Fourteener Films

I’m scattered all over the place. It’s funny because just at the beginning of the week I had this marvelous creative break through and I am working through it now. The problem isn’t block or anything. It’s more like I have all of these ideas on what should link the beginning to the middle and the middle to the end.

David provided me with some powerful stuff for the end of our first season. The beginning at this point is a splicing of his stuff and a touch of mine. The middle is a good mix of both. But the linkage is proving to be difficult to work through. I’m in the middle of redoing an outline because the changes are quite dramatic given the new stuff for the last few scenes of the season finale.

Perhaps the way we decided to go about this is too far forward thinking. I think I need to step away for a day or two. What I am finding to be the toughest thing about this whole webisode format we’ve settled on is the length. Trying to support such a complex hierarchy of story arcs with under 30 minute episodes – each needing to be self contained isn’t easy. I see why most more complex shows need episodes to be an hour long.

… The end game. The anecdotal evidence of an afterlife. Countless people who have been clinically dead or dangerously close but lived to tell the tale talk about approaching a light from within a dark tunnel. Let’s assume that first, all of this anecdotal evidence is honestly given. It is conceivable that some may have lied.

But let’s just say that everyone who has ever given evidence of this light was being 100% truthful. Then, let’s assume that this experience is not the result of any chemical reactions in a body that may be chock full of adrenaline, dopamine, phenethylamine, and maybe, if in a hospital, experienced repeated, high-voltage jolts to the heart, and is likely under a high-intensity light source.

So we’re assuming 100% honesty and no environmental stimuli, no hormonal, drug, and neither medically administered nor naturally occurring neurotransmitters are responsible.

What is that light? What if it wasn’t heaven? What if it wasn’t angels or Jesus or God? What if it was a trick by something or someone sinister? What if it was a place of judgement? A pathway to both Heaven and Hell? A place as accessible by the minions of Hell as by the angels of Heaven. What if it fell?

Pretend for a moment that Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, are all sort of right. None of them completely, but they are right about a glorious afterlife. A greater power. Celestial beings. All balanced by an absolute and complete evil.

Is that light so comforting now? What else is in that dark tunnel with you?

It’s a fascinating set of questions with limitless other possiblities, resulting in more questions.

Such as, what if you found that while inside the tunnel, you were not alone? You were with others just as scared and lost as you. What if you also found that you had free will? That you weren’t drawn like a moth to a flame? All you had was the knowledge that soon, you would be weighed, measured, and possibly found wanting. No matter where you turned, you were doomed, but you had no way of knowing to what you were doomed exactly.

That is one of the story lines in the second season of the Arkangel serial. Hope you like the way we see it.

… let’s see how much of it left after we slice it and dice it. So, David wrote this screenplay nearly a decade ago. Right? So in many ways, this story is his baby. Right? Well, he shared the screenplay with me when we started this kooky adventure and we decided to make it into a series. So he gave me some insight into the story and the reason he wrote it. We batted around some ideas and decided we could work this into something great. We started this whole Fourteener thing and the rest will one day be history.

Then, David launched into writing and I built this illustrious website. When I finished the website about a month ahead of schedule, I was ready to jump into writing.

David and I were at lunch one day tossing around more ideas and sources of inspiration and we realized that we weren’t 100% lock-stepping on the story lines. So, David asked me to write some ideas down. So I wrote the premise as I saw it. Then I wrote treatments for the first six or so episodes. I was hesitant to give them to him. I mean this story is his baby and he’s been sitting on it for years. Right? My treatments introduced a lot of new story lines, plot devices, relationships, I mean I severely altered some stuff. I wasn’t sure it would be cool. But so far, David and I had been completely honest with each other about what we wanted to do. Before we even started shooting our first film was not the time to start holding back. Right? So, I e-mailed what I had to David.

