Re-Entry

The Youtube series that followed my attempt to write a new screenplay and re-break into Hollywood.

Episode guide below.
Read the various drafts of ÆTHER

 

EPISODES

Episodes 1-3 - Getting into the Mindset

  • Episode 1 - Back at the Screenwriting Game w/ Marvel Exec & Screenwriter, Jeff Willis (THE RIGHT GIRL)

    • Jeff Willis talked about the 2020 spec market, living in LA vs. out of town, and the importance of writing with budget in mind

    • I started consuming some new resources (books, podcasts, etc) and reading a bunch of new scripts, and also started posting here. Shared some of that in this episode

  • Episode 2 - Writing & Truth Bombs w/ Screenwriter, Bob Saenz (EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES)

    • A screenwriter with 16 credits and a new book, Bob came on to talk about the mindset it takes to succeed as a screenwriter, how he approaches the business end of things, and why most of the "rules" don't matter

    • For my part, I was still focused on catching up on how screenwriting had changed in the past six years -- reading Bob's new book, reading scripts, listening to podcasts. I also started thinking about how I wanted to "brand" myself as a writer

  • Episode 3 - Be Relentless w/ Director & VFX Phenom, Clint Jones (Rocket Jump; Corridor Digital)

    • Clint talked about the importance of discipline and mindset, how to avoid blowing up a budget, as well as the types of scripts that interest him as a director

    • He also put together an insane head explosion effect for my intro -- so awesome!

    • I spent one last week getting my head in the right place, catching up on the screenwriting world. I talked about the POWERlist that I stole from Andy Frisella a couple years ago -- this is the method I use to stay disciplined and stay on track

Episodes 4-5 - Generating Ideas

  • Episode 4 - What (NOT) to Write w/ Showrunner, Malcolm Spellman (THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER; EMPIRE)

    • I spent a week generating 10 movie ideas per day. Pretty cool exercise

    • Malcolm had me pitch him a couple of my half-baked ideas and gives me the hard truth. This episode resulted in a pretty big course correction -- I absolutely wouldn't have written the script I just wrote if it wasn't for this conversation

  • Episode 5 - Mining Ideas for Gold w/ Screenwriting Partners, Ben Lustig & Jake Thornton (WINTER'S NIGHT; THE PRINCESS)

    • Ben and Jake talked about how they take an idea and flesh it out into a story. They also talked about what makes an idea exciting to them and how that plays into the business side of things. This conversation encouraged me to double-down on the new direction I was taking and go a little "bigger" with my new idea

    • I did one-pagers on a few ideas, then settled on the idea that eventually became ÆTHER. I started digging into that, gathering research resources, working on my "scratch document," and making a list of scripts to read and movies to watch

    • I showed some of my actual writing process on the "scratch doc"

Episodes 6-8 - Outlining

Episodes 9-13 - The Rough Draft

Episodes 14-25 - Rewriting and Breaking In
As my processed veered from the plan a little, so did the episodes. Below you’ll find episodes about rewriting, breaking in, getting movies made, and two episodes where pro writers gave me notes on my drafts.