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Michael Field

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Keep Fresh

Keep Fresh

Why do I keep creating content? Why do I continue to write with no hope of having it be read? Why do I shoot short films with no chance they could be seen? Why do I write books with limited options to getting published? Why am I asking myself questions? That's just lazy writing. The idealistic answer to those questions is for the sake of creating art. The simple act of creating something out of imagination is what fuels me and I would think, many others out there. To be crea

Noppera-bō

Noppera-bō

I haven't directed anything since last year when we did the 3rd season of Scenes from the Movies, which was last year around this time. And I haven't directed a short since we did the prequel of the highly-promising feature Life Ends @ 30 called "Escape the Room", which I believe was three years ago, but it's been so long I can't remember. And the last project I directed that wasn't a comedy was my first web series, The Puzzle Maker's Son. Nine years ago! This brings us to No

New Year...New Book...New Website

New Year...New Book...New Website

Change is inevitable and sometimes needed. I'm hoping to create some changes this year. Whether I'm successful or not remains to be seen. The first change is one you may notice. It's the website. I did some redecorating. Now, some of these may change as well. Some background photos and such, but I figured it was at least ready to make live and since the new book is coming out at the end of the month, well, it made sense to do it. That's right. A new book. The follow up to Ada

Self-Publishing Thoughts

Self-Publishing Thoughts

Let me start out with admitting that I'm no expert when it comes to self-publishing. Yes, I did it with Adam Parker and the Radioactive Scout (Available now online. Order your copy today), but I didn't really dive into the self-publishing world when I published AP1. I had to learn how to format for different outlets. CreateSpace (Amazon), Nook Press (Barnes and Noble) and Smashwords all have different formatting rules that you have to follow in order to make sure your e-pub i

World-Building Conundrum

World-Building Conundrum

I enjoy a good world building when it comes to storytelling. Immediately, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) comes to mind for many of us. And while that's definitely a high-profile example of world building, it's not the kind I prefer. When building a story-verse amongst several different intellectual properties comes ahead of actually telling the main story, that's a problem. Star Wars: A New Hope works because it's a stand-alone story. If you never had the countless stori

Second Edit

Second Edit

I recently finished my second edit on a new book. The second in the Adam Parker comedy-mystery series - Adam Parker and the High School Bully. It took me awhile to get that title. Primarily because the story changed on me while writing and my focus became clearer about what I was writing about. I'm at the place where I'm ready for people to give it a read and tell me how awful or good it is. The rough draft for anything I write is usually a race to the finish. Like "Just get

That's a Wrap!

That's a Wrap!

Will & Grace came back. The X-Files came back. Roseanne is coming back. And now, here comes Scenes from the Movies! The comedic classic (someone one time said that, right?) about employees of a movie theater that hate customers is returning for a Season 3 almost five years after the finale of Season 2. Shooting for Season 3 commenced over this past weekend and I wanted to express my sincerest gratitude for everyone involved in the production this season. We rescheduled around

More Than Just the Script

More Than Just the Script

The script, Kiddo, is one of my favorite stories I've ever written. Please do not mistake my pride with cockiness. If I went back to that script, I'd probably start tweaking the language like nobody's business. No, the story of Kiddo is something I had to wrestle with when creating it and I was able to accomplish everything I set out to do. I wanted to write a noir adventure set in the 1940s NYC with Nazis as the bad guys. And when I started my research, I couldn't believe th

The Stories Keep Coming

The Stories Keep Coming

So through all this going back to school. Writing. Working within the local film community, I continued to get a steady paycheck as a manager at the local move theater. "You still work here?" - Yes. I get asked that often. And no, it doesn't make me sad. The money is too good to leave...for now. But also, what happens is the stories keep coming. It was quite easy to write two seasons of the comedy series, "Scenes from the Movies" because many of the episodes were taken from r

BEWARE: Users

BEWARE: Users

Everywhere I look on LinkedIN, I find messages about scams trying to get money from writers and filmmakers. I learned a long time ago to not trust any "producer" with big ideas about my projects if I just shell out a few dollars here and there. I always knew they were full of it. If I'm going to spend my money, I'm going to make sure I'm in charge of it. But there is another kind of user that is just as destructive. These are people who use up your time and energy. They want

