Governor's Mansion. Really tender brisket and lots of it at this Texas Film Commission sponsored yard-party. Live music, free booze and peach cobbler combined with good conversation, made for a great afternoon. Harry and I had just sat down when Bob Burns (art director for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, at a Bar B-Q, coooool) came over to chat. At our table was a cute exec with Origin Systems, Richard Schenkman director of WENT TO CONEY ISLAND ON A MISSION FROM GOD, a NY entertainment reporter, another young director, and a couple of new writers. Patrick (Mr. Hollands Opus) Duncan stopped by the table and a Dreamworks type babe hauled Harry off to the rose garden for a little chit-chat out of everyone's ear shot. After a couple of hours of talking about the plight of the independent film maker it was off to the next round of panels.

For me that was the Success panel with Jim (King of the Hill) Dauterive, Brian (LA Confidential) Helgeland, and Rita (Mulan) Hsiao. This was an advice panel. You know, "write... write...write...", " be cheery", "live in LA", "outline... outline... outline...", "have faith in yourself", "research...research...research...", and "when you sell save your money, it could be a long time till you sell again." All three of these writers do their work in the early morning and keep the phone turned off and have nothing planned for the afternoon or evening that could cause their mind to wander.

Next I had planned to attend a round table discussion with Debra (Halloween) Hill, but when I arrived 20 minutes early it was already filled so I proceeded to my second choice, the How to Adapt Books panel. Seated on the stage were John Lee (Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil) Hancock, Stuart (Reanimator) Gordon, and Bob (Outbreak) Poole. This was another advice for new writers panel. First off, "The book is always better, accept it." Second, "A novel is a novel, a movie is a short story." Third, "Read the book twice, then outline it from memory. If you forgot something you can leave it out." Fourth, "Forget, I'm too good to adapt someone else. Adapt or Die!" Fifth, "Don't get bogged down in the book's dialogue. Remember the best movies are visual story tellers and don't even need the sound." Stuart Gordon had a nice story to explain how he beat the roadblock of trying to adapt a living legend's work. "I was adapting a Kurt Vonnegut piece for the stage and had become scared of cutting anything out that might offend him. Every time I had a doubt I would call him and ask what he thought. Finally he said, Look, Stuart, just pretend I've been dead for 10 years. I've done that with every adaptation since and have never again had a problem."

Next up was the awards luncheon at Austin's Zona Rosa nightclub. Harry was seated at table #3 on the front row. I was seated at table #50 around the corner in another room. The meal was very good and since we outcasts of the outback couldn't hear anything that ment we could talk. I visited with writer/director Lisa (Temporary Girl) Katin about her very funny little film. Melanie Backer a rep. with Prosperity Pictures was seated next to me and we talked alot of the current mind-fix of most studio execs and her pet project LA CUCARACHA with Eric Roberts. Director Jack (Big Empty) Perez grabbed the vacant spot on the other side of me and he, Melanie, and I talked about Roberts, Joaquim (Desperado) de Almeida and the making of La Cucaracha. They had read Tom Joad's review of it on the site and were excited by that and Harry's comments. I told them that I felt it and WICKED were the two best films in competition. They committed that they had NO distribution and felt that festival politics would far-go them winning an award. Mere seconds later they won the grand prize and I was off to my next event. NOTE: IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT LITTLE FILM TO DISTRIBUTE "LA CUCARACHA" IS ONE YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH. JUST FAX MELANIE AT 323-860-7043.

Stuffed to the gills I made a bee line to my next panel, the Writer as Director, with Gary (Pleasantville) Ross, Paul (Taxi Driver) Schrader, and Stuart (From Beyond) Gordon. Now this was a great panel. All three of these guys are fantastic talkers, full of great stories and good advice. Biggest problem with being both is that the director can't blame the script if things go wrong, and the writer can't claim the director screwed up his masterpiece. They all agreed that the biggest problem writers face is "directors changing the script to match a casting decision and then if the film has problems blaming the writer and the third act." They reminded us that " in the end a film is the product of 100,000 little minor decisions made by the director." Gordon said that "as a writer/director you get to play good cop / bad cop with your self." Ross said that as a director to "always remember when you go to cutup a script that it was the reason you started the project in the first place." He reminded us that a great director allows his actors and crew to "feel that they own their part in the film process." Schrader stated that in cutting down the script the director should be "careful not to break the spine of the story."

