The response to my last post about “The Change” has got me thinking.  I’ve realized that we’ve never actually explained one of the primary mandates we hold in this company.  This is a good opportunity to share some of what the members of MFG are about as creatives.  So I’ll seize the moment and hopefully create an interesting discussion about the state of entertainment (especially filmed entertainment) in this country.

As doubtful as many seem to be, to us, “The Change” actually swims in the same creative sea as “Myst”.  This sounds like a ridiculous statement at first blush, but let me explain:

The original “Myst” video game was something new for the world, but it wasn’t without its predecessors.  Cyan’s aim was to take a medium and an established genre and expand them both beyond what was traditionally deemed possible or acceptable.  As we all know, they succeeded in spades in that endeavor.  That is the creative spirit of “Myst” and that is why the world responded so passionately to it (both positively and negatively).

MFG’s desire to pursue a “Myst” film lives in the franchise’s innovative spirit.   And that innovative spirit does not just exist in its technological achievements.  It’s in its presentation of the narrative.  It is a difficult franchise to categorize in any one genre.  Many debated and had trouble classifying “Myst” as being either a fantasy or a sci-fi property.  The truth is that it is both of these things.  It contains tropes of both genres.  It also contains political drama and a very healthy dose of tragedy.  One of the things that makes “Myst” brilliant is that it blends these genres so effectively into an engaging and dynamic world.  In this respect, “The Change” is a sister to “Myst”.

As filmmakers, writers, and consumers, we (MFG) have been growing increasingly dissatisfied with our movie-going experiences.  The genre film (anything other than drama for the purposes of this discussion) has now all but dominated the mainstream marketplace.  Almost every major studio film produced today can safely be called a genre film.

Now, while genre films are not inherently bad, this dramatic shift in the paradigm has created an environment of unoriginal, painfully mundane results.  The blockbuster qualities of action, fantasy, horror, comedy and most recently sci-fi (thanks to “Avatar”) have become the Holy Grail of Hollywood.  When a film in a particular genre performs incredibly well at the box office, suddenly every studio is attempting to reproduce that same magic.   This is fine.  It makes sense on a business level (on paper anyway), but this quest to capture the “lightening in the bottle” all but ignores the reasons why the films they look to were so successful.  It isn’t because they were comedies or action films or horror films.  It’s because they offered something new, something fresh and something innovative (some more than others).  This  desire to reproduce the success of any given film results in an analysis of that film, and consequently that film being reduced and distilled down to a formula - a set of tropes that they can include and theoretically bank on.   Again, this makes sense, but instead of this being a guide, it becomes a rigid doctrine.  Tunnel vision sets in and the impulse to epitomize a genre pushes out any consideration of the idiosyncrasies that make the story its own breed.  To deviate from the doctrine is to risk professional banishment to hell.  A great deal of money is at stake in the film industry and one wrong decision can see a studio head supplanted from his throne (I don’t envy studio heads at all).  Additionally, a film that doesn’t fit into a nice, tidy little box is often difficult to market, so scripts are simplified and normalized so the advertising goes down smooth.  From where I sit, Hollywood appears to be a culture of fear.  The fear of failure.  Of bankruptcy.  Of infamy.

This is not an environment conducive to creative success.  Artistic endeavors require failure.  They require risk.  Most of all, they require lateral thinking.

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m just railing against the people of Hollywood.  It is full of very creative people.  Great writers, directors, producers, actors, etc. are plentiful in LA.  It isn’t these individuals who are to blame for these ailments (well some are to blame).  It is a systemic problem and, to be fair, exists for understandable reasons.  But being able to understand the reasons, doesn’t mean that we should allow them to prevail.  Identification of the cause is one part of equation.  It is necessary to then discover ways to circumvent the inherent challenges (and limitations) of “the industry”.

Again, in theory, formulas and genres and tropes all make perfect sense.  Psychologically, we all seek out familiarity and comfort.  We feel safe with what we know.  Genres provide that mind-easing categorization we are all so hell bent on.  It’s in our basic makeup.  Knowing what to expect from a horror movie or a comedy or an action film lessens our sense of risk (both time and money).  But there is another element to our existence - wanderlust.  Mental, emotional and spiritual wanderlust.  “Variety is the spice of life.”  “There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” “Nothing ventured nothing gained.”  We crave new experiences.  We eat different foods.  We long to leave our small towns and see the world.  We passionately seek out new relationships.  All of these things are a fundamental part of who we are as people.  It is what makes us great.  Every advancement in the history of mankind owes its existence to adventure, risk and wanderlust.  Every historically significant work of art owes a debt to mankind’s adventurous spirit.

We are now living in a time of quiet revolution.  It is so quiet, in fact, that the majority of the revolutionaries aren’t even aware of the battle.  Yet, they contribute to the cause.  It is so quiet, that the governing power doesn’t even recognize the discord.
Consider your feelings about the last 10 movies you’ve gone to see.  Consider what 10 of your friends or family members have had to say about the last 10 films they’ve seen.  I’d wager that the majority of those movies failed to provide the viewer with a rich experience; a take-home feeling of excitement or sadness or hope or pride.  The shelf life of most movies seems to extend only to the parking lot (at best).   But every once in a while a movie comes along that moves us.  That touches something inside of us.  These are the movies we can’t wait to tell those in our lives about, insisting that it is a must see.  We are so starved that what morsels we do manage to find become the talk of water coolers, NPR shows and magazines.  Yet, the film industry is booming.  Billions are being made.  Box office records are being shattered.  Why is this?

The answer is two-fold, in my opinion.  Both have their roots in wanderlust, interestingly enough.

