Hi, I'm Dan, 28, from Louisville, KY (grew up in Lexington). Been interested in screenwriting ever since I was a freshman in high school. In college, I took screenwriting twice and wrote a couple of feature-length scripts in a hurry. Occasionally, I still work on the last script I wrote, called "The Pinball Warrior," about a teenager who must save Earth from alien invaders by playing the game he loves most: pinball.

Movies have kinda been my life. Old movies, too. As a toddler, I probably watched more "Star Wars", "Star Trek", and "Superman" than "Sesame Street." And I liked it that way. On top of that, my parents bought me anything they could find with "Star Wars" on it, including soundtracks and books of Ralph McQuarrie's concept art, which kind of began my interest in how movies were made.

Middle school was when I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I've spent most of my life avoiding it, because I thought it was too unstable a career and elected to find "safe" work, just because that's what all the grown-ups had told me. But I knew I was running away from my destiny and my calling. What I've discovered in doing that is that the "safe" work I've found isn't all that safe. And if it is, the satisfaction of doing it doesn't last forever.

Now, my wife and I are looking to start a family and I'm tired of playing musical entry-level-jobs. When my first kid comes into the world, I want to have settled into a lifelong career and be able to say, "I'm a filmmaker," instead of some weird, cryptic job title that takes ten minutes to explain to people. This just feels like what God's got for me and I don't want to waste more time not exploring it or doing it.

As for my taste in movies, it's hard to describe. There are a lot of good movies I that hate and a lot of bad movies that I love, with no discernible pattern. But a lot of the bad movies that I like happen to have Jerry Goldsmith scores and I could probably fill two 30GB iPods with music written by Jerry Goldsmith. So I guess that's one pattern. Of course, I like a lot of the standards too. Chinatown, 2001, There Will Be Blood, The Godfather, Skidoo, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Psycho, Lang's M, etc. My favorite writers are probably the usuals, Diamond, Lehman, Goldman, Towne, Edgar Wright, etc. An odd one is probably Mankiewicz; not Joe or Herman, but Tom. A lot of my friends worship the ground Aaron Sorkin walks on, but I can't sympathize, I'm afraid. But there probably aren't many who would sympathize with Tom Mankiewicz over his old man and his uncle.

Okay, well this post has gotten out-of-hand. I like to write!

Nice intro, Dan.  Welcome aboard.

Just to let you know that this place run on a quid pro quo basis. Read and you shall be read. No one here's a pro so all input is valid - just make it constructive. Other than that, have a blast.

Quoted from DanBall I could probably fill two 30GB iPods with music written by Jerry Goldsmith.

Ditto.

Dan!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good to see you made it! I'm this lil yellow fairy in here :)
aka dena in the real world! :)

I love this place. And I'm sure you will love it too!

You should join in on the short OWC challenge :)

dena aka pale yellow

SS is a great place.
If you can handle criticism.
Just know that everyone here really IS nice and willing to help, although some may come off a bit strong.

Glad to have you a part of our world!
Welcome.

Thanks for the kind welcome, folks!

I do intend to read other people's work and post some of my own. At this point, I'm just sort of trying to find my thick sweater to wear before I dig in. Especially since I'm working on the OWC. The less I know about other peoples' probably-superior writing, the better. It's not good to work in a vacuum all the time, but sometimes it is. :)

sniper--what are your favorite Goldsmith scores? For me, I can never seem to get my fill of Star Trek The Motion Picture. Breakheart Pass gets a lot of playtime, especially the track "No Entry." First Blood's a favorite, as is Total Recall. I have a pretty soft spot for his Joe Dante scores, especially Innerspace. While I would name my least favorite score of his, I can't think of it at the moment. Maybe IQ. I heard the score before I saw the movie and it left a pretty awful taste in my mouth, even though I liked the movie. I'm pretty keen on other composers of his generation, too. As I'm typing this, Barry's "The Lion in Winter" is playing. That's gotta be the best medieval-era score ever. Yes, even better than "Braveheart." The textures John Barry created are so strange and unusual, but it perfectly mirrors the darkness and the darkness of the characters. That's one best score Oscar that was well-deserved.

yellow/Dena--I already love all the opportunities to talk about all things film.

Steex--Thanks! I'd say more, but I think I mainly said my piece to you in the first part of this post. lol

I have a serious weakness for Golssmith's soundtrack for Alien. I still think it stands out as one of the greatest soundtracks ever. The main title for Capricorn One to this day still gives me a boner every time I hear it. But that's just me :)

Quoted from sniper I have a serious weakness for Golssmith's soundtrack for Alien. I still think it stands out as one of the greatest soundtracks ever. The main title for Capricorn One to this day still gives me a boner every time I hear it. But that's just me :)

Alien was probably my first conscious exposure to his work. In 5th grade, I found a cassette at the mall that had lots of themes from recent scifi movies like Alien, Star Trek, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc and was conducted by Bruce Broughton. Star Trek I knew, then I heard Alien and was freaked out. I was like, "Who's this Jerry Goldsmith guy? Look! His name's on Star Trek too!" Ever since, I've just been wildly fascinated by his work. I had a similar experience when I bought the Silva Screen CD a few years later in high school and heard more of the score. "Face Hugger" was some of the weirdest junk to ever be performed by an orchestra. The end title that wasn't used is like one of the most twisted, beautiful pieces ever written. It's like a classical piece. Someone should write a longer piece with it someday.