The next panel was also in the Longhorn room of the Omni. It was the Film and the Internet panel. Gary (Dave) Ross, Stuart (Wonderful Ice Cream Suit) Gordon, Trevor (Groundhog Day)Albert, and Harry (Head Geek) Knowles sat on the panel. There's not really much for me to say about this panel that you AICN readers don't already know. Both Gary and Stuart read the Aint it Cool site every day, they love it, and think it is a positive influence on Hollywood. They praised Harry's "internal ethics" and said they wished the print media and TV would police themselves as well. Trevor asked for the web address and both Stuart and Gary blurted it out before Harry could. An interesting footnote of this meeting was that Gary Ross's father wrote CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and other 50's classics.

Following the panel I had to hustle over to the Paramount Theater (Austin's vintage 1915 Movie Palace) for the VIP reception and buffet supper honoring Ray Bradbury's THE WONDERFUL ICE CREAM SUIT. Most of the writer/guests were in attendance and with buffets in the lobby and also on the mezzanine, and multiple bars pouring refreshments on both floors smoozing was in full force. I met up with Bob ( Chainsaw) Burns again, exchanged pleasantries with Sandra Bullock, Chatted a bit with John (Animal House) Landis by the 1st floor water fountain, and talked about the direction the site was taking with Stuart (Pit & the Pendulum) Gordon. Tobe (LifeForce) Hooper was in the crowd as was Eric (Runaway Train) Roberts, Paul (Batman) Dini, Brian (Postman) Helgeland, Debra (The Fog) Hill, Carl (Jaws) Gottlieb, Polly (Pretty Baby) Platt, Dan (Beverly Hills Cop) Petrie, Dale (Ruthless People) Launer, and Andrew (Seven) Walker.

I caught 2 1/2 hours sleep and headed for my next panel, Dialogue and Character, over at the Omni. This one had Paul (Last Temptation of Christ) Schrader, John (American Werewolf in London) Landis, Dale (My Cousin Vinny) Launer, Andrew (8MM) Walker, and Brian (Payback) Helgeland sitting on the panel. This was probably the best panel of the conference. John Landis said, " Film execs today, to a man don't know how films are made!" The panelists agreed that in writing dialogue, "less is more." In talking about appropriate dialogue for a character Ray Walston was quoted as saying, "I'm telling you a Martian would never say this!" Several examples were given of great scenes that were simply written in the script. In Carpender's THEY LIVE it was " page 23, they fight; page 24, they fight; page 25, they fight" and in BEN HUR it was just "the chariot race". The writers all agreed that the best written line can be screwed by the wrong camera placement, but at the same time they said that a writer who puts technical (film making) writing in his script will lose the suit who he must sell on the script to get the project made. Schrader said "Writing to sell is not writing to shoot!" Landis closed with a story of the cartoon that hung over Hitchcock's desk, "Two goats are in a Junk Yard chewing on some reels of film, one looks up at the other and says, I don't Know... I liked the Book Better."

The next panel was Writing the Anti-Hero with Walker, Helgeland, Hancock and TV writer Turk Pipkin. This was a difficult panel with the members unable to even agree on the definition of an anti-hero. They did however agree that, " anything will work, if it works!" When it opened up for questions from the floor it became a debate as to what an anti-hero is. Fun, but not too productive.

The next event I attended was another Hollywood and the Net panel. This one had Len Klady of Variety, Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter, Debra (Fisher King) Hill, and Paul (Bring out the Dead) Schrader. Paul started out as a movie critic in the underground press and he pronounced film criticism dead, except on the WEB. He stated that shows like Entertainment Tonight have killed real criticism and has brainwashed the public so that they won't know real critique if it slapped them in the face. He said the only hope (and he has little of that) is that a strong independent critic will rise out of the NET to give birth to a new Pauline Kael type of film voice. Surprisingly the two pros on the panel did not argue the point with him except to say that the trades (their employers) were still an independent voice. Paul countered with, "no one outside the industry reads the trades!"

The final event of the screenwriter's conference was the party/buffet at Antone's Home of the Blues. I headed over with Harry, Tom Joad, and Annette Kellerman. It was packed with writers and directors and the Blues was hot. We got in line for the Mexican food and suddenly Reanimator's Art Director Bob Burns appears and we visit until we get to the food. I spot John Landis over by the north end of the bar and Stuart Gordon was anchoring the other end of the 40 foot bar, Patrick Duncan wandered by plate in hand, the Hollywood Reporter's Honeycutt was munching on a chicken burrito, we hung out for a couple of hours, but had to get to some flicks. I'll tell you about them in a report later in the week. For now, this is Father Geek signing off.