Less updatey around here, but with good reason. I'm too busy writing to write.
Of late, I've really cracked down on what I'm doing with my time. I've left Call of Duty: Black Ops in a state of siege in 60's Viet Nam. My guitar has gone largely untouched (to the delight of anyone with auditory nerves). I had considered entering the Amanda Palmer remix contest, but no. It's only thanks to my admittedly bizarre work habit of having the TV on while I write that I've been able to keep up with programming both here and abroad (Anybody catch Dirk Gently on BBC? I liked it).
In the last sixty days, I've cranked out not one, but two specs (my array of specs was in need of refreshing - there done) as well as a script being referred to as Secret Project #0, which came out to about 60 pages in itself. In addition, there was some notes work on a recent pilot (and there will be notes work on the specs).
After about 200 in pages in two months, one would think I might give myself permission to return to 20th Century Southeast Asia and do bad, bad things in the name of America or something, but no. I'm already thinking about yet another pilot script. Or, rather than give myself permission to do something recreational, maybe I would take some time and develop a feature script idea I have that is very probably unsellable. Or writing up my Doctor Who spec...for fun, since it has no usefulness whatsoever. That makes it fan fiction. That's what keeps me from blowing any time on that.
I think I'll go curling, read some of this season's picked up pilots and then get back to work, probably on a project that requires knowledge of the latest fashions in ladies' footwear, military drones, and event planning.
As I've spent some time this weekend diving into some script revisions on my crime procedural, Schrödinger, based on the fantastic notes given by my writer's group and by a noted showrunner who shall remain nameless, (and anticipate getting notes on Secret Project #ø), it seems an appropriate time to bring up Fade In: From Idea to Final Draft
Fade In is a book written by late Michael Piller about the experience of writing Star Trek: Insurrection and is a honest account of how the idea was generated and developed through and past release. The bulk of the book, however, deals with how Piller deals with notes from his producer, stars and the studio, and then also make budget based cuts.
Dealing with notes is such a tricky process. There's the instinct to view notes as an attack of some kind, or the instinct to think that a certain note is just plain wrong -- WRONG, I say! But the fact is, most notes come from somebody bumping on something, they just may not be aware of what the real source is, but if someone's got a problem with something, you HAVE to look at it. The further trick is that sometimes, addressing the note is not the right thing to do. Tugging one tiny little thread can sometimes unravel the entire sweater. Your script is a sweater.
Piller takes you through his thinking as he goes through the notes process. He shows you changes and how he arrived at solutions. He shows you battles against notes he didn't agree with and shows you how he ultimately addressed those as well. It's a fantastic read for any writer.
Do not think that just because you don't watch Trek or know it well that this book will be lost on you. Piller explains the odd Trekism here and there, but the bulk of the book is universal to all writers and the parts that aren't are lessons in playing in someone else's sandbox and writing a property that's bigger than you.
Where do you get this book? Amazon? Barnes and Noble? The husk of a corpse once known as Borders? No. Just Google for it.
Now, far be it from me to promote the spread of copyrighted material through illicit means-- Who the fuck are we kidding? Of course I would, though only in situations where said material is properly made available to those willing to fork over the cash. However, in this case it's a little different, so I'll encourage you to track it down rather than linking to or providing a direct download myself.
It's not so much that Paramount is suppressing it, but Piller's family apparently asked the original source to take it down, but it's out there now and not hard to find. And honestly, I can't understand why they'd want it taken down. It's not like anybody is ever going to publish a book about a lesser Trek sequel that came out over a decade ago. (Unless they want to publish it as an e-book themselves, a move I strongly encourage, but they need to just do it if that's the case).
I have a tremendous respect for Piller, not just a writer, but as a producer (and not just for Trek either, his short-lived western Legend was made of pure steampunk awesome). In fact, last year, I had the opportunity to pitch a couple of projects to a production company housed in the same building as Piller/Sagan (run by Michael son now) and had the thrill of having the meeting right there in Piller's old office, still decorated with the artifacts of his career.
The book however is a great read and testament to Piller's openness about the process of creation and the industry and should be read, not hidden. Find it.
A little pop music history is in order. Regardless, of what your opinions of Duran Duran might be, they were a very forward thinking and influential band. Keyword: were.
These guys were at the forefront of what eventually became electronica. They were among the first bands to really put synthesizers and blatantly artificial sounds up front in the mix, though they still kept a healthy mix of real guitar and bass prominent as well. Additionally, they gout in front of video music, before music videos really gained the traction that they would hold on to so strongly through the eighties and early nineties (until MTV decided they could make more money with reality shows than actually being MTV). In fact, their first music video, "Planet Earth" was made before MTV went on the air.
Their videos stayed at the top of the form for many years. Most of them were sprawling epics that looked like they could be trailers for a feature films, and one of them "Wild Boys" essentially was a concept trailer for what was to become a sci-fi film, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs book of the same name, by Russell Mulcahy (who directed many DD videos before going on to Highlander, The Shadow and a downward spiral of insignificant movies (and the Skins pilot).