Capricorn One's not bad. I bought the Outland/Capricorn combo back in the day. Played the hell out of it, too, though I preferred the Outland stuff more, since it resembled Alien. "Hot Water" and "The Hunted" are incredible cues. I like the FSM expanded version of "Hot Water" because there's a drum effect that sounds like a precursor to Total Recall. I really do like the love theme from Capricorn One, though. Do you have "Frontiers"? I like that version of C1's main theme.

Welcome Dan to SS!

Quoted from DV44 Welcome Dan to SS!

Thank you!

Welcome aboard.

Follow what people have said above and you'll be fine.

Can't wait to read your work.

Gabe

Welcome to SS, Dan!

Hope you make the most of the opportunities offered here. We love it!

Dan

Hey Dan,

Welcome aboard!
We're all about the quid pro quo here. ;D

I'm a soundtrack hound too.
Grew up listening to many of the ones you cited.
Used to buy them on vinyl when I was a young lad.

And now I use them to help inspire my writing.
Good luck and enjoy the site!

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer I'm a soundtrack hound too. Grew up listening to many of the ones you cited. Used to buy them on vinyl when I was a young lad. And now I use them to help inspire my writing.

I'm still buying them on vinyl. When I was in high school, my parents got rid of their turntable and their old records, but I kept mine. Back then, a lot of these smaller record labels weren't releasing/re-releasing expanded versions of the classics and you could either pay hundreds or thousands for a rare CD or go to the flea market and buy the vinyl for $2. A perfect example of this was John Williams's score for the movie SpaceCamp. The CD was only printed in Japan and only 5,000 copies were made, which sold on eBay for $100 at the cheapest. I went to a nearby flea market and found the vinyl for $2.

I'm not sure if you have a Half Price Books around, but that place has made my vinyl collection EXPLODE. I'm working on a backlog of old James Bond scores along with other Barry, Goldsmith, Williams, and Herrmann LPs. Last week, I bought Goldsmith's Under Fire, Barry's Body Heat, and a Herrmann compilation of suites from his scifi movies that he conducted in the 70s. One of my favorites on vinyl is Goldsmith's Chinatown. The first minute or so of "The Last of Ida" is insane when it's heard like that.

Oh, and thanks Mr. Ripley and other DanB!

Welcome Danny boy

Mark

Thanks, Mark!

Quoted from DanBall I'm still buying them on vinyl. When I was in high school, my parents got rid of their turntable and their old records, but I kept mine. Back then, a lot of these smaller record labels weren't releasing/re-releasing expanded versions of the classics and you could either pay hundreds or thousands for a rare CD or go to the flea market and buy the vinyl for $2. A perfect example of this was John Williams's score for the movie SpaceCamp. The CD was only printed in Japan and only 5,000 copies were made, which sold on eBay for $100 at the cheapest. I went to a nearby flea market and found the vinyl for $2. I'm not sure if you have a Half Price Books around, but that place has made my vinyl collection EXPLODE. I'm working on a backlog of old James Bond scores along with other Barry, Goldsmith, Williams, and Herrmann LPs. Last week, I bought Goldsmith's Under Fire, Barry's Body Heat, and a Herrmann compilation of suites from his scifi movies that he conducted in the 70s. One of my favorites on vinyl is Goldsmith's Chinatown. The first minute or so of "The Last of Ida" is insane when it's heard like that.

Schweet deal!
Yeah while most kids were moonwalking their youth away...
I was hooked on near everything venerable old Varese Saranbande released! ;D

Regards,
E.D.

Boner coming up:

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Schweet deal! Yeah while most kids were moonwalking their youth away... I was hooked on near everything venerable old Varese Saranbande released! ;D Regards, E.D.

There's a label that's fallen by the wayside. Intrada and LaLa Land are picking up the slack nicely, though. Sounds like GNP Crescendo's making a comeback, too.

Welcome Dan,

Hope you enjoy it here.

As others have said, if you look for reads, make sure you have read others first.

The up and coming One Week Challlenge, OWC, scripts released this weekend, is a good place to read new scripts and provide feedback. Indeed, if you can, enter a script, the link provides the details of what to do.

And, just in case you didn't know, use the portal button as a way of navigating a round. Shows you what's active.

All the best

Quoted from Reef Dreamer Welcome Dan, Hope you enjoy it here. As others have said, if you look for reads, make sure you have read others first. The up and coming One Week Challlenge, OWC, scripts released this weekend, is a good place to read new scripts and provide feedback. Indeed, if you can, enter a script, the link provides the details of what to do. And, just in case you didn't know, use the portal button as a way of navigating a round. Shows you what's active. All the best

I've actually got my first draft for the OWC finished. Gonna start on the second or rewrites either today or tomorrow.

Of all the boards I've been to, I haven't seen the portal. That's slick.