Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

Screenwriting Chef Tales from the Kitchen

So just how comparable is writing a screenplay to being a chef preparing a meal?

Pretty favorable, as I hope to extrapolate on in this post.  

Truth be told I'm not much of chef.  Was never trained to cook.  On the occasions I do cook it's always off someone else's recipe.  And I'm VERY GRATEFUL that there are many who proceeded me who combined foods in a pleasurable way that makes eating them a delight.  To date the most ambitious things I've attempted to cook/make is manicotti (cheese stuffed pasta) and lemon meringue pie.  Manicotti was made by following instructions off a Barilla pasta box, lemon meringue pie off an on-line recipe to a men's bible study.  So it's not like I'm a Gordon Ramsey or Guy Fierie.

Offering the audience a plate of food this guy doesn't seem so intimidating, does he? Meet  Gordon Ramsey  of Hell's Kitchen fame

First thing to point out is that I like GOOD food: tastes good and is showcased in professional manner.  No, you don't hafta always eat a five-star restaurant to appreciate a meal that's given to you with some level of pride in their work and flare.  McDonald's ain't got no creme brulees, remember?

Though I don't cook very often I have done it many times in the past, and when I do, do it -- I want it done right!  That's right, even when I do something like prepare a meal to eat, I want it look good in presentation, and taste the way it's supposed to.  

Typical dinner made by E.C. Henry: Hardly!  But I do give it my best.

This carries over into my writing life.  Trust me I know I have holes in my game.  I'm a pretty bad speller.  I was struck down and forced to go to a remedial English class when I attended a community college that was below 100 level.   The flowery part of creative writing seldomly comes easy to me.  YET despite these oftentimes glaring weaknesses I persist in this creative writing endeavor.  Why?

Because playing in the kitchen is fun!

That's right I said it, writing creatively can be compared to go to the kitchen and trying to have fun while you make a meal.  This begs the question, can playing in the kitchen ever be fun?  Maybe not if you envision yourself being hounded by an asshole like Gordon Ramsey while you're trying your hand at that's for sure!

But if you take a step back, breathe, and realize that in one's own kitchen or before one's own personal computer; it's just you, the raw ingredients --and vision that you're trying to achieve.  A good meal if you're cooking.  A good story if you're writing.   They're not so different in creation after all.

Checklist: good meal to good story comparison:

1. Good ingredients.  In cooking you need good meat, and the appropriate spices.  In screenwriting you need good plot points, characters, and scenes.
2. They need the right mix.  In cooking you need to make sure you don't use too much or too little sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk.  In screenwriting you need scenes that play off each other the right way.
3.  Cooked to perfection.  In cooking got make sure what comes out of the oven or is grilled on stove isn't under-cooked or burnt.  In screenwriting you need an edited script where the individual scenes are edited to perfection; it's that balance where the scene is a good as a writer can make it which stays neither too long (over-baked) nor found to be lacking and in need of further rewrites or to be outright deleted (under-baked)
4. Presentation matters.  In cooking balanced meals are celebrated.  Even with something as simple as breakfast.  Gotta have a main dish like pancakes, an omelette or even a bowl of cereal which is then accented by a cup of orange juice and a breakfast meat to round it out.  In screenwriting how your text appears on the page matter and you've gotta take great pride in that or you shouldn't bother anyone with reading your stuff.  Presentation in terms of following proper screenwriting conventions, not having the raw page look bad or the same.  For me these days I include a dosing of lit expression " icing ", but that is not the end-all of how I grade out my own writing and how I want it to look on the page.  There's also brevity, and flow to consider.  

These days I'm grinding through my latest spec. script, which will be about a duckling's journey and character arc after his family leaves him behind in a park as they partake in their southern migration.  Been in the kitchen on this one since December of 2022, when I committed to this story and really started working on it in earnest.  Three months is a long time to be "in the kitchen" and not have a first draft of a story completed. 

There is one key way writing is NOT like cooking, and that's in how you can erase mistakes.  In cooking once a dish is the oven and started to cook, there's no time left to try to fix it, EXCEPT maybe after it's out of the over cover up your screw up with icing or gravy or something exterior food covering.  In the batter stage sometimes it's possible to change the mix depending on the error made.  If taste something in batter and it's not to your like sometimes you can more sugar or milk to change the taste or consistency.  But in screenwriting ALL is editable.  Even after a story is quote, unquote "finished", a given author can always reopen the digital document and change things to his or her liking.  

Ahh putting the finishing touches on  creme brulee ; my favorite off all deserts.  BUT it must be served hot, and with a good Scotch!  The screenwriting equivalent of this is when a writer is doing final edits on his script and he or she KNOWS that it's going to be good; the writer is happy with their prose and thinks the story is well-constructed.  

 

Update: Monday, February 27, 2023; Finished the 1st draft of Ducky Goes on Holiday at 4:00 p.m. EST!  Yay, to this worthwhile, milestone event!

Pancakes

Do you like pancakes?  I know I do.  For YEARS growing up they were my favorite breakfast entree.  And yet they were the one breakfast item that my own mother never mastered the skill of making.  No, to this day my mom's pancakes STILL continue to suck.  Their outside edges are excessively greasy and burn't.  Instead of being light and fluffy, they're crunchy on the outside.  

Not right!

I don't know why my mom CAN'T get it right when making pancakes is really simple in origin to make: flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, melted butter, milk, a little salt.  

Actually I do know, my mom uses WAY TOO much vegetable oil and too hot of a grill when she cooks them up.  And so every time she does this, voila--crispy sides, crappy pancakes!

My mom is very old school.  She cooks, my dad eats it.  That's it!  Her problem is she never looks at her ways to doing things to see if there's room for improvement.  She cooks, my dad eats it, on to the next meal.

I, however, tend to be more of a perfectionist when it comes to things like that.  I want my food to look on-par with that of the finest of restaurants.  And NO, I don't think that's too much to ask for.  When I cook my goal is to make things as good what it looks on the box, or on-par with what you would get at a reputable restaurant.  

Okay, enough bashing of my mom.  Maybe that's okay because as I finish up this post it's Fathers Day, 2017.  I love my mom dearly, it's just making pancakes is one of her weak points.  

One of the crazy realities of today is how easy it is to get good pancakes.  Shoot all you got to do is the microwave time setting right.  Krusteaz has a fine microwave pancake product you can buy in just about any grocery store's frozen breakfast section.  Still there is something about making things from scratch.  

When I make pancakes I'm constantly disappointed that I can't make a perfect circle.  Now when you go to restaurants the pancakes are always of a uniform circumfrence and diameter.  

Lastly, when talking about pancakes there's the subject of what put on top of it.  I'm a big fan of ol' trusty here.  Just plain-Jane butter and maple syrup.  I also like blueberry compote--NOT blueberries added to the batter then cooked in--but an actual thick slurry of cooked blueberries.  I bring this up because I actually went to restaurant in Bonney Lake, called the Hungry Dog, and when ordering blueberry pancakes got no special topping--JUST blueberries already cooked in.  YUCK!   On rare occassion, I will also buy a special lingonberry jelly which I use as topping.  Ligonberries are mountain cranberries.  There not always availble at the local Safeway in Bonney Lake.  And even when they are, a jar of lingonberry jam is expensive.  They're an import from Sweeden.  Costly, but worth it--on special occasion.  

O-kay so are you hungry for breakfast yet?  

I am...

 

 

Girl Scout Cookie Karma

Hi miss, do you wanna buy one of E.C.'s scripts?

That's screwed up, man.

I gotta reverse my bad karma.  Gotta me an agent and sell some of stuff to Hollywood.  Lord knows I've ALREADY penned a boatload of real great stories that are worthy of being aired in multiplexes across this land of ours.  

So why hasn't it worked out for me?!

Well, it hasn't been for lack of trying.  I've gone to conferences.  Flown down to L.A.  Sent stuff queries directly to movie studios.  Cold called production companies AND agencies.  

So why hasn't it worked out for me?!!

Think I can trace it back to my karma.  More specifically that BAD karma I got from dissing the girls who man the Girl Scout booths at the local grocery store in Bonney Lake.  (Sorry but out here I have yet to see a girl scout come knocking on my door trying to sell me some of their cookies)

In the grocery store I routinely pass by the girls selling girl scout cookies without giving their both so much as a look.  My rationale has been, well, even if DID want to buy some cookies, aren't there better ones in the store?  

What kind of attitude is that?!  A bad one, that's what!!  But that's gunna change.  Why?  Because tomorrow I'm going to the grocery store, and I'm going to honor those brave little souls in green skirts--and buy some girl scout cookies--for the karma of it!!

Wow, what a bunch of cuties! I think I'll buy EVERYTHING they've got

Because, like it or not, I'm a lot like those girl scouts: shouting into the wind, trying to solicit interest in those passing buy in my wares.  Okay, so my wares are all intellectual ones.  You can't even eat what I'm trying to sell.  Well, technically,  you could but that would be kinda gross.  

Going out and making cold call queries is EXACTLY like soliciting girl scout cookie.  And fuck I'm not even as cute as those girls so how can ever hope to have any success.  

Screw it!  I'm turning around my karma, I'm buy a couple boxes of girl scout cookies, and I'm going to see where that takes me!  

Sure, there have been crazier, more hair-brained, far-fetched schemes than mine, but this is MY hair-brained, far-fetched scheme.  And DAMN IT, I'm going to make it work for me!!  I deserve it.  I deserve a little success.  Being a putz gets old after a while.  So yeah, I'm going to buy some girl scout cookies tomorrow, so that the next day, my aura is alright and my stars are aligned so I can make a script sale and move out my parents basement!  And once out of my parents basement--no one is safe!!!  He-he-he-he... 

McDonalds Ain't Got No Creme Brulees!

I'm a slow writer.  There, I admit it.  Sometimes I can't believe I spend so much time wrangling over my words.  I swear I've spent like 3 months on about 2 pages worth of material in two chapters of this epic fantasy novel I'm working on.

So why so slow?  Why so little progress?

I don't know.  Yeah it bugs me.  Why just TODAY little Brycen was asking me about my story and if I had it done yet.  I said, no.  And then he asked how long.  And I told him I might be working on it for the rest of my life and STILL not finish it!!  To which Obo told me that HE'D finish it for me.  7 years old and plucky as ever!!  Right now Obo is.  All.  Over.  The place.  With his own version of storytelling.  Right now that's action/adventure based in our yard.  Usually he's "playing Star Wars", which basically amounts to him taking a sword or some other weapon and running off in persuit of the "bad guys".  Of course when I ask him how to play the game he JUST asked me to play with him he gets all discombobulated and turns to me asking me how we play the game.  

C.R.A.Z.Y.  

Welcome to the world of 7-year-olds with over-active immaginations.  Now back to the world of 46-year-olds with the same problem--only different...

I think the key for me to break out of this long productivity slump is to TRY to focus on ironing the story forward and not devoting ALL my energy on making chapters 1 and 2 perfect.  Do I wan't perfection?  Fuck yeah, Skippy!  Especially with this story.  It's specical.  Trust me, it is.  

