I found my best film of the year.  Besides (Star Wars the Force Awakens).  I was slightly disappointed with Black Mass and the Martian.

But Steve Jobs delivers.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2080374/

Act one develops the theme, family, business, dislikes, likes,

CHARACTER

Without strong characters, dialog and plot a film, book, or story will fail. 
Here the chemistry is molded between Kate Winslet (best supporting actress) and Michael Fastbender (best actor)

Michael Fastbender

Kate Winslet

Jeff Daniels

Seft  Rogen

And the child actresses. Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo, and Makenzie Moss.

10/10

What is your passion?  Why do you really write?  What is your fuel childhood?  See the Steve Martin post.

What drives you even when you have failed?  What is your vision?

To fully understand creativity, friendship, drive completion and character development see Steve Jobs before it leaves the theaters.

I say this as a person who always disliked Macs, especially the 1998 version featured in the film.

Now I have to find Steve Jobs biography.

FIGHT ON.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

My passion in my first novel was Bart and Beth.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

This past week I talked to a woman who worked as security guard at a major institution.  She had lost her house, husband lost his job and her son with an automotive engineering job was driving a truck from one coast to the other coast every few days.

Another driver I met had a Masters in Human Resources and drove a bus.

What is your alternate job to ensure you can keep writing.

Me I might have to add eight more.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

1029  backtrack

What is your passion?  Why do you really write?  What is your fuel childhood?  See the Steve Martin post.

What drives you even when you have failed?  What is your vision?

To fully understand creativity, friendship, drive completion and character development see Steve Jobs before it leaves the theaters.

I say this as a person who always disliked Macs, especially the 1998 version featured in the film.

Now I have to find the Steve Jobs biography.

FIGHT ON.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

My passion in my first novel was Bart and Beth.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

Speaking of comedy.  Eddy Murphy recently won the Mark Twain award.

His acceptance speech is funny.  I am glad he won a reward for something.  He has made several comments about his lack of Oscar(tm) nominations.  This year’s 2016 Oscar host is  Chris Rock, next year after that should be Eddie Murphy.

As you will note from the last post comedy is hard.

My first screenplay was a comedy.  Excerpts are in my book

Character Within the Screenplay.

----http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

BILLIE

Marcella speak English I am not up to on all that shit.

MARCELLA

He had a food fetish.

BILLIE

He, I thought I told you to give up that I thought we were the thang.

Marcella rolls her eyes.

BILLIE

I take it he doesn't like fast food, girlfriend this don't smell like I would use on anything even if involved sex.  When did this happen?

MARCELLA

Last night, that's why I'm here so Trini a bleached black blond  is talking on the phone and cash from a long legged red head.

TRINI

Get the phone Billie. It's from Detroit.

BILLIE

Transfer it.

Billie reaches into his smock and grabs a cellphone.

BILLIE

Hello this is Billie.

Marcella reaches over and starts talking to a regular

MARCELLA

Yeah girlfriend, it was worth it he gave this smell for one k.

CUSTOMER

Where do you work?

MARCELLA

Onyx's Escort Service,(beat)

Marcella looks up at Billie.

MARCELLA

But I quit last week,(beat)still last I couldn't refuse.

CUSTOMER

So you did something with him.

MARCELLA

No sex, just hair, nothing else. He me up at Page One down in South Billie turns away from Marcella and the other customers to a semi-private phone conversation.

INTERIOR SPLIT SCREEN

AUNT BEV

Hey William ain't talked to you since Mama's funeral.

BILLIE

I'm sorry I don't recognize the voice. is this?

AUNT BEV

You don't, boy Detroit, ain't far  from  Don't let me fly there and whip your ass. You still remember Big Bertha 't you?

Persistence requires effort.  I recently spoke to a writer who could not find time to write.

Money is required for everything.  Cars, house, food, office space yada yada yada, to paraphrase a Seinfeld episode.

There is a blind man who sits patiently waiting for donations rain, snow, sun 105 or 10 below he is in his chair besides a local Walgreens.  Yep eventually his will, his persistence will create a break through.

