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Making JAKE, Part 2: Scriptwriting (Take 1)
16 March 2010
This is the second in a series of short articles about the process of writing and directing JAKE, by Doug Dillaman.
I don't keep a diary, but I have a document on my laptop that was last modified in September 2007, which is when I must have given up on my first attempt at writing JAKE. It's not a very impressive document - about a page and a half, giving varying details on the first 11 scenes. I must have revised it a couple times, because I have a "Scene 3.5" nestled in there.
My writing process is not particularly systematic. It involves a lot of vague notes, long walks, and slowly plotting out things in my head until I can see the first third of the movie and the end. Once I have that, I'm normally ready to start writing. Historically, I've literally started writing the script at that point, just starting at page 1 without an outline and working my way forward, watching the movie in my head, almost literally transcribing it. Inevitably, I find that there's scenes that I'm missing, and so they work in, and then the characters or elements I've introduced there start changing the story in an organic way as I go. I'll write til I'm not sure what's supposed to happen next, walk away, then get back to it. Sometimes in a matter of an hour, sometimes days or weeks.
As I recall, this time I thought I'd try something different, and map the story out scene by scene before writing the script. I say "different" as if it's novel, even though outlining is something every writer is supposed to do before they write. But it was novel.
One of the interesting discoveries I made doing this is that you can see a lot more of the story in one gulp than you can see when you're writing a script. A quick look at the page and you don't see 45 seconds, you see 5 to 10 minutes. And the more I looked at the page, the less I liked it.
The problem was this: how do you make a character that is undesirable enough that somebody would want to recast that character with a different actor, without making that character so unlikeable that you don't want to spend time with him?
Now, I'm definitely not somebody who thinks that every movie has to have a conventionally likable protagonist. But there has to be some reason that you want to spend 90-150 minutes in a dark room with them. And I knew I didn't want to spend even five minutes with "Jacob McWorthington", as he was named then.
And so I put JAKE aside for a few months, not sure what to do with this confusing mess of an idea I'd created.
Jake's lead actress Anoushka Klaus on Shortland Street tonight
15 March 2010
We're proud to announce that Jake's lead actress, Anoushka Klaus, is making her Shortland Street debut on TV2 tonight, playing a recurring role as nurse Frankie Hull. Tune in at 7pm!
Making JAKE, Part 1: The Idea.
5 March 2010
This is the first in a series of short articles about the process of writing and directing JAKE, by Doug Dillaman.
Everything starts somewhere, and JAKE, the sixth feature film script I've written and the first one that I've directed, came from the combination of two ideas which I had near simultaneously.
The first: Sometime in 2007 - I think it was June - I was not having a particularly good day, and was in a bad mood, and as I laid in bed that night, exhausted, I thought about the elements of my life, and as I considered them, I realized that all the raw material that was there - the people I knew, the family that believed in me, the job I had, and so on - was a good foundation. And that perhaps the problem, my unhappiness, was not with the elements of my life but what I was doing with them, and that perhaps somebody else, if given the opportunity, would do a much better job.
The second: Maybe that night, or the night before, or the night after, again, lying in bed, I thought about Jake Gyllenhaal. Why? I have no idea. I had seen ZODIAC recently, and he was on the cover of terrible magazines, the kind whose covers are plastered in enlargements on the outside of every dairy in New Zealand, because he'd recently started dating Reese Witherspoon. And I wondered what his life would have been like if he went by Jacob instead. Would he get big movie roles? Would he date movie stars? Or would the very fact of choosing a less tough-sounding name change the very way we perceive him - not only that, actually, but the way he perceived himself? It seemed likely.
This business of how we choose to name our selves - why I go by Doug instead of Douglas, why some of my friends go by Dave or David, Robert or Bob, and so on - has something to do with how we perceive ourselves. And that choice then bubbles out into the world.
And so, those two seeds cross-pollinated, and I imagined Jacob and Jake, and how they would take the materials of a life, and what each of them would do with it.
And thus began the 18-month gestation period for the first draft of JAKE.
FAQ #1: "When can I see Jake?"
10 January 2010
The short answer: sometime in 2010, we hope!
The long answer: we are currently submitting Jake to film festivals around the world. The application process for film festivals is expensive, especially factoring in shipping from New Zealand, so we're being selective in what festivals we apply to at this point, but if there's a festival that you think we should be applying to for whatever reason, let us know in the comments and we'll take a look!
As we hear back from festivals, we will also be talking to distributors. This is uncharted ground for us and we don't know exactly what's going to happen, to the point where it would be foolish to guess. And in 2010, the distribution landscape is ever-shifting - internet distribution is becoming more and more mainstream, and the typical "play festivals/get limited theatrical release/go to video" or "get into festivals/don't get theatrical release/go directly to video" paths are no longer the only two options for indies.
But one way or another, we are committed to making sure that as many people see Jake as possible, in the best quality possible, as soon as is reasonably possible.
When we know more, you'll hear about it right here!
What is Jake?
1 January 2010
Jake is an independent feature film produced in Auckland, New Zealand by the DIY movie-making collective Hybrid Motion Pictures. We're the first theatrical feature film in New Zealand to shoot entirely on the RED camera.
We have finished editing Jake; while we put the final touches on the colour grade and sound mix at Images and Sound and our composer Paul Velat finishes the music, we're sending the movie to festivals around the world.
We're very proud of the final product, and look forward to being able to show it to all of you.
Welcome to JakeTheMovie.com
1 January 2010
Welcome to the new Jake website! We'll still be updating our Facebook page but this will be the main hub for news and information about the movie. We've released some brand-new behind the scenes stills, and our very first still images from the film itself as well as our first teaser trailer are coming soon. We'll also be publishing blog entries about the experience of making Jake. So welcome!
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by Bradley
by Bradley