This voracious denizen of destruction and no little annoyance is called Writer’s Block! (WB)

Yeah that thing that rears it’s head when you least need it to, especially when you’re approaching a deadline. Often you’re writing merrily along not a care in the world and then                    !

That’s right,                 !

at all!

Nothing at all!

If you have notes they suddenly look like they’re written in Klingon, your imagination feels like a boring bomb just went off. This is entirely not like you, yet it happens to each and every one of us. And if it hasn’t…just you wait.

So here’s a few handy things you can do when beset by the dreaded WB blues.

1. Do NOT Panic. Seriously don’t, panic gets you nowhere other than all the more frustrated that you are suffering from or through WB. Also if you are on a timeline you cannot afford to panic, if things have to be delivered to a schedule panic will just make things worse. You have to sit back and look at things objectively, contact the people who are waiting for your work and make sure they know what’s going on.
2. Do Anything Else. Back off from writing if you have to, go for a walk, call a loved one, tweet your fingers off. See a movie, walk the dog, eat a tub of ice cream, say hello to your significant other (do this often even when not suffering from WB) distance yourself from the project on which you are at a standstill. Do something relaxing like drinking a mug of Hot Chocolate with mini-marshmallows in it. We really just want to calm ourselves.
3. Seek Help. You can seek help from anyone, but if you confer with a potted plan we are going to have words. Odds are that as a writer you have other writers on your friends list, just talking about the issue with them on the phone or via TXT or IM could be enough to release the logjam. You don’t have to even discuss writing, amazing I know! Commiserate over the Lakers early exit from the playoffs or just how much more the 49ers are going to kick ass come football season. Don’t bottle up your WB, let people know. “My name is Ross and I have Writer’s  Block.” “HI ROSS!”
4. Write Something Different. This always seems to help for me so I recommend that if you’re stuck in the writing doldrums to write something new. Full points if you try to write something far out from your comfort zone. Write a outline for a new story, a new world with new characters with new hopes and dreams. Just writing something can eventually lead to clarity on the project besieged by WB.
5. Listen To Music. Put on your headphones or ear-buds and listen to music. Odds are you probably have a large collection of music, digital, physical or both. Look for something that you haven’t listened to for awhile and cue it up, savor that music as if you were hearing it for the first time. I also recommend listening to music while actually working on your writing, let the pulse of the music also drive your writing, heighten your drama and suspense kindle the romance. Personally I tend to think of writing as a composition, each sentence forms a musical phrase and all the phrases combined form a visual soundtrack.
6. Read A Good Book. Reading a good book can really take the pressure off the mind. Can really allow you to release the horrible WB situation you’ve found yourself in. Pick up a favorite, Mayday by Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block is my go to book at the moment, and get lost in that world for awhile. Your mind can sometimes just rebel against you, your thoughts in turmoil because you put them under too much pressure. Reading a good book gives your mind a rest and lets your imagination soar.
7. Return To Your Story. After a while open that story, article, screenplay or manuscript back up and continue to write. These things can take time to recover from but eventually you will find the words flowing again. You will be able to continue the story that had been brought to a grinding halt. There is always an end to Writer’s  Block just as certainly as it will eventually begin again.

The next time you come face to face with Writer’s  Block remember these tips and hopefully some of them will work for you.

Ross Out.

Related articles

• Writers Block (saileshpypatel.wordpress.com)
• Shattering my writer’s block. (ladybuglizziegail.wordpress.com)
• Writer’s Block (robmaiale.wordpress.com)
• Writer’s Block (ridiculouslydullbobby.wordpress.com)

Aeon Flux caught my eye right away, it had a strong chance of being picked because it ticked all the right boxes for the kind of film I wanted to experience. However in the end I found myself kneeling in front of the CD rack and looking very carefully at the titles for anything I might like. It turns out there ended being two items that grabbed my attention…well to be honest 3, but when I opened the first one I found the dreaded stolen/missing disc staring at me. So I handed it to one of the workers to get it out of circulation.

The next CD that caught my eye was the soundtrack to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (T2) composed by Brad Fiedel.  Sliding it out carefully I hoped I would not find the dreaded missing disc but on opening I found the real deal. The jewel case itself was in fairly remarkable condition so I flipped the cd to check for scratches and found some but only what would be expected through general wear and tear. I was going to be the owner, once again, of one of the greatest Action scores of all time!