Time management wise I've got a lot on my plate.  First there was that pesky stainging of the house.  YES, that's complete now, but when I was going through with it, that task ate up a lot of my time.  Then there was the task of my work re-certifcation: an in-depth nearly 50 question thing I had to fill-out on my own time.  BUT I turned that into the trainer and he said I passed...  (I'll have to verifry that on Tuesday, my job certification is set to run out in a couple weeks).  Now there is system computer change at my work, which means all of our invintory has to be re-barcoded, which means managment has okayed all overtime requests through the end of the month, and are expecting us to stay late to help with the conversion.  Sure I'm all for extra money, but my writing is important too.  Just wish it paid the bills so I could life that albatross of my neck.  

I'll bet you get sick of hearing all these update and lack of progress on the novel.  We live in such McDonald's mindset:

I wan't something to consume right now!

But what about quality?  These days McDonald's isn't know for serving up gormet food.  It's burgers and fries, and very good burgers and fries either.  I swear everytime I eat there I feel sick afterwards.  Is any of their food even biodigrable?  That's up for debate.  Heck in a few year we'll probably find out that the packing material outside of the McDonalds food products had more natural nutrition in them.

The longer I'm at this the more it had become more abundantly clear to me that most laymen (people who aren't writers) don't get all the hard work that goes into writing.  They are consumers.  They want to consume, and would rather really not know how the cook prepares their meals.  It's like would you rather hear about how to make a creme brulee, or just eat one and finish it off with a good cognac!

That's my favorite desert right now, creme brulee with a good congnac.  And I like it hot!  I've been at places that serve a creme brulee cold, and trust me it's not as good!  Now I'm not a big propent of a flaming creme brulee presentation.  If you serve it to me with the top on fire, I'm like cool nice visual.  But what I care about is how it tastes when I eat it.   And I prefer it hot!

McDonalds ain't got no creme brulees.

Even the deserts they got, they do the best they can to fuck them up.  Don't believe me?  Just look at their milkshake machine.  What the fuck is going on there with all those tubes?!   Whatever that white liquid that's coming out really is, it isn't ice cream.  BUT if you're hungry for a quick desert, they can whip one of those bad boys out in a jiffy!

Okay, so I've made at least an attempt to justify myself.  Where do I go from here?  In my heart of hearts I really feel I need to get away from stressing over writing "the perfect line" and just try to shore the story up some in the later chapters.  I got a TON of new ideas for chapter 16, and a lot of new ideas for the 3rd heroine love interest in the story.  NO, that's not the Taylor Swift character, I've got that one nailed.  Rather this third heroine is like Mother Teresa meets Princess Leia...

So much to do.  Well, at least I'm not bored--and I'm not giving up on this blog either!  Right now as I type this in I'm waing for my incoming pictures off my smart phone to come in, then I'm planning on opeing up a new page with picture of me, my family, and my house.  I haven't taken this picture yet, but wait till you see the picture of the inside of our garage.  YEARS ago my dad built this garage, but he never quite finished it, and never got back to it.  So now it's in a state of incompletion AND it doesn't have power run to it.  I would LOVE to run power to it, but I don't have the money for a project like that, I fingure it would run somwhere between 3 and 5 grand to do.  Hey, electricians don't come cheap.  When licenced electricians come to your house the meter's running and you're expected to pay!

Anywho, lots going on in my life right now so please pray for me.  Besides all this I'm also working on repairing my mom's range.  We had an elelectrial surge on Satruday, afterwhich time the broiler on our oven stayed on all the time.  During the Seahawk game I troubleshoot the problem back to a master board that controls this 4 burner range and oven.  Gotta purchase a replacement board.  To get my mom through I pulled one of the leads off the broiler element so it would never recieve the 220 VAC and get hot.  Besides that I also need to buy a new, long-bladed chainsaw for our house.  We live on 5 acres of old Alder trees that are starting to come down.  Thus we need a chainshaw to cut that shit up when it becomes lawn litter.  

Never a dull moment.  So continue to tune in, by the end of the week I SHOULD have that picture gallery up and running.  And in case you missed it there was a point to this post.  It's quality over quantity.  And I think as time goes on that's going to be something that rings true: people would rather have you be great once, then have you available for mass consumption where they evenually get sick of you.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. Had a wierd Saturday.  Was all geek up to watch Amy Schumer host Saturday Night Live, BUT I had to work AND suddenly the station it was set to be broadcast on was blacked out by the cable company who supplies my house.  Sooo I went to a bar after work and watched Amy's night on SNL untill the Weekend Update Segment began.  Had a hard time hearing everything in the bar room environment, but from what I did hear I wasn't too impressed with Amy's showing.  Her monologue wasn't that funny, nor were any of skits she was in that good.  Too bad, I was really pulling for her to. And from what I saw that girl is really going to have to watch her weight.  Trust me, Amy, you're mid-30s are a dangerous time when you can really start to pack on the pounds--if you're not on a stringent execersise regimen.  

I still hold out hope that Amy's not done yet, and still has some entertaining tricks up her sleeve.  Will be interesting to see where she goes from this point going forward.  Even when I rip her, can't help but love her as evidence by the shameless promotion above.  

