I’m happy to announce (although slightly delayed) that Playing Through won 2nd place for short screenplay in the 2011 All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival!
I’m a big fan of surprises like this. Playing Through is a short film I wrote and directed through 17 West Productions along side producer Eric Gamache. It’s the story of Brandon & Nathan. Two friends playing a round of golf terribly. While Brandon does his best to distract his friend, every thought Nathan has rests on a looming phone call. A call that will reveal whether or not he has been diagnosed with cancer.
You can watch the full film immediately below:
Thanks again to the All Sports LA Film Festival for the mention.
About a year ago, I took a step back and really thought about where I want my creative career to go. Am I a screenwriter or a director? At the end of the day I’m neither in the professional sense. I don’t apply for directing gigs and I still struggle to REALLY put my screenplays out there. No, I’m a professional editor. That’s my trade. I work in a fast paced live television environment and I’m still addicted to it after nearly 6 years. At work, I tell stories through highlights, reports and features. I love it.
Still, at home, I’m a passionate screenwriter and an aspiring filmmaker.
Like any job it’s important to have a clear focus and a year ago, I felt like I lost that focus. I was still messing around with the footage we shot for The Climb and promoting Playing Through as much as possible. These two shorts are the focus of this post as they are the only two shorts that I wrote and directed. I love both of those films because they taught me something very important about myself:
I don’t want to be a director anymore. I want to be a screenwriter.
I came to this realization for two very distinct reasons. First, I read the original screenplays for those films. They were so much more visual than the film on the screen. I’ve learned that I’m better describing images than making them a reality on set. Second, during the production of both short films, I desperately wanted to write something else. You can’t do both. You can only focus and I fell behind on my screenwriting goals.
However, I’d like to take a second to make one thing clear. I do not regret making Playing Through or The Climb. Those films didn’t scare me away from directing. They just made me realize how badly I wanted to write instead. And so those two short films serve as inspiration for me now. I learned so much by getting out there and yelling action and cut. (Even though I felt self conscious doing so.) Directing has given me a unique perspective that has changed the way I write scripts. But that’s a pretty generic statement to make.
So let’s get into specifics.
PLAYING THROUGH
It’s official. Playing Through will go down as my most successful film. It played in three film festivals and won a few awards along the way. Beyond anything I’m proud of the fact that people laughed and some cried. I saw Playing Through in a packed theater once and it was both terrifying and gratifying all at once. People laughed when I intended them to laugh. I can’t really confirm that they cried but many have told me over the years.
The film won’t reach everyone but I sleep well knowing that it DID reach people. I loved Playing Through. The entire experience with the cast and crew was one I’ll never forget. But looking back, there are still some major lessons learned.
It’s too long. That’s the major criticism I’ve heard since we released the film. When we realized the film was going to be close to 20 minutes long it became a concern. But the way I wrote and directed it left little to cut out without affecting the story. We reordered it a bit and lost a minute or two but the film is still 19 minutes long.
When it comes to writing short screenplays, you have to get the most information across as possible. The script for Playing Through contained one major plot point per scene but I think I could have been more creative and made each page more efficient. It would have been shorter and the pacing would have increased dramatically.
Proof that there are always lessons to take away from a project no matter how happy you are with it.
THE CLIMB
I wrote The Climb a year before I finished the script for Playing Through. Right off the bat, my biggest mistake was ignoring the screenwriting lessons I learned directing Playing Through. The script was nearly 5 years old by the time we started production in May 2010. I didn’t apply what I had learned…
However, I did rewrite the screenplay with length in mind. The original script was 24 pages long. The script we filmed was 16. There were a lot of great moments in those lost pages but I was so concerned with length that I shredded it mercilessly. When I was cutting, I did so with simplicity in mind. We were shooting the film with basically no budget at all so I eliminated complex locations, merged scenes together so they could be filmed easier and deleted entire characters to avoid casting and scheduling conflicts.
That was a mistake.
It’s fine to edit your screenplays but this was a massive lesson that I’m thankful I learned. When I cut those scenes, I lost sight of the story I wanted to tell. The essence of the story is still in there but it’s a lot clearer on the page. I wish I had gone back and stripped the story down and rewrote it entirely.
I learned the most when I was editing the film. It becomes clear right away which lines work and which lines don’t. I mean that from a screenwriting perspective. I got rid of so many lines that weren’t really needed to advance the story. That’s one of the first things you learn in virtually every screenwriting book ever published. You have to make every line count. EVERY WORD. I feel like I failed in that respect because I caught so many that sounded good on the page but didn’t work on screen. That’s not a knock against my actors. That’s fundamental screenwriting.
Editors will agree that when a line doesn’t work, you really have to get creative to keep things moving. Especially when it comes to continuity. I think that’s why The Climb feels choppy in places. From an editing perspective, I’m happy with the way the film turned out but that’s because I eliminated about 3 minutes of dialogue by the time we released it. That’s a lot of dialogue.
It made me realize how many moments I could have saved when I was cutting scenes and characters before we started. If only I had simplified the dialogue. From a story perspective, the film comes across as a first act instead of a tale with a beginning, middle and end. Actually, it’s kind of like a prologue. On the page, I had two great characters with really interesting back stories and as the film evolved, I fell in love with those back stories and that became the focus. A back story is supposed to lead you somewhere. In the script, these characters changed but I don’t think it comes across in the final product.
There was a time when I planned to turn The Climb into a feature screenplay. I wrote a great scene in a cemetery where ‘Cameron’ faces his past and it helps him. I really can’t explain why I didn’t put that in the story.