Let me put this in perspective for you when I got my own walkman/tapeplayer one of the very first, if not THE FIRST tapes I brought with my own money was the soundtrack to T2! I was too young to see T2 in theaters but I listened to that Tape so much that I broke it! I wore it right out!

To be listening to it as I type this post brings back so many memories. It is flat out amazing that I own a “hard copy” of the T2 score…I haven’t had it other than watching the DVD for years.

So…so far this trip to the Salvation Army Store had been truly excellent, I decide to continue browsing the CD’s and what do I come across than the motion picture soundtrack to Batman! I Love Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s work on the amazing Dark Knight Trilogy but I have a great love for what composer Danny Elfman  and Director Tim Burton and the cast and crew brought to the fore in 1989. I have always wanted a copy of the score to Batman as I’ve heard some of the tracks through the internet but never had a copy myself. When I flipped over the CD this time I found NO scratches whatsoever!

What a total Geek Out I was having!

Here’s a pretty crummy picture of $4 worth of the best movie soundtracks ever.

T2 and Batman Soundtracks! $4!

So check out your local Salvation Army Store for awesome stuff.

“Trust me.”

Ross Out

Now Justin is putting the finishing touches on Fast 6 which will be by all indications even more fun and spectacular than Fast 5. Universal wants to get going right now on Fast 7 and that’s forced Justin Lin to drop out of the directing gig ostensibly because he doesn’t want to be in Post Production on one film while being in Pre-Production on the next simultaneously. I can’t fault him for that, and though it’s a shame that we won’t get to see him complete his planned Fast and Furious arc we will get to see Fast 7 coming down the pipe very very soon as Universal Pictures is apparently talking to Director James Wan to fill the directors chair.

This leads to my question: this move once again opens up the possibility of Lin signing on as director of the long gestating Terminator 5. Will rights owner Megan Ellison seek him out? The script is currently being written and Justin Lin has shown interest in directing the 5th film in the past.

The honest truth is that I have no information either way. I do know that I trust Megan and her bother David Ellison to deliver a quality product, Megan does not mess around when making films.  Zero Dark Thirty is case and point for that. I honestly believe that with T5 we could be getting a leaner, tighter, more hardcore and personal Terminator film than we’ve had in a while- perhaps harkening back to the original The Terminator. 

If so I really believe that Justin Lin would be fully capable of bringing such a vision of the Terminator to life. He knows how to get the right performances from his actors and he certainly knows how to direct compelling and brutal action sequences. He brings the heart and he brings the team aspect to his films that would be needed in either a Future War/Resistance…or present war battle to prevent Skynet version of T5 at least that’s how I see things.

I’m looking forward to the future of the Terminator franchise and can’t wait to see what is planned as Terminator 5 continues down the road towards full scale production.

Later folks,

Ross

As a 49ers fan I have to say that it was a very exciting game. We could’ve done without digging ourselves a huge hole. We could’ve done much worse than making the amazing comeback that we did. To loose by 3 points to an excellent squad like the Ravens is nothing to be ashamed of- and if it had been all a the hands of the Ravens I wouldn’t have an issue with the loss at all.

This is not about the Ravens, making that clear, the Ravens played an excellent game. They gutted it out…held on…and won.

However they also benefited from some blown calls, in fact I think they were the beneficiaries of 90 percent of the blown calls.

The Calls/Non-Calls

We have a running into the kicker call on the Ravens that netted a 5 yard penalty… that could easily have been a  roughing the kicker call leading to a first down and extended drive that could’ve netted 7 points…instead of a made retake of the field goal.

Going for the 2 point conversion to tie the game the Ravens were clearly offside which should have resulted in another attempt at the 2 point conversion.

On the 49ers last offensive play of the game, 4th and goal…we have a clearly blown offensive foul call on the Ravens defender covering the receiver.

Phil Simms mentioned that the Officials want to let the players decided the game so prefer not to throw flags on huge plays like that. It was a foul, the player decided to foul, and should have been called for the foul. Take care of the penalties…which would’ve resulted in at least 3 more shots at the end zone…and see if the play can come off without cheating.

