John August

Travel

My schedule in Austin

Travel

I’m headed to Austin tomorrow to participate in four panels at the Austin Film Festival. They have me scheduled very tight, so if you’re inclined to introduce yourself, it’s generally easier to catch me at the start of a session than the end of it.

As I’ve written before ([“Are you somebody?”](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/are-you-somebody)), in daily life I’m fairly anonymous, so it’s unnerving on those rare occasions when I’m recognized in public. But in my biennial sojourns to the screenwriter-centric AFF, I feel like a minor TV star. “Wait, is that..?”

Yes, that’s me in Quiznos, debating which size sandwich is just too much. Feel free to say hi.

Friday, October 17th
=====

**Young Filmmaker Program Pitch Session**
*Driskill Hotel, Victorian Balcony*
*1:45pm to 3:00pm*
Co-sponsored by the Mobile Film School, the student pitch session gives high school students the opportunity to pitch to industry professionals. Watch the finalists battle it out and learn more about the art of the pitch.
Panelists: John August, James V. Hart

**Shot of Inspiration**
*Driskill Hotel, Ballroom*
*3:15 to 4:30 pm*
Giving up on writing is not an option. Listen to screenwriting professionals describe their first big break. Hear motivating and inspiring stories from writers who were once in your shoes.
Panelists: John August, Shauna Cross

On Friday night, I’ll probably make it to the Texas Film BBQ at the French Legation, which is always a good time. I’m also curious to see Danny Boyle’s [Slumdog Millionaire](http://aff.bside.com/2008/films/slumdogmillionaire_aff2008), which is playing at 7:30 at the Paramount.

Saturday, October 18th
=====

**Dialogue: Finding the Voice**
*Stephen F. Austin Hotel, Ballroom*
*9am to 10:15am*
How do you create dialogue that drives the story but feels natural? How do you make sure that the dialogue flows with the scene and pacing of the film? Get tips from the pros and make your dialogue really say something.
Panelists: John August, John Lee Hancock, Steve Harrigan

**Young Filmmakers Panel**
*Texas State Capitol Building*
*10:45 to Noon*
Aimed at students aged 9-17 but open to all. Panelists discuss how they got started in the industry, answer questions about the craft and business of screenwriting and filmmaking, and offer encouragement for those beginning their journeys in the film business.
Panelists: John August, Melissa Rosenberg, Terry Rossio

From there, it’s back to the airport and back to Los Angeles.

Packing light

Projects, The Nines, Travel

I’m headed to Seattle tonight for a quick screening of The Nines. I’m packing almost nothing: my iPhone, my Kindle, toiletries and a change of undies. Over the past year, I’ve found I am packing less and less, to the point that it’s become a sport to see how little I can get by with. It’s like urban survivalism.

It even has its own subcultures: I’ve become an adherent of bundle wrapping.

Part of my packing-light buzz is probably a reaction to having a child, because particularly with infants, there’s just so much crap you have to carry with you. When you leave them at home, you’re eager to ditch the luggage as well.

Zombies, Bridesmaids and Assassins

Books, Travel

A quick trip to London over the weekend gave me 20+ hours of plane time to catch up on reading. I finished three books. The first two had been sitting on my Kindle ((Mini review: I like the Kindle a lot. It looks awkward, but feels surprisingly good in the hand. The screen is terrific for books, but far too slow for reference materials. It’s good enough that I’ll always get the Kindle edition of a book if available.)), while the last is dead-tree-only at the moment.

[world war z](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307346617?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307346617)As I’ve [mentioned before](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/at-the-gates-of-paramount), screenwriters spend an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about zombie invasions, so it was high time I read Max Brooks’s World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. It’s structured as a series of interviews with survivors of an apocalyptic zombie event, and while certain interviewees use words a bit outside their vocabulary, on the whole I thought it created a very believable world.

These are Romero-style supernatural zombies, as opposed to 28 Days/Weeks Later style biological zombies. That sounds like an esoteric distinction, but it has huge plot implications. These zombies won’t stop. Ever. They don’t need food, water, oxygen. They can’t swim, but they’ll walk along the ocean floor in giant mobs, later to walk up on beaches. Survivors are smart to head up above the frost line so zombies will freeze solid — but remember, they’ll thaw come spring.

As disaster movies love to show us, there’s something comforting about the end of the world, and Brooks’s book is no exception. J. Michael Straczynski is writing the big-screen adaptation, and while I’d love to see it, the material really feels better suited to a Lost-style television series. Regardless, the book is worth a read if you ever spend time contemplating zombie fortifications.

[cake](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159448306X?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=159448306X)Sloane Crosley’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake is a collection of mostly-witty essays in the style of David Sedaris. Crosley is the centerpiece of most of the tales, and she’s likable enough. Barely. I can imagine being her friend: In my 20’s, I would have been her gay roommate and/or co-worker sharing eye rolls at perceived transgressions of a secret social code. In my 30’s, I would recognize that her minor misfortunes are invariably self-sabotage in the hopes of attracting attention, and would eventually stop returning her calls.

To her credit — I guess — Crosley seems to understand her negatives. Her story about volunteering at the butterfly pavilion accurately reflects how mostly-good intentions can result in drudgery, self-doubt and shame. In the best of the essays, Crosley serves as a bridesmaid to a high school friend she barely remembers. The story works largely because the former friend is such a needy monster that Crosley’s ambivalence feels fully justified. The conclusion is disappointing, but true to the spirit of the book: she’s not sure what she learned, or if there really is anything to learn.

I think Crosley will improve greatly with better editing. She’s a smart observer, but too often feels like she’s padding to reach a target word count.

[silver bear](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933648449?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1933648449)The last book of my trip was Derek Haas’s The Silver Bear. Haas is a friend and colleague, having co-written 3:10 to Yuma and this summer’s Wanted. His novel, which charts the rise of an assassin, is stripped-down and lean. Chapters following his pursuit of one target alternate with earlier episodes: his first kill, his first love, his first betrayal. It’s unapologetically genre fiction, romanticizing even as it attempts to deconstruct.

Considering they’re both assassin origin stories, Wanted and The Silver Bear couldn’t be more different. Where Wanted is all flourishes and suspension of disbelief, The Silver Bear is played straight. It reminded me most of Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax, in that murder simply becomes a job function.

It’s a smart, quick read, and recommended.

Links to Kindle versions: World War Z, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, The Ax.

Northeaster

Projects, Travel, Words on the page, Writing Process

pierI spent five days in Maine, writing and researching my next project. A few observations, in bullet point form:

* Part of my motivation for visiting Maine was that I’ve always claimed to have visited all 48 contiguous states, thanks to endless summer roadtrips with my family growing up. But my mom recently told me that we’d never been to Maine, which kicked in my set-completion instinct.

* I was reluctant to try to pronounce any place names in front of people. Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert Island. “Desert” is pronounced like “dessert,” which conjures images of a fantasyland of fudge and sprinkles.

* Even though a screenwriter isn’t trying to capture an accent per se, it’s important to choose words and patterns that can work with the accent when spoken by the actor. (“Down the road apiece. Can’t miss it.”)

* That said, I feel lucky that this won’t be a big accent movie, because several Mainers were adamant that Hollywood always gets the accent wrong. Which is probably true. But what I resisted pointing out was that no two Mainers I met had the same accent. It’s all over the place, particularly when you talk to people under 30.

* Going somewhere to write has become my standard operating procedure. I barricade myself somewhere without TV, internet or familial distractions, and crank through as many hand-written pages as possible in three or four days. I fax these pages back to Los Angeles, both for safety and to let my assistant type them up. This time, I faxed to an eFax account, which had the bonus of creating a digital backup in .pdf form.

* I took a lot of photos, [which you can see on Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnau8ust/sets/72157604470043300/). It wasn’t really location scouting — we’re not at that point yet. But since there’s already a director on board, it can give him some sense of the place.

* One place had flies. [A lot of flies](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/stupid_flies.mov).

* Man, I was lucky not to be flying on [American](http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-american11apr11). [Or ATA. Or SkyBus. Or Aloha.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24018687/) (Though the last one would have been an unlikely choice.)

* house wrappedAnother reason for the trip: we had to have our house tented for termites. This is probably alien to readers in colder climates, but in Southern California, termites can become pervasive enough that you need to nuke the house. Generally, you do it when the house is sold (and thus empty), but we’re not moving anytime soon, so we had to bite the bullet. But it looked cool, like a [Christo](http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/wk.shtml) project.