As I have told you, it took 1.6 years to publish Siolam

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

Be patient, write everyday and well your goal will be 

Speaking of work.

How long will it take you to write a novel?  As noted in a previous post it took the Martian guy three years.  With editing, it took me about 1.6 years of my life.  So before you leave your daytime job think about that.

I’ve been thinking a lot so I started reading the two vol. Dale Carnegie book Pathways to success.

You have to decide what you are going today.  Yesterday, tomorrow don’t count.

Only today counts.

So if you write a ¼ page or ½ page per day don’t think about tomorrows five-page break through.

Today only.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

Today only.  Let that be your motto.

I miss Bernie Mac.  He gave great performances in every film and television show I saw him appear in Charlie Angels, Bad Santa, and my favorite the president’s brother in Head of State.

Time waits for no one, so what did you write today?

Well today, I met a young man who bypassed the marching band I was in almost forty years ago.

He was a music major snare and bass drum.

Fast and slow.

Interesting choices.  You can apply the same to your writings.  Screenplays, plays, and the novel.

I am still writing my animation script, and I am making progress on the second novel.

Make do today, compartments.  Progress like in Siolam.

 http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

The other night a national radio host said well, if I had to rely on my books for a living, I would have to work nine jobs.

Which brings us to the question what do you do in your other jobs.

My jobs change like the wind, win a contract loose a contract.  On a list off a list.  Politics, indifference whatever.  It doesn’t matter I still write since 1998.

Agent, manager, publicist well that depends on the market.

To sale a screenplay or teleplay to the major, medium and minor studios, you need a few things.  The first thing you might need is an agent or manager that has access to that major studio.  Meaning that when he sends it someone they will read your script.

The gatekeepers exist in publishing too, the agents, the assistant editors, and the committee of selectors who make you a selectee of the publishing house.

Then there is Amazon who crushed Borders et al.  They just want the money.

Which takes me back to my first point.  What is your alternative job?

This past week I talked to a woman who worked as security guard at a major institution.  She had lost her house, husband lost his job and her son with an automotive engineering job was driving a truck from one coast to the other coast every few days.

Another driver I met had a Masters in Human Resources and drove a bus.

What is your alternate job to ensure you can keep writing.

Me I might have to add eight more.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

In Sea of Love Al Pacino plays a cop who falls for a maybe serial killer played by Ellen Barkin.

Drama, real street life is etched on everyone’s face.  Samuel Jackson was old in 1989, he’s over sixty now.

Yet he still works.

Back in Sea of Love, he gets a speaking part of about two lines when he gets to speak to Al Pacino at a N.Y. Yankee rally.

When you write a character based screenplay or novel.  The characters have to present themselves as human beings.  Not a small feat if the words are not on the page.

 The writer of Sea of Love Richard Price also wrote Child 44 (the screenplay) that movie earned a 6.4 on I.M.D.B.  the film was banned in Russia and while I started the novel, I didn’t like the theme so I stopped reading the book.

I hope you like Siolam and read it from cover to cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

If you like my movie shorts you my like my writings.

https://youtu.be/tBSGtATd7js

If you like my screenwriting, you might like my novel Siolam.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

I took thousands of pictures.A German in Frankfort said  I had a good eye.

Here are two examples.

.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

The importance of  second run theatres.

While the  popcorn prices are higher the ticket prices remain cheaper then the first run theaters.

Most of the screens are old but the digital encryptions ( 50K ) projectors are there. Thus I guess the increase in popcorn and soda prices.

The other day I saw Mission Impossible again.  May be sometime soon I will see Jurassic World and explore and see Pixels, Minions etc. as a second run theater first time viewing.

Second run theatres are great may they live for ever.

Hopefully to see my  novel or  screenplays made into movies.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

This is a small portion of the 27 pages of editing I was asked to or was it volunteered to do.