Ironically things didn’t end there…on 3rd down the ravens choose to take the safety on themselves…a cunning play. And the funny thing is that one of the 49ers defensive line figured it out right quick and went directly after the punter- would’ve got to him in a matter of seconds…if not of the Ravens defender collaring him round the neck with his arm and holding him. In fact there was a whole lot of holding all over the place on that play but as most of the 4th quarter calls had gone this of course went uncalled and the kicker was able to run 8 seconds off the clock.

The funny thing is none of this would have mattered if there had been good officiating earlier.

Let’s see how many points the 49ers could have added to their total- just for fun.

Cue dream sequence…

A possible touchdown instead of a re-taken and made field goal: 7/8 points would’ve made the score either 28-27 Ravens or 28 all.

After this the Ravens did score a FG: 31-27 or 31-28.

Then the 49ers did score a touchdown blown call on 2 PT conversion (Offsides) re-take and make 2 PT Conversion: 35-31 49ers. (31-29 Ravens game score).

Then the Ravens did score a FG: 35-34 49ers now that would’ve been exciting! (34-29 Ravens game score).

49ers final drive with the PI call they get at least 3 more cracks at the end zone…and come away with a minimum of 3 points. 38-34  49ers (w/FG) 42-34 49ers (with T.D.).

End dream sequence.

With 12 ticks on the clock it’s still possible for the Ravens to pull of a miraculous comeback even without all the strange calls/non-calls.

However since a non-call was made…we have the Ravens Self Safety with a many non-called holding calls- enabling the Ravens to run 8 seconds out of 12 off the clock. (Final game score of 34-31 Ravens).

Now I want to make this perfectly clear- I had a total blast. I’m very happy with my 49ers and really, really proud of them and looking forward to next year already.

Clarifying the Possible Minimum/Maximum Possible Gained Points for the 49ers.

However when I look back on perhaps what should have been it’s very frustrating at the very least if the 49ers had converted on the retry at the 2 Point Conversion…and managed a F.G.  on their final drive it would have made at a minimum 5 more points. (For a final game score of 34-34) a tie at full time Barring a Ravens scoring drive. Can we say overtime thriller!

However the 49ers were hot in the 2nd half, that’s why I had them scoring a Touchdown instead of a F.G. see the first score in the dream sequence section.

So that’s at least +4 possibly +5 on the 2 point conversion.

And I’m certain they would’ve scored a TD in their final drive had there not been the infamous non-call. +7 or +8 with the 2 point conversion.

A maximum then of +13 points!

The mind boggles.

The Officiating

Now I’m not sure why some of the calls weren’t called up for review from upstairs especially in the last two minutes, there was a ton of questionable stuff going on all over the place. Could it have been the Officials simply wanting to get the game over with after all there had been a really long half stadium blackout that had caused a near 36 minute delay?

Perhaps.

Could the Refs on the field simply missed the calls in the heat of the moment…again it’s certainly a possibility.

There were dubious calls early in the game for both teams ( that did not effect the score) yet in the second half, from the middle of the 3rd Quarter onward there sure seemed to be a whole crescendo of  calls/non-calls going against the 49ers/being not called on the Ravens.

However it just irks me to no end that these missed/blown calls did in fact take numbers off the board.

I honestly think the Ravens might well have won without any of these strange calls, and I’d have much rather it have been that way.

Conclusion: Rematch Next Year?

I could think of nothing better than a rematch next year, I honestly think that we did have the two best teams in the Super Bowl and it would be great to have a 49ers Vs. Ravens face off again.

As it stands I’m once again proud of both the 49 ers and the Ravens they gave us a thrilling Super Bowl and I know that Colin K. and my 49ers will only improve as a team.

It’s a very exciting time to be a 49er fan!

Ross Out.

Related articles

• Lights out: Ravens beat 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl (wcnc.com)

The Terminator (soundtrack) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s with a somewhat heavy heart that I write this official Terminator 5 news update as it means that I’ll no longer have to defend Ferris and Brancato on another Terminator script. Seriously though this news both excites me and bums me out since I spent a good deal of last year working on securing this very project.

However I’m also happy since that means Laeta Kalogridis  (Avatar/Shutter Island/Alexander) and Patrick Lussier (Wes Craven’s Dracula/My Bloody Valentine/Drive Angry (Writer and Director) are going to be the ones to receive any blow back from the fans if the film under performs.

