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Turning A 3-Legged Dog Into A Movie Star

May 11, 2012 2 Comments

Ever felt like you had nothing to lose?

It’s a very dangerous and yet exciting place to be. I don’t think that I was acting out of desperation when the idea first came to me; something inside me leapt for joy like it knew I was on to something.

I went straight to my computer and typed into Twitter…

“Searching the World For a 3-Legged Dog to turn into a Hollywood Star. Pass it on.”

I had no money to make our film, but I was believing in the impossible. Have a great story, create enough online attention and then surely the money will come.

P:S: This is the 16th in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Geoff Talbots Story

Stuck In The Bowels Of Rock Bottom

May 8, 2012 8 Comments

Square one or rock bottom is a terrible place to be, never mind all the clichés about “the only way on being up.”

Up is too far away.

Square one is more like the plughole at the bottom of the bath, where it feels like the life us draining away from your soul.

Anyone whose ever visited square one doesn’t bother with “positive thinking clichés” when they meet another unfortunate visitor. Usually they just stop and listen.

Tell me about your rock bottom in the comments section below.

For me rock bottom, visit number 1, was the death of the 20 million dollar dream, but little did I know that salvation was coming in the form of a three-legged dog.

P:S: This is the 14th in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Geoff Talbots Story

Why I Said No To 20 Million Dollars

May 7, 2012 1 Comment

Some people say that the metal of a man is defined by what he will say no to.

Sometimes your “no” may cost you everything you have. But will you still say “no?”

I said “no” to the men with their $20 Million dollars. I said no to them because they were not truthful men.

I said “no” because they behaved like a fickle hearted women, who loves to date but refuses to commit to anything more serious. That kind of women (or man) numbs your heart and steals your dreams.

P:S: This is the 13th in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles over the last 3 years. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Geoff Talbots Story

Seven Problems With The Movie Industry

May 3, 2012 2 Comments

My experiences on the periphery of film industry in Hollywood, has highlighted several issues with our current filmmaking system; issues which substantially decrease the chances of a quality film actually getting made and reaching us at the cinema. In no particular order…

1. Lack of Single Strong Voice – the best films originate from a singular place of passion, yet studio executives who have never written screenplay(s) seek their own fame and significance by meddling with the vision of the writer(s).

2. Popcorn & Coke – it is a well know fact that cinemas make the majority of their money off these two commodities (1000% plus mark-up), because of this the cinemas and studios demand a large portion of films appeal to the young male demographic as they are the biggest consumers of these commodities.

3. The Celebrity Culture – unfortunately the art of casting has become far more of a commercial decision than an artistic one; the best actor for the part doesn’t get the role, the biggest celebrity does; this results in diluted, weakened storytelling.

4. The Financial Model – there is way too much money spent first making films and then marketing them; they are still using the model of the 80’s & 90’s, where box office success was determined solely by the opening weekend performance.

5. Risk Aversion – because people without a creative skill-set are making the final decisions on casting & green lighting there is a strong tendency to stick with the known and the proven, the results, more boring, generically made films without a soul and without anything significant to say are being made.

6. Visual Effects – our stories are become so effects heavy, that our filmmakers are losing the ability to work with actors, and our stories are light on subtext and becoming increasingly filled with clichéd performances.

7. The Popular Culture Infusion – great films cut us in a way that we need to be cut, we need to see ourselves, we need to be uncomfortable, we need to be challenged; where are the filmmakers willing to plant their roots deep, to look both inside and outside of themselves and then make a provocative statement?

P:S: This is the ninth in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles over the last 3 years. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Problems With Movie Industry

How The Love Of Money Defiles Creativity

April 25, 2012 11 Comments

Money and Creativity are terrible lovers but also best friends. They need each other but they cannot live together.

When money seduces creativity and takes her to bed, the soul of creativity is often damaged and hurt beyond recognition.

I write this because I felt the cruel hand of money as a bad lover and not a friend. The truth is I may have flirted with money but I never allowed myself to be seduced: I wasn’t wooed, I was raped.

And this is why our screenplay, the wildly creative and outrageous “The Emancipation Of Putz” has to this day never been made into a movie.

The men with the money promised to love her forever, but they were filled with greed, they loved no other except their own.

P:S: This is the sixth in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles over the last 3 years. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Money and Creativity

It Was All About The Emancipation Of Putz

April 24, 2012 1 Comment

I had written a comedy screenplay, a Jewish screwball comedy/satire called “The Emancipation Of Putz.”

It was strange that I had written such a piece for I was not Hebrew and I had never been to Israel, however I was more than familiar with my own need for emancipation.

A company out of the United Kingdom loved my script and they had agreed to a 100% finance deal if I attached a well-known Hollywood Producer; they had connected me to Bonnie Bruckheimer, who was formerly married to Jerry Bruckheimer and a very successful producer in her own right.

Bonnie loved the script and she loved me (but not in the same way she had loved Jerry), and as we met over a $9 bottle of sparkling water in West Hollywood I could feel my future beginning to crystallize.

Filmmaking had never been so easy. I was sure that in a few short weeks I would be moving out of my $9/night hostel into my very own Beverly Hills condo.

P:S: This is the fifth in a series of blogs chronicling my adventures in Los Angeles over the last 3 years. See “How the F@*k Did I Get Here” to begin the adventure.

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Geoff Talbots Story

How I’ve Walked The Dangerous Side Road to Distraction

April 13, 2012 0 Comments

Some side roads are easy to spot, you have to hang a hard left to wander off the path that is laid out before you.

Have you ever chased a dream and got lost along the way?

Sometimes getting lost is pleasurable, the walking is easy and the company is good; and the lifestyle is so damn satisfying that you begin to enjoy your slumber.

Sometimes the side road is an almost exact replica of the pilgrams path, so we think we’re walking up the mountain, when really we’re just walking around it.

Fools like me, have been known to sit down on a bench for a break, and there we rest, falling into a deep eternal sleep, dreaming of the view at the top of the mountain.

It is time to wake up.

It is time to begin walking again.