Blessed Beyond Measure

Welcome everyone to another chapter in the saga of my semi-interesting life. I cannot stress this enough, but, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking it out with me as I continuously dip in and out of a literary absence.

As odd as it may seem; Life and Times in Hollyweird has seemingly weaved its way into the mass paraphrasing queries of "would-be" screenwriters from all across the globe. Google has been kind to us.

So, straight-away to the good news, if I may...

Life has been interesting to say the least. Within the last year, I've gone through a series of extreme highs and unfortunate lows.

I've gotten sick - recovered - relapsed - recovered and to my dismay; found a job - climbed the proverbial ladder - kicked down doors - found new opportunities relating to my experience as a dinky screenwriter - exploited my talent - and now waiting for the "big break".

I'll be discreet, but only for the sake of the almighty "don't jinx yourself" theory. Not a believer? Google it...and while your at it, Google "keyboard cat" you will not be disappointed, I promise.

Great things are coming. Please continue to support those who are in pursuit of a dream. I'm a fan of positive reinforcement and as cliche as it may sound...you can really do anything as long as you set your mind to it. Keep faith my friends!

Thank you to all the people that have helped made my life easier to understand. I don't even know if that made any sense...

Dave Brewer, Mervin Ho, Dennis Benson, Derrick Oliver, Jeremy Ian Thomas, Rich Araujo & The whole Edifix Team, April Wade, Louie, Joey, Josh and Family, Tim Lee, Vince Trujillo, Jason, Anthony Cincotta, Mom & Dad...the list goes on.

Stay tuned folks. This is about to get interesting.

P.S.
A quick favor...
Watch these movies:
April Showers & Junction (produced by my super friend: The fantastical April Wade)


John Darko

Don't call it a comeback!

Well, well, well...it's been a while! Oh have I missed writing on this thing. As you may or may not know, I have been terribly ill for the past few weeks. It all started with an uncomfortable case of eye strain which led to a routine check up and then soon after: my sudden revelation regarding my health crisis.

I must plead the fifth on the specifics but trust me - I needed a lifestyle change like this country needs a new president. So in my instant quest for better living, I caught the fucking flu! Attributed to the fact that my immune system was at an all time low, I got really sick, uber sick. So, I slept through most of it hoping to resurface with a different outlook, something more positive and upbeat to the tune of a neverending Beatles track. I could see the fake smile now! ~ This is what I thought to myself while I lay covered in cat fur, tisues and day old hate.

Sometimes when your facing immenant suckiness, it's best to focus on the good things in life. Life is crazy but it is good. Music is good, laughter is good, ice cream is good, love is good, the beach is good, her smile is good, family is good, soup is good, faith is good, and writing for a living is good. Feel free to elaborate my friends. I am back but then again I never left!

Will see you very soon, with more updates then ever! Thanks for keeping up with "Life and Times in Hollyweird" ---

Yours Truly:
John Darko

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from a friend: The Slackmistress

Ask What You Can Do For Your Slackmistress...

[copied from my personal email]

Hey Everyone!

So petfinder.com, where we list our Bill Foundation dogs, is running a contest with The Animal Rescue Site. Every click donates money to an animal in need, but now they're giving away $100,000 in grants to Rescue Organizations, and we'd love Bill Foundation to be one of them. Here's all you need to do:

1. Go to The Animal Rescue Site.

2. Click on "Click to Give" (it's a big purple box)

3. That will take you to the next page. SCROLL DOWN and at the bottom is an ad for the Petfinder challenge.

4. Click on the ad.

5. This will take you to the NEXT page 0 and here's the important part - VOTE FOR BILL FOUNDATION. Just enter Bill Foundation and set the state to CA and click SEARCH.

6. This will bring up Bill Foundation. Just click VOTE and you're done.

The contest is simple: you can vote ONCE A DAY (from EACH computer, from EACH browser, so do it from home and from work!)

As you know, the current state of the economy has been tough on us all, and it's not just affecting people. Animals are being abandoned and turned in at shelters because people are losing their homes and their jobs. We're at capacity, and our vet bills are rising. However, this is a simple way to help the dogs that costs nothing but a few moments of your time.

The contest runs until December 15th. So make The Animal Rescue Site part of your daily routine. I'll send out email reminders, but I know that you all have address books and MySpaces and Facebooks and blogs of your own. Please spread the word among your family and friends.

Information, buttons for your sites and your blogs, ready-made press releases can be found here.

Please please please, pass this along. And vote daily.

Mini Update and "Disaster Movie" Review: Some Ole Bullsh*t!

So, how was everyone's Labor Day? Hopefully more eventful then mine. Didn't do much, but I guess that's the whole point of Labor Day. Anyhow I ate too much then watched The Dark Knight for the 12th time. I scrapped a bunch of plans because I didn't feel like breaking out the informal swim attire.

Well, it's back to work - gonna sit down and prepare some query letters then prep some future interview material and hopefully come back around tonight with another blog post: "How to Sell a Spec Script" and why now is the time to do so! Good news for the underdog. Stay posted...

---------------------------

Alright, on to the funniest thing I've seen all day. The wonderful guys at Spill.com have uploaded somewhat of a genius review on the new Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer fiasco "Disaster Movie" you already know what I thought of "Meet The Spartans" so no need for an introduction.

Watch this review...it's funnier then the actual movie.
IMPORTANT: (click on the movies tab in the upper left hand corner and choose Disaster Movie Review)

Favorite quote: "This movie must of been shot in 'shi*-a-scope' with a sh*ty script" All in all "Disaster Movie" is pure bullsh*t.

Tags:spill.com, post labor day, disaster movie, review, spec script, jason friedberg, aaron seltzer, meet the spartans, dark knight

Disaster Movie and Merchandising the Blog

Back again! So, I've been working on a few things.

1. Been revitalizing my feature film "5 Ways to Split Apart the Day" so far so good yet hectic and time consuming.
2. Have been designing merchandise exclusively for Life and Times in Hollyweird. We got some really cool looking apparel, stay tuned for the unveiling. Which will be somewhere around the end of the week.
3. I'm going to start a petition to stop the 2 of the 23 writers behind all these pointless spoof flicks like the upcoming Disaster Movie. Who's with me? Lol.
   
4. Been working on getting more sleep, this is an important one.
   

Tags:disaster movie, merchandise, john darko, life, news, updates, general, writing

"FlickrMania" Part Duex

As promised...here's a handful of photos from various film sets I worked on or directed in 2007. These are just a few of many, you can see more in my Flickr set "On Set Stuff" by clicking here.

Apologies for the lack of captions, I think the pictures speak for themselves. Although I will provide a quick zinger for the first photo...if you look closely, you can see a loaded gun on top of the table. Just know, if I ever call you into my office...there might be trouble. Lol, just kidding. I'm harmless plus it's fake...or is it?

So only a few more days till "The Dark Knight" anyone excited? AND where are you seeing it? Hopefully in IMAX and in Hollywood so you can say hi when ya see me pass by.























More updates coming tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have something important to talk about. Also if you have the time check out some of the noteworthy blogs listed to the left in my blogroll.

Tags:behind the scenes, dark knight, darko, flickr, friends, hollyweird, hollywood, john darko, life times in hollyweird, personal, photography, random, update

Featured in Alltop!

Just got back from a second screening of Hellboy 2. It was just as good as the first viewing, honestly.

Anyhow, so I check my inbox and to my discovery, I find that this blog is featured on alltop.com.

To be specific http://life.alltop.com look for Life & Times In Hollyweird.

Alltop features “all the top” sites on the web and it is quite a prestigious honor seeing that I've only been online for about a month now. I must be doing something right.

So thank you to the editors at Alltop, I appreciate the mention! Thank you Neenz!!! And a special thank you to everyone who has read an entry or left a comment. Mucho love! Will be back with another update sometime tonight. Peas and rice.

Please direct your browsers to Alltop.com

Tags:alltop, featured, john darko, life, life times in hollyweird, spontaneous blogging, update

A fistful of Flickr

Sometime later this evening, I'll be posting an update consisting of a bunch of photos I can grab from my hard drive; nothing specifically relevant to anything, just fun photos. I think I might go see Hellboy 2 again. If you haven't already, subscribe to my blog by choosing one of the many subscription options to the left. Sweet.