Not often can you ask a question of Oscar (tm) nominees but a few years ago it was possible online. Now it’s twitter or FB and that is so controlled it must be personal assistants who reach out to the masses.

redsunc: if you win an Oscar, would you do comedy?
2006-11-20 16:19:49.0
daniel: I live n Portugal.  what do I do to send a script to Hollywood?  there are lot of good ideas here.  give us your advice
2006-11-20 16:20:13.0
Maggie Gyllenhaal: I thought I'd done some comedies
2006-11-20 16:20:18.0

……

2006-11-20 16:02:23.0
Maggie Gyllenhaal: K-Dogg?
2006-11-20 16:02:42.0
K-Dogg: yeah
2006-11-20 16:02:49.0
Cederick: K-Dogg is in his own, um, world...
2006-11-20 16:02:54.0
daniel: hi, thanks for answering our questions.  Do you think about an Oscar nod?
2006-11-20 16:02:57.0
babypook: haha
2006-11-20 16:02:58.0
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Yes- Sherry Baby meant a lot to me
2006-11-20 16:03:00.0
dumbo1: You play a lot of roles that seem emotionally draining how do you separate yourself from the characters you play when you leave the set
2006-11-20 16:03:18.0
Maggie Gyllenhaal: That's actually a big challenge for me
2006-11-20 16:03:37.0

Well if you want to meet my characters try these links to my writings.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

I wrote a pilot a long time ago.  No one was interested.

Hopefully you will be interested in my novel Siolam.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

BY DARRELL J. BANKS

COPYRIGHT 2O04

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

"MA'S HOUSE"

FADE IN:

INT. DEAN'S OFFICE A WOMAN UPS DRIVER WALKS INTO THE DEAN'S OFFICE, SHE TRIES TO DELIVER A PACKAGE TO RICKY THE DEAN OF ESCONDIDO STATE.HE IGNORES HER.  THE UPS WOMAN IS VERY UPSET AND HANDS THE PACKAGE TO THE DEAN'S SECRETARY PEGGY.  PEGGY OPENS THE BOX AND TAKES OUT A DELTA DELTA GAMMA PLEDGE HAT.  THE DEAN FROWNS AT PEGGY - DAY

UPS LADY

He doesn't even notice me.

PEGGY

The dean is under a lot of pressure.  Try next week. 

RICKY

Yes, I know, the trustees are mad.  I'll handle it.  Doesn't matter.  That was twenty years ago.  Gee Bob, I'm Dean, that’s why.

PEGGY PUTS THE DELTA DELTA GAMMA HAT ON AND READS A WOODEN PADDLE.

PEGGY

Delta, Delta Gamma.  We promise a keg a day.

PEGGY REACHES IN THE BOX AND TAKES OUT A US NEWS WORLD AND REPORT WITH A COVER PICTURE OF  ESCONDIDO STATE AS PARTY SCHOOL OF THE DECADE.

RICKY

Take off that ridiculous hat, the party's over.

PEGGY

It's cute don't you think.

PEGGY SPINS THE TASSEL AROUND.

RICKY

It wasn't cute when I pledged in '83.  You know who was on the phone?

PEGGY

I don't know.  Let me guess, Bob head trustee.

RICKY

Ding, ding and the trustees’ aren’t happy.  They want your pledge buddies off campus.  You sent my message, right?

PEGGY

In the morning e-mails.  But, that wasn't easy.

RICKY

But you bypassed Mikey Mike's security.  Right?

PEGGY

I had to hack in.

RICKY

And you won’t go back to teaching?

PEGGY SHAKES HER HEAD NO.

PEGGY

Teach.  Not this semester.  Typing is slacker work verses fifty freshmen in a programming class.

RICKY LOOKS AT THE CLOCK IT'S ELEVEN AM AND HE IS VERY ANXIOUS.  HE PICKS UP THE MAGAZINE.

INT. DEAN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

PEGGY

It's done.  Oh, your sister is on line two.

RICKY

That's the first good thing you've said all day.

RICKY RUBS HIS HANDS TOGETHER

RICKY

BIANCA has MA under wraps.

