The Alchemist and the Filmmaker Part 2 of 2

I recently read an entertaining and insightful book called “The Alchemist” which motivated me to write a two part post. This is part 2 of 2 on how this story inspired a new perspective on film writing, producing and directing for me, both in a creative and business sense. It helped me better appreciate each lesson and skill I learned that has allowed me to continue working in the entertainment industry.

I started writing short stories when I was a freshman in high school. I have always been a book addict for as long as I can remember and always wanted to be a writer of some sort, albeit not professionally. At that point in my life writing a novel was not in the cards. It never crossed my mind to write for film and television.

I had never submitted a short story to be widely published or given to many people to read. He was satisfied enough to go through the writing process. Even if nobody read my shorts, he was still happy to write them for me. It scratched my creative itch.

Later I decided that I did want to write screenplays. I had no idea of ​​the whole process, from the three-act structure to the basic format. After reading books by Syd Field and Lew Hunter (my favorite authors on screenwriting), I quickly realized that the short stories I had been writing had a natural beginning, middle, and end. I was already using the classic three act structure and character arcs without knowing it.

I took a few screenwriting workshops where I found out that screenwriting software is your best friend. Wasting time worrying if you’re formatting your script correctly is the quickest way to give up.

After reading “The Alchemist,” my perspective on screenwriting grew. It hasn’t changed my own personal writing style or my creative voice as a screenwriter. The message of the story does not promise fame and fortune in my opinion, if that is what you are looking for as a writer. What the book did for me was remind me that from every event and person you experience you can learn to enrich your creative life.

All creative encounters and experiences, both good and bad, will help you get to where you want to be. She had no idea that by writing short stories she was learning skills to later write movie scripts. After concentrating on screenwriting, I never thought back to my short story days or appreciated them as I should have. That will not happen again.

My double dollar advice to people who want to write a screenplay is simple. Any type of creative writing you’ve done before, from poems to comics, will help you when crafting a movie script.

Being a film producer is very interesting. Producing is one of those life experiences that you will never forget. After writing scripts, I wanted to go into production. As with most aspiring producers with no connections to Hollywood, Bollywood or the New Zealand Film Commission, he would have to find financing for films outside of a major studio system. I introduced film investors like Shelly ‘the Machine’ Levine from Glengarry Glen Ross.

It was obvious after each meeting that it was like pissing in the wind to find money to make a movie without having produced one before. I was going to give up trying to be a producer and started researching to write my first non-fiction novel or player-based movie script. I wanted any story I wrote to be cutting edge and raw.

I’m at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, where the grass meets the waves. I ended up meeting two great people who I learned a lot from and ended up starting as a producer: Howard King and Marcos Fumar (not his real name).

When people are having a good time relaxing, they strike up conversations with strangers. To keep it short. Howard made money as a residential real estate developer. Marcos owned a growing spice business.

I told them I was a writer and an aspiring producer. I won’t lie. I threw every script I had at them. They had no interest in investing in a movie. I told them about my idea for a nonfiction novel about the gaming life. Neither of them had any interest in sharing their gambling stories with me for inclusion in the book.

The only idea I had left to pitch to them was a series “America’s Wildest Bachelor Parties” that I had joked about with friends. Howard and Marcos wanted to invest in it. I really wanted to produce movies and not some wild reality series, but this was the only production opportunity I had.

That’s one of the messages that ring true to me in “The Alchemist.” You can never know what people you’re going to meet and how they might get you closer to what you really want to do. I ended up having a lot of fun producing the series “America’s Wildest Bachelor Parties.” Everyone involved had a good time, especially Howard and Marcos.

After having a meeting with Playboy TV to discuss acquiring the rights to the series, Howard and Marcos saw that I could produce. The eventual DVD rights to the series were sold to one distribution company, and the current video-on-demand rights belong to another. I had earned credibility with them. Howard and Marcos became two of the main executive producers of the feature film “Consignment.”

What I learned is that you may not always be able to produce what you want at first. You might have to produce some other type of entertainment before producing a feature film.

I was talking to my friend Tim Beachum about the directing style he wanted to adopt for the upcoming “Internet Predator” project. Eventually, he will write, direct and edit his own movie. I’ll be on board as a producer when it happens. He asks me a lot of questions about my screenwriting and directing techniques. Movie directing has been a major topic of conversation recently.

After reading “The Alchemist,” Tim recorded a video for me in which Will Smith talks about his outlook on life and shares this quote:

“You are not trying to build a wall. You do not propose to build a wall. You don’t say, ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, biggest wall that’s ever been built. You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every day, and soon you have a wall.” – Will Smith

I think I understand how Will Smith’s words can be applied to directing. You go take by take, scene by scene, until you finish shooting a movie. With the movie “Internet Predator”, Slice Of Americana Films is not trying to make the best psychological thriller ever made, we are going to make the best movie we can with the resources we have.

A film director who can concentrate on each shot and scene, without looking too far ahead, will have fun and enjoy the creation process, while doing a great job. This is independent filmmaker Sid Kali writing: Fade Out Part 2 of 2 from The Alchemist & The Filmmaker.