A Very Hot Summer

How has your 2015 summer gone so far?  Been having as good a time as Amy Schumer has recently?  A movie that she stared in and wrote, "Trainwreck" was a BIG HIT, ($81 milliion and growing), and then last week she's on vaccation and guess who's with her--Jennifer Lawrence!!!  How cool is that to JET SKI with Jennifer Lawrence.  Amy Schumer knows how to have a good time--and she has impecable taste in friends.  (We should all be so lucky)

O-kay, so I haven't even come close to having the summer that Amy Schumer has.  Doesn't mean I can't have fun in my own way right?  Well, THAT can get me into some real trouble.  Because when you don't have friends, and you drink by yourself to add some "spice" to what's lacking in your life, you're playing with dynomite.  Hey, at least I realize the risk, AND readily admit I need to change.

But it's been a very hot summer.  And let's keep things positive.  Like speculating what Amy Schumer' next move will be...  Hmmm...  Wonder if she's going back to Comedy Central?  IMBD sites two more projects "in development" that Amy's name is attached too...  Maybe she's going to be a regular performer on "Saturday Night Live", that seams like a natural fit for her right now.  Of cource I DON'T have inside information on what Amy would like to do next, but it fun, light stuff to speculate on.  You have one big hit and the world opens up to you.  This is her time, and she needs to make the most of it.  If I was in her shoes I sure would.

Like I said, it's been a long, hot summer.  The temperatures up here in the Pacific Northwest has steadily been in the 80s and 90s for about 2 1/2 months now.  Can't ever remember a sustained period of prolonged sunshine and hot weather.  Gives a lot of credance to the global warming theory.  Up here in the state of Washington the newspapers are reporting fears of a massive salmon die off as a direct result of water temperature being too hot for these prized fish.  Hoping that doesn't come to pass.  Salmon rock.  Losing them would be huge hit.

On a personal level I'm pissed off a litle Obo, my 7-year-old nephew who staunchly refuses to go to the lake with me so I can help him learn how to hold his breath underwater.  He can be so obstinate.  All he wants to do is play "Star Wars" with me, which consists of pretending to be a Star Wars character and "shoot bad guys".  I found the easist to piss Obo off is to say I'll play--but he has to be R2D2 because he's short, like R2 is.  Brycen doesn't like that at all.  Brings out that red head's anger.  I know, I'm an asshole!

Still working... I guess that's a good thing.  But my heart isn't into it.  It's just a day job, something I have to do to survive.  To eat. To go on paying bills and shit like that.  

No plans for any vaccations.  Maybe I'll in for some time off to do some work around the house around Labor Day.

Movie-wise this summer has been the strongest I can remember in years.  Top movies:

1. "Inside Out" rating 9.0 out of 10.
2. "Trainwreck" rating 8.0 out of 10.
3. "Jurasic World" rating 7.5 out of 10
4. "Fury Road" rating 7.5 out of 10
5. "Ted 2" rating 6.0 out of 10
6. "Avengers: Age of Ultron" rating 4.0 out of 10

Okay, so Avengers movie withstanding, I have been very impressed with the movie and range out there with quality to see.  What comes next?  Well, their is "Star Wars: Episode VII" to look forward to in December, and sometime over the winter Quentin Tarantino has another movie comming out.  Besides that, I can't think of anything else I'm excited to say.

Anything Amy Schumer is always a draw for me.  I frequent Comedy Central JUST for the hopes that they're playing back episodes of Amy's 1/2 hour comedy show, "Inside Amy Schumer", but alas they aren't playing too much of that which makes me think they're not showcasing her because they don't think she'll be back for a 4th season, so they're shinning their promotional spotlight on other shows that they're actively producting and broadcasting.  

Besides promoting Amy myself their is another product I'd like to show some love to, Portillo's' Italian beef sandwiches. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago (I lived there untill I was 10) me and my family fell in love with this restaurant.  One thing that Chicago does well is food: pizza and Italian beef especially.  Remembering this my aunt bought a pack of this Midwest restaurant chains Italian beef for my dad's 70th birthday that we celebrated last weekend.  I, being the asshole that I am worked on editing my novel untill I consumed to many Budweisers to think clearly anymore.  Hey, I forewarned ya about the whole asshole thing ahead of time.  Forewarned is forearmed.  Just kidding.  Just a little attempt at some self depricating humor.  Maybe the only thing I'm good at: a ready willingness to make fun of myself.  

Working with the express goal of becoming less and less of an asshole everyday I actually took proactive steps to spread the Portillos love to a coworker and bought him the $87 dollar ship pack of Portillos Italian beef to try with his wife.  No, Amy this is no sex thing, its a food thing--and a delicious food thing at that.  You should try it.  I gaurantee you'd like it.

Fuck, I'm doing it again.  First it was Jennifer Love Hewitt.  Then it was Taylor Swift.  Now it's Amy Schumer.  Good thing none of these women would be able to recognize in a police line-up.  Joking!  

But for me I think the last impression of 2015 will be Amy Schumer's emergance onto the national scene.  Maybe that's a reflection of where my heart is these days.  But heck I daydream about what my breaktrhough moment will happen.  And who knows, not that Judd Apatow is done with "Trainwreck" maybe he's on the prowl for his next project to get into.  NOW I'm truely being delusional, because I checked out Judd's projects in developement on IMBD and the dude's got a list as long as Speilberg's.  FUCK!!  Guess I'll just hafta suck it up, and continue on with the day job thing untill the Lord pulls the plug on my life.  Kind of a downbeat way of thinking about it, but then again, I am an asshole.

Just keepin' it real folks.  Love and well wishes from a marginally buzzed, E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

The Ice Cream Post

So what is your favorite ice cream of all-time?  For me this is a bit of a trick answer.  As my favorite ice cream right now isn't even technically an ice cream at all, it's a gelato: Sicilian Pistachio by Talenti.  So what's the difference between what's consdidered a gelato and what's considered ice cream?  I don't know.  BUT if you really want to know you can read about that issue right here!  Personally, I don't give a fuck.  I buy my Siclian Pistacio gelato in the ice cream section of the Bonney Lake Safeway anytime I have a taste for it.  Yeah, it's a little spendy, but it's worth it!

So why am I writing a 2nd post today?  Well-p, Skippy, I felt like it, AND I originally intended on writing this post last week as a post-script for Mother's Day.  Since George Miller's "The Fury Road" came out this weekend I didn't want to post on this a week later so I was on-time and topical concerning current events for once.  

So why ice cream?  And why now?  Well, last Sunday night WAS "Mother's Day" AND I actually did the right thing and took my mom and dad out to a fancy restaurant.  We ate at Harbor Lights on Tacoma waterfront.  I think the total bill for me, my mom, and my dad came out to $189 bucks or so.  They had a bottle of wine, I had a coctail and then later an after-dinner coctail.  

So why bring this up?  Because I wanted to make a point to anyone who reads this post that whey you go to a fancy restaurant order the fanciest stuff you can get.  Don't get cheap and get items on the low end of the menu.  My dad got what's called a "Captain's Plate" and he lived to regret it.  I, on the other hand, ordered the Dungenesse crab and was loving life!  After dinner I even had my favorite dessert, creme brulee.  Ever had a creme brulee before?  Well, if you haven't, you should try it.  That's my favorite dessert of all-time and if it's served hot it's a must have, if I find out the place making it serves it cold, they lose a lot of points in books.  Stangely enough, you MAY be able to find creme brulee in the dessert section of your big grocery store.  I know the Bonney Lake Safeway carries it on and off again. I've made it 2 times for my family: me, my mom and my aunt love it.  Unfortantely, my dad who's a big meat-and-potatoes guy isn't into it.  

The creme brulee I had at Harbor Lights last Sunday night wasn't hot, but I did have a it with a real interesting desert coctail.  The coctail was Grand Manier and Vermoth served in a sipping cup that was tilted at rest over a cup of hot water.  This made the liquor warm.  Very interesting presentation, as for the drink, I would have just assumed have had a Conac, which I think is the perfect match when eatting creme brulee.  

Back to ice cream.

Besides Siclian Pistacio Gelato there are some other flavors I really like: Baskin Robbin's Dacquari Ice is very refreshing, Baskin Robbin's Cherry Jubillee is always good, and chocolate chip mint is usually good from a bevy of differerent distributors.  If I'm going with vanilla ice cream, I LA-OVE hot fudge on the top.  Malt wise, nothing is better than a butterscotch malt, pistacio almold milkshake at Baskin Robbins rocks too.

O-kay, 'nough of the good stuff, here's some ice cream and related products that I can't stand:

• Kool-Aid pops: I hate EVERYTHING Kool-aid.  Growing up my mom used to substitue Koo-Aid product, that sugar water mixutre for soda pop and other things.  I've ALWAYS had a stigma against Kool-Aid.  To this day I won't drink it.
• Licorice ice cream.  I remember trying this ONCE as a kid.  Couldn't even finish the one scoop I had it was so gross.
• M&M, Snickers, Butterfingers or Skittles in ice cream or in cake.  Love these products as individual candy, but it you start putting that in ice cream or cake I won't eat it.  

Okay, so now you know a little bit about the decadant deserts I like, mostly on the ice cream side of the ledger.

So how does this apply to my writing.  Well-p, I want all my writing to come across a creme boulee or Siscilain pistacio gelato.  I want you to like it and savor it.  I don't just crank stuff out, rather I work very hard at it so that I have a quality product to share with the world.  Right now I'm re-editing the Prolog.  Just today I was able to listen to the entire first page without stopping the playback feature to change something.  Nailed the first line of the novel.  Feel real good about the first paragraph.  

It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.

OR

It was a dark and stormy night - from Snoopy of the Peanuts cartoon series.

Hopefully, my opening line will become iconinc or at least precieved as being good.  YES, I do care very much abou the opening line of my epic fantasy novel.  I think I've listend to it over 50 times now and am not feeling the need to change it, so that's a good thing.  Now was for the rest of the book espcially the crap I'm reading in chapter 13...  Sigh, I gotta a lot of work ahead of me, and yes, some it is heavy lifting thing that definatley need to be better before I can show it to soul.

Cool news to report that definately IS NOT Kool-Aide:

M' man Scott Mullens who has read my scripts for yeas (as he's a "reader" in the Industry) is now a screenwriter with credits and an IMBD page to his name.  Recently Scott even had one of his screeplays made into a movie where it showed on a cable TV station.  Point: he's arrived!!  Yeah!   Isn't that cool when you hear that one of the good guys that you've known for years has broken through, made a sale, and got his work made into a movie.  Anyway, I'm real happy for Scott.  And hopefully now with this success under his belt more is to come.  I wish him nothing but God's best.

My favorite celebrity continues to earn points with me, as last week on the Huffington post I read that Taylor Swift reached out to encourage a fan who had recently lost her mother to cancer.  The more I see and read about Taylor Swift, the more I like her.  It's so easy to hide your personal life from people and try to have a professional and a personal life.  But Taylor lifts the veil occssionally, and let's her fans know some of the things that are going on in her personal life.  Do you know how easy it is when a close family member has a bad diagnosis to throw the blanet of privacy over the situation?  But Taylor actullay used her own tragedy to try to encourage someone who had just suffered a major loss in their life.  Taylor Swift: beautiful on the outside, beautiful on the inside too.

So good for Taylor Swift.  Like Scott Mullens I wish her nothing but God's best and a long and sustained run at the top.  Be that as a pop star or whatever Taylor Swift sets her mind too.  Huge fan.  And I like her decisions and openness.

 

Hope everything is going good in your word, my fans who continue to visit this blog.  I look forward to communication with you again soon.

Love,

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

What It Takes to be a Rom-com Supporting Actor or Actress All-star: Exploring Issues in Rom-com Movies Volume XII

What do you look for in supporting actors or actresses in a supporting role in a romantic comedy movie?  Do you even have any hopes for those characters -- or is it all about the leads for you?  Hope not, because I believe their is more room to have fun as a supporting character in a romantic comedy, then in being a lead.

I think the issue of the importance of supporting leads -- for me at least -- began a long time ago after I watched "Splash" (1984: Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah).  LOVED the silly, villainous Walter Kornbluth (Eugine Levy's character) who spends 80 % of the movie trying to prove to everyone that he's not a kook, and the mermaids do really exist.  BUT the supporting actor I'm going to set my magnifying glass on is John Candy.  John Candy died many years ago, 1994 to be exact.  But he passed away he left an imprint on comedy in America.  John Candy was very funny.  And the supporting actor work he put in, in "Splash" is deserving of high praise.

"Splash" is all about Tom Hanks romance with a mysterious woman, Daryl Hannah, who turns out to be a mermaid.  But what John Candy adds to the mix is a humorous contrast to Tom Hanks character.  Tom Hanks is fit and handsome, whereas John Candy's character is out-of-shape and is a fun loving guy. 

How about the racketball scene where John Candy and Tom Hanks discus life, while John Candy's character is smoking and drinking beer!  Funny stuff.  And throughout "Splash" John Candy's character delivers comic relief and also is a mentor and sounding board for main protagonist, Tom Hanks.  HUGE fan of John Candy in "Splash."  Few have ever done as good a job in a supporting role in a rom-com. 

   And supporting actors and actresses in a romantic comedy DON'T always have to be contrast or comedy only people.  Case and point, Ryan Gosling in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011: Steve Carrell).  In "Crazy, Stupid, Love" the main plot revolves around Steve Carrell and where his love life will end-up.  Sure Ryan Gosling's character is key component of how that turns out -- but he is a supporting character, NOT the main one.  And Ryan Gosling's character is Mr. Smooth, NOT Mr. Funny.  Rather, in this movie Ryan Gosling gets by, by doing shit like this:

PUT THE SHIRT BACK ON RYAN, you're making the rest of us schmucks look like just that, schmucks!  

Anywho, I think you get the idea; there is no reason why supporting characters in a romantic comedy can't be sexy too!  Just look at Marisa Tomei in "Crazy, Stupid, Love;" when she goes crazy, sex-starved school teacher on poor ol' Steve Carrell, we should all be so lucky!

Time to deal with another misnomer about what makes a good, romantic comedy supporting actor or actresses.  What about Michael Constantine's performance as Gus Portacalos, Tula (Nia Vardalos) father.  Too me, Gus Portacalos' character IS what makes "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" work.  He is the main protagonist's father, yet at the same time one could I argue -- and I would -- that Gus Portacalos is the story's main antagonist at the same time; as he stands in opposition to Tula expanding her life beyond the restaurant that her family owns. 

Take Michael Constantine's Gus Portacalous out of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and you really compromise the story, eliminating a vital area of conflict.  Gus Portacalous is by far the most interesting character in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  And Michael Constanineshowed great comedic timing and character acting in his portrail of Tula's father.  La-oved Gus Portacalous.  YET I would not rank him the best of all time.  That's coming later in the show, kids.

On the ladies side of the ledger it feels like women in romantic comedies are used more as romantic councillors to the main protagonist.  Sometimes rivals, sometimes comedic relief, like say Isla Fisher in "Wedding Crashers" (2005: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn).  Personally, I thought the very premise of "Wedding Crashers" was offensive.  YET, even despite that, Isla Fisher breathed some well needed life into this lemon of a movie.  And that's what a good supporting role can do; make the movie tolerable. 

Back on point.  For me it feels like in most romantic comedies the supporting roles for women work with the female main protagonist to sort out their lives, and process matters pertaining to their love interest.

Of all the female supporting romantic comedy actress out there, it should come as no suprise that my favorite of all is Judy Greer, she played Lucy Wyman in "13 Going on 30" and has played supporting actress gigs on rom-coms such as: "Love Happens" (2009: Jennifer Aniston, Aarron Eckhart), 27 Dresses (2008: Katherine Heigl).  Too bad in real life Judy Greer is married to Dean E. Johnsen since December 17, 2011 as per IMBD.  Would have loved to have gotten a shot at that title.  Dean, you're a lucky man.  On the surface, looks wise, Judy Greer is exactly what I'm looking for, FYI for all the single ladies out there. 

Okay, so know I've laid out a couple supporting actors and actresses in romantic comedy movies, but of all of them who do I say did it best?  You'll never guess...