David told me he liked some, hated some, and we started squeezing the shit out and trying to keep the good shit together. While this was going on, David started warming to some of the stuff he wasn’t sure about when he first read the treatments. Of course, some of it is still shit to be sure and there’s only so much you can polish a turd before you realize, no matter how it shines, it’s still a piece of shit.

But the parts that were good, are serving the story well. Devices driving the plot and developing the relationships are taking an already strong story and stretching it into a series. I’m excited.

So David is working on his master’s degree and is approaching midterms. He handed me the scenes that he’s written and said ‘go!’

So this weekend I finished the first episode. The execution of the story arc is a bit jerky. But it’s a draft and we’ll smooth it out. I am about 20% done with the second episode. The beginning feels pretty strong but it goes down hill pretty quick. Most of it will never make the finished first draft. But I’m excited. David and I are ahead of schedule. By original timeline, I’d have finished the website just a couple of weeks ago and launched this past weekend. We’d be just starting to write.

I am already thinking about things like casting, lighting, things I know I HAVE to take David’s lead on. I also know I need to stop and keep writing. And that makes me smile. I love this part. The writing. And there’s plenty of it. Write.

I’ve mentioned before on this blog, that the original screenplay upon which our current project is based was inspired by David’s emotional roller coaster ride immediately after the events of September 11, 2001. The absolute emotional devastation and intellectual bewilderment caused by the flying of those planes into those buildings in the name of God was tough on the entire world. It really got David to the point where he – a recovering Catholic – is now in regard to organized religion in general (see his recurring theme of ‘horseshit’).

People all over the world were quick to point out that the word ‘zealout’ and not ‘fundamentalist’ describe the terrorists who took those planes. Equating their perversion of the peaceful Islamic faith to the American Ku Klux Klan – who pervert the context and meaning of the Bible to fit their end – is an accurate comparison. So the fair statement to make there is that we can’t blame religion right?

Well …

No, that event should not have cast the Islamic faith into the same barrel as the those rotten apples. But has organized religion not been a cause of a lot of death in the name of a creator that I don’t think wanted us to go around killing His handiwork? Do you suppose we were meant to pass divine judgement – in other words act as God – and righteously take ‘Gods greatest gift’ from another in His holy name? Yet that is a recurring theme.

Look at what is going on in Israel and has been for centuries. Look at the entire history of the Crusades. Look at the shooting of the Pensacola abortion doctor by a ‘religious fanatic.’ Look at New York City circa 2001. Look at what has happened since.

Here’s a question – what if the Bible was really, actually, and truly written by humans? Humans, fallible and swayed by basic human needs and desires may have actually written that holy text. Astounding. No matter how inspired they were, they were human. But people go so crazy over the ‘word of God’ as if the book literally materialized out of God’s mouth.

Now, I’m not going to say what happened because like EVERYONE else, I don’t know. I take it on faith. But I certainly don’t think I should I have the right to kill anyone for disagreeing with me.

Living in the deep south right below the buckle of the Bible Belt, I often saw a bumper sticker that said ‘If it ain’t King James, then it ain’t Bible.’ To me, that epitomizes the hypocrisy. You’re going to tell me that a version so blatantly political that it was named after the MONARCH who HAD IT REVISED to his liking is the version that is CLOSEST TO THE WORD OF GOD?

Organized religion has always been big business. Long before the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jim and Tammy Bakers of the world ever showed just how corrupt of a business it could be. Churches have manipulated governments with tools like excommunication and defining monarchs as God’s instruments on earth. How is it that anyone, no matter how strong their faith can be so blind to that? How can they NOT wonder if maybe, the basic human principles like kindness, love, faith, forgiveness, trust, gratitude,honesty, generosity are all God intended us to take from His word and the rest is marketing?

I mean, why is it that God MUST be perfect? If he can get angry enough to reduce an entire city of rapists to salt or to cause a flood that kills all of the world except the folks in the big boat, doesn’t that tell you something about the basic humanity of God? We call that ‘the wrath of God.’ Wrath. One of the seven deadly sins. If God is capable of committing one of his own deadly sins, I’d say we’re calling Him fallible. And if He’s fallible doesn’t that take some pressure off of Him?