It’s and interesting duo that’s for certain however I know that Terminator rights holder Megan Ellison isn’t into making stupid decisions. She is after all behind such awesome films as Zero Dark Thirty and The Master and is very serious about making great use of the Terminator name.

This is someone I fully trust to know what they’re doing.

Apparently the Laeta/Lussier was combo writing a SF original for David Ellisons’ Skydance Productions and was so impressed with it that he landed them the Terminator job.

More news as it breaks.

Ross Out.

Related articles

• Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier to Pen New TERMINATOR Movie (collider.com)
• Laeta Kalogridis And Patrick Lussier Set To Script New ‘Terminator’ (deadline.com)
• Laeta Kalogridis And Patrick Lussier Set To Script New ‘Terminator’ (m.deadline.com)
• New ‘Terminator’ Film Gets A Pair Of Screenwriters (screencrave.com)
• ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘Drive Angry’ Writers Tapped For ‘Terminator 5′ (slashfilm.com)
• ‘Terminator 5′ Gains New Screenwriters (screenrant.com)

Screenplay (Photo credit: Matt-Richards)

Let me share with you a few things that I took into my first re-write so that you can understand how the process works.

First of all while the latest update at the main page Terminator: The Connor Chronicles says that I’m the 2nd writer on the series, (and I do truly feel humbled by that), I am in fact the most recent hire. I’m coming into a project where we have first drafts written for 90 percent of the episodes, in other words other writers have poured their time, energy, effort, and writing skills into these scripts. Which leads to my first rule of rewriting especially of other peoples work.

Treat the draft with respect.

As part of the writing process each draft of a script is critiqued by the other writers, the more detailed the critique the better, so that a rewrite can be greatly improved. In fact before I wrote a single sentence in my first script rewrite of Episode 3, I not only read ALL of the critiques for that episode but I made a document out of them.

All told I had four documents open on my laptop when working on my new draft:

1. Critique Document
2. Dialogue rewrite document
3. Current Draft
4. New Draft

Another rule of rewriting someone elses work:

Don’t change what you don’t have to.

Common sense really. If it didn’t need to be changed I left it for the most part exactly the way it was because I want the original authors voices to still be present in the script. Not changing what you don’t have to also saves valuable time when you do have to rewrite something or add something.

The Critique document was the one I kept flipping to the most often and I tried to address as many of the suggestions as possible, and made sure I did make the major ones. If you were in fact to compare my rewrite with the previous draft you would find the same scenes, in mostly the same order, with the same characters doing the same things. Of course I took the critiques and applied them so there are naturally some differences. Keep in mind the point of the rewrite is:

To improve what we already have by adding details, reworking dialogue, adding and removing scenes while telling the same story.

One of the biggest tricks for me is that I’m a very descriptive writer and action paragraphs where descriptions occur can tend to get a bit wordy. I was especially conscious of this because I knew that I (because of the critique document) was going to be rewriting one scene and adding another- not to mention adding more detail to a rather intense sequence.

My main goal was to keep my rewrite as close to the same length as possible while making all the improvements that should be made in a new draft. So after rewriting a scene I’d switch both drafts over to print preview mode and see how they were lining up, that was always very interesting. Of course it became very hard to judge after I made one of the more drastic adjustments during the rewrite but when all was said and done somehow…the scripts were practically the same length!

I worked quickly to knock out a first private draft of my rewrite within a week. Once that was done I spent the rest of December fixing all kinds of little errors, adding more details, refining dialogue and adding at least one easter egg of sorts to the growing draft. Once that was done I read the whole script out loud to see how it sounded and made more changes and I’m sure there’s some things I missed, or got wrong- however that’s alright. Why?

My draft will now be critiqued by the rest of the writers so that if the need arises we can make further refinements.

As a screenwriter one has to develop a thick skin simply because you will be told to change and fix things. It’s highly likely that a script you’ve worked for months on will be re-written so much that it no longer resembles what you poured your heart and soul into. If the film sucks the blame generally gets unloaded, both barrels at once, upon the writers. And that’s fine, we can take it!

From what I can tell from reading the critiques of the other episodes we have some smartly intelligent creative writers on board at T:TCC I am confident that their critiques of my writing will be fair, well thought out and from the heart. Just as mine are of theirs.

So that if we have to we can-

Rewrite again.

Ross Out.