The first is a one of demand and supply.  We are all hungry for entertainment.  Our appetite for movies has grown consistently since their invention in 1895.  The potential to be transported away from our status quo existences, our humdrum, same as it ever was lives is a powerful attractant.  We gleefully dole out our $10 bucks to see the latest hype-fest we’ve been inundated with during the course of our average days.  Every time, we plop down in that chair with the hopes that this will be the movie that gives us that experience we’re so hungry for.  Most often, we are disappointed (or worse, unaffected).  But we continue to shell out our hard-earned dollars because there is simply no other alternative.  Cinemaplex 16 is playing these movies and those are your choices.  It often becomes a process of choosing between the lesser of evils.  We want to be entertained.  So we go, and we hope, and every once in a while we’re satisfied with our experience.  But this seems to be so rare.

And it is this rarity that brings me to the second reason for huge box office numbers.  And it is reason that wish to highlight with a neon, glow-in-the-dark, pen.  It can be described with a simple hyphenation.

GENRE-BUSTING

Genre-busting is where both the artistic and entertainment values of storytelling lie.  It is a basic requirement of any artistic work (be it film, writing, photography, music, etc.) to take into account what has come before and build upon it.  To utilize existing tropes to build new ones.  To mix and match the conventions in a way that produces something original.  A movie doesn’t need to be overly deep.  It doesn’t need to be pretentious or high art.  But it does need to be innovative and fresh.  That is what all of these quiet revolutionaries respond to.  Unwittingly, they are demanding this artistic process.  The box office records are being broken.  But they’re not being broken by carbon copy films.  They are being tackled by genre-busters.

“Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” changed the way the world viewed comic book films.  They offered a character depth, grittiness and a seriousness never before seen in the genre.

“Harry Potter” gave us fantasy, coming of age, drama and comedy all rolled into a series that has become a phenomenon both in print and movie form.

“The Matrix” paired the discipline (or genre) of philosophy with martial arts and science fiction.

“Avatar” changed the way we viewed the movie-going experience (in this example the theatrical exposition of film is the genre).

I could go on and on.

The examples are not limited to the big screen.  In fact, television has become “the thinking man’s” filmed entertainment medium of choice.  Many actors, directors and writers are looking to television for work because they feel the quality of the work allowed is superior to that of motion pictures.  Consider these examples:

“The West Wing” paired political drama with comedy and character driven, slice of life.

The subject of serial killers was long the domain of the police procedural, but “Dexter” brought us a character-driven, satirical drama, with a protagonist that happens to murder other people.

“Breaking Bad” is as far from your typical drug dealer story as you can get.  It utilizes satire, drama, action and a sympathetic portrayal of a drug dealer to draw in its viewers.  (Weeds can be seen as a contemporary and predecessor to “Breaking Bad”)

The new “Battlestar Gallactica” took just about every sci-fi trope available and paired it with human drama, political thriller, and epic fantasy.

“Lost” (as is true for all things JJ Abrams) is a potpourri of genres, reimagined and reassembled into something else entirely.

And on, and on, and on…

So now I’ll state MFG’s mandate (which I’m sure you’ve already guessed):

“Thou shalt bust genres at every opportunity”

The most innovative, engaging and poignant work being done in the mediums of film and television is being done by those who dare to break the mold.  Consider any Charlie Kauffman film (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind”, “Being John Malkovich”, “Adapatation” [an indictment of the same issues I’m writing about now]).  Examine “Gladiator”.  Consider classics like “Casablanca”, “Citizen Kane”, “8 ½” and the “The Wizard of OZ”.  These are all unique, important films.  You may not have enjoyed them, but they were crucial to the art of film.  They all stretched the genre or genres they were operating within.

The theory behind the film adaptation of “Myst: The Book of Ti’ana” was at its inception, and still is, to bust genres.  That is why we began the process (that and our love for “Myst”).  The story contains themes and characters that offer the possibility to make a film that far exceeds that which is normally presented in the film genres of sci-fi, fantasy, epic, and most especially the sub-genre of VIDEO GAME FILM.  I’ve said many times that we are not making a video game movie.  And I stick by that statement.  But, the truth is, we are literally making a video game movie.  True, it’s based on a novel, but the franchise was spawned by a video game.  For all intents and purposes, it is a video game movie.  I can only say we’re not making a video game movie because we refuse to allow the tropes and conventions of the genre to restrict us.  We set out to break a mold and we’re fighting like hell to do that.  We’ve, sadly, encountered a lot of resistance in our efforts.  Desires to epitomize “fantasy” or “sci-fi” or “video game” have bombarded us every step of the way.  Sensibilities motivated more by perceived financial risk reduction than art would have us (ironically) follow the same path that has doomed so many video game movies before us.  And so the unhappy bedfellows of business and art continue their dysfunctional union.

Yet, there is proof that they can coexist and thrive.  The “lightning in a bottle” is nothing more than our hyphenation and some creativity.   That’s it.  That’s what it takes.  We must acknowledge the prevalence and fundamental need for genres and tropes, embrace them, and attempt to synthesize something that both honors and transcends them.

We have a second mandate here at MFG that is no less significant.  It dovetails and interrelates to our first:

“Thou shalt create character-driven works.”

One of the first and most tragic casualties of the “genre explosion” is a fundamental element of dramatic work – character.  Character-driven stories are the backbone of the drama genre.  How many dramas outside of art house fare have you seen lately?

People are fascinated by people.  People invest in people.  People identify with people.  Our children’s stories anthropomorphize toys, monsters, inanimate objects and animals.  At a basic level, we need to see ourselves reflected back in our surroundings.  We need to relate to the world around us.  It is an ingrained need.  Storytelling offers us a limitless amount of exploration into what it is to be alive.  To be human.  To be here.  Every opportunity to witness a person’s journey (fictional or not) is an opportunity to gain more insight into ourselves and our experience of the world.  This is how we assess and validate our existence.  Character is crucial to the task.

One of the most effective and simple ways to genre-bust is simply to make whatever story you are telling character-driven.  Immediately you have something different.  Even if there have been other character-driven sci-fi stories or fantasy sagas, the fact that your story is driven by a unique set of characters makes it something entirely its own.

