Tonight I went to celebrate with my writing instructor and friend, Pilar Alessandra, her new book The Coffee Break Screenwriter. If you’re looking to start or finish a screenplay, I highly recommend it. She knows her stuff.
Yesterday I met with folks from Adobe to go over their answer to screenwriting software: Adobe Story. FIve guys who worked on it were in town from India. And to only further stereotype myself as an LA writer, I asked them to meet me at Literati to discuss. The product is pretty cool, though. I’m already a fan of most things Adobe. The first Little CEO was cut on Adobe Premiere, even though the projects that followed were done on Final Cut. I’m also a fan of Photoshop, After Effects (which I’m slowly learning), Flash, Flex, and Soundbooth is pretty badass. Anywho, from what I saw of Adobe Story, it’s a faster, simpler version of Final Draft that lets you easily collaborate with other writers. Worth a look-see if you don’t want to drop the cash like I did on Final Draft. It lets you import Final Draft files too, so no one has to know….
Sorry for the delayed post– being consistent is my frienemy. In any case, if you’re curious what I’ve been up to lately, here’s the run down. Not to be confused with the rub down. Totally different.
Just churned out another revision on my teen comedy script that I started last October. It’s been a long road, but the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Been working my day job like a champ. Yes, I have a day job. You think money grows on trees? Although those money trees are pretty great — still waiting for mine to fruit some cash.
This past week I had an especially fun time. Spent a couple days working on my friend’s movie. He’s putting together on a submission for this contest, and I got to play a surgeon’s assistant. It was very “City of Lost Children”-style. Here’s a pic from when I was in wardrobe with Christiana, and Mr. Director, Jimmie:
Whether you’re familiar with the Marx Brothers or not, I recommend (revisiting or) checking them out. Aside from the occasional overly-serious musical number, the movies and jokes completely hold up. After what, 80 years? Phenomenal. Here’s one of my favorite clips from Animal Crackers.
Last Sunday I went to see Better Off Dead at the Aero Theater with live commentary by director Savage Steve Holland plus Curtis Armstrong, Diane Franklin, and EG Daily. It was awesome!!! 25 years later the movie totally holds up. Best part about the Q&A was hearing from the director what a fucking bomb the film was in theaters. In my eyes, Better Off Dead is top 10 status of ’80s comedies. Perhaps even top 5, and as such, it continues to baffle me how critics can crap all over what’s funny. It’s almost like the stock market. If there’s a good buzz about something great or horrible, it will thrive, but bad buzz will kill it.
People sometimes neglect to kick back and enjoy something for what it is. Reminds me of watching MSNBC years ago and the pundits were talking about Whole Foods. The stock was the one to buy at the time, so they did a whole piece on them. But instead of talking about the company and its modest origins and its track record, all the news people just ate toaster waffles from the Whole Foods freezer section and complained about how awful and cardboardy they were. Seriously? That’s what you focus on–one random thing that’s gonna probably suck at any grocery?
It’d be like watching Better Off Dead and saying it sucks because of some arbitrary thing– like a French foreign exchange student who can fix a Mustang, a tween who picks up trashy women, or a relentless, scary skiing/biking paperboy. Ridiculous, maybe, but awesome. Unique and funny sometimes doesn’t come without a little suspension of disbelief.
Anywho, it may be the boxed wine talking– I’ve just switched from rectangular boxed wine to cubed boxed. Which is sort of like moving out of a trailer home into a double wide…But I digress. What Savage Steve was saying was that after opening weekend, no one would even talk to him. People HATED the movie. His agent dropped him. I’m actually rather inspired by the tribulations of Mr. Holland. He shot a great movie in 30 days, and it’s a classic.
The moral of the story is: Hope. If everyone hates your hilarious movie, you still have a shot at cult-classic status.
According to the targeted ads, Facebook seems to think I’m a heavyset, unwed mother.
Considering my basic statistics of being single, female, and an avid player of Wordtwist, I totally get it. In fact, I’m flattered, ’cause frankly the targeted ads on Evite are far more troubling. When every banner you get is for booze, birth control, and a magical solution for cottage cheese thighs– makes you wonder what kind of slutty, saddlebag-sporting, drunk they think you are? Or rather, I am. Begs the question: Do they have me pegged so wrong or am I lacking some much needed self-awareness? For the sake of argument, let’s leave this rhetorical…
Just went to see Oren Lavie at Bergamot Station. He and the evening were delightful. And artsy– what with all the art and everything… If you’re not one of the 10 million plus views on his video, you’re missing out. If you don’t believe me, the video seems up for a grammy, so believe them…
So, sure, late January is technically too late to wish people a happy new year, but as you know– me and my timeliness. It’s close to godliness, and that I seem to be lacking.
Been busy this year editing videos for Delectable Planet – a food and recipe site whose mission is to encourage eating lower on the food chain. I was at their headquarters in Colorado for a week, and while I worked, managed to sample/devour some 30 dishes. A week of low-fat, plant-based grub and I had more energy and less weight than when I arrived! Some of my favorites were: Chocolate Mousse, Tostadas, and Pumpkin Pie!
Aside from keeping busy working and eating, my feature script was temporarily put on hold. Up til yesterday, I’d also been hustling to put together a submission packet for a directing program. A big thank you to everyone who patiently helped me work out all the pieces: creating a reel, finding the right script, and writing a succinct narrative statement (perhaps the most difficult of the lot), and last but not least, those very kind recommendations. Keep your fingers crossed… and hopefully, I haven’t made a deal with the devil. Not only is the name of the script I submitted 666, but it cost $6.66 to ship. I’m not normally superstitious, but that has accidentally sold my soul to the devil written all over it. Wish me luck!
Welcome to the blog of Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer, comedian Sari Karplus.
Several years late on every trend, Sari (pronounced like Mary) has newly and fancily joined the blogosphere. Hopefully soon she'll go on to discover other new fads like Twitter and how to speak in first person.
Until then, please enjoy the ride.
