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Category: INK

Oct142024

Where and Where and Where I Write

Sure, I dream of a dedicated writing room with rows of books on shelves around the walls, a comfy chair with lamp and side table, a large surface area desk with ergonomic chair for my computer… and yeah, a dog bed nearby for a napping dog buddy.

But then reality creeps in.

I work as well as write, I have an active family – some who need shuttling around town – and the dog, well, she’d rather I sit on a couch with her a blanket than be at a desk. Instead, I have to find places to write amid my life and movements.

Consequently, here are some places I’ve written my books:

  • Coffee shop at 5 am opening time (yeah, classic, but nice and quiet)
  • Backstage at a theatre (using two chairs facing each other to better prop up my computer)
  • In the back room of a museum (don’t ask – I look pretty happy in the picture though!)
  • Desk at home (amid the clutter and noise of family)
  • Coffee shop at closing time (naturally)
  • Couch at home (yeah, I pandered to the dog for this one – call me weak)
  • College hallway lounge (surprisingly comfortable chairs and good plug-ins)
  • Airline seat (which movies make look a lot more comfortable than reality)
  • Hotel room (superbly quiet and free of distractions)
  • A boat at anchor (yeah, totally romantic, but the sunlight is blinding, the table is at a poor height for ergonomics and well, no power, so you’re on a time limit)

Do I have a favourite? Not really. I suppose I enjoy the variety – even if it’s because I have to enjoy it. What I need, however, is a dedicated amount of time to focus at any given session. The minimum time? Probably one hour for the most effective writing session, but I know I’ve written with less.

Life doesn’t stop to allow time to write. You just have to carve it out where and whenever there’s an opportunity. With the third edition of my “Film Production Management” book coming out in January (and its completion moment on the living room couch where the dog abandoned me for the floor, oh well), I’d say I found the time and the many, many places to write. You can too.

Cheers & a good writing session to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – –

Where is Deb?

Mon. Oct. 14 – Raindance’s Boozin’ n Schmoozin’ Networking for Independent Filmmakers, London UK

FYI, the third edition of “Film Production Management 101” is coming to bookstores and online in January 2025, but available now for pre-order (e.g. on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Indigo-Chapters).

Sep152024

Inspiration at the Movies: Tintin

Referring to the villain named Mr. Sakharine in “The Adventures of Tintin” (2011):

“A sour-faced man with a sugary name” – Captain Haddock

“May I present Monsieur Shuggair Adetittiff” – Biance Castafiore

Ya gotta love these plays on words! They make the second layer of humour for adults in a movie whose primary audience is children. Kids enjoy other humorous elements in the story – especially from slapstick and coincidence – but the movie is layered in comedy. The witty elements, like saccharine/sugar references, connect with adults and older kids like a secret in plain sight. This witty layer adds to the movie’s marketing reach, and adds to its replayability as the audience makes new discoveries with each viewing.

Isn’t that what we do in life too: re-visit places we’ve been to before and add new layers of discoveries to our memories?

Ever been back to your old school and realized that the lockers you thought where tall are actually rather short? Ever spoken with one of your old teachers and learned a new perspective on events that happened to you or your class from years before? The new realization or perspective doesn’t replace your old memory, it adds a layer to the existing memory. You can remember it as if you were young, and you can remember it with a layer of adult insight.

Just as discovering the witty layer of humour in “The Adventures of Tintin” is like a rite of passage on our journey to maturity, so too is finding and adding layers of perspectives to old life experiences. How wonderfully complex and layered our lives!

Where are you inspired to re-visit in your life to add a new perspective?

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – –

Where is Deb?

Mon. Sep. 16 – Guest Speaker at GEMS ETVP (Emerging TV Producers) Program, Vancouver BC

Tue. Oct. 8 – Guest Speaker for Telefilm at the Sustainable Production Forum (SPF24), Vancouver BC

Wed. Oct. 9 – Women in Film & TV In-Person Networking for Production Managers hosted by Netflix, London UK

Mon. Oct. 14 – Raindance’s Boozin’ n Schmoozin’ Networking for Independent Filmmakers, London UK

And FYI, the third edition of “Film Production Management 101” is coming to bookstores and online in January 2025, but available now for pre-order (e.g. on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Indigo-Chapters).

Script page hanging from washing line
Feb142019

Laundry Writing

Script page hanging from washing lineI not talking about dirty laundry… okay, I kinda am.

Think you don’t have time to write? Well, if you can fit laundry into your schedule, then you have at least some time!

Scenario 1: The Laundromat.
Heave your loads to the laundromat. Dump the dirty garments into a row of machines and get them started. Now pull out your journal and pen (or open up your computer) and off you go! Write away the waiting time until it’s time for the transfer to dryers. That’s a good 30 minutes of timed writing! Use it as a warm up if you must and plan what to do when your laundry is in the dryers – because the drying cycle is longer; you’ll have at least an hour of focussed writing time. Cool, eh?

Okay, then there is…

Scenario 2: Laundry at Home.
Even better. You don’t have rows of machines to do all your laundry at the same time. Load #1 into the washer gets you 30 minutes of timed writing… the “Laundry Writing Warm-up.” The bell on the washer tells you it’s time for the transfer to dryer. Load #2 into the washer at the same time. Now you’ve got a good hour of focussed writing time. The washer’s bell is a mere warning sound; it’s the dryer’s alert that tells you it’s time for the transfer/re-load break. To delay folding until the end of your writing session, lay out the clothes loosely on the bed to minimize wrinkling… the deal is to get back to your writing as quickly as possible. Use the laundry to schedule writing sessions.