A plot is a series of events that unfold.  What makes that plot matter, what really brings a story to life is the characters it’s populated by.  Their loves, fears, joys and sorrows are why we invest in the story.  Old Hollywood knew this:  “Casablanca”, “On the Waterfront”, “Rebel Without a Cause”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Raging Bull”, “Taxi Driver”, “The Godfather” and any other movie you can think of that is considered a “classic”, all of them, to the last, character-driven.  Flat characters offer us nothing meaningful or entertaining.  They only reflect our darkest fears of insignificance and mediocrity.

So, that is what we’re trying to do.  Every decision we make on which projects we are going to undertake is subjected to these sensibilities.  We may fail many times in our attempts, but each effort is another shot fired in the quiet revolution.

“No longer!” I say, “We must diversify!”

Which leads me to what I’m about to share with you guys.  We’ve had a property we’ve been sitting on for a while now and I think it’s time to pull it out and see if we can get it some legs.

As our faithful readers, you get sneak peek:

The project is called “The Change”.   It is a bizarre blend of drama, action, horror and satire in which a naive young man struggles through an accelerated coming on age as life’s hard lessons are doled out by a zombie apocalypse.  Cool right?  Seriously, you have no idea.  It is a fantastic script and I’m really excited about it.  I think what I love most about it is how smart it is.

Like all good zombie stories, “The Change” is loaded with social commentary, but it is the poignancy and originality with which the commentary is delivered that sets this script apart from others in the zombie genre.  It dutifully includes the thematic tropes of anti-consumerism, anti-technology, disease and xenophobia, but then reaches beyond them to discover a distinctly emotional struggle with modern society.

“The Change” explores the nature of the human condition and the ways in which we relate (or fail to relate) to each other.  Aside from the metaphoric exploration of the three major stages of emotional maturity, it delves into the stages of religious development, showing how these two elements of life interrelate – often with tumultuous results.

Even the plentiful action components in the story illuminate the emotional thematic structure.  Throughout Grey’s journey, deep, emotional expressions are often truncated by violent attacks and explosions, highlighting the way life’s immediate worries often threaten to prevent us from becoming fully-actualized individuals who are capable of forging meaningful relationships with others.

Yeah, I really like this script.  Another bonus is that it will be pretty cheap to make.  We can probably get it done for $10-$20 mil, which means we can do it via independent financing.  One studio film is enough for us right now. 

Well, that’s not true.  Adventures have exciting sequences in which you are fighting for your life.  Those back-to-the-wall, ungracious, flailing, violent, completely wonderful brawls that so rarely really occur, that so few of us ever really have the pleasure of experiencing.  An adventure is something I’m prepared for.  All slick adrenaline and quick wit.

This is not an adventure.  This is a quest.

A quest is a different animal.  Requires a different skill set.  It requires patience for those long weeks of slow progress.  Faith for the relentless pursuit of goals that may or may not satisfy your fundamental hopes.  Trust in your friends, your coworkers, business partners.  Trust in yourself.

I’m not aware of anyone who’s rightly prepared for any of that.

As the weeks have turned to months, and months will turn into years, a slow consideration has begun to form for me while on this quest for Myst.  A slow consideration that, for all I know, is my first fully-formed thought as an adult, and it is simply this:  Every creative process is better when the process is taken on with others.  The creative compromising is painful, yes.  The creative visions become augmented and alloyed, rent and razed, and become all other things that unborn ideas are subject to.  And all of these can be painful for us to go through.  But, damn, is it better than working alone in a vacuum.

Because when working in a vacuum, there’s absolutely, positively no way to tell what works and what doesn’t.  When working alone, you can think a line of dialogue is soul-searching and brilliant, when it was only your own muttering madness telling you muttering, maddening lies.  When you can listen to others while working, you’ll never stray far from the beaten path.  And, at least to me, this is the greatest creative lesson of all.

And, of course, all of this is just my way of saying that, yes, progress is being made on the quest for Myst, but, no, that progress is not fast.  And that the eager fire and beautiful chaos that youth provides is enough to get you to where you want to go, but doesn’t prepare you for what to do once you’re there.

For that, there’s patience, faith, and trust.

I finally got some sleep and I wanted to write a follow-up to my last post.  I wanted to be clear that my lamentations were purely for dramatic effect (we have to make the mundane struggles seem interesting somehow, right?).  I have never really wondered why I began down this road.  I know why.  I began down it because I love film and I love the Myst saga.  It was a no-brainer.

It is hard work and sometimes it makes me (and everyone else that I work with) absolutely miserable.   Nonetheless, we are doing what we love and there’s just no substitute for that.  Now, if we could only figure out how to get paid for it… 

The document I wrote managed to do the trick.  A few minor tweaks the next day put it where it needed to be.  Yay.

It’s 12:30 pm and I’ve officially been up for 24 and 1/2 hours straight.  Why you ask?  Why?  I’ll tell you why:  Because I wanted to make a Myst movie, that’s why.

Another all-nighter courtesy of the film biz.  It all started innocently enough.  Had a conference call with the partners in L.A. last night.  We identified the need for a document summarizing the narrative of the entire franchise by today.  Cool.  Seems easy enough.  WRONG!  I wrestled with the thing non-stop from 11:00 pm on.  I ran into all of these weird problems I never anticipated.  The structure of the document became an impossible task.  I was working under the mandate that I begin the narrative with the first two games and then follow that up with the novels.  Well, that’s a problem when the narrative of Riven is totally dependent on the narrative of The Book of Atrus.  Of course, you can understand the story of Riven without having read the book because there is a journal explaining the necessary backstory.  This journal is essentially a summary of the latter half of BoA.  The problem is that explaining those elements in the Riven section meant having to repeat those elements in the BoA section.  It all went downhill from there.

