Bloggin' On: Adventures in Screenwriting and Other Observations for January 3, 2020

Hello, everyone! It's Friday, January 3, 2020, and the first weekend of the new year (and new decade) is nearly upon us. In my corner of Florida, it's almost noon, and it's another cool early winter day. Right now the temperature outside is 78℉ (26℃) under mostly cloudy skies, so the light that strains to stream through the window is dim and gray. The high for today is expected to reach 83℉ (28℃) when the clouds recede later, and the forecast says the afternoon weather is going to be almost summer-like.

Well, for those of you who are wondering whatever happened to Happy Days Are Here Again, a screenplay I wrote last year for Popcorn Sky Productions, I have an update. My friend Juan Carlos Hernandez, who I met when I signed up for Drama I at South Miami High School in my senior year there, texted me earlier this week and said that he and his team (actress-producer Adria K. Woomer-Hernandez and their son Anthony "A.J." Hernandez) started filming Happy Days Are Here Again. 

From what Juan told me, they have been filming for a few days; yesterday Juan shot one of my favorite scenes in the script ﹘ Scene 11, which takes place in the kitchen of the characters' New York City apartment.

Screenshot from Movie Magic Screenwriter shows a fragment from the script for Happy Days Are Here Again. © 2020 Alex Diaz-Granados

I don't know how much of Scene 11 was filmed; as of last night Juan himself had not performed (he plays Guillermo in Happy Days Are Here Again), partly because he was focusing on the other cast members' performances, but also because he wasn't sure how pronounced his character's Cuban accent should be.

I'm not a director, but I do know how I envisioned the characters as I was writing the script. I also know what I like to see in a comedy, and what I want to avoid is a cartoon-like depiction of the characters, especially Guillermo. So I texted Juan back, telling him to not try to lay the accent too thick. I don't want people to think that I wrote the character as a stereotype or a caricature. So basically my advice was, "Don't try to do an Al Pacino in Scarface impersonation. Just be yourself but with a different political perspective."  

I also asked Juan not to telegraph the humor by mugging for the camera or delivering his lines like Jimmie Walker used to in Good Times. "Play it straight," was my suggestion. 

Because Anthony is only available for a short time before he heads back to college, I expect that the shoot will continue for a few days, then Juan and Adria will do the editing and the sound mix. After that, Juan will post the finished film on YouTube. 

So, as far as I can tell, all is well on the filmmaking front. 

I'm still waiting on my two John Denver albums and the Great Voices Sing John Denver Blu-ray to arrive. The CDs of An Evening with John Denver and John Denver: Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits will get here later today, but not in time for me to review either until this weekend or even next week. 

As for Great Voices Sing John Denver, the latest tracking update from the U.S. Postal Service says the package left Los Angeles at 8:59 AM (PST) on January 1 and is scheduled to arrive in my part of Florida on the 9th. 

I really need to change my daily routine, at least a bit. Ever since I left Miami and started living here, I stick to the same shtick almost every single day. I wake up super early during the work-week,  write pretty much from morning to early evening, then go to the common room to eat dinner and spend time with my Significant Other before she heads to bed around 10 or so. Obviously, I take breaks to shower, get dressed, and eat small meals throughout the daytime hours, but I don't go to a nice sunlit part of the house to read a book or listen to music. I used to do that at my house in Miami, so maybe I need to start doing that here.   

Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now. Hopefully, the Dotard in Chief who occupies the White House won't get us into another war in the Middle East just to distract from impeachment, but that, Dear Reader, is a topic for another day. So, until next time, I'll catch you all on the sunny side!