So there you go! I’ve just gifted you some time for writing that screenplay or novel, short story or poem that you’re itching to write. Celebrate the time you have – the time you can carve out your busy life – and use it well.

Cheers & happy laundry-writing to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She’s kinda looking forward to piles of dirty laundry now… how odd is that?!

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
July 2019 – UFVA Conference, Minneapolis, MN

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Nov222018

Diving Into The Three Wells at Tea & Ink Writing Club

I was requested to mentor again at the Tea & Ink Writing Club and happily agreed. To do something a little different, this time I brought Matthew Kalil’s book “The Three Wells of Screenwriting” (a wonderful new MWP book on my bookshelf). It’s a book to get the inspiration juices flowing.

From the book, I introduced the group to Matthew’s three wells of creativity, and then we ran through the exercises to dive in and explore each one. Let me share a bit with you:

#1 – The External Sources Well –
The ideas and thoughts here are from external sources, like movies and books, etc. and from the writing exercises we noticed they were primarily visual. Tapping into this well was by far the fastest. Thoughts and ideas related to this well we found were very close to the surface and easily accessible.

#2 – The Imagination Well –
Wild and crazy ideas happened here. Some in space, some not. Wonder and personal philosophy inspired the ideas from this well, but it did take more focused thought to push past the external sources well to reach this well of uncharted imaginative ideas.

#3 – The Memory Well –
Finally, this well was the deepest and most personal. It triggered tender and teary emotions as well as memory of smells. No doubt it is from this well that we write most closely to the human experience, and it was clear that we required more thoughtful time than the previous two wells in order to access these memories honestly.

Gosh, we only tapped the start of Matthew’s book. He also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each well so you know how far to wade in, that book goes on from there.

Now, in my book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!“ I see the creative process in three stages:

(1) Wild Inventor Brain (inspiration), followed by:

(2) Dr Structure Editor (the structural – but still creative – edit), and followed again by:

(3) Nitpicky Copy Editor (polishing)

As Matthew’s book is all about the inspirational stage of the creative process, you can (and we did) use The Three Wells to point one’s Wild Inventor Brain in a rough direction of where you want to go for a writing session and through freewriting explore, reveal and discover.

It was a wildly successful Tea & Ink session, and the range of writing from the participants was vast. No surprise there, as the group includes poets, novelists and short story writers.

So, if you need some inspiration to get yourself writing – or writing again – or if you have an active Wild Inventor Brain that needs a little direction in order for you to productive, dive into the three wells yourself.

Cheers & happy inspiration to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. As well as writing, she LOVES tea.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Nov. 29-30, 2018 – Whistler Film Festival
Feb. 9, 2019 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
July 2019 – UFVA Conference, Minneapolis, MN

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Nov102018

Date Stamping A Movie Scene… Creatively

So you want to suggest what time of year it is in a movie scene? Sure, there are the standards:

  • blossoming flowers = spring
  • green leaves on trees = summer
  • coloured leaves in piles = fall
  • snow = winter

Beyond location weather, you can – of course – use clothing to signify weather and time of year. All useful but rather ordinary, no? Well, how about going a bit more creative and using bus signage?

If the bus says:

… you gotta know it’s the first two weeks of November!

So, exercise the creative brain of yours. How else might you date-stamp (or location-stamp) a scene creatively?

Cheers & a creative scene building to you,
Deb

P.S. Oh yeah, and if the bus says “Sorry…” you’re probably in Canada. 🙂

– – – – – – – – – –

Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She thinks that Remembrance Day is probably the most important holiday of the entire year.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Nov. 18, 2018 – Guest Author – Reading Event at Tomes & Tales, Pitt Meadows BC
Feb. 9, 2019 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
July 2019 – UFVA Conference, Minneapolis, MN

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Sep12017

The Mentor Dies… Oh No!

How often do we see it in the movies? The mentor dies and so the protagonist has to take on the (powerful) antagonist alone. Not only that, but training is rarely complete! Well, the mentor usually thinks there’s enough training, but the protagonist sure doesn’t. At any rate, the mentor is right, and the protagonist goes on to save the day.

Well…

In my new book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!”, I position myself a mentor to new filmmakers (teens and young adults). BUT I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!

So here’s the deal: you can read the book, no problem. But when it comes to making your actual movie, I ask that at a strategic moment during the filmmaking process, you put the book down before reading the final chapter and finish making your movie. In that case, I – as mentor – will have left you alone on your shoot day and you can become the filmmaking hero you already know you are.

Save a mentor.

I’ll be every grateful. 🙂

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” (new in 2017) and “Film Production Management 101” both published by MWP Books. She’s seen a lot of mentors die on-screen.

DEB’S LATEST NEWS:
Her new book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!” was reviewed in:
(1) the Vancouver Sun and other papers across Canada, including the Montreal Gazette,  The Province, the Ottawa Citizen, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, the Windsor Star, on Canada.com, and News Locker… and now also: the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald
(2) SF Crowsnest (in the UK);
(3) the Midwest Book Review Library Watch list (on the Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf)