Recently I’ve done several poll on the SFF Facebook group to determine the Top 5 of lots of different things. For the 24 days leading up to the 25th Anniversary (and the day itself, of course) I will be posting a new Top 5 list each day, using the highly scientific and unbiased results from those FB polls. I’ll try to make these posts short but I’m pretty long winded and like to talk so…they’re probably all going to be pretty long. Enjoy?
Top 5 Writers (who are not me)
I have filmed without a script three times before and only one of them worked out (The Walking Stick). The other two attempts were disasters - Frumpy Gets It and The Villain's Workshop. I learned after filming Frumpy Gets It that a script is an essential element of a good production, a lesson I clearly unlearned 17 years later when I attempted The Villain's Workshop.
Usually I write the scripts because it's easier for me to do it and I think I tell a good story...sometimes. But it's often nice to not have to write it. I like to film scripts other people have written too. Especially short films. The last several years I wanted to film but really didn't want to write the scripts which lead to Villain's Workshop and other not-so-great ideas.
Luckily I have had several people over the years who were willing to write scripts for me, or at the very least were willing to let me film scripts they had already written. Here are the top 5 writers in SFF that are not me. I really can't express how much I appreciate these people!
FYI: No one actually voted on this one, I just decided it by myself. Because I can, and because there's only eight anyway (there will soon be nine, but not quite yet).
Honorable Mentions:
The Southern Trio
James McKinley, Morgan Thomas, and Brittany Ann Whalen make up with I call the "Southern Trio" because I met all of them at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. These three are my closest friends from SIUC and we've stayed in touch ever since we went our separate ways. We may be physically far apart but we're still close. Another thing that unites us is that we all co-produced Eidolon together.
Although I was the primary writer for the show, all three of them contributed ideas, dialogue and sometimes whole scenes to the scripts. None have them have written a whole script by themselves so I didn't put any of them in the Top 5 but I wanted to still give them credit for the hard work they put in on guiding, shaping, and building the scripts as well as the actually scenes they wrote.
You can't actually watch any of Eidolon online because there are actors in it that I don't have permission to put on the web (which I understand, agreeing to be broadcast on TV is totally different from being on the internet). Unfortunately that means you can't watch most of the scenes they wrote, but I'll try to upload what I can later this year. James wrote two full scenes - one in Episode 3 and the other in Episode 10, Brittany wrote a long two-part scene in Episode 13, and Morgan wrote two scenes for Episode 3 and lots of little dialogue here and there.
Joel Pierson wrote The Vigil which is about a young woman, Julie, who dies in a tragic accident and her soul is left in the spot where she died. With the help of a ghost named Abner who also died there a century ago she has to learn to deal with her death. The story is sad but sweet and explores life, death, the afterlife, and how to deal with the grief left behind when a loved one dies.
It was first produced as a radio play for WEFT's Radio Theater by Joel. In 1998 I asked him if I could turn the play into a movie and he graciously allowed me to. He still hasn't seen the finished product and I'm kind of embarrassed to show him since it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, mostly due to my poor costume choices, limited actor pool, and lack of lighting. I listened to the radio play and wrote down the script from that. Although the movie didn't turn out great for technical reasons the script was and still is fantastic. Thanks Joel! I'll let you see it someday.
Joel is actually an award winning writer of several radio plays and has written a series of novels known as the Messenger Series. The first one is called Don't Kill the Messenger about a man who is on a mission he doesn't understand. He has visions of people in bad situations that he needs to help and if he doesn't he suffers terrible pain. It's a great book and I need to read the rest of the series. You can find the whole series on sale at amazon.com.
#4 - Jacob MacLeod
Jacob answered my call for writers for the experimental movie Quatrain. Consisting of 16 short films there were four writers who each wrote four scripts but there were some rules. All the scripts had to be multi-purpose, so to speak, and each of the four writers had different rules they had to follow. We all met at the MacLeod farm on an afternoon in September of 2007 for a writer's workshop which was a lot of fun and full of creative energy. Seriously it's one of my favorite SFF memories of all time.
Writer 1 - which was Jacob - had to write four monologue scenes that all had different characters in different places but the same or a very similar speech. Other options involve dialogue but Jacob wanted to try his hand at the monologues which in my opinion was one of the hardest scenes to write.
He did a great job writing four distinct characters in four very different situations with nearly identical lines as he was tasked. I'll add a link here when I've posted them later this year. There were four different actors for the 16 different scenes in different combinations, but all the Scene 1s (the monologue scenes) were played by Annamarie MacLeod, the only actual professional in the company and Jacob's sister she he was probably the best one to write for her anyway.
Unfortunately he discovered on set that the director can take the script in a direction the writer didn't really intend when the scene he wrote as a comedy ended up as a potential horror film, and the scene he wrote to be sad and depressing ended up as a comedy. But that's how things go sometimes and in the end I think he was okay with it.
As talented as he was at writing he turned out to be even more talented as a director, but that's for another story for another post.
