The bane of every creative person’s existence can be boiled down into two potentially freeing (or frustrating) words. The ability to answer them can give you immediate credibility, or just as likely poserdom (from the Latin root: The land of the posers). They could even make or break you. And the question, in case you just glossed over the title of this rant is “Why You?”
The moment you tell someone you are a writer/actor/painter/performance artist/magician/synchronized swimmer or a single one of those slashes or other creative pursuit, the listener’s eyebrows shift. You’ve either piqued their interest or you’re being judged. While I’m not privy to other people’s inner monologue, I can only speculate. But here’s the thing, I’ve been sitting across from people of all ends of the spectrum– Extremely successful film and TV writers, actors, comics, blah blah blah as well as folks who fancy themselves professional writers, actors, comics who haven’t so much as taken a baby step in that direction. “I have a great script,” a friend of mine says. “I’d love to read it,” I retort. (I retorted all over the place.) Then my friend clarifies that he hasn’t actually written anything yet. It sounds so obvious and ridiculous. But the world is full of people who talk a big game without so much as doing an ounce of the work. And that’s what makes the world so challenging for the rest of us who keep at it– for years.
But this isn’t just about doing it. One of my dad’s favorite quotes is “The difference between genius and aspiration is that the genius does it.” I couldn’t agree more. But I would like to add to that and say that a true genius doesn’t just do it. A genius is someone whose pursuit is in some way unique to them. Why is what you’re doing different from what someone else can do? Or more importantly, what do you bring to the table that’s specifically you? You need to know the answer to this. People used to ask me if I was worried about folks stealing my jokes or my story concepts. Um, no. If my stuff is so stealable, then I’m not doing my job well enough. Because the fact of the matter, and this goes for every pursuit: There’s nothing new under the sun, but rest assured there are millions of permutations of greatness. If you can do the work and put your unique perspective into it, you’re not just some hopeful, you’re a true artist.
Don’t forget to comment on my friend Jimmie’s awesome and delightfully twisted short. (I have a small role in it!) Winners for the contest that it’s made for will be announced this weekend…
If you have ever been mocked for your VHS collection, you are not alone. My cupboard of antiquated technology is small but mighty. While I’m not hoarding Molly Ringwald films or anything, I do have a sizable stash of my performances pre-2006, that are unfortunately on VHS. The good news: I found a great way to turn VHS into digital video that I highly recommend. It’s called the iGrabber. (Not as rapey as it sounds.)
It’s a little device that allows you to literally click one button to digitize media from any RCA input and create an mov file. And well priced, too. Less than $40. I captured a DVD for a friend of her performance and a VHS tape of one of my old movies. My first movie actually, called Long Away. I was prepared to post it online until I actually watched it. (Read: More embarrassing than being pantsed.) It is from 1986. Please enjoy some screenshots…
You know a movie is good when it’s “Based on a Story”
Opening Credits. (Not pictured: Director Dad)
Method Acting.
Spoiler Alert: My character survives the over-sized phone attack
Hopefully this is just the start of more embarrassment to come.
On Saturday, when walking off a heavy brunch of Frittata and Fried Potatoes from the Tavern, I discovered there’s a library in my neighborhood that has books! Sure I’ve been there before, but only for the air conditioning and free wi-fi. And as luck would have it, they offer free reading materials as well! So on a lark, I checked out a book called Writing Televeision Sitcoms by Evan S. Smith. It’s got some solid tips. I actually do recommend it if, like me, you are fumbling around with a Pilot concept. Plus it seemed more relevant than another TV writing book that was Dewey Decimal adjacent. Flipping through this other book, twice it mentioned: “It’s not 1995 anymore! The industry has changed!” That one was published in 1998. The only thing the same about the industry since 1995 and now is that Shane Black still uses a typewriter. And to be fair, that’s probably old info, too. 2002 might be the last I was in touch with him… It appears my own stories need to come out with a more updated edition as well.
On a side note, I’m pretty sure I spotted Donal Logue at a Starbucks near Beverly Hills this weekend. (Two name drops, one post!) I may’ve stared a bit but only because I vaguely remember doing extra work on a show he starred in. I still can’t think of the name. Looking on iMDB would be cheating. I did the job to get my SAG card back in the day (which I never did get). Grounded For Life! That’s what it was. At some point maybe I’ll post this footage since I recently picked up a (drum-roll please) VHS digitizing device. More on that delightfully antiquated technology later…
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.
Welcome to the blog of Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer, comedian Sari Karplus.
Several years late on every trend, Sari (pronounced like Mary) has fancily joined the blogosphere. Hopefully soon she'll go on to discover other new fads like how to speak in first person.
Until then, please enjoy the ride.