In ancient religions, gods were fallible. Zeus and all of the Greek gods were subject to wrath, jealousy, spite and making mistakes because of their very human flaws. Is it not possible that over the centuries, Christians have idealized God to the point of making Him this perfect being? Perhaps God is feeling a bit resentful? Perhaps God gave us things like intellect, free will, and, you know, thumbs so that we could make choices, make mistakes, live our lives and not expect Him to live and think for us?

As I step off of this soap box upon which I suddenly find myself standing (I’m a bit embarrassed), I’ll leave you with this. My whole point was to talk about the thoughts and questions that inspired the Arkangel series. There will be shots taken at the picture painted of God, Jesus, angels, the devil, our relationship with God as humans, and God’s relationship to the human condition. If that’s a problem, maybe the real question is the strength of the doubter’s faith. Or perhaps the strength of the foundation upon which they chose to build that faith.

Baby won’t sleep. Been sick for days. Barely got projects in for college coursework I’m working on. Yet, strangely, with mere minutes to spare, everyday I have free time…whether it be minutes…or even seconds…I’m thinking about this project….WEIGH STATION is becoming ARKANGEL…I’m one of those quirky sorts who has to have the entire story in my head, INCLUDING, EVEN, NUANCES…then I sit down and pound the thing out in a matter of days….also, Walter has some very creative ideas on how to add to the story line, along with new story lines…the kind of things that move a story from a screenplay into a tv series.

school will finish and the deadlines Walter and I have established will be met. not long now

this stories close….way different from the “Weigh Station” screenplay, and that’s cool….concept will stay the same..Bullshit on the generalized version of Religion…mostly ’cause it’s gotten us to where were at….es no bueno….so forward we march….college classes and Chloe keep me grounded but am nearing the end of an extremely risque opener….question? the radicals went gunning for rushdie with a vengeance…do i play it safe for my baby’s sake, or do I go for the real true message so she’ll be proud of me…even though she may not know/remember ME…?….guts and experience say FALL INTO THE STORY and let everything else work itself out…good times…note to self….when we go into production, pack extra fun meters…

When David first told me about The Weigh Station - the screenplay he wrote and partially produced several years ago, I was concerned.  I mean, I wasn’t worried about the viability of the story.  And given his experience, I wasn’t worried about anything logistical.  My concern was whether it would be too preachy.

Think of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers or Any Given Sunday.  Both movies I was able to enjoy but I had to ignore the whiffle ball bat labeled “THE MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!!” that was constantly being smashed into my head.

If you look at the cover of the Natural Born Killers DVD, it says right on the box ‘the media made them superstars.’  In an improbable street interview, a hip kid says to the camera “We value human life.  But if we had to be serial killers, we’d be Mickey and Mallory.”

In Any Given Sunday we see Los Angeles Sharks quarterback Willie Beamon flexing and strutting through commercials.  We watch athletes pumping themselves full of drugs and throwing money around.  We watch a bunch of millionaire players cheer as the star running back cuts the new star quarterback’s car in half with a power saw.  In the end, we see stills of old, leather helmet football players diving selflessly into the fray.  We watch the current day star running back step out of bounds with four seconds on the clock – stopping the clock and giving his team one more play to win the game.  We cut to a quick shot of Al Pacino on the sideline yelling ‘unselfish!’ as if we didn’t understand what that step out of bounds meant.

THE MESSAGE!!!!!!!! I THINK YOU, AS AN AUDIENCE ARE TOO STUPID TO GET WHAT I AM SAYING SO I WILL MAKE IT SO LITERAL, A REMEDIAL HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH STUDENT COULD WRITE A DISSERTATION ON IT.

