Derrick Kisabeth's Blog

The (Film Company) Hangover

dkisabeth25 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:24:00 +0000

For those of you who know me, you know that I had a less than amicable break up with some former business partners. In my inexperience, I dealt with it the way any 12 year old middle schooler would. I went off and pouted and swore off a film career.

Now, 2 years removed from that experience, I have again taken up the pen (read: keyboard) and put word on page (read: screen).

I just banged out a nice vomit draft on a new script. 19 days and 150 pages later, I feel like I’ve finally shaken off that jilted ex-lover feeling and am again in control of my own life.

I was bitter for way too long. I started questioning whether or not I could exist within an industry that contained people who would one day call you friend and the next, go back on their word and stab you in the back. These are harsh terms I know. But that’s how it felt. But I forgot the single most important rule. Don’t confuse business life and personal life. Were these people my friends? Yes, absolutely. But that does not excuse me from the throws of business. We were very much not compatible from a business standpoint. Or from a creative standpoint. Now all hard feelings have been pushed aside from a personal standpoint.

But where does that leave me now? Two years wiser and two years behind. So what’s my point you may ask? My point is that you can learn from my mistake and not revert to your 12 year old self.

The more important point is that it’s never too late to come back to what you love if you leave it for a while. It’s like an old friend that you haven’t seen in years. Sometimes you just fall right back into it like you never left it.

- D

Women (Not) in Film

dkisabeth25 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:28:53 +0000

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of (or the lack of) women in Hollywood. Yes, we have stars like Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, but there is a large gap in onscreen presence between the hairier and the fairer sex. There is a misogynist view taken by the studio system that rejects the idea of a woman being able to carry a movie. So I started thinking about all of my favorite movies over the years from every different genre (other than biopics). I started picturing a woman in those leading roles and you know what? They are just as good if not better in some cases.

For Example:

Take a movie like “BladeRunner”. Take out Harrison Ford as Richard Decker (it’s not blasphemous, people) and insert an actress like, I don’t know, Helena Bonham Carter. Now give Helena some of the same character flaws as Decker. Don’t beautify her. Don’t make her a fragile girl. Make her exactly like Harrison’s Decker. Would that not be a movie you’d still want to see? It worked for Alien. I think it could work for a lot more.

One of the biggest issues is that it’s still man’s world in Hollywood. Sure you are starting to see women pushing against that glass ceiling, but its a long way from being equal. And I think a large part of it is how we over sexualize women. Unattractive men can get starring roles. Unattractive women can barely get supporting roles. It’s an unfair double standard. Men start getting roles after 40 and with a few exceptions, women start to fade away after 40.

So I’m making a vow as a screenwriter to keep the roles I write fairly gender neutral if I can. I won’t hold any preconceived notions about what sex should play the lead. It’s going to take, in part at least, a grassroots effort to change the standards in the industry. And it goes across the board from Acting to film crews and all the way up to the executives.

My First Impressions of San Diego

dkisabeth25 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:33:21 +0000

I’ve been in San Diego for a month now and I’ve drawn a few conclusions about this fair city. First, what’s with the weather? I feel like I’m in some kind of dimensional anomaly where everything has to be perfect. It’s like the Groundhog Day of weather. Secondly, I need to get into better shape. In LA, you get a lot of people getting skinny and working out so they can audition and not get pushed aside for a 75 lbs. coke addict. In San Diego, people are in shape because they just want to be in shape. I wake up most mornings to the sight of these healthy people running along the harbor. Thirdly, this is Pleasantville. Unless you look really closely, you’d swear it was perfect. Even a lot of the graffiti is artistic.

In the end though, it still has all of the drawbacks of California. 2 parts bad driving, 1 part pretentiousness, and 2 parts awesome.

Should be a nice year (or 5).