Comments for Landen Celano

Comment on On Creating Original Material by Rebecca Laffar-Smith (@laffarsmith)

Rebecca Laffar-Smith (@laffarsmith) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:49:36 +0000

I believe that while we can spin off on a million existing ideas, each writer does so in a unique way. There really are no copies, in that sense. The movies that influence my writing add something to my voice but our voices are shaped by so many different influences that the final product is something fresh and unique. (Usually.)

The greatest challenge when choosing to write a Western is that the genre has a very cliché image. The truth is, as a genre there is still a great deal of unexplored territory. Western can be any story set in frontier outback from around the mid-1800s to mid-1900s. That gives you a lot of room to make a movie. The trouble is, the cliché version of what makes a Western is the ideal of gun-toting outlaws riding horses and dreaming of the gold rush. That ideal has been done in so many different ways that it has almost completely lost its charm. It would be challenging to find a way to make that spin unique enough that anyone would want to watch it let alone spend millions of dollars to make it. Instead, think about all the untold, or undertold, stories in that setting. How many movies talk about growing up in that era? How many stories talk about being a woman in that era? How many stories talk about cultivating the land in that era? If you strip away the cliché, you are still left with a great deal of rich material and thousands of stories but I think the key is to dig into the characters and their lives rather than the action.

It’ll be interesting to see what unique spin you find for your Western and it certainly is a challenge that will test you as a writer.

Comment on Discussing Your Project with Others by landencelano

landencelano — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:41:16 +0000

Rebecca –
Thanks for your comment. Cheerleading is very important, and it’s something I think a lot of people overlook in terms of success. I am lucky to have people who will read my work, however I write every.single.day. I only have someone read something I’ve written maybe once a month. That’s still a lot of hours spent alone to question my career path

But that just proves even further how important a support system during those moments when someone will hear you out or read your work. That’s why Twitter works so well as a communal support system of writers.

Perhaps subconsciously that’s another reason I created this blog? I need to be loved!

Thanks for YOUR support.

Comment on Coffee, Tea, and Cappuccino by On Creating Original Material | Landen Celano

On Creating Original Material | Landen Celano — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:27:00 +0000

[...] I will fully embrace this, particularly if it is a short film. For Coffee, Tea, and Cappuccino, I had written it after seeing Planes, Trains & Automobiles. As an actor, I was frustrated in [...]

Comment on Discussing Your Project with Others by Rebecca Laffar-Smith (@laffarsmith)

Rebecca Laffar-Smith (@laffarsmith) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:04:58 +0000

I can definitely relate to a need to feel validated. You’ve been very fortunate to have family and friends who will read your work. I think one of the greatest struggles I’ve had more recently is that I don’t have a cheering squad helping me through a bad day, assuring me I’m not wasting my time, and supporting my dreams and inspirations. Writing might be a very solitary career, but, like most things in life, we can’t do it completely alone. Without that cheering squad, there is no one waiting for my script, no one pushing me to send more pages, no one else is invested in my writing. And, because in a low mood I tend to have very low opinion of myself it is easy to let myself down. So I think we need others. The key is to remember that others are there to shore up our emotional support; they can’t do the writing for us. While others can help us see our blind-spots our creative decision needs to be our own.