Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Dexter/ fiction writing/ Yourboxclub.com

Oct. 4 Dexter: The TV show Dexter has ended.  I found this Globe and Mail article called “Dexter star ‘happy’ with the ending” by John Doyle on Sept. 19, 2013.   It’s about a serial killer who kills other killers.

The interview with the start Michael C. Hall: “I was taking a break to look around at what might interest me.  The pilot for Dexter came may way and I was resistant.  Another TV series with a lot of death.  Then I found I couldn’t ignore it.  I read the script twice.  I read the book on which it’s based.  I knew after two weeks of thinking that I couldn’t resist the challenge of doing this, a drama about rooting for a serial killer.  The voice –over element, the way Dexter knew these things that nobody else knew, it was irresistible.”

“Yes, he’s just a boy, at the start.  If you remember, there’s that moment when his nemesis, the Trinity killer says ‘Do you want to play?’  And Dexter is playing a game, yes.  He doesn’t understand yet that there are consequences, real consequences.  Other people get hurt, get killed.  He’s playing this game, a secret game.  It’s very tricky territory for an actor.  The grown man is a boy inside, but at the same time he’s perfectly competent as an adult.  He’s good at his day job.  But he’s compartmentalized everything.  He stopped being a kid some time back, but maybe he wants to get back there?”

The article goes on to talk about how one of Doyle’s friend’s kids aged 9 and 11 saw the TV show by accident, and loved the character Dexter.

Hall: “Well, well, there is something magical about Dexter isn’t there?  Think about it.  Things always seem to go right for Dexter in many ways.  Dexter lives in Miami where he can just walk into people’s homes and take stuff, download from their computers.  It’s a Miami with no alarm systems and Dexter never encounters a deadbolt lock.  This Miami doesn’t exist.  It’s fantasy and kids like that.  Dexter seems to have magical powers and, for all the kids know, he flies through the air when they’re not seeing him do the other things the does.  Maybe that’s it.  Or it’s ten bright, bright colours of Miami.”

“Yes, I’m very happy.  The ending honours the story, but endings are always tricky.”

I then found this article in Metro on Sept. 19, 2013 called “Killing time is over.”

Hall: “He’s so far from anything I experienced him to be at the beginning.  He’s the same character, but he’s in many ways a different person.  He had successfully compartmentalized efficient killing and convinced himself that he is, in fact, incapable of authentic human emotion when we first me him.  But that all falls apart, slowly but surely.”

“I’ve always thought that it was more interesting to challenge the audience’s affection for the character and to move him into choppy waters.”

Hall has theories about his fans:
“We live in a world where we have an increasing sense that we’re not in control…and Dexter, in his micro way, controls his universe and that is very appealing to some people.  We all have a sense of injustice in the world, and Dexter is certainly exacting some form of justice within the confines of his own.  Maybe it’s not that deep.  Maybe people have murderous impulses they don’t act upon and enjoy watching somebody who gets away with it.”

About the finale:

“Some people will be happy with it, some people will be troubled by it.  Perhaps some people will be a combination of those things.”

There is this part that says: “Best mistake he ever made.”  A lot of actors and friends told Hall to not do the show Dexter because who would want to watch a show about a serial killer?

Hall: “When Six Feet Under ended, I imagined I would never do another television series, just because I thought it would be impossible that I would be so lucky that I would find something as successful.”

My opinion: I’ve only seen the first 2 seasons of this show.  The first season aired on CTV.  Then I rented most of the season 2 dvds.  Then I watched the last few eps of season 2 on Showcase.  I watch it, because it’s good writing.  It is a crime drama, but it delves more into the characters working the case, and not just like Criminal Minds, where the FBI team tries to solve the murder.

I then read the newspaper all the time, so I was then spoiled about big things like a major character getting killed off, and a major character figuring out that Dexter is a killer.

I decided I might as well find out what the ending is on Wikipedia.  I read it, and I thought it was good.  A little bittersweet.  I think I would have to watch the finale in it’s entirety to appreciate it.

Unpredictable: TV is unpredictable.  There are a lot of people that doubted the success of Dexter, but it lasted for 8 seasons.  When Dark Angel came out in 2000, I was so happy and excited.  It was by James Cameron, the show had a really good story about super soldiers escaping from the military and living in a post- apocalyptic world.  I thought the show was going to be on for a long time, but it only lasted 2 seasons.

Oct. 9 Finish what you start: Today is my day off and I did look for a job.  However, I also have to finally finish my Rain script.  I’ve been writing this script since 2009.  This is my 5th year in.  I was busy working and living my life, so that’s why it’s taking so long.

I have to finish what I start. 

Fiction writing: I have changed in writing styles.  As a kid and teenager, I was interested in fiction writing.  Now I’m interested in non-fiction writing like my blog.  Fiction writing takes too long.  In my blog, I can write faster.

In the Globe and Mail, there was “The Influence Interview” with the author Mary Novik on Sept. 28, 2013.  She wrote the book Muse.  She says about her writing: “It’s a slow, organic process of thinking, writing, thinking, rewriting.”

Also in the Globe and Mail on Sept. 27, 2013, there was the article “Eat Love Write” by Sarah Hampson who interviews the Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert.

“She loved the process of puzzling out the plot, taking three years to craft a 70-page outline so the writing was ‘like paint by numbers.’  She wanted the story to show a ‘powerful woman whose life is enriched by intellect and not necessarily broken or saved by a man.’”

Rain script: I had put this script in my dresser drawer for a long time.  Then I took it out and put it on my bedroom floor for some months.  It’s like I have to look at it.  A couple of weeks ago on a Wed. night, I decided to go through this stack of 80 pieces of paper.  I write on my scrap paper, as in computer paper that was printed on one side, and I use the back.  I managed to recycle 11 pages because of a “cabin in the woods” sequence that is not used.

Here’s my brainstorming:

Comparisons:

Home invasion: This is where bad guys attack the home of the good guys.

This has been done in movies like Straw Dogs, Fear, and The Purge.  It was kind of done in the movie Unleashed with Jet Li.  Instead of a house, the bad guys attacked this big apartment building.

Competition between drug dealers: In the movie Savages, there is a war against drug dealers over territory.  It was done on an ep The Mentalist.

Meth lab blowing up: It was done on the TV show The Good Guys about two cops, one is in his 40s and the other one in his 20s.  They go to a house, and ask a few questions.  They start walking away.  In the background, all these guys start running out of the house.  You don’t know why.  The house blows up.  It turns out there was a meth lab in there.

It was done on Family Guy where Peter and his family move to an old house in the country.  There was a meth lab in the basement and they start cooking it.  At the end, the house blows up.

Yourboxclub.com: I put this on my Facebook status:
 Go to www.yourboxclub.com for charity. They have joined Femm International that helps provide girls in Kenya's slums with a hygienic care kit that contains a menstrual cup. The product will last for 10yrs so girls can remain in school when menstruating. Until Oct.18 for every 500 views of Jay Baruchel video, a kit will be donated to Kenya.

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