In the meantime, here's a clip of Hellboy with James Lipton.
Tags:flickr, hellboy 2, inside the actor's studio, james lipton, john darko, update

Drunken Memories

Last night I had an interesting visit from a familiar face. It was two o'clock in the morning and I was having an interesting conversion with a shark when I heard a light knocking at my door. Suddenly I was whisked away from the beach side cafe I frequent in my dreams, where animals and sea creatures play chess for golden doubloons and was quickly taken back to that harsh reality we've all grown accustomed to, better known as life. Apologies for the pessimistic zinger, it's late and I'm hungry.

Anyhow...slowly the face emerges from the dark hallway, the first thing I see, a set of red eyes complete with droopy eyelids. Fantastic! It's my old school buddy, Manuel. A little insight if I may. Manuel and I met in the sixth grade and have stayed in contact ever since. If there ever was a guy who has always been there, metaphorically speaking; standing on top of something high to keep a look out, it has to be this dude. Hope that made sense.

So, we're walking outside for a quick smoke. I've already noticed his pistol grip on the Tecate tall can and the little shuffles one makes when inebriated. Mind you, I'm already smiling on the inside because this is the Manuel I've grown accustomed to love. I couldn't count the times, I've experienced the same late night occurrence. All is well.

So I'm puffing away sharing a cigarette with my bud, when all of a sudden...he starts to cry. Nothing new. Not a moment goes by when he starts to list off the greatest hits of our collective memory as the local street kings of the city. Figuratively speaking, of course. For two straight hours we reminisced, smoked, reminisced and smoked some more. Mind you, I'm handling this visit as routine as I should. I'm trying not to get too sentimental and quite honest, I'm patiently waiting to go back to sleep. Then it hits me.

You know how all writers say "there's always that one great story inside of you". Well, I think I found mine and it was staring at me, asking for another cigarette.

I like to imagine that I've been around the world and back, when I'm thinking about the very memories that can proof positive make a grown man cry. They are dear to me and maybe one day I'll get to publish it all. That would be a major milestone in my career and I'm looking forward to it.

Manuel is pictured center, knocked out having a good time.

Thank you Manuel for never losing faith in your boy and thanks to the rest of my friends and family who have undoubtedly inspired me to become everything I am today. I will never give up the fight!

Good night world. I'm literally falling asleep as I type now. Thank you for reading...there will be more.

Tags:darko, hollyweird, hollywood, john darko, life, personal, update, friends, memories, drunk, manuel olague,

Family Ties "Chapter 1"

As previously stated, I have been spending more time with my family. Two days ago I picked up my pops and took him to Hollywood, I gave him the tour, re-visited familiar stops and what have you. Mind you, my Dad has a disability due to his former addiction to drugs. Basically, he has a hard time getting around.

I'm not a stranger to disaster, especially of this sort. I'm better from all these experiences, made me into the person I am today.

Ever since I left home for school, life has changed drastically for me. Everything aiming for the better. I had a clear vision of the road ahead of me and I had just gained a new found clarity that helped me grow into a well adjusted person. All was illuminated.

Unfortunately things weren't looking up; back at the old house. To save a long and complex entry I'm gonna try and keep it short. Because not only do I think this would be better transcribed into multiple chapters, but I also do not want to put any of you to sleep. I'm considerate that way.

So, back to the rant. School's over and some time has passed since I've been part of a functional household. Judging from the occasional visit and weekend phone call. I assumed things were just as they always were - chaotic yet controlled. My rational was always to the tune of "Oh, this is nothing. Just give it a few days. Someone will get over it." Boy, was I wrong!

I guess my occasional appearances have morphed into mandatory sit ins where I get to play the moderator! So now I get to wear this **** hat. I guess sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Anyhow, so quickly after breaking up an argument involving my pops and multiple parties. I offered him a trip to my apartment. This marking the first time I invited him to my diggs. Like I said, long story. So after a few stops here and there and a bite to eat at Grecco's, I offer to drive him up to my zen spot. A place where I have felt an instant attraction to since my move to Hollyweird. So, we're cruising down Mullholand Drive and without hesitation I bank a hard right into the woodsy area better known as the Hollywood Hills. The place where the rich and famous dwell.

