Winning Friends, Influencing People

September 9th, 2009Blog0 comments

Punch Up: “Good writing is rewriting”, and there are many types of rewriting. One type is the punch up, where you take details and kick them up a notch. A good rule of thumb is that if there’s anything in your piece that sounds like something you would read in a newspaper, it needs to be punched up.

Example:

RA: Thanks for taking him under your wing.

Becomes:

RA: Thanks for making him your sidekick.

It’s a small detail but it’s cute, uncommon, and adds a little extra depth to the moment. Another example:

VUTHY: Really Ra? Really-really?

Becomes:

VUTHY: Please doan fuck with me, Ra.

RA: (Smiling) I’m not fucking with you, Vuthy.

Another rule of thumb: An F-Bomb always punches things up.

I’ve got a bit of a journey ahead of me. Don’t worry, I’m taking you all with me.

Expect lots of pics in the near future, and maybe even a video.

I’m thinking about growing a mustache. I just need to find someone to draw one on their finger and hold it over my face to see if I’m on the right track.

You Got Two Seconds Before I Smack You in the Mouth

September 2nd, 2009Blog0 comments

Slap Happiness: So Year Zero has a scene where a character smacks another character in the mouth. This happens three times in quick order, so this required the presence of a fight coordinator. The fight coordinator’s job is to A) make sure that the slaps look like they hurt, and to B) make sure the slaps don’t actually hurt. This is a difficult proposition when you consider that this is being done live and on stage, and without the benefit of camera tricks or editing.

Enter David Woolley, our fight coordinator. All the fight coordinators I’ve known have been incredibly cool people — Mr. Woolley is no exception. Andi Dymond, our director, showed him the basic blocking of the scene — where and when the slaps happen. David Woolley immediately put together a plan and executed it, choreographing the entire sequence, slaps and all.

This guy is a whirlwind of motion. “Okay, you’re gonna chase him over here, grab his backpack and pull on it — I mean REALLY pull on it. Don’t just yank it, take it out of his hands. Okay, great! Now he’s gonna try to make it into his bedroom — an old trick he’s been pulling for years, YEARS, but you’re onto him. So you stop him right HERE, push him back to center -”

And then there were the slaps. It takes two to make a slap go right: The slapper throws her arm behind the face of the slapee — not making any actual physical contact, of course — but creating the kinetic motion that the viewer’s eye perceives as the attack. It’s up to the slapee to actually make the SMACK noise, recoil, to perhaps squeal an AEIOU-and-sometimes-Y sound to add inflection to the attack.

And when the two come together, the whole thing looks great. And the intensity they add is pretty freakin cool. Those slaps hurt!

If you think that’s exciting, then now’s a good time to segue into the show that’s running alongside Year Zero at Victory Gardens: THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DIETY by Kristoffer Diaz.

This play is about the spectacle and showmanship of professional wrestling, and it offers tons of stage combat — people getting hit by chairs, powerbombing and bodyslamming each other. And if you look beyond the pure sports entertainment value of this show, you’ll find a brilliant play about superstars and jobbers: The no-name wrestlers whose job it is to make the superstars look good — and who are often the more skilled and capable athletes.

Remember what I said above about how it takes two to make a slap go right? That’s the essence of professional wrestling, and the core of CHAD DIETY. It’s a great show and you gotta see it.

Burning Down the House

September 1st, 2009Blog1 comment

Wherein I Come Back to Find the Place On Fire: Flying back into LAX I saw the plumes of smoke rising off of the Angeles Mountains. Then on the ride back to my place from the airport I could see them drifting upwards like volcanic ash.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning because I am still on Chi time and for some reason I was waking up at 6:30 over there. So I went for a long run. The sky looked like it does in Fallout 3. However, there are fewer super mutants around.

I wonder when it’ll stop. People have gotten hurt, property has been damaged. We are cloaked in all-day sunsets: The incoming light is weird and orange. It would be pretty if it weren’t for all the carnage. What a welcome home.

What true happiness looks like.

Some of the best things I’ve ever eaten have been eaten in Chicago: Hot chocolate at the aptly named “Hot Chocolate” in Wicker Park; Hot Doug’s; pizza. The last night I was there on this trip we went to a Hawaiian place. I had the grilled spam/fried egg/brown gravy plate. Horrifying: Yes. Delicious: Yes.

It’s a great city for eating. They really know their food there. I don’t know whether it’s because of the midwestern culture of comfort, or because it’s a necessity for enduring harsh winters. There’s something that they’ve got that we don’t have over here. I wish I could put my finger on it.

The show’s coming along great; the actors are wonderful and we’ve found some really great things in this play. What’s funny is that the theater used a photo of our friend Kim’s mom (Kim and her mom both being Cambodian) as a projected background during the reading of the play that we did last year; now Kim’s mom has found her way onto the actual show poster (see right)!

I was worried that Kim’s mom might be upset about this, but she seems to be getting a kick out of it. This is good since her image is now all over Chicago.

Chicago: I love you. I would come to live with you, but I need to take meetings here and I need to keep my cholesterol low.

Also I don’t think I could ever leave LA. I love the spirit of the people here, and how we live among the ruins of a glorious and art deco past.

Los Angeles, you’re even good when you’re on fire.