#3 - Kate Weber
Kate has been a writer as long as I have - since middle school. She's written some radio plays and other random scripts and skits, one of which I almost filmed but realized it would be too difficult to do as a live action movie and since I can't draw I couldn't really make it an animated film. I was always hoping I could get her to write a short film for me but I don't think I ever asked. I don't know why since she was obviously willing to.
When I sent out the call for Quatrain writers Kate was the first to answer it. She joined in the writers workshop and chose to be Writer 2 and write all the Scene 2 scripts. Her parameters for the scene were that the lines be exactly the same, the characters had to basically be the same but the settings and situations all had to be different. She wrote four fabulous scenes with Bruce and Susie, played by Jacob MacLeod and Brittany Ann Whalen.
In 2009 I again sent out a call for writers to see if anyone wanted to write some short film scripts for my Twisted Tales series. The idea of Twisted Tales was to take a traditional fairy tale and do some kind of twist or spin on it. It could be set in modern times, or genders could be swapped, or have a different ending.
Kate chose to do Cinderella but her twist was to switch the genders of all the characters accept Cinderella herself. She had two step brothers (who were ugly but not wicked), a fairy godfather who got the wrong addresses, and of course a princess instead of a prince. It was actually my first lesbian pairing and it was nice to have that diversity. It's a great little movie that I filmed with two new actors (Antastia Powers and Bri Arnold) in Kansas City, so sadly Kate could be there to watch us film it.
Sometime between 2010 and 2013 Kate sent me another script called Mary Contrary about a woman having a debate with herself - literally. When she has to make a big, life and career altering decision she accidentally summons five versions of her personality and the try to help her decided what to do.
The script was originally intended for Kate to star in (and she would have been great) but since she lived East Coast and I lived in the Midwest - and moved to the West Coast later on - we never seemed to be in the same city at the same time to meet up for anything longer then a meal. There certainly wasn't enough time to film a movie.
It's a tricky character that requires a really good, really funny and versatile actress. Other than Kate there were only three other people who really fit the bill and only one of them still lived in CU. Luckily Jen Weber was available for an afternoon and we filmed it in her apartment in 2013. I love the script and I really enjoyed filming it and watching it. Thanks for writing such a wonderful script Kate!
#2 - Diana Neatrour
Diana has been my writing buddy for a long time and like both Kate and I she has been writing since Middle School. She's very talented and some of her short stories still stick with me. I'd love to read one of her novels some day (hint hint). She even joined a writer's group I started later on (or did she start it? Did we start it together? I can't remember anymore.)
She first helped me out with coming up with episode titles for the Destiny Mini-Series, as helped with titles for Pandora's Box and then and moved on to helping me plot and plan scripts for Pandora's Box. She is credited as the Series Script Editor, not just for Pandora's Box but also for The Curse and The Gift Bearer. Later she helped me come up with the new and final name of the company - Sine Fine Films - as well as ideas for the logo.
When she was...
somewhat "willingly" cast as Captain (later Major) Fenric I was able to get her more involved in all aspects of production, including the writing. She once said "I was really more of a sounding board then anything else. I've known Eleanore long enough...and well enough that I know what questions to ask to get her to figure things out on her own". Diana was part editor, part muse, all awesome. She's also a professional editor so that's even more awesome.
We both really enjoyed playing with the characters and storylines and eventually Diana co-wrote the scripts for Episodes 21-23, Together Again. There is lots of character development, many great moments, some really solid dialogue, and of course the infamous "Muffin Scene".
She was the second to respond to my call for Quatrain writers and ended up choosing to work on Scene 3, becoming (of course) Writer 3. Her challenge was to write the same scene in the same setting with different characters but the same line. The only line that could be different from the others was the last one that would make it clear what the scene was really about and how the dialogue fit with those characters. Diana did crew for Quatrain when we filmed it so she actually got to be there when some of her scenes were filmed. I think they turned out mostly as she expected them too.
Diana also replied to my plea for people to write scripts for Twisted Tales. She chose to do the tale of Mother Hulde about
a wicked stepmother, a lazy step sister, and a hardworking heroine who chases a spindle down a magic well and meets Mother Hulde, a magical being who puts her to work as a servant but sends her home again with an apron full of gold. When the lazy sister tries to repeat the adventure she is sent home covered in pitch.
The twist Diana does sets the tale in modern times and celebrates the idea that completing a task isn’t just about working hard, it’s about being smart. Using a dishwasher instead of a toothbrush to clean Hulde's dishes isn't taking the easy way out, it's being sensible and using the tools you have to get the job done quickly and well.
Although Diana also got to be on set for this one, unfortunately she was not able to see the story through to its full ending because we filmed in a blizzard and it was too cold and too snowy to film the final scene of a montage showing how the sisters each used their magical reward. Sorry Diana, it just wasn't possible. I think it still works without that end but it does lack clarification about the reward.
#1 - Edward Stasheff
Edward Stasheff is my brother and no, he doesn't get the top spot because of that. Well, maybe I'm a little biased, but I think his work speaks for itself. Like me, and most of the writers on this list, Ed has been writing stories since he was a kid. I think he was writing stories before I was (I mean he is four years older than me so that makes sense). He's always been a great storyteller, very good at details, spotting plot holes, and making sure his writing is consistent - none of which I excel at doing. Over the years he's helped me improve my writing by leaps and bounds.