PEGGY

Hopefully her last visit was a disaster.

It’s been forty years since the Jefferson’s came on T.V.

If it was, Leave it to Beaver or Mayberry R.F.D. it would be a commemoration.  The series lasted ten years a miracle in today’s T.V. series life years.  Think M.A.S.H which is still in re runs and DVD runs.

1n 1975 I never thought of being a writer.  I mean a journalist maybe but never a writer of fiction and non-fiction.

Mr. Bentley went to my alma mater I later learned.

Ginny is still with us thank God.

Weasy survived one out of seven children.

Let her be your role model. She became the first African American Actress to win a Comedy Emmy.

Then there was the introduction of Florence in season one

Mr. Jefferson at the door

Wait please.

……..

It took Viola Davis 40 years later to obtain an Emmy for Drama for a Black actress she waited a long time

to get her Emmy.

And I would wait forever in the hope that Denzel Washington would play Bart.  But I need 1 million in

sales for that.

As for the Jefferson’s while there has been no 4Oth anniversary DVD.  There have been several articles

and TV classics ran a marathon on Antenna TV.

If only they ran westerns on National TV.  Then Siolam could be made into a T.V. series.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

10/16 15

Once upon a time, there was a thing called drama.

Actors and actresses  (perhaps  that's the problem the names)  were called into their careers based on their abilities.

They weren’t given V scores and Trend alerts as if they were part of a fantasy football league.  (Variety magazine)

Actresses have to take parts.  Recently Ms. Santiago (Miami Vice, Soap Operas, Sopranos, Gang Related allowed herself to be stabbed on Gotham, to act in N.Y.C.  by the Penguin.  In the seventies actors went from series to T.V. series.  It was only in the nineties that we got into this let’s not use an actress.  But studies say differently Gena Davis’s study said sexism has maintained the same number of women parts since 1946.  Umh.

Like writers, acting is not a profession it’s a way of life.  We do what we do.

That didn’t use to be the case Barbara Stanwick, Bette Davis, Rita Moreno, Ursula Andres well they could keep on acting in credited and un-credited roles.  Bette acted in continuity just like Jessica Tandy.

Viola Davis  recently harped on the role of ethnics and their lack of roles when she got her Emmy.

Kathleen Kennedy said the Star Wars-Force Jedi role has a strong women’s role and perhaps  films should have a quota system.

But JLaw said it best.  See, this article.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/15/448954732/jennifer-lawrence-hits-a-nerve-with-essay-on-hollywoods-gender-pay-gap

As a writer, I wrote strong women roles in all of my screenplays and plays.  Beth in Siolam is a duel protagonist.  Even Saundra Bullard harped on this when she took over a role for George Clooney.

I took out some more films the other day.  One of them was Sea of Love 1989.  It has a 6.8 score.

Twenty-six years ago when I was considered old by Hollywood writer standards.  There was a strong dramatic competition Driving Ms. Daisy, Dead Poets Society, Born on the Fourth of July, Flight of Dreams and My Left foot.

Jessica Tandy won for Best Actress at age 80.

Denel Washington still works, he won for best supporting actor in Glory in1989.

Twenty-six years later Denzel may be too old to play Bart, Bart and Beth are in their twenties.  But

I bet he could.

Siolam.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

Well Jump Studios said no.

Most folks don’t want to hire you over forty or maybe it was the three days and the 95 percent effort.

Or maybe it was because I wrote the script Johnny Carson style.

Here are two of the three pages.

Cr 2015 DARRELL J BANKS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

FADE IN:

INT. FULL SHOT OF THE GOOGLE NEXUS SIX PHONE -- MORNING

TV HOST

Dropped to earth by aliens in the year 1976, it was discovered by the founder of Google on June 1, 1976.

