Bloggin' On: Adventures in Screenwriting and Other Musings for January 22, 2020

Portrait of the Screenwriter As a Young Man, circa 1986. (Photo Credit: Peter C. Townsend)

Hello, there, Constant Reader, and welcome once again to Bloggin' On, the blog-within-a-blog section of A Certain Point of View where I don't "do" reviews or the occasional bit of political commentary.

It's Wednesday, January 22, 2020, although because it was a three-day weekend due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, it feels oddly like it's Tuesday...and a spectacularly cold Tuesday at that. Right now (it's mid-morning as I write this) the temperature outside is 36℉ (3℃) under sunny skies, although the wind chill lowers the feels-like temperature to the freezing point. The temperature will rise a bit as the hours pass; the forecast calls for a high of 60℉ (16℃) and some cloudiness, but overall, by Florida standards, it's going to be c-c-c-cold out there.

Yesterday I got (via text) an update on our comedy film project from actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez. He says that the shooting part of the movie is done; he got the last shots he needed earlier this week. He informed me that he already started editing the film and will do some of the audio looping once he has what he calls a "semi-final cut."

Screenshot from Movie Magic Screenwriter 6, featuring an excerpt from my screenplay

Juan also said that Happy Days Are Here Again is no longer the title of the film; he says that the title was fine for a placeholder, but now that the picture has "grown bigger" (Juan's term) and undergone revisions during principal photography, we need to rename the movie. Juan said that the working title has been Ronnie and the Two Nimrods. He explains it thusly:

"The story focuses on Ronnie, who is neutral and just wants to have a relaxing day with her family. But they (Juan and Anthony's characters, Guillermo and Jerry) are the nimrods you wrote."

As for the overall feel of the film, Juan had this to say:

"The movie isn't so much like All in the Family. It's more M*A*S*H-like."

Presently, the title change (and I have no idea what the final title will be, although I half-jokingly suggested All My Neuroses) means that we now have a new "main theme." As of right now, the music Juan has chosen is America the Beautiful.

Why America the Beautiful? Per Juan: "I hum it as I open the door (in an early scene at the beginning). It's also Ronnie's theme...she's America here."

He did say that he thinks I'll like the finished product; the movie apparently took a life of its own and opened up once I wrote a few more scenes for Ronnie (Adria K. Woomer-Hernandez). He says that most of the dialogue is as I wrote it, so he's not going to ask for a co-writer credit and that Adria definitely enjoyed playing the only sane character in the story.

The biggest challenge Juan says he has at the moment is the pacing. Nevertheless, he is confident that we'll have a good little movie when it is completed.

Coming Soon to A Certain Point of View

© 2009 Eagle Rock Entertainment

As you know, A Certain Point of View is my outlet for the kind of writing I used to do for Epinions, Associated Content/Yahoo! Voices, and Examiner, which basically consisted of reviews of books, movies, and music albums, with occasional reviews of Star Wars collectibles. So I'm excited about some upcoming blog posts, including reviews of Star Wars: Dooku - Jedi Lost, John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan and Francesco Rosi's 1984 film adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen. 

Well, folks, that's all the news that's fit to print. An hour has elapsed since I started to write this, and I'm both chilly and hungry, so I'm off to the kitchen to see what I can eat for breakfast. After that, I'll probably do some reading or maybe watch something on television.

So, until next time, I'll catch you all on the sunny side of things!