It is amazing how the story develops when I work with the characters.

I thought I was going to give the character depth and adding details to the story, not contribute to the major plot. But it did. I guess it is because I just have the basic story in place but not so may whys and hows. To work with the characters in this stage is something new for me. I’ve mostly done this fairly late in the process.

But this time I began with the characters early and they began to contribute at once. And they reproduced. One son became two. It seemed too unrealistic that she should flirt with a twelve-year-old and in the next breath treat him like a kid. It was over the top in bizarre relations too. At least if the relation is no real conflict in the story. It became much better with two brothers.

Suddenly the whole first act is there.

My mother considered my last version of Sunlight. She thought I should put back a scene I removed. What scene, I asked. The one where they return from the city without supplies, because they run out of it (they live in a world with limited supplies of everything), she replied.

There never been such scene.

That scene was created in her head after reading the previous version. Pretty interesting. I’ve heard of that phenomenon before. When the Danish television sent a reprise of Matador (Monopoly) they got hundreds of angry calls asking why they had cut way a scene.
It was an old maid who had got married at last, but when her husband was about to make love to her she got so scared – she had no clue about sex – she had pushed him out on the balcony in the middle of the winter only wearing pajamas. She had not let him in until dawn. This scene was no longer there.

Except that scene wasn’t even filmed. This was something told by the widow (her husband had suddenly and unexpectedly died from pneumonia). But hundreds of people could ensure that they had seen the scene with him on the balcony in pajamas in the middle of the winter.

Just as my mother was so sure I had cut a scene from the script.

As promised:

My new feature script will have the title
"The Power of Bitterness".

And the logline is:
"A long lost princess, with mysterious abilities and a dark mind, desires the throne that was once her destiny, when the King's cousin takes over the crown with force; leaving her to choose if she should fight for her own ambition, or the fate of others."

This is how the process went:

I began with writing who's the main character, main character's goal and the hook. I got this:

Who: A three hundred year old assassin with mysterious powers
Goal: Desires the thrown that was once her destiny
Hook: The King's power greedy cousin takes over the crown with force and kills anyone that opposes him.

I put it together and got:

"A three hundred year old assassin, with mysterious powers, desires the throne that was once her destiny, when the King's cousin takes over the crown with force, and extinguish anyone that opposes him."

It didn't work out. If the person have had three hundred years to do something, why hasn't she before? And a three hundred year old woman doesn't make you think of a barbie doll, but rather a classic witch.

So:

Who: A long lost princess with mysterious powers.

"A long lost princess, with mysterious abilities and a dark mind, desires the throne that was once her destiny, when the King's cousin takes over the crown with force, and extinguish anyone that opposes him."

Hm, sure, but why care? She is obviously not a nice person and if she or the cousin has the power does not matter much to us.

I removed the fact about the new king, which is actually not very interesting and added a little vital addition to the end and I got the final result:

"A long lost princess, with mysterious abilities and a dark mind, desires the throne that was once her destiny, when the King's cousin takes over the crown with force; leaving her to choose if she should fight for her own ambition, or the fate of others."

What do you think?

"To fly without wings" is Sx2 Productions latest short film. It is very poetic. The narrator is speaking Swedish, but if I tell you it is about fulfilling your dreams, I think the pictures tell the rest.

1. Present the main character.
2. Tell us what he/she strive for.
3. Add the hook.

Oh my God, I can't stop crying. Some things you don't want to see with your own eyes. (Don't) look att this.

I was browsing through my copy of “Save the Cat”, to remind myself of the different type of movies, according to the writer Blake Snyder.

I wanted some inspiration for my new feature. What kind of story is it? I believe that a category can help me to form the story and find focus and structure.

First I thought it was a “Quest for a Golden Fleece” but the book stated that these are both a journey inwards as well as an actual, physical journey. On second thought, no, it is not a quest for a golden fleece. It is not that type of story.

“Dude with a problem” then? Yes, that must be it. She gets her world overturned, facing a monumental problem when someone jails her with the intention to cut her head off. “An ordinary guy finds himself in extraordinary circumstances.” She is a three hundred years old assassin with divine powers. An Ordinary guy? Nah. . . Think not.

Now, some may say that I should write any story I want. And that is true; to a certain degree. I must know what I write and why. I believe there is knowledge to find in human history. We have told each other stories probably since we could talk. Some told better stories than others; people listened to and learned from them, also passing on what made those stories better. Even if it may sound boring that all stories told today fit a limited amount of pattern, I think these are the types of stories that work best.

I think, if I just take my world and my characters and write away and see where I end up, I get something no one will like and I will get an enormous job to rewrite it all.

I trust that by learning the patterns I can find out what my story is. If I by any chance should find that my story does not fit anywhere I’ll have to take a stand, then, if my story will work anyway or not.

Actually, my new story turned out to be a “Superhero” story. “An extraordinary person finds himself in an ordinary world” reads the book and continues “human superheroes that are challenged by the mediocre world around them”. He gives “A Beautiful Mind” as an example.

(To my astonishment I realized that my previous story from this world “The Recreators” is a superhero story. I’ve never thought about it, but it is. My odd baby has found a place in the family.)

I have the story pretty clear, but there is still work left before I begin to write.

Title and log line. Those things mean focus. That’s next.

Then I’ll work with the characters. There are five of them right now. The main character, the best friend, the villain and two more whom I’ve not quite come to terms with yet.

Sometimes I read my own blog.

It’s not because of any huge ego. It’s because the blog is my small world where my dreams are true. I go there in a vain hope to that it represents my whole professional life.

I go there when my day-job seems endlessly boring, and I feel I’m going insane. It is like a rock in stormy waters, a safehouse in a hostile land.

Sometimes I wish I could step into the world behind the screen and live that life instead.

Sometimes I feel the world is standing still, and though I want to run ahead, my feet are stuck.

The instinct to flee is strong. But I’m hunted by nothing than myself. Where is there to run?

This blog is a part of me. By reading it, I remind myself of what I am. One day I will not need to run.

This is the template I use when I work with the structure of a movie script. It is a FreeMind mind map.
http://www.4shared.com/get/m8ewo0c3/ScriptStructureTemplate.html
You may download and use it, as long as it is not sold or used in any other commercial situations.

It is based on Blake Snyder's beat sheet and some other sources in a mix. It is a base I have found useful. If you develop it or have ideas, please let me know.

Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis - the writers of "Show Me the Funny!" - have interviewed no less than 22 writers of sitcoms and comedies for the book. They have presented each writer with a treatment to use as a base for the discussion. That was a absolutely brilliant move. By giving every interview the same material to talk about, each writer’s way of thinking and approaching the task became clearer than any other interviews I’ve read.

In short, the story was about newly widowed Molly which moves into her daughter Sarah’s home.

This could be the base for any story, not necessarily something funny. This fact was something I missed in the book. The difference between making the situation funny, and turning into something dark and depressing, was never really discussed. One writer I felt searched into “the dark side” of the story making the mother deliberately ruin life for the daughter, but it was never expressed that she would make a Bergman out of it.

It felt overlooked what makes a situation something we laugh at versus something that makes us cry. I’ve read in another book that the reason Fawlty Towers works although Basil calls her wife names all the time, is because Cybil – the wife – just lets it slide off and not let it affect her. If we had seen her cry, it would no longer have been a comedy. I would have liked a much greater exploration about this in “Show me the funny”.

I think I would have grasped it better, if I had had any experience about the sitcoms, that were mentioned and referred to. I’ve not watched a sitcom in the past ten or fifteen years at least.

I tremendously enjoyed the interviews and all the different aspects of creative writing and ways to look upon a rough idea. It was fascinating to see how different the stories developed in the writers’ hands. Comedy or not didn’t really matter. This was the great gain of reading the book and something I’ll probably go back to and read again.

Why can I write a screenplay, have a decent result at an IQ-test and have studied math on a high level, but can’t understand the bookkeeping of my own company? It’s not rocket science.

I have it all on paper, the traditional way, in a faint hope to grasp what I am doing. The first year I struggled with the numbers, to get it right at the end of the year. After that, I figured I understood how it worked.

Yesterday when I was catching up with the journals I suddenly realised that I had switched the numbers on every journal entry since February. What’s my goddamn problem?! I’m not that stupid in other areas. What is so problematic with bookkeeping?

I buy something it cost me a sum of money. This money is the price and then VAT. The total sum goes into one column, the VAT in one and the price without in another. Why do I mix up where the total sum and the price without VAT go? It should not be that difficult. The total sum is what it actually costs me; it reduces my capital.

No, it is not rocket science, but it is abstract.

Finances have always been some form of abstract magic in my eyes, making situation change because you put money on another account. A CEO can claim it is advantageous for the company to outsource because that cost – a higher one, than for the own staff – doesn’t end up on the account for employees, which in turn result in a better key ratio. It costs more but in an area where no one cares. Still it is the same company.

Do I try to find an excuse for mixing up the prices with and without VAT? I guess so. Just as I flunked the probability theory test at University because I had decided that it was all humbug.

YES! "The Death of Old Tommy" is among the top 50! The plot thickens. The 2011 Movie Script Short Contest: The Golden Brad Awards will announce the top 25 the 17th.

• "Death Doesn't Like Me" (by Steve Daniels)
• "Diary of a Short, Fat Hitman" (by Scott Miskelly)
• "A Temporary Truth" (by Jonathan Draxton)

Aren't those titles just unresitable? I have - of course - no idea if they are better than top 50, and even less information about those who wrote them, but I hope that I some day will get the chance to read those scripts.

Gothenburg Film Studios is 10 000 m², and I dare say it is the second largest in Sweden. They have studios, offices, catering and equipment – all you need, except for the actual crew. But I would not be surprised if they could help you with that too.


And in the middle of the area lies this building. It is an old gas factory, now out of use and totally locked down. Felt rather strange to have this rough and tattered house as a center.  I just had to take these pictures. Hopefully it will turn into a studio one day.



As you might have guessed, the speed-dating for movie makers on Friday was at Gothenburg Film Studios. What struck me when I was there, was how kind and open the atmosphere was. People I never met smiled and said hi just because I happened to be close by. I met several fascinating people, which I hope I will be able to stay in touch with.

Saturday was filled with seminars and a guided tour around the area. There was also an option to sign up for a personal meeting with some of those people that have some influence in the bigger picture.

I wanted one of those meetings. In my world, they are fantastic opportunities and something to line up for. In my world, if something starts at ten, you are there at ten. Since I wanted to make sure that one of those five meeting opportunities with SVT became mine, I was there early. To be first in line. I was the only one in line for thirty minutes. About ten to ten, we were two in line. That is something I have so hard to grasp with these cultural people – a group to which I don’t yet feel I fully belong – why you are expected to turn up twenty minutes after the set time.  I got the meeting I desired, but I wouldn’t have had to bother freezing for so long.

The meeting with representatives from SVT (which is the Swedish Television) went well. Not as I had hoped, but still well. I got splendid feedback on the idea I pitched. They were not interested in that particular idea, but I was told why and got some advice on where to take it further. What more could I ask for?

Then I listened to a seminar with four makers of documentaries passing over many years in time. One of them Linda Västrik who lived over a year in the jungles of Kongo. I’ve met her briefly one time before, not knowing what fascinating stories she had to tell. I hope I one day will get the opportunity to hear more about this adventure.

I also listened to a guy from a new company called Pocketfilm which have a very interesting perspective on media and its distribution.  And they expressed interest in reading scripts.

Cold and tired I got home like a worn rag and almost fell into bed.

I am happy to announce that my short script "The Death of Old Tommy" is still going strong. It is on the The 2011 Movie Script Short Contest: The Golden Brad Awards top 75 short scripts. The top 50 will be announced the 10th.