Finally, at about 5:30 this morning, I had an epiphany and figured out how to make it all work.  Sadly, after many, many hours of struggling, I was out of steam.  No choice but to push through.  Five cups of coffee later, I’m still at Starbucks, having just finished the document.  I’d like to say that it is brilliant and amazing, but I don’t think it is.  It’s…good enough (I hope).  Sigh.

While there is always a tinge of hurt that comes with any rejection, we are not discouraged in the slightest.  It simply wasn’t in the cards this time around.  Again, we all feel 100% confident that this project will sell somewhere, it’s just a matter of when and where.  Our job is to facilitate that happening sooner rather than later.

We’ve got a few tricks up our collective sleeve.  More later.

I tried to write you guys a post before I went to bed, but I was spent and I had to be up in a few hours to be in Yale’s wedding.  That’s right, Yale got married yesterday!  It was a wonderful ceremony and a good time was had by all, despite the exhaustion of the trip.  Congratulation to Yale and his beautiful bride, Sarah.  They grow up so fast.

Okay, I think We’ve kept you guys in suspense long enough.  I apologize for the delay in updating you.  It’s been a very busy week.  I’ll start by telling you where this story goes:

We didn’t sell the movie…but we DIDN’T NOT sell the movie either…

Confused?  Yeah, well such is the way in Hollywood.  Allow me to explain…

First off, I wanted to clarify something.  There was a comment that questioned if Isaac or anyone else was with me.  Yes, I had the benefit of the whole team.  Isaac, Yale and Jason all joined me on the trip.  Isaac shared the load with me on pitch responsibilities while Jason and Yale helped us to actually craft the content of the pitch.We had a very productive week.  Monday was dedicated to practicing our pitch and presenting it to our actual producing partners (up until this time, we’d been working with their second-in-commands on everything).  This was the first time they had a chance to really see what we’ve been preparing over the past few weeks.   It was a bit nerve-racking.  These guys are both titans in the industry and we were terrified that they wouldn’t like what we’d put together and we’d be asked to change everything at the last minute.  Fortunately for us, they were very pleased and felt completely confident in what we’d be walking into the room on Tuesday.

Tuesday began with lunch and then a final run-through of everything.  Strangely, neither Isaac or I really felt all that nervous about the enormous task we were about to undertake.  It was just what needed to be done and we knew how to do it.  It certainly helps to be walking into the pitch room with two partners like ours.  Their presence speaks volumes to a studio executive about the quality of a project.

So, this studio executive walks in, introductions are made, our video plays and then we begin to speak.  We’re doing a great job.  I feel like we’ve been doing this for years (calm as a Hindu cow, as Tyler Durden would say).  Feeling good.  All is well.  And then, five minutes into our pitch, the executive’s assistant pops into the room and indicates that he’s pressed for time.  It’s a tough week to be pitching.  Comic-Con has everyone in the industry very busy.  Lots of commitments to be in a zillion different places.  Our pitch was a bit long, but we get the go-ahead to continue.  He’s really trying to give us the opportunity to show him what we’ve got.  And we do.  We’re tearing it up in this room.  Finding new and interesting ways of talking about Myst.

The executive seems engaged, leaning forward in his seat…and then halfway through the pitch, the questions start rolling in from across the table.  He hasn’t grasped anything we’ve been putting out there.  He’s confused.  Our pitch included A LOT of details about the universe of Myst, and somewhere along the way, we lost him.   And not just kinda.  We really lost him.  Information overload, I think (a mistake on our part).  We did our best to answer his questions, but he was just really struggling.  He couldn’t wrap his head around “The Art” and its purpose.  This isn’t because he’s not a smart guy.  He’s wicked intelligent, but I think he was just overloaded and circumstances a meant that he didn’t have the opportunity to absorb it.

He realized that Myst carries a lot of brand equity and was also convinced that our partners being in the room was evidence that there was something of value and quality in what we were attempting to present him.  He ended the meeting by asking us to put together a document that clearly and simply explains the major concepts, the hook (linking) and the story we are wanting to tell.  He’s a story-based guy and he wants to know what the character motivations are, what the themes are and how the story plays out.

So, we didn’t get a “No”.  We got a “I’d like to see more info and we can talk about it”.  And this is probably for the best.  As lost as he was, if he’d allowed us to finish the pitch, it would have been a flat out “No”.  This way, the ball is still in play.  Time has slowed to an almost-stop.  The ball is hanging in the air and our bat is inching toward it with all of our might behind it.

The rest of Tuesday was dedicated to strategizing.  We needed to figure out the best way to present the info in short-form.  We needed to figure out how to keep him engaged long enough to set up the crux of the franchise and give him enough information to understand how it all plays into BoT.

We decide to expand the video element of our pitch.  It had only included the sales figures.  It was clear that it successfully held the executive’s interest in the room, so our plan is to add in the information about Linking, The Art and Ages.  We’d also add in the description of the D’ni race and their cavern home.  This way, we’d be totally set up and we could just launch right into our story pitch.

Back at the hotel, our team dives into ways to pop the story a bit more.  We begin trying to find ways to up the stakes.  We come to the conclusion that we need to open the film with a prologue/teaser that set up A’Gaeris and his agenda.  This leads to a really cool discussion in which we come up with some awesome visuals and an addition to the plot that makes the story both smart and badass.  We’re excited.

On Wednesday morning, Cory sets to work recutting the video.  Jason, Yale, Isaac and I begin exploring a new format for the story.  We want to cut it down in length, but still manage to convey the characters, motivations, themes and plot.  Somehow, the target length of one page is settled on (I think we were all just terrified that the executive wouldn’t have the time to read anything longer).  We all talk with Cory and he comes up with some pretty interesting ideas for our prologue/teaser and we talk as a group to flesh it out and combine it with what we came up with at the hotel.

So, we all start trying to come up with something short and sweet.  My heart sinks with every attempt.  I begin writing and find myself at 1/4 of a page before I’ve even gotten Anna down into D’ni.  Trash.  Try again.  Trash.  Try again.  Trash.  Yale isn’t having any luck either.  Trash.  Try again.  Jason is banging away on his keyboard writing up a Dramatis Personae - introducing the characters and their traits.  He’s doing a great job.  All is falling into place there.  Yale stumbles across a format for the story outline that reads a lot like poetry.  It’s just a bunch of fragmented sentences (many of which are just two words long).  It has an energy about it and it’s a quick read, but we have concerns that it’s not really selling the themes and motivations solidly.

Isaac and I step out of the conference room we are working in and attempt the story outline again.  I’m failing left and right.  Isaac finally hits on a style that seems to work pretty well, but it’s clear it’s going to be way more than a page long.  We head back inside and I suggest that it is physically impossible to convey everything we need to convey in one page.  Cory agrees.  The target length goes up to 3-5 pages.

Isaac’s document has laid the groundwork, but it isn’t quite where we need it to be.  I set in, this time with a more realistic length restriction, and it starts flowing.  Finally, 8 1/2 hours after the day began, we’re getting something solid down.  Cory’s still cutting and it’s coming together.  We leave the studio lot after 11:00, totally spent.  Cory goes home to cut some more and we head off to the hotel so I can talk with the guys about the third act and figure out how things have changed because of the elements we’ve added to the plot.  We make it to food and then we’re done.  Bed.  Pick it up tomorrow.

Up early and back on the studio lot. Into the conference room and right into writing.  Things are going well.  By lunch, I have the story document done.  We print it out and everyone reads it.  Anna, an assistant to another producer in the building, offers to read it over and give us some feedback.  Isaac runs Yale to the airport so he can catch a flight back to Indiana in time for his wedding rehearsal on Friday.

We return from lunch and talk with Anna about her notes.  Cory makes some notes and we implement them.  All is finally coming together.  Finally, around four, we’ve got our document done.  We have a “producers’ bible” that defines the characters, story and universe-specific terms like Linking, The Art and Ages.  All is well.  We need feedback from our producing partners, but otherwise it’s ready to go.

Isaac meets up with an old friend back at the hotel and they take off for a bit.  Jason and I go have a much-needed beer at a fantastic little dive bar called “The Blueroom”.  Back to the hotel and into bed.

Friday, we go have a final coffee with Cory on the lot and then it’s off to the airport.  And that brings us to where I began this post.

Crazy week.  We’re waiting for feedback from our partners and then we’ll shoot off the document to the executive.  We’ll see how things turn out.  Hopefully, we’ll hear something early this week.

I’m very proud of everyone on this team.  Everyone worked brilliantly to achieve the goal.  In the end, we have a retooled pitch that is stronger than it was before.  Spirits are high.  We have no doubt that this movie will sell to someone.  If this one’s a pass, we have seven other places to go.  No worries.  There will be a Myst movie.

Anyway,  I’m exhausted.  It’s currently 3:20 am LA time and I thought I’d write up a little post to tell you all that “pitch day” has arrived.  In approximately 12 hours, I’ll be sitting in front of a studio executive telling them why this franchise that you all have loved and supported for so many years is a perfect fit for his company.

It’s been a very long few days.  Here’s a transcript:

Saturday 12:30am:  Finished work, no sleep.

Saturday 2:30am:  A drive to Chicago for our early morning flight out of O’hare.

Sunday 6:04am: Board plane and sit uncomfortably for hours as I’m catapulted across the country at impossible speeds….not really.

Sunday 2:15pm (11:15am L.A. time): Arrival in LA, still no sleep.

Sunday 3:30pm (12:30pm LA time): Check in at hotel, shopping for a tie and belt (forgot them both in Indiana).

Sunday 8:00 pm(5:00pm LA time):  An evening meeting with one of our partners to really nail down our pitch and identify any issues not yet discovered in some run-throughs.

Monday 3:00am (12:00am LA time): FINALLY some sleep for the first time since Friday night.

Monday 9:00am (6:00 am LA time): Up again and off to the studio to meet with the partners to search for solutions to many issues discovered in our run-throughs.

Monday 2:00pm (11:00am LA time): Practice pitch with a junior executive at the studio.

Monday 3:10pm (12:10pm LA time):  Coffee, discussion about practice pitch, coffee, discussion about practice pitch, lunch, coffee…

Monday 8:00pm (5:00pm LA time): Meeting with both partners to run-through pitch for first time with both present, followed by discussion about pitch…

Okay, you get the idea.  I’m spent.  no more writing.  I need to get some sleep so I know what I’m saying later today.    I’ll update you guys as soon as I can.

It is with considerable sadness that I write this post to announce Patrick’s departure from the “Myst: The Book of Ti’ana” film project.  I realize that this will come as quite a surprise to our readers, but this is a potentiality that has been lurking for a few months now.  Unfortunately, it has come to fruition.

Patrick has been faced with some pressing personal matters that require his full attention for the foreseeable future and will not be able to continue performing the duties required of a producer on this project.  I want to stress that his exit was in no way caused by a conflict with anyone involved in the project and in no way reflects his belief in the quality and viability of this venture.  He has done a great deal of soul searching recently and, sadly, has reached the very difficult conclusion that it is in the best interest of both himself and this project that he withdraw from his position.

A Myst film has been a standing dream of Patrick’s for the last 15 years.  His contributions to this project have been too many to count and his talent and insight have helped to make this whole thing possible.  He and I began this whole thing over six years ago in his basement - as a pipe dream.  Throughout the years, he has acted as my “other half”, helping to mold the long-shot dream into the reality we see today.  I will deeply miss his involvement as we move forward, but we will carry his spirit and his passion forward with us.  His influence on this project is indelible.

Patrick will continue to be an invaluable member of our company and we all look forward to his involvement on future projects.  Please join us in wishing him well as he navigates a very difficult time in his life.

Many documents floating back and forth between LA and here as we work with our partners to collect everything in a concise, salable form so we can get the oodles of money needed to make this whole movie thing a reality.  This includes a NIFTY VIDEO that will eventually find itself housed on our comfy little site here…but only after its paid its dues and done its hard work for us.  No free lunches on this site, I’ll tell ya.

I’ve grown to resent the very existence of this “sizzle reel” video as I’ve labored over the task of placing titles into it.  This is after 30+ hours of Patrick editing the footage and a previous 30+ hours of editing done by one of our partners, Cory, out in LA (I’ve given you a morsel of info about our partners here.  You’re welcome.)  We will have our revenge on this video before its all over.  It will bow to our needs and deliver us to the land of milk and honey.  Then, and only then, we will provide it with a permanent home within our tome of senseless, half-crazed grumblings about the manufacturing of moving picture show.

Here’s the link for you all to read:  http://blog.75thtrombone.com/post/675221778/myst-movie-malaise

Have you read it?  Have you?  Well, don’t read on until you have.  I’ll wait…

Okay, so you read it this time.  Good.  First off, I’m gonna tell 75th Trombone that he’s absolutely right.  I agree wholeheartedly with what was said.  The animatic is painfully flawed in many, many ways.  We’ve known it since day one.  We’ve said as much before.  I will say it again here for the purpose of reassuring everyone who reads this site that we are not fools (or at least total fools).

When you view the animatic there are a few things you must keep in mind:

First, it was created five years ago before we even had a draft of the script for the film.  We were flying a bit blind on the content of the trailer.  It would have been much easier to pull “trailer moments” out of a finished script, but we were operating on a limited amount of time resources and weren’t quite ready to commit writing a script before we knew we had a shot in hell of getting the rights.

Second, it was not a finished product.  The animatic was designed as a previsualization tool for our internal use in refining the script for the trailer before we dedicated the money and resources to actually shooting the live-action version.  This was our VERY FIRST mock-up of the trailer.  75th Trombone will be pleased to know that we came to the same conclusions he did when we got it all cut together.  BORING.  Slow.  Redundant.  Too much talky-talky.

Third, the target audience for this trailer was Cyan.  The entire purpose of the trailer was to generate some excitement and interest from Rand and Tony.  What would be an effective sales tool for a general audience wasn’t what we wanted to present to a company that was notoriously protective of its franchise.  It was designed to lean heavily in the direction of the minutia of BoT so as to not suggest we were stepping too far out of the box before we even got off the ground.  If this animatic was intended for a general audience, it would have been a much different beast.

Fourth, as 75th pointed out, a trailer is meant to be the most interesting parts of a film wrapped up nicely with a little bow.  Well, that’s true, but it’s also true that most of the “trailer moments” in a film are also the most expensive moments in the film.  We had to be realistic when we were designing the trailer.  We were working with very little money and needed to consider what was going to be possible to shoot with our limitations.  We could afford about 5 major, epic shots that included matte paintings and CGI.  We had also budgeted for a few miniatures.  That was about all we could do.  Production design (i.e. sets) were going to get really expensive to build - especially in a way that they would look respectable.  With that in mind, we realized we were going to have to keep the camera tight a lot of the time to cut down on the number of sets we’d have to build.  Not ideal for a trailer, but we figured it would be good enough to show Cyan (and eventually a studio) what we were capable of - even if it wasn’t perfect.

Fifth, this was never intended to be seen by anyone outside MFG.  Please don’t make the mistake of assuming we’ve shared this animatic because we’re proud of it or that it represents our ultimate intentions for the final film.  It was a rough draft tool used to identify issues in a concept.  The only reason it is up on this site is because it was part of the process.  When we got word that Cyan was down to a two-man crew, we were, unfortunately, forced to use the animatic to do the job we were hoping a refined trailer would do.  If time had allowed, we would have created another animatic - maybe two or three more - until we felt like we were at a place to actually dedicate the time and money to shooting it for real.  We just never made it past the initial draft because we went straight to developing the script on (Cyan’s request).  The trailer fell by the wayside and the animatic is all that remains.

So, all of these things have been said before in various ways and on various posts, but I think it’s nice to have the excuse to make our excuses all in one spot

75th Trombone, worry not.  We agree with the fact that there’s just not enough action in  BoT to sustain a film.  We’ve conceptualized quite a few EPIC ACTION MOMENTS for the film, but we’ve also done it with character and story in mind.  We have tried to root any action set pieces in a sense of intelligence.  We’ve avoided any pointless actions scenes that don’t ultimately serve the plot, characters and premise of the film.  There is plenty of action to be had.  I promise you it will not be a bunch of people “blah, blah, blah”ing in rooms,  but it will also not be a string of action sequences loosely pinned together with terrible, simplistic “character scenes” like PoP either.

Understand that I am so staunchly (sometimes too much so) arguing for intelligence and character because the Hollywood machine will strip every ounce of these elements out of a film in the name of MORE ACTION.  They’ll do this because it sells.  To a studio, it doesn’t matter if the film is good.  If it has enough boom-boom to make a cool trailer, they’ll get butts in the seats and that’s all they care about.  Studios are businesses.  That’s their job.  Our job as creatives is to bring the HEART to the business and make a film worth watching so you feel like you’ve got your 10 bucks worth.  It’s an epic battle all its own.  MFG has to fight hard for the side that usually looses.  In the end, I hope we’ll win a few.

Now, I know that as of late (read: the last 6 months) I have not been posting around here as nearly as much as I used to.  Things for me have been up and down and back and forth as life has proven to reinvent itself time and again.  I’ve relied on and been happy to see Adrian and Isaac and the others bring you the latest news from the front.  The Myst Movie project’s innards continue to churn as we press further ahead, while all of us also face our own individual life challenges (one of mine being the search for new employment).  Fun times, as always.

The new hosting environment (which you should be seeing already) should bring faster load times, a little bit more stability and some surprises down the line.  But, we all may be facing some hiccups as the transitions gain permanence.  If you guys see anything strange — weird characters, broken feeds, etc. feel free to report it if it proves consistent.

shorah teh

I’ve decided to give you a glimpse into the kind of communication we share with our MYSTERIOUS PARTNERS out in L.A.

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PRINCE OF PERSIA AS TRAIN WRECK

Well, having seen the box office for Prince of Persia, I’m inclined to say a few words regarding the dismal performance of video game movies both in the box office and with critics and what that could mean for the reception of Myst by studio heads…

Flat out, this isn’t good.  We’ve been fighting against the video game movie stigma since day one on this project.  Patrick and I realized six years ago, when we started pursuing the rights, that Myst would need to be smarter, deeper and more engaging than any of the other video game fare being shoveled out into the cineplex.  That is still our aim six years later.  Prince of Persia has just served to further confirm our hypothesis.

We’ve repeatedly responded to doubts about the viability of Myst on various websites and in multiple publications with one mantra “MYST IS NOT A VIDEO GAME MOVIE”.  We’ve hung our hat on the fact that our concept is derived not from the loose plot of a video game in which you wander around in first person, but from a series of novels with a rich, fully realized lore.

After seeing Prince of Persia on Friday, I called every member of MFG and insisted they see the movie.  This was not because I enjoyed it, but rather because I think it serves as a shining example of everything we’re trying to avoid Myst becoming.  It literally made every mistake we’ve been consciously trying to avoid since day one of conceptualization.  Perhaps I should outline those failures:

1.  Direct adaptation and remaining too married to the video game experience.  The central focus of the film was on reproducing game play through mindless action sequences in which astounding feats of acrobatic wonder were performed by the title character and on the dagger which can turn back time.  These two elements, while successful in the video game format, are simply not enough to populate a movie.  This is a recurring problem with video game films.  Everyone is scrambling to offer the same experience that the video game offers, but the fact is, that isn’t possible and isn’t what an audience really wants.  A video game is successful because it manages to engage the player in the world of the game.  This is primarily achieved through the interactive nature of gaming.  Weak plots can be overlooked when you’re actually controlling the cool acrobatics, etc.  Film doesn’t have that luxury.  What engages an audience is character and story.  The interactivity of a film comes from the investment in those two elements.  That is the basis of storytelling and drama and it is where video games often fail dismally (despite their overwhelming success).  Film and video games are two different mediums.

2.  A terrible script.  Along with a weak concept from the start, PoP suffered from an absolutely horrid script.  The characters were cookie-cutter at best, the humor was stock and adolescent, and the plot (which was mind-numbingly simple) was literally repeated four times by the main character throughout the film.  FOUR TIMES.  We had to sit and listen to him explain his uncle’s deception to everyone he encountered.  This was made even worse by the repetition of multiple backstory elements (first verbally, then visually and verbally).  Redundant as hell and seemingly placed there to fill time to make the film feature length.

3.  Too much reliance on action sequences to engage the audience.  With no real characters or story to speak of, PoP attempted to substitute the essence of storytelling with “Wow factor”.  This is a simplistic and ineffective strategy to begin with, but it was even more painful because the conceptualization of the action was banal and the effects were inexcusably bad for a film of this budget.  I often felt as though I was watching an episode of Hercules and Zena.  I desperately wanted to care about the main character.  I wanted to believe in his feelings for the princess, but I just couldn’t.  There wasn’t anything there outside of the requisite “love interest for the sake of a love interest”.

Those are, in my opinion, the three major failures of PoP.  There were many, many more smaller failures, but those three (all conceptual problems) were the real nail in the coffin for the film.  What’s mind boggling to me is that they aren’t unique to this one movie.  These are repeated mistakes by every video game film ever made.  WHY?

It would seem that everyone is forgetting the primary rule of adaptation.  What works in one medium does not necessarily work in another.  This is something everyone is capable of grasping when it comes to book to film adaptations.  The goal is to capture the essence of the story, but to make it work cinematically.  Why is this strategy not being employed with video game movies?  Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re both visual mediums. I don’t know.

What I do know is that an adaptation of a video game needs to be treated in the same way a book adaptation does.  Capture the essence and give the audience sign posts for what the game was like, but tell a story worthy of FILM.  Let the world of the game (or games) be a BACKDROP for a dynamic and interesting story about people in extraordinary circumstances.  This is something we already have built into BoT thanks to the novel.  If you become to beholden to the game, your story and the audience’s experience of it will suffer greatly and it will prove fatal.  EVERY TIME.

Okay, so I’ve gone on long enough.  The hope here is that we can start a discussion about what we need to be conscious of as we move forward.  We need to be able to argue why this “video game movie” is different than anything else that’s been done and why it can work.  We have the chance to be the ones that finally “crack the code” on the video game movie.  Let’s prove it.

A
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Anyway, my crazy aside, I’ll inform you guys that we’re off to LA for some meetings with our partners next week.  We’ll be discussing the game plan for the next month or so as we prepare to pitch Myst to the studios and really get this ball rolling.

That’s the sum total of what I have to report right now.  Everything else is wrapped in secrecy (not really because it needs to be, but because it’s more fun that way…okay, that’s not true.  It needs to be.  But it’s also more fun that way…)

Go away.  Come back soon.

Okay, so first things first.  I’ll start with the unfortunate part of the trip and that is that Patrick wasn’t able to join me.  He had some last minute issues at work that prevented him from being able to leave town.  He was missed, but we talked about him quite a bit, so it was almost like he was there.

Isaac ended up driving up from Oregon to sit in on the meeting with me.   Glad he did because he discovered he had quite a bit in common with Rand and Tony both.  It was nice to have him there and not be the total center of attention for ten hours.  I can’t imagine how exhausted I would have been if that had happened.

Rand and Tony are simply fantastic human beings.  I truly enjoyed all ten hours we spent with them.  The years of phone calls and emails are just not a suitable substitute for the joy of sitting across the table from them.  We not only got to talk business, but we did a fair amount of getting-to-know-you personal talk as well.  I walked away from the meeting feeling so lucky that we’re doing business with such fun, interesting people.

As I mentioned before, we had a lot to cover and it was primarily about how BoT fits into a much larger puzzle that is a franchise of films.  It is a given that a studio will not see this project as a one-off type situation, but will want to develop it as a franchise from the beginning (yes, that means more Myst movies for you).  Rand and Tony were very pleased with this concept and are willing to do what is necessary to move forward with the process. REJOICE!

We got a complete tour of the facility while we were there -including the lower levels :-), got to look at all of the great fan-made materials sent to them throughout the years and we were extended an invite to relocate MFG to their headquarters (we graciously declined the offer, but how cool would that be, right?).

That is really just about all the info I can give you guys, unfortunately.  Everything else must be kept under wraps for the time being (we gotta have something to talk about in a press release).

The most important thing to know is that the meeting went better than we could have ever hoped.  We expected a good meeting, but the fun we had and the relationships we’ve strengthened exceeded our wildest dreams.  Really looking forward to spending more time with both Tony and Rand in the future.

P.S. I told Rand he needs to log on to Myst Online more often.  He agreed.  Hopefully he’ll make it so.

Anyway…  Back in Indiana.  Back at work.  Back to life.  Gone from the bubble of Cyan headquarters.  Sigh.

Let’s see.  How to recap this trip…  Lots Adrian can’t say…  Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?  Let’s stop writing in this fractured phrase style, too, shall we?   Yes, Adrian, we shall.  While you’re at it, Adrian, stop with the internal monologue and the third person references to yourself.  After that last one of course, Adrian.  Okay, starting now no more third person.

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Adrian would like to tell you everything, but Adrian can’t… <——— (Adrian has failed again)

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SYSTEM REBOOT/

Patrick and I will be flying out to Spokane to meet Rand and Tony for the first time next week.  Lots of phone talks over the years, but this will be the first time we’ve had the chance to actually meet.  We’re really looking forward to it.

The topic of discussion will be the franchise as a whole, how we are going to proceed with BoT, and how it fits into what the studio will undoubtedly want to be a series of films.  Should be a fun time.

More later.

SOME KIND OF AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT is entered into by and between Mysteria Film Group, LLC (”Company”) and the individual readers (”Myst Fans”) in consideration of the covenants and promises contained below, Company and Myst Fans agree as follows:

1.  TIMELY UPDATE.  Company and its associated members shall make, in good faith, any and all reasonable efforts to communicate and inform Myst Fans of any changes or advancements made in the development of “Myst:  The Book of Ti’ana” (”The Project”) provided said information is not deemed confidential or sensitive by Company or its members, without delay.

For the purposes of This Agreement, “without delay” shall be defined as any period not exceeding two (2) months from the date of the preceding blog post, video post, press release, facebook update, myspace post, personal phone call to any or all Myst Fans, rooftop shouting, email, or electronic facsimile of any kind.

2.  REGULAR VISITS AND PARTICIPATION ON BLOG SITE.  Myst Fans shall make any and all reasonable efforts to gain access to the internets for the purposes of visiting, logging on to, signing into or navigating to mystmovie.com (”The Website”) and reading, taking in, consuming, absorbing, studying or edifying all posts made by Company in a timely manner.  Myst fans further certify that all good faith efforts will be made to read, take in, consume, absorb, study and edify any and all comments made by both Company and other Myst Fans in a timely manner.

For the purposes of This Agreement, “timely manner” shall be defined as any period not exceeding four (4) days.

3.  WITHHOLDING OF INFORMATION.  Company reserves the right to withhold or omit any information its associated members may deem to be sensitive, proprietary or confidential for any reason.  Company further reserves the right to withhold, and consequently not update The Website, with said information.  As per the provisions of article 1 of this document, if such information is all that is available at the time, said information will not be disclosed and the first posting of non-sensitive, non-proprietary, non-confidential information shall be construed as the first available information suitable for public dissemination.  Company shall also reserve the right to withhold any information it or its associated members deem to be boring, dull, uninteresting, mind-numbing, drab, banal, prosaic, blah, meh or otherwise without fear of reprisal from Myst Fans.  Any information pertaining to the granular details of business dealings, contract review, etc, shall be considered both confidential and mind-numbing by Company.

4.  LITIGATION.  Neither party may file a lawsuit in any court to assert a claim arising out of this greement before the parties have engaged in the mediation required by This Agreement.   In the event of failed mediation, This Agreement shall be classified as null and void with the exception of signed copies of This Agreement entered into by Company and any Myst Fans residing on the planet Mars where litigious action is both common and frequent.  Any lawsuit rising out of this Agreement may be filed in the state or federal courts of Mars (County of War).

5.   SECTION HEADINGS.  The headings of all sections of this Agreement are for the convenience of reference only and shall not be construed to govern, limit, modify, or otherwise interpret the terms of This Agreement.

6.   ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This Agreement contains the complete and full understanding and agreement between the parties, and supersedes all other agreements, whether written or oral. This Agreement may not be modified or amended except by a written document executed by Myst Fans and Company.

7.  CONSTRUCTION.  This Agreement shall not be construed against either party but if you really think about it, it’s kinda slanted toward Company.

8. SEVERANCE.  In the event a court of competent jurisdiction on the planet Mars and only the planet Mars determines that a provision of This Agreement is unenforceable as a matter of law, the remaining terms of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect as if the unenforceable provision was never a part of this Agreement.

___________________________                                  date:__________________

Individual Myst Fan

___Adrian Vanderbosch __________                                  date:__3/13/10__

Mysteria Film Group, LLC by:_Adrian Vanderbosch__

its:_Co-Founder/Manger___