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Deborah S. Patz – Author

Author of film books for industry pros and youth

Jan232019

Deb’s 31-Day Pasta for Filmies (The Only Pasta Recipe You’ll Ever Need)

A recipe from a non-cook, am I serious? Yes, I am. I love to bake, but cook? Not so much. Still, we do need to feed ourselves… especially when working on production and there’s no time to be creative or experimental in the kitchen.

I do know good cooks, though. I even married a fabulous one (lucky me)! One of my friends cooks like a painter, crafting food – primarily visually and sans recipe – in the pot, building from base to highlights. Another friend cooks like an opera, orchestrating numerous exotically complex dishes that all make it to the bedecked dining table for the grand finale. Again, no recipe. My hubby cooks like a cross between Scientist and Treasure Hunter, finding food gems (in cupboard or fridge that looks empty to me) and fusing them together with daring sense of experimentation and innate sense of what flavours and textures can truly compliment each other.

Then there’s me. I follow the recipe.

Well, until…

A friend taught me a pasta recipe that is so adaptable, that I’ve made 31 different versions of it. As an experiment one year, I made the “same” pasta every night for the entire month of January – each one being different every night. Here ‘tis for you to try out your own variations:

Deb’s 31-Days of Pasta
(a.k.a. “The Only Pasta Recipe You’ll Ever Need”)

1. WARM THE OIL IN THE SKILLET
You can use Olive Oil, or experiment with Other Oils. Use a large skillet (a lot will be going into it… and it looks cool to use too).

2. SEASON THE POT
Can add crushed or sliced Garlic, and/or Green Onion.

3. ADD MEAT (optional)
I typically don’t use meat and instead add protein instead (at step 5). If you choose to use Meat (Chicken, Ground Beef, etc.) then you have to brown it in the skillet first.

4. ADD VEGETABLE(S)
Cook the harder vegetables first so they soften. There are plenty of vegetable choices to go with; some or all of: Carrots, Celery, Sundried Tomatoes*, Sweet Peppers (green, yellow, orange, and/or red), Zucchini, Mushrooms, Peas, Mini Tomatoes.
*For sundried tomatoes, I pre-cook them in the other pasta pot water before I cook the pasta so the tomatoes are soft enough for the skillet combo, and the flavour infuses into the pasta too.

5. ADD PROTEIN (optional)
Again a lot of choices here: Fish (like canned Tuna or Salmon), Nuts (like Almonds, Pine Nuts, etc.) and/or Chickpeas. I’ve never tried Beans, but you could… there’s a whole variety of beans to experiment with. You could also go entirely vegetarian and skip the protein step, too.

5. ADD SPICES
Off to the spice rack and sprinkle in a mix-n-match of spices like Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Pepper, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Oregano, Tarragon, etc. or use a spice blend like Italian Seasoning or Herbs de Provence.
Turn the heat down to simmer and cover the skillet; it’s time to…

6. COOK PASTA (in another pot)
Oh, the varieties of just pasta out there! Choose some or even a combo of: Penne, Fusilli (spirals), Farfalle (bow ties), Rigatoni, Shells, Spaghetti, Linguine, Macaroni, Ruote (honeycombs) – or even Orzo or Risotto – and cook according to the instructions on the pasta package.

7. COMBINE PASTA AND “SKILLET COMBO”
Drain the pasta and add to the skillet, mixing it with the meat/veg/protein.

8. ADD FINAL FLAVOUR (optional)
If you have fish in the skillet combo, squeeze the juice of a Lemon or a Lime into the creation. Another final flavour you could use is Parmesan (aka “Shaker”) Cheese sprinkled on top.

…and you’re ready to serve! Enjoy.

So, what do you think? Do I cook like… an organized person (who thinks in layers)? Or a baker (who loves to put all the parts into one container)?

At any rate, over to you now. Ready to experiment with a month of pasta variations? Write down the combos that you love the best, and if you find one you didn’t like – no biggie – there’s always tomorrow to try again! You can even start with February; you’ll only need 28. 🙂

Cheers & happy cooking variations 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 cooked variations of this recipe a couple of times this month.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Feb. 9/19 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
March 2019 – Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle WA
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.

Jan102019

Inspiration at the Movies: Legally Blonde (Endorphins)

“Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”
– Elle Woods (Legally Blonde, 2001)

With a quote like that, Elle kinda makes you want to exercise, no?

After the excess of the holiday season, I bet a lot of us are thinking about exercise this month. I sure am, but in the dark of the winter, it’s hard to feel inspired to exercise – anything from energetic work-out, fitness class or even a simple walk around the neighbourhood. When I get that way, Elle’s quote comes to my mind to get me started. And you know? She’s right. By the end of my choice of exercise, I do feel good – about it and about myself.

Now I just have to get my husband to come out and join me. 🙂

Cheers & happy endorphins 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 doesn’t understand how her dog can be so energetic AFTER a long walk.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Feb. 9/19 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
March 2019 – Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle WA
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.

Deb at R2R Festival
Apr172018

Inspiration at the Movies: Earth: One Amazing Day

Deb at R2R FestivalThis past weekend, I went to the closing night of the R2R Family Film Festival. It’s great to see family-friendly films from around the world on the big screen… but I digress.

Sometimes in a movie there’s a line that really rings true and you know you’re going to remember it for, well, probably for the rest of your life! It really speaks to you. Well, Saturday, I heard just such a line. Apparently it’s an African saying, but for me, it’s a line from “Earth: One Amazing Day” forever in sync in my brain with a flyover of African vistas and an adorable baby zebra. Here ’tis:

If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.

Which will you choose? In the meantime…

Cheers & a great shoot 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 and she really, really, really wants to visit Africa someday.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Apr.19 – Guest Author – Tea & Ink Writing Club, Tri-Cities BC
May 2-3 – Guest Instructor – Powell River Digital Film (High) School, Powell River BC
May 19-24 – PM Instructor – Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, PEI
Jul.23-26 – UFVA Conference: Stories Without Borders, La Cruces, New Mexico

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.

Feb272018

Film Lighting: Is a Hallway Just a Hallway?

So, you’re filming in a hallway. Kind of a dull location, isn’t it? Flat, painted colour. No photos or art on the walls. Thinking of just throwing up a light and getting on with it?

Well… consider what time of day it is in the script. Might there be filtered light from a nearby window painting designs on one of those flat, painted walls?

Creates quite the atmosphere, doesn’t it? You can simulate such early morning or late day designs by placing objects and cookies (cut-outs) in front of lights at any given time of the day.

So, look around you – at various times of the day – and see how Nature lights your world, and then be inspired by it!

Cheers & atmospheric lighting 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 and wonders if you can see the shadow of her dog’s ear in the photo above.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Mar.26-28 – Instructor – Write! Shoot! Edit! Screenwriting Workshop for Teens – VPL
Jul.23-26 – UFVA Conference: Stories Without Borders, La Cruces, New Mexico