That was what I was worried about.  The feelings that inspired David to write The Weigh Station were directly from the affect of the events of September 11, 2001 took on him.   That was a powerfully affecting event for those of us who remember the planes hitting the Pentagon and the twin towers.  And while the events and their aftermath brought out the best in people across all racial, religious, economic, and political backgrounds, it also brought out some really bad, overdone music, television, poetry – as any major event will.

While, I never doubted David as an artist, I know how powerful emotion can color our perception and especially our self-perception.  So I was concerned to say the least.

When I began reading, I got more and more excited.  Here was a story revolving around very sensitive religious subjects in a decidedly irreverent way (the understatement here is like calling a hurricane “breezy and a tad moist”).  But I was enthralled with the plot line.  There were some parts where the shift in narrative view were a bit jarring but that could be because the script he gave me was cut and slashed and edited and re-edited.  So I think I read some parts that were cut out.

It was a very moving and exciting story line to work with.  The real challenge has been to figure out how we are going to stretch this out over a series of episodes.  But I think after several weeks of tossing story lines and structure ideas around, it’s beginning to gel.

Don’t mistake what I’m saying.  This isn’t a story about the events of Sept. 11.  The tragedy of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attack aren’t referenced in the series.  Those events were the catalyst.

But the questions are very real, very human.  David calls himself a recovering Catholic.  His view of the subject matter is colored by his experience in the church.  My upbringing was by a Protestant and a Buddhist.  So our backgrounds lend themselves to the sort of broader shift of accountability we are hoping to achieve with our show.

This is not a series about religion. We aren’t going to tell you what you should believe, or even what we believe.  We think that while you watch our characters’ journeys, you will come to the questions yourself.  Questions we ask ourselves and questions that those with the most staunch faith should still ask.

I’m rambling now.  But I am very excited about what we’re doing.  Oh and I get to say Horseshit without any Hail Marys. Just sayin.’

Arkangel was conceived as a screenplay (The Weigh Station) in direct response to the events of Tues, Sept. 11, 2001. Paired with it was a stage play (9/11: Brotherhood of Fire) about the surviving five fireghters from an entire platoon (Five Fire Houses).

“So, this is where religion got us?”, I thought to myself the moment I could put all events and news snippets into context.

“Really? Really? This is how we have all decided to use this gift of life given to us by our God “(whichever God you choose).

Horseshit.

Fast-forward nine years. Look around you. Is the world in turmoil? Of course it is, it always has been, despite a relative few respites. That’s not my point, and that’s not the overriding goal of this particular project. We feel, our job is to entertain and try to give every side a fair shake. After all, there are two sides to every story.

We’re the crusades a good idea? I don’t think so.

Slavery? No.

Killing each other in the name of our respective God’s? I think, and this is my belief, (one which would land me in several prisons around the world) that the respective gods would say “Horseshit on that!” No disrespect intended toward any religion or God, I just like that word. ‘Hoseshit’, however is a prime example of religions proffering excuses. Me, I’m a recovering Catholic. Since I’m not completely recovered, I figure six hail mary’s per ‘Horseshit’ gets me out of MY God’s dog-house, no pun intended.

By the way, I think I’m up to 24 Hail Mary’s? Should start a spreadsheet in the background…

Not going to put all my thoughts out there. Walter’d kill me. Just know this. This project, in particular, will weigh two concepts.

What does God, in all his/her manifestations think about folks spray painting his/her name on a car bomb or smart bomb and destroying innocent lives. In Arkangel, he thinks “HORSESHIT!” (….thirty…).

Also, what is the relationship between God, his archangels, and Jesus two thousand years after Jesus’ death?

Food for thought.

Walter’s an my Golden rule? Have fun.  If we can let folks fall in love/hate with the characters, maybe ask themselves questions like: Why would my particular God give me a human life to live, and then demand we spend half our lives on our knees praying, and the other half planning the demise of folks halfway around the globe, just because they love a different God as much as I love mine?

If those things happen, and, we break half a million fun meters along the way? I’m cool with that.