Having said that, I do enjoy the theme of hope these characters talk about. There is more to their dialogue than simply words that have to advance the plot. There is subtext. This is a lesson that’s truly important when you are shaping your creative style. No matter what you don’t like about your films, your writing, your paintings or your music, do not let these things blind you from the things you do like. Every creative endeavor moves you forward.
Screenwriting aside, I had so much fun working on The Climb. It was stressful on set with weather issues and bitter cold but our cast and crew laughed together and created together. These are experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything.
The two films I have made are based on screenplays I wrote 6 and 7 years ago respectively. I think that’s why leaving directing behind is so important to me. I never stopped writing but I do not have anything recent that showcases what I can do. Every writer gets better by WRITING. I’m 100% confident that my work has improved but nobody knows that except for me. I write about passion and dedication all the time on this blog but I never really follow through by sending my work into the world. To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair to the people who read this blog regularly. I intend to change that.
Obviously, I’m refocused now and hopefully that will change in the coming year. It’s time for something new. It’s the reason why I put screenwriting aside to finish The Climb and the new website. I wanted to clear my slate. I wanted 2012 to be the year I put the past behind me while bringing the lessons I’ve learned along for the ride.
I’m obsessed with movies, I’m addicted to filmmaking and I’m deeply passionate about screenwriting. Most of all, I want to tell stories.
We are the sum of our experiences.
Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
You learn by trying.
Find a job you love, never work a day in your life.
These are just a few of my favorite quotes and words I live by. But I think one quote in particular describes my personal creative journey:
There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same at it’s peak.
At the peak of the mountain is a successful screenwriter. I know it. I just have to find my way up there.
Click here to check out 17west.ca and watch Playing Through, The Climb and more. Have any thoughts on the films? Comment below!
The film tells the story of Brandon & Nathan. Two friends playing a round of golf terribly. While Brandon does his best to distract his friend, every thought Nathan has rests on a looming phone call. A call that will reveal whether or not he has been diagnosed with cancer.
The film stars John Steptoe, Michael Clarke & Alyssa LaPlume. It was written and directed by Jason McKinnon and produced by Eric Gamache.
I had an absolute blast making Playing Through. It was the first film I directed with a professional crew and it was also the first film I edited using Final Cut Pro. Software I purchased along with a sweet new iMac in order to complete the film. I’m extremely proud of the work our cast in crew poured into the short. I also have to thank Clear Springs Golf course in North Bay, Ontario for allowing us to make this film on their course. It was a gorgeous week I’ll never forget. I’m extremely happy it didn’t rain!
Hope you enjoy the film! Pass it along.
There is still one more giant announcement to come regarding this movie in 2012 so stay tuned.
While 17 West Productions didn’t produce any new films in 2011, it was still a busy year. I have a several big announcements to make:
17WEST.CA Relaunch!
The last time I updated 17 West site, it was purely to upgrade the look and integrate The Athletic Nerd a little more. I’ve been blogging online for over 2 years now and I’ve learned a lot about search engines and what it takes to attract an audience. Now it’s time to put that knowledge to good use.
A whole new look has arrived but this time it’s a fully functional WordPress powered site.
A NEW SHORT FILM RELEASED!
The new site just happens to coincide with the release of The Climb. Our new short film which will be up VERY SOON!
On a sad note, Strings has officially been cancelled. The film was in pre-production for over a year but after a couple hitches we’ve decided to move forward with some new ideas. 17 West Productions is now actively developing our next project which will be directed by Eric Gamache. There aren’t any timelines yet but updates will come fast both here and on the new 17west.ca.
I was busy putting the finishing touches on a new short film called The Climb and I realized that space was running low on my main hard drive. So I turned my attention to the original files for my last short film Playing Through.
Almost 4 years ago to the day, we decided to make the golfing drama about a cancer scare and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I had so much fun working on that movie. Everything was equal parts excitement and sheer terror. Just about every task I tackled was something I had never attempted before including working with a professional crew for the first time.
When it came time to edit the film, I went out and got myself a sweet iMac with a brand new copy of Final Cut Pro Studio 2. I’m sure any editor out there remembers the day they got their first real ‘setup’. Until that point, I always worked with an ancient version of Premiere Pro left over from my college days.
LEARNING THE ROPES
By the time I started editing Playing Through, I had begun my career as a professional television editor. It was a blast to balance cutting fast paced pieces at work with the slower style of a short narrative. Not too mention at that point, my Final Cut knowledge wasn’t all that extensive.
Every day I would wake up and edit the film for 3-4 hours and then head off to work to edit sports for 8-10 hours. Anyone in a creative medium thrives on projects they look forward to working on. I look back at that time fondly because it solidified my love of editing.
OLD ‘DUSTY’ FILES
Most editors are perfectionists. You have to be. I add my own unique blend of anxiety to my quest for perfection. So I have every file associated with Playing Through backed up on 2 separate hard drives stored in separate areas of my house.
That’s why it was finally ‘time’ to delete all traces of the film from my computer. Of course, I had to load up that finalized timeline one last time and watch the movie again. I scrolled through a lot of unused footage and laughed at the outtakes and moments I had long since forgotten. Going back and watching the raw footage again reminded me of how much I love to make movies and what Playing Through meant to me.
Then I selected the main directories and hit delete. Officially closing the bin on that chapter of my life. In a certain way, it symbolized a step forward as well. I created space for new projects and endless possibilities.
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