Just Another Dilemma

Just Another Dilemma

All writers, at some point, come to terms with the fact that not everything they write will be seen by others. Good work included. Some pieces just don't get seen because of a variety of factors. It's tough to reconcile that in the beginning. You just finished writing this great short story, but it'll never see the light of day. Rejection after rejection flow in. You have to make the ultimate choice to move on to next story, which you've no doubt already done, but you were al

Sixth-Grade Procrastinator

Editor's Note: I wrote this last week for my Project Planning class, for which I'm taking as I earn a Master's Degree in Interactive Media. Thought I'd share. I've always been a procrastinator. This goes way back to elementary school. I specifically remember my very first time. For sixth grade, I had Mr. Maguire. He was a big, burly man who wore a big mustache and loved jokes. He was an army veteran who fought in The Korean Conflict and when he spoke about how he left the arm

The Urge

The Urge

Awhile back I wrote a piece about the struggle to create content versus creating good content. The urge to create content never goes away for me. I do have other things I'm focusing on right now with grad school, a new job search and something I can't talk about right now. (Teaser!) But lately, I keep thinking about shooting something...anything. I just keep hearing the opening line from "Can't Fight This Feeling" from REO Speedwagon in my head. It never fades. I'm writing, b

Screw the Old Way of Thinking

Screw the Old Way of Thinking

The rules are changing. Technology is breaking down how it used to be and leaving an empty space which very few people are willing to fill. Make a movie and get it into film festivals. That was the goal in 1991. But that game was rigged and it's even worse now. The best part is that you don't need it. You can find an audience on-line. You can connect with fans over social media. You can build your community of followers without the guise of dropping $1000 in festival submissi

Wishful Thinking Content

Wishful Thinking Content

Would it be fair to say that the indie film world or maybe this whole industry is based upon hope? Potential? Wishful thinking? Is the major commodity that's being traded amongst storytellers the idea of what project they could possibly be working on? I get it. This is how the business works. When we realize we want to tell stories, we naively go into it thinking: Just give me a chance and someone will see the talent. We all know the end of that story. Even the most talented

Antsy to Create

Antsy to Create

I'm antsy because I'm not creating content. I'm writing (not enough), which quells it slightly. But I'm doing no content creating and that's annoying me. I'm even entertaining the idea of doing a fake trailer for "Sous Chef", the Tina Fey-American Express commercial joke that she pitches as a TV show. That's how bad the drought is. I'm resorting to these tactics. And now my children are getting into the act. My 10-year-old (seen to the left) told me on Sunday: "I want to be i

Stop Dreaming

Stop Dreaming

I posted this photo yesterday on my Instagram with the caption "The Dream Never Dies". It's a chalk drawing of the Up on the Roof logo. Up on the Roof is the name of my production company. The name has been around since the early 90s and it represented a majority of my shorts, the web series and the feature. But after I posted that photo, I kept thinking that the caption is misleading. Dreams are not concrete. They are not bankable. They are wishes. Dreams drive us. They insp

We're Not Lost

We're Not Lost

There I am. Staring at my computer screen. Trying to figure out how to go back into my story and "fix it", but was there really anything wrong? Who knows? I wasn't stuck, but I was in contemplation mode. Thinking and thinking about what to do when in reality I was doing nothing at all, which was far worse. So I said, "Screw it" and kept writing. Anything I need to fix, I'll do it in the rewrite. Plot holes? I'll deal with it in the rewrite. I'm not calling this writer's block

So Alone

So Alone

Writing is a lonely business. You can talk about story with your friends over lunch. You can watch movies with your significant other and fall in love with the dialogue. You can exchange emails with a script reader about your latest draft. You can retweet other writers on Twitter. You can like Facebook posts about how hard it is to write and commiserate with your Facebook friend. But at the end of the day, it's just you and the computer. (Or typewriter, you masochists) All yo

It's All Research

It's All Research

I had this myth built up in my head that if I was going to research a story, it involved me sitting in front of the computer scouring information about my topic. Maybe some trips to the library would be in the cards. And while it's sometimes that, research also involves a lot of sitting and staring into space. (My view below) It involves thinking about the story and working it out in my head. I'm working on a story now. Nothing written yet with the exception of notes and loos

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