He first wrote Mind Games as a single episode for a friend's episode radio play set in space. He used the characters the main writer/director of the series had created and even though the script was better then most of the others it was never actually recorded. In the winter of 1997 he approached me about turning Mind Games into a movie and in the spring of 1998 he brought me a completely revised script and although the characters and basic plot were similar the final script bore little resemblance to the radio play. It was a stand alone story and it was fantastic.
Basically Mind Games is about the skeleton crew of a space ship sent out on a mission to destroy another space ship. One board are the Captain Vesper Browning (Annamarie MacLeod), the ship's gunner Chevron (Chris Hutchens), the engineer Tilia (Rachel Anderson, and the um...psychic Talin (Chris Lamb)? He had another job but I can't remember what it was right now. Anyway he gets a device that amplifies his powers from the Psi Squad (he's a member of that organization) and of course decides to test it out when they're on a life and death mission. Things go wrong and he goes crazy, believing himself to be the actual Grim Reaper.
We filmed one scene in the spring but when I tried to stop my filming addiction at the end of the summer in 1998 he and Chris Lamb protested begging me to at least finish filming Mind Games. I agreed (and it took ten years to eventually ween myself off Film Crack, thanks a lot Ed) and it we filmed it during the fall of 1998 and the winter/spring of 1999. There's a lot of fun stories about filming Mind Games - including the fact that I fired my brother from directing at one point - but all of that can be found in the
Production Diary so I'm just going to focus on the writing part of it here.
Speaking of writing the original screenplay did not have an end. It was part of an episodic series at first after all and Ed couldn't decide how to wrap up the story with a satisfying end. We discussed several possibilities and I voiced my opinions (he went with my favorite option, FYI). I was the sounding board for him that Diana was for me - ah, the circle of writing.
When December of 1998 rolled around and there was till no end in sight (literally) I was getting anxious. We couldn't film the ending if we didn't have one to film. When he asked what I wanted for Christmas that year I said "the end of Mind Games". He laughed and said, "no, seriously" and I was like "I am very serious". I refused to accept any other gift and he eventually gave me the completed script by some time in January, still leaving us time to finish filming it before the busy summer hit.
I love Mind Games. I think it's one of the best movies Sine Fine Films has ever made and for the love of god I need to finish reediting it so everyone can watch that masterpiece of a movie. The script is seriously professional quality and I could totally see it being made into a blockbuster psychological sci-fi thriller. Ed was also an amazing director, but again that's another story for another post.
Edward also responded to my call for Quatrain writers (I can't remember if he or Jacob was the last to respond, but I guess that doesn't really matter). Unfortunately he kind of got shafted on the scenes because everyone else took the good ones. The final scene - scene 4 - was supposed to be any script for any situation or character using any actors you wanted but it had to use the same theme. Basically Ed was only going to write one of the final four versions.
Later on I revised the criteria (that's the word I've been looking for this whole time!) and asked him to do one scene with the exact same dialogue that could be used in any situation for any characters. The scene was supposed to have two characters but no setting or specific situation. I think that was actually
the most challenging to write in the end because he had to write a script that was interesting, had a plot, but was so flexible it could be used in any situation with any kind of character. Each director (there were four) got to do their own take on it and use whatever actors they wanted.
In my opinion the script is a masterpiece of flexibility. It has two characters who could be anyone, a central and heated but unspecified conflict and a definitive ending. It can be set anywhere with any kind of situation. The dialogue is vague, but solid. I was blown away when I read it. I actually want to use that script more and try different characters and scenarios with it. I already have two or three ideas of other situations. It was also be great for film camp for different people to try their had at actor or directing a scene, and it could easily be used as an example of how to write a solid script with a vague concept but a complete conflict.
Okay, enough praising. I do want to also mention that he wrote another radio play called The Confessional about a hardened exorcist who captures a young vampire, but refuses to kill him until he confesses so whatever is left of his soul can be saved. It's two guys in a dark cellar with one hell of a conflict. Atheist versus Priest, demon versus human, but which one is the real monster in the end? Doesn't that sound good? I've been wanting to film it for ten years now, but I still don't have the script because I think Ed lost his copy of it. Just give me the audio recording Ed! I'll transcribe it myself! I want to fiiiiiilm it!
He is currently working on turning sci-fi and horror compilations into ebooks (as well as our dad's books). Ed has published two books of his own: Predetory Practices about capitalistic cats in space, and Corporate Cthulhu: Lovecraftian Tales of Bureaucratic Nightmare, a collection of
short stories. Although he didn't write any of the stories in Corporate Cthulhu he was the editor and produced the book. He's also edited The Averoigne Archives and the Averoigne Legacy of stories by and in tribute to Clark Ashton Smith. The books are for sale on amazon.com, and you can check out the other projects he's working on at Pickman's Press. He just so happens to be the best damn editor I have ever met. I'm probably biased though.
FYI: I'm always looking for new scripts to film that I didn't write because despite all the stuff I've written I'm not really that good, especially at short scripts. And I'm tired of writing them. Send me scripts please!
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