John August

Los Angeles

My role in Transformers

Film Industry, Los Angeles, News, QandA

questionmarkAre you in TRANSFORMERS? There’s a quick shot of a soldier escorting someone away from a helicopter. On screen for two or three seconds. Looks EXACTLY like you.

Just curious.

— Ben
Los Angeles

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but as far as I know, I am not in [Transformers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/). I have a somewhat ordinary face, and coupled with my big bald head, it’s not uncommon for someone at the gym to say, “You were really good last night on Law and Order.” (Apparently, my doppelganger was a white supremacist.)

But I can’t say definitively that I’m _not_ in Transformers.

Years ago, a friend called to say, “I saw you in ‘L.A. Doctors!'” That was a CBS show at the time. She described the scene: I was walking a pug on Melrose Avenue. Which was in fact my dog. I was probably walking home from Starbucks when a second-unit camera crew caught me. (Yes, they should have had me sign a release. No, it’s never worth pursuing.)

I guess it’s possible the filmmakers digitally put my face on some random soldier. They certainly had the technology; they put all those tentacles on Bill Nighy for the second and third Pirates movies. But [Occam’s Razor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor) would suggest it’s probably just a guy who looks like me.

Screenwriters’ dinner

Film Industry, Los Angeles, News

Last week, I attended the First Annual WGAw Screenwriters’ Dinner. I’m not sure one should call a first-ever event “annual,” but it was successful enough that it merits a repeat in 52 weeks.

Since screenwriters tend to work alone, there’s not a lot of water-cooler talk on a daily basis. Message boards help to some degree, but WGA events are often the only venues for catching up in person. For example, it had been 23 months since I’d last seen [Simon Kinberg](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1334526/). I know because our kids were born the same week.

The event also gave me a chance to meet a lot of writers I’d only known by name — [Billy Ray](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0712753/) and [Jeff Nathanson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0622288/), to pick two tablemates. Seeing my nametag, [Iris Yamashita](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2111875/) said she’d just pitched a project as being “Big Fish meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which was flattering. I wanted to point out that she has the Oscar nomination, but we were already being urged to take our seats. I introduced [Jessica Bendinger](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070566/) to [Robert Towne](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001801/), even though I didn’t really know Mr. Towne. It felt like the kind of event you could get away with that.

I got roped into recording an interview for a video podcast. If it ever hits the inter-waves, you might notice my hands shaking. I had just arrived, and was incredibly hungry. The mini-pizzas hadn’t made their way over yet.

The Week in Review

Los Angeles, News, Projects, The Nines

It’s been a busy week, and the next few days promise to be equally action-packed. So I thought I’d do a quick recap before two weeks go by without any real updates.

Boulder
====
I gave a lecture on screenwriting at the [Boulder International Film Festival](http://biff1.com). It’s always weird going back to your home town, and even stranger going back as the resident expert in a field. The talk went well, with many good questions in the follow-up.

Family obligations kept me from seeing any movies at the festival, though my brother enjoyed Air Guitar Nation.

Obama
====

Barack Obama’s campaign visit to Los Angeles included a fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton. All of the articles about it somehow overlooked that I was there too, elbow-to-elbow with billionaires and movie stars. But that’s probably a good thing. After my trip to Boulder, it was nice to be reduced to my proper role: observer.

And from what I observed, Obama’s wife Michelle is the underestimated force here. Yes, Barack Obama is a terrific speaker, but Michelle is funnier. Together, they feel like they came from an alterate-universe Earth where hope prevails.

Dugg
====

My article about [what I learned from World of Warcraft](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/seven-things-warcraft) got linked on [Digg](http://digg.com/movies/Seven_Things_I_Learned_from_World_of_Warcraft_2), which predictably overwhelmed the poor servers and made the site run very slowly for a day or two.It would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t installed a plug-in which automatically cached the page on Coral. The graphs tell the story:

page views

dugg trends

The fact that I was out of town was an added complication, particularly when I found I had linked to the wrong David Allen, who was upset to be getting false hits.

What did I learn from being Dugg? First, it’s important to have the right initiator. The first Digg-er put the article in the video category, which was clearly a mistake, but that led all future hits that way. Fortunately, frequent commenter [Andreas Climent](http://digg.com/users/andreascliment/news/dugg) got it set right.

Second, the discussion on the Digg thread inevitably focuses back on itself, rather than the story being linked. One commenter posted a highly-edited summary of the article which completely missed the point, and no amount of correction on the part of other readers could get it back on track.

The Nines
====
Optimum Releasing bought the movie for the U.K., with other deals set to be announced soon. It’s this post-post-production phase that I hadn’t anticipated being so busy. This week, we’re working on French subtitles. Comment dit-ons “nervous breakdown”?

The Next Movie I’m Writing
====
The deal’s not done, but my earlier allusions to D.C. mythology (and alternate Earths) were project-specific. I hope to be able to say what it is soon. And yes, it’s cruel of me to leave it floating out there.

Because nothing says quality like a cow

Film Industry, Los Angeles

In an article in today’s LA Times about his collaboration with Laura Dern, director David Lynch bemoans how expensive Academy Award campaigns have become:

So in what must have looked like a scene from one of his own films, Lynch recently made a “For Your Consideration” sign touting Dern, hired a piano player and a cow named Georgia and sat for about four hours at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue and another four in front of the Tower Records store on the Sunset Strip.

“It was the greatest cow,” Lynch said.

“People would come up wanting to pet the cow and talk. So many people came up and said they wanted to help. So there is a part of us that can see through [the hype]. All I want is to try get the word out.”