P.S. Happy New Year!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 1 (Photo credit: halilgokdal)

find interesting or make myself. However one look at the title in the address bar reveals that the primary reason I made this blog was to talk and discuss Terminator related items and articles. I’m so very happy to be doing that again, as I’m pleased to announce that I was approached by a friend, and welcomed by a new friend to be part of Terminator: The Connor Chronicles (T:TCC)!

Some of you may be asking yourselves what is T:TCC. I will lightly touch upon a few things here but you can follow this link to find out much much more. Terminator: The Connor Chronicles!

1. It’s a unofficial, non profit, CGI continuation of  Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.
2. Over 4o big time fans are hard at work to bring the universe back to life. 
3. I am part of the writing team working hard to bring an excellent story line to tip top shape.

I’m currently hard at work writing a new draft of Episode 3 and it’s coming along very nicely indeed.

To say this was unexpected is an understatement, I knew very little about T:TCC through the first friend listed above before hand- as she mentioned in passing months ago that she was doing voice acting for a Terminator related project. I never once thought I would end up writing on said project, but I’ve very glad I am.

This year has been full of Terminator surprises and to be honest it’s a great way to cap off the year….though having a killer interview with Verizon this Thursday would make it even better.

So keep watching this space…within the next few days I’ll be writing a post about how I have approached re-writing on the project and there will be other articles in the future about Terminator: The Connor Chronicles.

Catch you on the flipside!

Ross

We advertised the script as…”The Fan script fit for the big screen!“

You can still find on of the old sites on the internet to this day, it features artwork by another friend, Terminator short fiction and who knows you might even be able to still read the script online! If not you can download it from Terminator Files- They have absurdly detailed files! look under Scripts.

On top of that just like my inspiration in screenwriting Jim Cameron would draw artwork I also did some drawings as as part of the Digital Restoration Project I’m going to upload some artwork that I did around the time of the website release. So prepare to be Terminated by mediocre artwork as we travel back to 1999!

In T3:FR I wrote a direct follow up to Terminator 2: Judgment Day in which General Connor came back through time to protect himself and stop Skynet from two Automated Personell EXterminator Terminator units sent back through time by Skynet to kill off John Connor in the past. Here is a sketch of Apex One based on a certain actor.

“I am cold and unforgiving on the inside.”

After the break meet his female counterpart and find more art from 1999′s Terminator 3: Final Retribution!

Here is my call as Apex 2.

“I am also cold and unforgiving on the inside.”

Skynet concept art comes next based on a key moment in the story-

What is the secondary Protocol?

Next we have two parts to one piece a vertical double paged movie poster based on scenes from the script.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!*

In case you were wondering here’s a sketch of a Machine Unit I designed called an Arachnid!

The Arachnid came over the hill- scanning for Resistance…

And to combat the Machines the Resistance built the highly impractical Resistance Attack Vehicle!

Because Rocket Propelled Bolas with metal lopping filament are SO badass!

And just in case you’d forgotten.

General John Connor wants you to…

“Join the Resistance. Phased Plasma Rifle Training and Gourmet Rat to all who apply!”

That’s it for the Digital Restoration Project for now…thanks for checking it out.

Ross.

The film is still in active production and we are still filming scenes and recording dialogue and doing all the nitty gritty things that need to be done in order to make a complete film experience. More than 17 dedicated and hard working individuals have donated their time and skills to make The Thief in The Night into a project on the verge of completion.

However we need your help, we want you to become part of the crew here on The Thief in The Night. Now I know that I wouldn’t want to support a project blindly so I’m not going to ask you to, I’m going to give you a link to check out the film so you can see all the hard work that has been and continues to be dedicated to bring this film to completion.

You can find out about our film right here: The Thief in The Night on Facebook!

Please take the time to look back across the history of the production and consider giving us a hand it would be greatly appreciated.!

Should you decide that you want to help in getting us through the final steps of production and supporting this film in a more fun tier filled manner you can find our Kickstarter page linked below!

The Thief in The Night on Kickstarter!

I know I speak for the entire team when I say that I know times are tough in just about every way but there is an answer to that problem and we’re trying to get that answer out there through this film. Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

Ross

I’ve sat down and recorded a Let’s Play of Chapter One which as far as I know goes through to the end, if not I’ve still got some discovering to do!

Give it a test run before Black Mesa hits on the 14th!

Ross Out.