They even parlayed their success into two temporary offshoot bands, Arcadia (the arty eurotrashy one) and Power Station (more hard edged with bits of funk and something akin to, but not metal).
Then something happened and they succumbed to going into other, preexisting genres (because they helped invent the New Romantic genre, it was arguably theirs to play with at will and they eventually morphed into their own genre, a Duran Duran song from 1982-1985 was a unique thing no on else could or would pull off). A couple of band members left (neither a particularly creative force in the band), some new guys joined. They moved through some perversion of American white-boy funk and eventually landed in some watered-down house music style, until 1992, they came back a little bit with something more their own and had hits with "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone."
Then the Internet started to happen, and they failed to capitalize early, they way they did with music videos. They put out an all-covers album (yawn). Their music videos were uninspired. These guys were, at one point, an awesome science fiction band (just look at "Union of The Snake").
Now they were doing stuff that looked like what everybody else was doing years ago. Random shots of the band looking handsome or cavorting with models. That "Ordinary World" video looks like a perfume commercial. The epicness was gone.
When what they were doing wasn't working, they got rid of their non-original-member guitarist (who had worked to give Duran Duran it's own sound again, for better or for worse) and got the old line-up back together. Their Internet presence was no more or less than any other average band. The innovation factor was gone. In fact, it had gotten to the point where they were essentially living off their old fame. They sold out arenas, but on the strength of who they were once, not who they are now.
Here's where they really started pissing me off. The music was mostly pretty bland. They were looking to producers to help shape them. Including Nile Rodgers, an architect of their mid-eighties sound. TO my mind, that was a step twenty years into the past. Also, these guys have been in studios for twenty years and the prime move in DD, Nick Rhodes has occasionally produced himself, most recently The Dandy Warhols album that gave us the Veronica Mars theme.
Why weren't these guys shaping their own sound and looking to producers to simply help refine it?
Why is rap introducing more sound innovations (and abusing the shit out of them) than the original synth band. Duran Duran should have been all over the manipulation of autotune as an effect, but they were just basically retreading the same thing over and over again.
Also, they had no record label. These guys are Duran Duran, they are world famous and filthy rich. They don't need a label. At the same time, Trent Reznor (because I have to tie in Nine Inch nails) was itching for the end of his label contract, because he knew that once free of the big companies, he could do what he wanted and make tons of money doing it. Eventually they got on Sony. For no good reason.
Then they looked to yet more producers to help make them relevant. This time it was Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Once again, Duran Duran didn't sound like their own thing. Or, for that matter Duran Duran. The album sucked.
Now they've done it again. This time, Mark Ronson's trying to make them relevant and go backward thirty years by evoking Rio. Couple of good songs, but again...bland sound that belongs to someone else. I do really like this one though...(but THE video band, has no video for it.)
And their Internet presence is still lackluster. They could be harnessing it's broadband video power, but their not. They've got the band members blogging, but more often than not it seems like they're just dictating something to a web flunky because they have to. They're not as involved with the fans. They're not that engaged.
These guys just need to look to their history (and Trent Reznor) for their next move. They want to engage younger, club-going fans. These people are technologically savvy. Now, Duran Duran were known in the eighties for their remixes, in which they would sometimes rerecord the songs to expand them. Now, they look to popular remixers to do their dirty work (sometimes to excellent effect). Why aren't they looking to their fans. They don't have to go to the extent of NIN and set up a whole separate website (remix.nin.com) and release multitracks for every damn thing, but with every single or significant release date, they should be putting putting out separate tracks for some songs for the fans to remix and share. Yes, it's giving songs away for free in the end, but they're in a position to absorb that and gain from it.
And these pioneers of video should be harnessing the ability of the average consumer to create pro-quality video and they should having regular make-the-video-for-this-song contests.
Hoping whoever is reading this isn't nursing a hangover. So tell us, whose New Year's Resolutions involve Duran Duran?!
And only Simon and John seem to be on Twitter and it looks like a recent development...and like their PR agency told them to do it. Nick is the one who needs to be out there.
They've finally embraced having their own label and they've embraced iTunes as a method of getting out there, but they've done in a bit of a skeevy manner in that they've put out a nine-song album in December, but in February, the CD release comes out with fourteen songs. It's a move that smacks of forcing the diehards to re buy the same product and to artificially keep the CD format alive. This is what everybody should have been doing ten years ago instead of crying about Napster and suing everybody. Now, it's just too late.
All this is by way of saying that media now is a wide-ranging proposition. You must engage. You must be original. Or you must be a reasonable facsimile of both.
It's 2011. I've got a new project on the horizon. I'll see if I can't incorporate some of these lessons (from a different medium) once it reaches the public stage.