FULL SHOT OF THE NEXUS PHONE DROPPING TO EARTH IT HITS A GLOBE BOUNCES OFF AND LANDS IN THE WATER.  -- CONTINUOUS

CAPTION JUNE 1, 1976

FULL SHOT OF THE PHONE IN A BAG OF RICE, THE TV HOST SHAKES THE BAG -- CONTINUOUS

EXT. SHOT OF THE GOOGLE EMBLEM CHASING AN APPLE -- CONTINUOUS

TV HOST

We get confused sometimes, it was supposed to be a shot of the I-phone 6 S, but that was last week.

The TV Host walks stage right and takes out a laser gun.

TV HOST

The Nexus 6 phone can withstand anything even being left in your Lexus GS.  Just don't leave it in the car for over four hours on a hot day.

The TV Host reaches into any car; FULL SHOT of the phone, then close up on THE HOST'S hand as it touches the Aluminum case phone.

TV HOST

All, shit they forgot to put it in a Mars’ metal case too, but I hear it comes in this detesting aluminum case and two other colors, no purple though.

TV Host drops the phone and kicks it into a puddle of water.

FULL SHOT OF THE PHONE IN ZIPLOCK BAG OF RICE AGAIN -- CONTINUOUS

TV HOST

This motherfucker is durable try this shit with any I phone six, seven or eight.

FULL SHOT OF SEVERAL OLD IPHONE'S BEING TOSSED INTO AN EMPTY BUCKET TO THE SOUND OF WATER.  -- CONTINUOUS

TV HOST

You can also play games on the Google Nexus 6, more interesting, though.  It takes great photos you can put on snap chat.  But just don't take my word for it.  What do you think Chet?

P.O.V. OF CHET TAKING HIS PICTURE WITH A SELFIE STICK.  -- CONTINUOUS

CHET

I don't judge a phone by its pixels.  But its ability to get work done.

If you like my screenwriting, you might like my novel Siolam.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Or any of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-J-Banks/e/B00I33S10C

Let’s see where do  I begin.  Along time ago before the Martian and a host of other movies, Jeff Daniels was in Arachnophobia.  I think it’s the only movie where he plays a doctor.  This Steven Spielberg film for adults and children is entertaining.

IMDB gave it a 6.3

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099052/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_58

Which takes me back to the Antonio Bandera’s film Automata which reminded me of Blade Runner (but updated) Banderas is investigating robots who wander off grid and destined to return to some radioactive wasteland.

It was entertaining and featured a great cast.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1971325/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_8

Which takes me back to character. How can you create a great character to motivate your viewers/readers.

A character must announce his purpose within a film or book within the story Banderas did that in Automata.

Just like Beth and Bart did so in Siolam.

http://www.amazon.com/Siolam-Black-Western-Darrell-Banks/dp/1515299236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442695944&sr=1-1&keywords=siolam

Below is an excerpt from the novel.

CR 2014 2015

Darrell J Banks

All Rights reserved worldwide

“Chapter Four- No heroes

Beth crossed the unmarked border into Indian Territory.  She thought about her father and all the trouble caused by a few bad asses by her own choice not to ride with him against Kip and Big Ben.  A fatal mistake she would not make again.  The west would always remain violent, a few men causing too much pain for descent people.  As she rode, she looked to the horizon clouds formed, maybe rain.  There was not too much difference between the territories and Texas, except more twisters and windstorms hit them.  She hoped Bart was in his office today.  The territory was so big and the more time she wasted looking for him, the more time the  desperados would flee west.

***

 Bart was not too far away from Beth.  Unlike many lawmen, he rode a black horse, unafraid how it stood out in the sands of the territories.  To Bart it didn't matter, his reddish skin, curly hair,  mixed heritage of Black, Mexican and  Creek, didn’t go over well in the territories or most of America.  If most folks didn’t like his color, they   definitely hated his position as a U.S. Marshall.  Since most white folks considered him an Indian and would shoot him on site, Bart had decided a quick death was better than a slow one.  He pushed his horse hard moving faster until he spotted one of the desperado’s horse tracks in the mud.  It had rained last night and the bugs were out in force.  Being stupid, this   rustler had stolen the cows and moved them toward the river, but had failed to send someone back to cover his tracks.”