Michael Rispoli, Joey Fusco Jr. in "While You Were Sleeping" (1995: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman)."  Sometimes I just watch "While You Were Sleeping" JUST to watch Michael Rispoli BRILLIANT performaceas schlub, who doesn't even realize that he is a schlub, Joey Fusco Jr.  In Joey's mind he's a candidate for Lucy's heart, but in Lucy's mind, he's a non-contender.  Joey Fusco Jr. really adds something of value to the mix in "While You Were Sleeping" when Jack and Lucy get close to kissing in one scene and Jack talks about "leaning", Joey sees them from a distance and notes that he sees Jack as leaning, then warns Jack that if Lucy wants him dispatched he's the guy to do it as he knows karate, then immediately upon turning around nearly loses his party hat as it hits a branch and causes him to stop and readjust it.  Funny stuff.  But then again nearly every time Michael Rispoli's Joey Fusco Jr. is on the screen I found myself chuckling. 

Best supporting actor in a romantic comedy EVER, Michael Rispoli as Joey Fusco Jr. in "While You Were Sleeping."  And I would give the 2nd place trophy to John Candy as Freddie Bauer in "Splash."  3rd place to Michael Constanine as Gus Portacalos in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  Ladies, you need to step up.  Traditionally the rom-com is regaurded as women's territory, YET as pertains to supporting actors and actresses no one from the women's ranks is worthy of cracking my top three.  What's up with that?  Women you need to step up your game.  More appropriately, writers you need to step up your game and create a memorable, supporting role for an actress in rom-com.

In summary, I think supporting actors and actresses best serve a romantic comedy when they provide comedic relief therein.  Sure their are many other functions a supporting actor or actress can provide in a romantic comedy.  They can be a romantic b storyline, like say a Ryan Gossling and Emma Stone are in "Crazy, Stupid, Love."  They can be mentors like Rossie O'Donnel is in "Sleepless in Seattle."  Supporting actor and actresses roles should provide LIFE to the movie.  They need to add something.  Balls in the air.  You risk a lot IF you put all your stock in the leads carrying the movie.  Remember, one of E.C. Henry's beliefs is that romance makes a lot of people fell uncomfortable.  Thus, the support actors and actresses can provide a vital function to the movie going experience: they can give the audience something else to key in on, other than the central romance.  Balls in the air.  Comedy, memorable characters.  Get it?

As for the opening shot from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" I did that in honor of the cast, which I thought was outstanding.  Of all the romantic comedies ever made I think "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" had the best ensemble of supporting members of any in the history of film.  I'd give "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" as being a close second on that front.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Still working on that pesky teen comedy thing.  Working the late 2nd to 3rd act scenes mostly.  Going back into that characters too.  Think I may have my best female heroine since Stacy Dutchmen of "Give It Up for Chimpy", we'll see...  But at least I'm having fun, and no longer feel paralyzed.  I'm working through my story's issues.  Not all the way there yet, but DAILY tangable progress is being made.  That said, I still don't have a definitive done date in mind yet.  Too far off to see.  Still in the 1st draft building stage.  And I feel in my heart that it's going to take multipe drafts to hone this story and get it to a place where I can honestly say I've taken the story, its promise and potential, and take it the highest level I'm capable of taking it.  

I am a perfectionist.  And I hold myself to a high standard.  Sure I may have not made a sale to this point in my career.  But I hope to someday.  

P.S.S. on a personal note I took my parents and my aunt out to eat last night at the The Salish Lodge at the Snoqualmie Falls.  Found out lobster bisque sounds much better than it actually tastes.  Though I was getting a seafood soup, but instead the stuff was orange and tasted like squash, could barely choke the stuff down, BUT at $ 15 a bowl, you bet your ass I ate it all.  Anywho, $ 331 dollars -- and a genuine smile from my mom later, we all went home happy.  Ever since I saw "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" where Benjamin Barry made lamb for Andie Anderson, I've been meaning to try lamb.  Finally did, as the Salish had that on their menu, and they didn't disappoint.  I LA-OVE lamb.  Can't wait to trying making myself, and a la Benjamin Barry gunna try to do that with an accompanying cherry glaze.

Life in a Post-Prometheus World

Been almost two months since "Prometheus"came out -- and now what do I hafta look forward to in a post-Prometheus world?  Nada, nothing.  You see, for me, Ridley Scott's"Prometheus" was the most anticipated movie of the year.  I mean prior to its release on June 8, I scoured the Internet reading anything and everything on its build up.  I was hooked.  And who wouldn't be after a trailer like this:

 

But ultimately Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" was quite a disappointment.  It was not the classic I'd hoped going in it would be.  This lead me to reflect on it and other movies that have come out this year to see how the movies, overall are doing so far this year.  Was 2012 a "good" year or a "bad" year for the movies?  Let's see...   

First off, let's tackle the notion if it's fair or not to judge 2012 when not all of it's movies have come out yet.  Fair -- to a point.  The thing is the "big" summer movies have all been released.  And it's not until Thanksgiving - Christmas that I anticipate anymore real, legitimate shot at being a hit movies will come out.  Really looking forward to seeing Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln"and Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey".

From what I've seen here's how I rank the big-hitters of 2012 movies this year:

"The Dark Knight Rises": 5 out of 10.  Really didn't care for this movie.  Thought Bane was a poor choice of a villain for Batman to battle.  Was reminded of the movie, "The Siege" for some reason while watching this.  Sure there were some things to like about this movie, but the choice for Bane to raid Batman's fortress to get the necessary arms to hold Gotham hostage wasn't very good.  And why would anyone drive a city to utter chaos on a suicide mission anyway?  Point: bad guys were poorly motivated. 

"The Amazing Spider-man":5.3 out of 10.  This re-boot was pretty much a misfire.  Emma Stone isn't beautiful or captivating enough -- to me at least -- to carry this movie as Peter Parker's love interest.  And the whole build-up to how Peter Parker became Spider-man wasn't done as well as the 2001 "Spiderman."  Did like the re-imagining of OSCORP, but the main villain, the Lizard, was pretty stupid. 

