My freelance podcast episodes for Parcast’s “Cults” series are finally out - enjoy!
Work Update
Well, I had grand plans to spend my mornings writing exploratory flash fiction pieces as part of a sort of mosaic introduction to the world of the feature that I’m planning to write right now. But, the universe it seems has other plans, good plans! I start a new job tomorrow as a writers’ assistant on a new FreeForm show. It’s a really cool, all-original world with some really interesting concepts and societal commentary baked into it. Excited to see where it all leads. Lots of preparation to do today, research, re-reading the pilot, etc. More to come… Though I’ll note upfront that my posts may be reduced in number this week, below my usual goals.
And, since I’m now off the previous show and all its details are in the trades, I think I can happily clarify that I was on Raised By Wolves - created by Aaron Guzikowski (PRISONERS, CONTRABAND, The Red Road) and produced/EP101-102 directed by Ridley Scott. They’re in production on EP102 right now, and will be in production through August. No idea when it’ll air though…
Reflecting on that experience, well, it was amazing to be honest. Like the room before that one, a very intimate and relatively small size (showrunner, 4 writers - 2x co-producers, 2x co-EPs) everyone with totally varied show/writing backgrounds and experiences. Also like the room before RBW, the showrunner came from a primarily features background so it was interesting to see Aaron’s style of story formulation. I have no doubt it’ll be a very different experience on this upcoming show with a more classic network schedule and TV-originated showrunner. If I had to sum up, I’d say that RBW taught me about creating an entire world from whole cloth, original and expansive, and how to prioritize the details of that world - knowing what’s relevant to the story and what can be ignored (and what can’t be, for logic reasons). I learned about how flexible character arcs and episode beats/climaxes can be — what can be flipped or transferred to other episodes, etc. Whether a secret identity plot-line can be the whole backbone of a show, or relegated to the periphery. I also took an entire “Show How-To” notes doc for myself as I took notes. One day I’ll organize it, what can be shared widely at least, and post it. The writers were all very wise in their own way, not to mention hilarious and a joy to work with. If anything, that notes doc serves as a reminder of all that.
Matt Berninger on Love
Late Valentine’s Day related post. Just wanted to share this link here. An awesome playlist by Matt Berninger of the National, accompanied by excellent and articulate musings on what artists do and how they try to communicate about love.
(Flash) Story a Day
Since I’m still in the research stages for my next project, I’ve been feeling guilty about how little “writing” I’ve been doing. Literal real words on a page writing, as opposed to gathering resources as part of the longer process - which might technically qualify as writing but who knows. So, rather than just jot a thought down a day here - I’m going to challenge myself for a little more creative pressure. Starting… tomorrow? I will write a flash fiction story here in place of my usual post (5x days a week). I won’t edit it, I won’t even write it in Word - it will appear and be completed in the space of the blog. I’m thinking it might be a nice way to experiment with the ideas that are forming for my feature — big ideas and potential scenes and themes that are floating around but haven’t concretized into something yet.
Coffee Commissary
This is a bit of silly post, but I have no inspiration for anything creatively interesting today. So, instead I’ll just note - in e-diary fashion - that my entire relationship to Los Angeles can be traced through a local coffee chain named Coffee Commissary. It started in Burbank, where I worked my first LA-based gig, as the assistant to John Lee Hancock while he worked on post on The Founder (with Michael Keaton). Right down the street from our editing studio, on West Olive, was Coffee Commissary. Coffee runs, plenty of lunches and dinners there. Sometimes I’d work there in the morning before heading to the office. I was living in Boyle Heights then, in a big open loft near a beer-bottling factory. Now I live in Palms, near Culver City and I go to the Coffee Commissary there — have worked there through unemployment and many busy weekends too. It’s really a haven for all freelancers, open 7AM-8PM every day. I find myself working back at the Burbank location, after taking a meeting at Disney. It’s still the cozy, lively, writer-friendly spot that it was years ago. Delicious food too…
2018 - Year of the Documentary
Reflecting on the year in cinema, it feels like the first time I’ve ever personally regarded the documentaries more than the fiction. Don’t get me wrong, I love documentaries but they’ve never been my focus creatively or for entertainment. So the fact that they’re more on my radar, and have affected me more deeply than the compounded experience of dramas, is pretty surprising.
Some docs I’ve seen that were truly amazing, if not groundbreaking: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Three Identical Strangers (admittedly I think the story is more impressive than the documentary craft work here, but still), Free Solo (groundbreaking - per my previous post!), Minding the Gap (virtuoso), They Shall Not Grow Old (technically astounding, per my previous post!). And those are just some I’ve seen relatively recently!
Others still on my list to watch: Notorious RBG, Shirkers, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Dark Money, Recovery Boys, Of Fathers and Sons, the list goes on…
Meanwhile, just looking over Oscar noms for general consideration of cinema, I find myself pretty uninspired. A few standouts, of course: Roma, The Favourite, A Star is Born, Black Panther.
But others that have fought their way into the various top categories I feel haven’t changed the game in any discernible way. Green Book (blunt in attempt and Oscar-baity to the maximum), Vice (almost virtuosic but fumbles the tone and character study I think), Bohemian Rhapsody (no), BlackKklansman (a good entry in the Spike Lee canon but to me hardly new or his best, though I’m glad he’s getting it for general recognition), and while I included Black Panther above - I don’t think it’s creatively or technically achieved anything new in movies — while it should certainly be recognized for the profound cultural impact it achieved as a vehicle for African and African-American style, influence, strength and relevance.
Outside of the Hollywood system, there was some truly amazing foreign films (as there always are, honestly) — and a few digital/streaming films made it into the awards race, but that’s as far as it goes. I had to go back and study the year’s history to compile this list — while these documentaries still actively live in my head and in my heart, all own their own. For that reason, I’ll say that 2018 was the year of the documentary.
Discipline and Painfotainment
As I continue research for my next project, a feature, I found myself with an interesting comparison - or rather, an intellectual link.
That is between Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast, specifically Painfotainment (a standalone episode). Foucault is ground zero for modern historical philosophy — or as I understand it to be called, “history of ideas”. Among his many explorations, Foucault analyzes the penal system across European history (especially delving into the moments of the extreme - torture and executions). As he does this, he revisits the codes and rationale for why they did things the way they did - how it evolved to what is it now - and why we’re not necessarily better off. It seems like that is the point behind working at the History of Ideas - to see if ideas in human society, and how those ideas change society, are really evolving or perhaps following a different trajectory. As Foucault intends, I believe, he just wants us to look at history’s rationales in every possible light and apply those lessons to our future.
Meanwhile, Carlin - who I’m a longtime fan of - seems to play the emotional counterpart to Foucault’s intellectual arguments. By that I mean, he revisits history and recreates it in such a way - as a storyteller for the audience - that they can understand the emotional and reactions and mindset of a certain people in a certain moment in history. It is really an incredible effect - how he sets up the relevant context for a historical situation (the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, attending a show at the Coliseum in ancient Rome, etc.) — and then links every bit of context to the potential inner thoughts of the people who allowed/participated/were affected by said historical event. He does this in contemporary terms, “it’d be as if X Y Z happened to you.” It makes for a thrilling sort of adventure ride through history, and more importantly - illuminates how and why people did the things they did in history. Where their ideas came into play, and how.
Ultimately, I think Carlin is continuing in Foucault’s footsteps. And this becomes a concrete connection between the two specific works I cited above. Carlin does a concise yet sweeping history of public executions and torture — trying to figure out why it was such a constant across societies in history up until modern times, and do those urges still live within us today? And at the outset, he cites Discipline and Punish - even referencing the same infamous example that Foucault does, the execution of Robert-Francois Damiens. Foucault tries to understand the ideals and rules of society that led to such a gruesome climax, how there might be instances of logic to learn from one way or the other — while Carlin works to understand what the people in the crowd, the prisoner, the executioner thought and felt as these rules were put into place. Carlin and Foucault go together wonderfully I think, though their subject matter is less wonderful - the full-bodied illumination that comes as a result of their combination is worth it.
TV Summit - Recordings
As noted in the earlier post, we were able to record the later two panels of the event — so I just wanted to share them here. Please note, they are not edited, polished, etc. They’re just the straight up recordings of the moderator and panelist discussions, followed by a 10-min Q&A afterwards. More information included on the Soundcloud page.
Showrunner’s Panel: https://soundcloud.com/eli-edelson/showrunner-panel-tv-aa-summit-12619
Writers’ Room Support Staff Panel: https://soundcloud.com/eli-edelson/writers-room-support-staff-panel-tv-aa-summit-12619
Hope you enjoy!
Free Solo
Had the good fortune to see Free Solo on IMAX last night, I believe it was part of a second theatrical run following its academy nomination. If you aren’t able to make it out to see it, I highly recommend watching the NYT short doc about the making of the film as well as Alex Honnold’s TED Talk. The former will give you a sense of the technical achievement of the film crew to actually pull off this film (as well as the extreme emotional and moral questions that such a film crew faces while observing a free solo climb). And the TED Talk gives you a brief window into Alex’s mindset, his philosophy towards the climb as well as how he literally did it - the mental preparation needed.
The documentary will cover all these topics, though it’s light on the technical climbing and heavier on the emotional stakes. But more importantly, the film gives you a true and transparent window into Honnold’s psychology and drive. To me, the only thing more impressive than Honnold’s physical achievement is the way his mind has evolved towards this singular task. The flip-side of that evolution is the detachment he has from humanity. That may sound harsh, but it’s not like he’s a sociopath. The film shows his detachment from those people he loves in life, detachment from the effects his choices have on them. But also, some serious level of detachment from his own humanity: vulnerability, pride, freedom of choice. The film doesn’t dwell on how Honnold is a sort of trapped man, but it gazes it at directly from time to time - in between gasp-inducing moments. It celebrates him and questions at the same time. For all those reasons, and the sheer breathtaking and terrifying visual roller coaster ride, I highly recommend.
EDIT: wanted to add this link to an article that explores Honnold’s philosophy further. I don’t think the author’s comparison to our country’s culture is particularly fruitful, but otherwise it’s an interesting perspective that applauds Honnold’s pursuit of perfection and truth and optimistically spins his outlook on appreciating life.
Research vs. Writing
I’m on day two of my research for my next feature but already, perhaps prematurely, starting to worry about when I should stop researching and switch to the actual writing. Or is there an ideal equilibrium to be achieved by researching part of the day and writing otherwise? It seems like it’d make the most sense to collect all the relevant information first, take in any information that might add to the depth of the characters and the authenticity of the story. But at the same time, is there a maximum amount of intel that can be reached - and even overflow to the point where I feel overwhelmed? I think my strategy will be research until it stops being exciting and starts being fatiguing. Can always take a writing break to add to the research stockpile later.