Month: July 2004

I, Robot

Writer guy

Will Smith stars in last weekend’s number 1 movie, I, Robot. Set in 2035, he plays Detective Del Spooner with the Chicago Police. Summoned to investigate a suicide of a top scientist with a Robotics Company, he finds himself on the trail of something sinister. Sound familiar?

3 things that work about the film:

1) Eye candy – the robots look fantastic and believable in a cybernetic sort of way.

2) Pacing – the story moves quickly.

3) Action sequences are very tight, although the quality varies.

3 that could use improvement:

1) Plot – there was the scent of swiss cheese in the theater, and it wasn’t the kid 2 rows down who spilled nachos on himself.

2) Cliches – we’ve seen most of these characters/story developments before in other projects.

3) Payoff – because of the holes in the story when the conspiracy was unveiled it didn’t seem to matter.

Verdict – DVD it.

Missing Summer Movie Reviews

Writer guy

Ever wonder what happened to the weekly movie reviews around this place?

Well, I didn’t stop going to the movies. Here’s 5 flicks I saw, but didn’t review.

The Summer Movie Review at a glance…
1)The Terminal � millions of undocumented aliens enter this country every year, but Tom Hanks can’t figure out how to walk through the doors at JFK.
2)The Notebook � it made the Wife cry.
3)Fahrenheit 9/11 � Mike Moore is a Big Fat Rich White Guy. 100% True!
4)White Chicks � They weren’t white and they weren’t chicks. And it wasn’t funny.
5)Anchorman – Will Ferrell is about the only thing not weighing down this ship.

Tired in a good way

Writer guy

I spent the day revising the synopsis for the Ridge Runner. There was a rough draft rusting away on my PC, but it was time for a high gloss finish.

A synopsis demonstrates to an agent or an editor that there is a logical plot to the novel. Typically, they are 250-500 words in length. Since it’s difficult to reduce a year’s worth of work to a single page on demand, most editors advise having a pitch worthy synopsis before writing the novel. Great advice, but difficult to implement in practice.

So here’s what I learned today…
1) The query letter shows you can write
2) The synopsis shows you have a story
3) The chapters shows you can deliver the story

Note the order of the items. The query letter gets the agent’s attention. But before the agent dives into the chapters, they have a clear synopsis in hand. Why? Because anything else wastes their time. Reading 50 pages of double spaced 12 point Courier takes roughly 30 minutes. Even if the agent devotes 1 day to reading chapters, they could consider a maximum of 15-20 prospects a week. But with a synopsis, they can evaluate a project in under 2 minutes and then allocate time to read the chapters that pique their interest.

Those were the days

Writer guy

A former colleague got me thinking about this client we used to service. While staffed with the nicest people in the world, this company also held the record for the most ridiculous expectations.

Here’s a sample:

Client: The application can start my car right?
sam: Tragically, no.
Client: Surely this can be implemented.
sam: Never. That’s just not possible. Not an option.
Client: So how long will it take you to make that work?

And another:

Client: Can we have electronic fulfillment for our hardware orders?
sam: Right after I fix the glitches in the teleporter.
Client: I knew the application could start my car!

Ah, those were the days. They started off with Pepto-Bismol and ended with many Newcastles.