"Prometheus": 7.1 out of 10.  Visually stunning, but the "great mystery" remains just that.  The Engineers were a real disappointment, and I no longer am hyped about seeing a "Prometheus II".  

"The Hunger Games": 7.8 out of 10.  Out here in Washington you could still go to the movies and see this show 3 + months after it was originally released in March.  Talk about a show with legs!!  The Hunger games "world" really didn't work for me: 1800s-esque living in a post-apocalyptic word with cutting edge, state-of-the-art, wizzbang visual computer-generated stuff being made by the government-run TV people.  BUT the teen angle worked, and Jennifer Lawrence did a great job as Katniss.

"The Avengers": 8 out of 10.  Funny movie.  Weak on plot, but the Avenger superheros almost make you forget that.  Loki almost singlehandely sinks this ship.  My gosh, Hollywood has got to come up with better villains than that.  

"Ted": 8.8 out 10.  Very funny movie.  Biggest surprise of 2012 -- by far!  Good love story, and the teddy bear who grows up with the boy who wished him into existence works.  Kinda raunchy, not the kind of show you can take your parents to, but this was definately the best show of 2012 I've seen so far.   

So what comes next?  Well, George Kennedy's "Fury Road" (2013) is filming now.  Mad Max 20-some-plus years after "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" -- which I wasn't too fond of.   BUT I did really like 1981's "The Road Warrior" so I'll PROBABLY go see "Fury Road" when it comes out, but hearing Charlize Theron shaved her head for her role in the movie kinda throws a wet blanket on my enthusiasm for "Fury Road."  Why uglifya beautiful girl?  Not a proponent of that.    

Gosh, I feel such cynicism building up in my heart for movies.  The post-Prometheus let-down is a dangerous thing.  The movies used to be such an outlet for me.  A place to go to get inspiration.  But right now that well looks awefully dry.  

O, well.  Hopefully over time my heart will heal and learn to trust again.  It's just hard.  And what about my beloved rom-com genre.  Sigh...  Not seeing enough good ones of those coming out, though one could argue that "Ted" was a rom-com in a coming-of-age buddy movie -- which I just saw for the 3rd time tonight and STILL laughed at the jokes even when I knew they were coming.  My favorite: when the Ted locks his brakes then apologizes to the driver he nearly hit, "Sorry, I was sending a Tweet."   

As far as my own contributions go perhaps that line from Norman Osborn in "Spiderman" 2001 best sums it up, "Back to formula?  You want to take the whole line back to formula?!" My current spec. script is a bit of a mess right now.  I'm over 90 pages in and off my original outline that should be the near the beginning of Act II.  Not good.  What I've written so far is very herky-jerky; a product of too many start and stops, with not enough consecutive, back-to-back, days of writing.  Example: a bad guy I introduced at the beginning of the script gets lost for about 60 pages then comes back in the story.  Don't know how keen you are about story development, but that isn't good.

"Back to formula."  Means going deeper into my outline to try to refine the story down.  One of my biggest problems in my own writing is that I tend to have A LOT of characters.  I like people, I guess, and this is just my own warped way of showing that.  I have a tendencyto really want to get into each and every character too.  So what ends up happeing is that these characters are real important, than another character comes along and they become real important.

Another big problem with my writing is that I don't write strong enough protagonists.  Yikes, that's not good.  Why?  Because protagonists are your lead actor or actresses roles.  The lead protagonist is the star.  The hero that the audience members are supposed to root for.  And as a writer, that right up near the top of the deck of things you must have: a top-flight protagonist.  But a lot of the times that's where I fail the most -- and I realize that.

One of the other developments in my life is that I'm starting to feel a sequel to "The Commune" building momentum in my heart.  Unfortunately "The Commune" is dark place too, and I'm not sure if I really want to revisit that.  The mind is a frustrating place.  I need to find more uplifting stories to tell.  The thing is, I've got one.  It's an animated, animal coming-of-age movie.  I rough sketched the story out to my mother when she was cooking one night, and she really like it.  YES, if your mother likes something that does count.  It counts for a lot.   

So what comes next? Well, I continue to put one foot in front of the other.  Soldier on.  Try to refine the story I'm working on now.  Try to hone in and center the story more on my main protagonist, and minimize the affect of the others.  I think this story is going to take a bunch of drafts to really nail.  Right now it's just all over the place, and definitely not ready to show.  I had hoped to be wrapping up this story by the end of July, but now it looks like I'm going to have to cut myself some slack, and push out the completion date of this project. 

I'm no quiter.  What I start, I will finish.  Not sure how the final product of his teen comedy will look, but I am committed to seeing it through.  Why stress about how long it takes to write anyway?  I mean I'm on no one's clock.  This whole spec. script thing is a do-at-your-own-pace kind of thing anyway.  No one really cares what I do, so I may as well just commit to making the best piece of art I can.  Then show it to the world when I'm ready. 

And don't get me wrong.  There are a lot of things about the current spec. script I'm working on that do excite me.  For once in my life I've written, what I think will be, a really cute, cute meet.  A cute meet is beat in a romantic comedy where the audience sees the two leads interact in a romantic way for the first time.  And besides that cute meet I've also got another romantic exchange later in the script that I'm genuinely happy with -- on first draft/not-yet-all-the-way polished yet.

So I soldier on into places unknown.  (Well, with an outline the place is kinda known, but all the details of the map are not all filled in yet).  And hopefully all the magic hasn't left my wand yet and I can still...

We'll see.  Stay tuned...

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA