Follow-up, please
I’ve had this site up and running for about four years,1 and in that time have answered approximately 300 questions from readers who wrote in, either to johnaugust.com or my column on imdb.
What I haven’t done is followed up with any of those questioners to see what they actually did with the information I offered.
In some cases, the answer I gave was simply The Answer — there wasn’t a next step or a decision lurking on the horizon. But many readers write in asking for advice about a specific situation, a career choice or judgment call. These are often my favorite questions to answer, but I have no idea whether my advice is being heeded, or if it’s even helpful.
That’s why for this week I’m urging anyone whose question I’ve answered to write back in and me know what you did, and what happened.
I’m thinking about the guy whose friend was directing a movie, and wondered what job he should beg for. The girl who couldn’t stop writing. Hell, Dracula’s son.
Even if I’ve just told you that the page 17 sex joke is a myth, I’m curious to hear what’s up with you.
How will I know if it’s the real person writing in? Well, in most cases I have the original email, or at least an IP address. But my curiosity far outweighs my suspicion. Let me know how it turned out.
- To bring back nostalgia for the Olde Days of HTML, you can check out early versions of the site at archive.org. ↩
Articles
November 15th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Hey that’s an excellent idea. I have often thought about “what happened next”. It’s like seeing policemen arresting someone and not knowing what happened. We want to know more!
Hope a lot of the guys who asked write back.
November 15th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
i actually think it’s kinda rude that nobody’s kept you posted in four years of advice giving… you’d think it’s common courtesy.
November 15th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Well, you never did answer me, but then, as you stated, it wasn’t really a question. :)
November 16th, 2006 at 6:22 am
To johnny h:
I think it’s either because people generally live uninteresting lives and don’t want to annoy a famous writer with what they’re doing. (”Hey, I already bothered him with a question of mine. Don’t want to be a nuisance, really.”)
Or maybe they’re saving the big “Thank you, Mr. August” for their Oscar’s acceptance speech ;)
As for my question regarding geek movies, then that particular idea hasn’t gotten off the ground yet.
When I asked that, I was a programmer daydreaming of filmmaking. Now I’m producing IT-themed video podcasts, some of which I’m getting paid for. And at the same time gaining experience for that movie project. So I guess you could say that Mr. August’s advice was inpirational enough for me to change careers.
And if I fail, I can always blame Mr. August! Ha! :P
(Just kidding.)
November 16th, 2006 at 8:51 am
Hi John,
I asked a question in 2004 about rewriting. I had a script called ‘Tis the Season under option with Paradox Pictures, a small independent production here in Ireland. As is standard practice, the screenplay went before the Irish Film Board. It was received poorly, but they were very keen on me as a writer. It was from this paradox (funnily enough) that a rewrite was asked.
It was a tricky one, as the original script I wrote was a writing job the production company had brought to me. As the IFB development executive was very keen on me, but not the script, It was a mess.
I left with notes “we love your writing,” “we love your characters,” “some scenes work brilliantly,” “we don’t like the story … at all.”
Really, the script should have been dead at this point, but the producer of the rejected script convinced me to rewrite it based on this feedback. The producer had invested too much money on this one project to bury it. So I was paid (pitifully) for what ended up being a soul destroying long slog to keep the characters, the setting, certain plot strands, and character arcs but to abandon the main plot. I ended up with a totally different script, a shite one to be honest, and it was naturally rejected last I heard.
In truth, I didn’t follow up on it. I hated the script I delivered, but I couldn’t do anymore. I was exhausted and completely uninspired to write anymore. I handed it in, and didn’t hang around for more notes. I took my paycheques and quit writing for a year to backpack around the world with a best mate. I needed it, and it was a truly incredible adventure.
I learned a lot on that project, and your advice definitely helped me as a writer, but that script itself couldn’t be helped. I’m a better write now, a more content one. I write for myself, and I rewrite only to help the script, nothing else.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
John:
Thanks for all your inspiration and great advice. I recently was offered a writing / directing / producing teaching job with the state of California’s Educational department in their prison system.
I’ll be teaching inmates on their way out the skills sets to get entry level work in tv pre production, production, and post production.
It’s so funny about all this — after film school at UCLA, I never thought I’d be doing any teaching until later, later on.
I really thought with all my previous scripts, new ones, etc., and having a few sales to some indie producers after school, I’d get more into the film industry.
But for some reason, this teaching deal really sounds cool.
I know what’s it’s like to go through some tough personal times — before and after grad film school at UCLA — and get close enough to making bad choices which could’ve landed me on the other side of the bars as an inmate.
Something was watching out for me.
Now I get a chance to pass a lot of good stuff onto some people who know they have a second chance at life if they’re willing to go straight forward and not look back.
Keep writing and fighting the good fight.
Creativity can do a lot more good for all of us than I ever thought it might do.
MARK
November 16th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
You are training criminals for a career in Television? Gosh, so many jokes there. So, so many.
:)
November 17th, 2006 at 11:39 am
WRITER:
These are folks who are paying their dues, doing their time, getting ready to get paroled and start their lives over…and hopefully, don’t want to go back to their old ways of life.
This is about helping others. Teaching them. It’s what rehabilitation should be about, instead of just labeling them as “CRIMINALS” and looking to mine jokes from them…or just throwing all of them behind bars for life.
I’m really trying hard not to make an assumption and passing judgement on you since I haven’t walked in your shoes.
Maybe you should try and do the same.
Maybe not.
the best to you anyway.
MARK