Now I'm pointing at houses, admiring the views. My Dad's doing the same, smiling at my innocence while I childishly name off the celebrities that live in the area. He's laughing and almost snickering at my ambitions to one day purchase homes for everyone. I can't blame him because I don't know how long I have been saying that to everyone. One of my Mom's favorite quotes to me "Son, don't count all your chickens before they hatch!!!"

So we're winding up and down the concrete hills as we get closer to my zen. I turn down a long road taking us behind the Hollywood reservoir, a side of Hollywood that my pops has never seen. A few more turns and we're driving through the Lake Hollywood Estates. I tell my Dad to look up, to see the iconic Hollywood sign in all of it's glory. He flinches and mutters "you can throw a rock and hit it, if you wanted to." I laugh because he always says that.

Now just around the bend is an incline that leads to a separate neighborhood but before it, is a small little turn out that leads to a cliff where you can see the entire reservoir and some of the city, the Hollywood sign is also in full view.

I used to come to this spot when I was feeling stressed, when I felt like too much was sitting on my shoulders I would let go and take in the beauty. I would gaze at the Hollywood sign and think of how many people have sat here, at this very spot where I'm sitting, to do the same exact thing I'm doing. It was sort of my therapy.

So, we park (illegally) and my Dad gets out and walks to the ledge. I follow. He turns to me and says "Did you know I used to take you here when you were just a baby? This exact place used to put you to sleep." I stood there speechless, as I just stumbled upon this great discovery.

The next few minutes, I stood quiet with my Father as we looked out at the reservoir and for what seemed like the first time in a long time, there was peace between us.

Tags:driving, family ties, hollyweird, hollywood, hollywood hills, john darko, my dad, personal, reservoir, update, zen

Some stuff, more advice and a treatment for "5 Ways to Split Apart the Day"

Hey everyone! Another late night update "we're open late!" there it is; an instant slogan of mass copyright infringement proportions. What fast food place doesn't have that glowing sign stuck to their windows?

Let me tell ya, I wouldn't ming getting into a shoving match with Ronald McDonald at all.

There's something up with that guy. I know it, you know it...we all know it. McDonald's is like the gateway to hell, approach with caution.

Sorry everyone, been hanging out with my anti-establishment friends today. Also had a fun time at the park. Today was my nephews birthday, his name is Jude Byron (I take credit for naming him) and he just turned three! Great day, we ate, got drunk and had a huge brawl over who's got next on the Spider-Man jumper. When I see we, I mean...me and the kids. Just jazzing y'all. I'll post up the photos when I get the time.

On to the treatment.

This is for all you writers out there, or for anyone interested in becoming a screenwriter : ) So, you've just finished your first feature. Congrats! you're now almost half way through the gauntlet!

Grant it that you have producers or editors who are helping you pitch to some big s*** Hollywood players, pumping out a few more drafts to their specifications is always a given. This is why I always turn in my first draft as the sixth or seventh revision.

NOTE: I do not suggest you do the same. I have a different writing style, where I feel the need to iron out earlier scenes before I can write new sequences. So literally when I finally type "Fade to Black:" I must have been through the entire script six or seven times, dicing and slicing to a certain level of satisfaction. Surprisingly it works, but only to the degree of what you think a polished script should look like. Does it have a rhythm? Did you nail the beats? Is it spaced correctly? Any typos or grammatical errors? The list goes on.

So now you're through the "fix all these red marks on your screenplay" phase. If your lucky, someone is now helping you line your script for an estimated budget. This is what they call a top sheet. It sits on top of a presentation that fits into a fat three ringed binder. Inside you'll find a cover letter with; your overall intentions for the screenplay, a ROI estimate sheet, a compare and contrast to similar films with budget and box office analysis, a treatment and a sell sheet.

That's a ton of prep and all this after you just spent the past few months locked in a cage. Confused? Well there's good news!

• Good: You can easily do a google search for "script repair" and run through a few good places that'll happily charge you for all of the services listed above.
  
• Bad: It'll cost you an arm and a leg! A thousand for some of their basic packages and a few more for complete budget breakdowns and etc.

Hopefully you already have someone helping you out with the monstrosity mentioned above. My partner and I did and it helped tremendously. They are now busy on an unnamed big budget film, so kudos to our producers!

I hope you found this interesting. If you have any questions or would like some resources in the form of book suggestions or some real cool linkage, please feel free to contact me. I'm here to help. I'm just trying to cut this short because I'm super tired and I don't wanna make this too long.

So here's the treatment Jeremy and I wrote and the sell sheet I designed. You can either download the treatment by clicking here or by clicking on the image below.




So this concludes my night. It's 4:26 and I need some rest. But before I go here's my weekend shout outs! Lol. Who does that?

• Jason Baxter: Old roommate, college bud and semi-pro friend (also the guy who gets to write a Jet Li film) Hey bud!
• Slackmistress and Betheboy: Awesome bloggers, great live chat's. Check em' out. They're cooler then the other side of the pillow. Check for "slack daily" to the left, to the left.
• Mervin Luwee Ho: My cousin who paid me an unexpected visit. I hate you...just kidding. Thank you for the smokes.
• Matt and Charina: I hate you guys also.
• Jcorn: Love the awesome comments and kind words, thank you so much for the inspiration. Top rated amazon reviewer and an awesome content producer with hundreds of thousands views to her material. Linkage here.
  
• Wall-E: For being awesome.

Hope all of you had great weekends! Here's a treat for being soft and fluffy. Click here to download the 5 Ways title track in mp3 form. The artist is Surreal from The Sound Providers also known to me as Jeremy Thomas co-writer of this film.

It is now 4:43 and I am almost asleep. Tell your friends about me. Night!

Tags:5 ways, hollyweird, hollywood, john darko, update, treatment, advice, screenwriting, mcdonalds, slackmistress, betheboy, jcorn, jason baxter, mervin luwee, download

Upcoming Stuff (burn after reading)

I had the worst sleep last night. I was so tired coming home from a job that I passed out sitting up; next to the little air conditioner that could. I woke up with a major headache and a minor earache. Good stuff.

So, I was coming up with some new ideas for this pimp-tocious blog. Some of which I will bestow below in one of those numbered lists thingys people love so dearly.

1. I'm posting the raw behind the scenes footage from the intense writing sessions for "5 Ways to Split Apart the Day". I know, I know...not appealing to the ears but I guarantee you'll get a kick from our late night antics. In the midst of our creative insanity, we filmed a mock up on the ever so unnecessary MTV's Cribs. Where you get to see the true to life living space of starving filmmakers and you'll also see how cheap soda and ramen noodles kept us alive.
2. I will be explaining in detail not only how we came up with the idea for our feature but the correct steps we took to get it noticed by Hollywood producers. I guess you're supposed to keep this stuff under wraps but oh well! My opinion, there's way too many independent projects that get shoved underneath the rug due to the uprise of tasteless conglomerates. Whatever it takes to get good cinema to the masses; I will try and do my part.
3. So, big news! I just got word from an agency that they would like to take my photography to a national level. We've been bouncing ideas back and forth all week. All I have to say is that there's a few celebrities involved. You'll get all the photos first including b-roll stuff and the behind the stories behind every shoot I do.
4. I intend to have guests bloggers come in and tell a story or two about their life & struggle in the city and discuss certain topics regarding filmmaking, photography and the ARTS.
5. If anything insane, creepy, good, sad, bad, wtf type stuff happens to me. You'll be the first to read about it. That is if you want to of course.

Once again, thank you for reading. If you haven't already, please hit the subscribe button so I know you care...lol. Here is a sneaky at the one sheet for 5 Ways and some stuff I felt like posting.

BURN AFTER READING...NEW COEN BROTHER'S FLICK - LOOKS GREAT!

Tags:coen bros, brad pitt, burn after reading, academy award winner, film, filmmaking, screenwriting, hollywood, hollyweird, scene, blog, john darko, movies, los angeles, tips on screenwriting, how to, inner city, urban