First thing's first: I really miss the icons I got to choose with each post on LiveJournal, so I'm putting one here. Blogger is seriously such a crappy platform, I'm thinking about going back to LiveJournal even against all my principals. I just worry what will happen to all my memories in LJ when I'm 90 and can't access them anymore. All that stuff... I need to find a way to export it.
On with the topic of the post. I'm currently taking a Haunted House writing class (along with a Magic Castle production class), which is an offshoot of the TECWS theme park design workshop I took over the summer. I took a different writing class, which was a huge disappointment; so much so that I almost canceled my enrollment in this one.
I'm so glad I didn't. The instructor for this class is PHE-NO-ME-NAL. He is so attentive, helpful, and knowledgeable. I think the problem with the last one was that, as nice as he was, he had no practical experience. This guy, Ted Dougherty, knows his shit. And is a fantastic instructor to boot. I've learned so much from him already.
Lately, I've been had this inclining that show writing is the direction I should have been going this whole time. Producing and project management are out of my wheelhouse, even if I am an A+ event and program coordinator; and frankly, I just don't like doing it. Not in the sense of creating schedules and managing people. I don't like that and am not good at it. I thought it was the same thing as event/program management and community organizing, but it's not.
Taking this haunted house writing class was an opportunity to explore this direction and see if it was a better fit. It turns out that it is. I'm naturally very good at writing, and this course confirmed it. And I've loved every step of the way, hard as it has been.
Loglines (now that I know what they are) and synopses come easily to me, so I was not really surprised when Ted (and Robert, my last show writing class instructor) said mine were solid. His only critique was that my logline could use a bit more pizazz, which I 100% agreed with. I really struggled trying to get my background into the form of a logline with the guest role acknowledged; but once I showed it to him, he said YES, use that one! It's perfect! While mine still need a bit of work (and I made a mistake in the last class that I've since learned from: focus on what the guest will experience, not backstory), I was so surprised by how many people could not understand the format of a synopsis and logline. Some people had multiple page's worth of synopsis.
The next assignment was to write 12-15 beats/room descriptions for for the ride, including visuals and some scare ideas. I'm still very green to writing beats and could feel that newness as I was working on them, so I was expecting a bunch of suggestions and edits when I turned it in.
But that's not what happened. Ted got back to me this morning (I turned in the assignment at midnight last night), saying that it was perfect. He had absolutely no suggestions. I couldn't believe it, and I can't tell you how good that felt. To do something for the first time (I don't really count the last writing class because I got no feedback) and get it right... holy crap. I was floating on clouds.
I still plan on making many mistakes in the next few weeks and needing feedback, guidance, and advice; but I feel like I'm in a place that I can follow up with Ted when this is all over and ask for more directed professional guidance. Maybe I can see if he even has some projects I can work on next year or if he could hook me up with someone who might be willing to give me an internship. Or heck - maybe he'd be my mentor.
At any rate, I'm going to post his feedback her for posterity because it was so wonderful to hear.
For the logline and synopsis:
I also like your statement about the guest challenge of trying to escape from a circus designed to "deceive, startle and surprise." This allows the backdrop to be really whatever you would like in terms of sets, decor (eg. distorted mirrors mazes, mutated animal cages, freak show, etc.). The possibilities are endless!
A couple of fun things to think about: Who is Bart? Is he the the ringmaster? Is he in charge of the new clown troupe and knows how evil they are or will he fall victim to their violence? Also, are the clowns a rogue group of murderers infiltrating one travelling circus to the next? Or, are they a band of serial killers escaping the authorities and attempting to hide from the police by disguising themselves as clowns?
You don't need to answer these questions now - but just think about them. I think it will be fun to imagine what those answers could be.
As far as your log line goes - I think it could use a tiny splash of extra cotton candy and balloon animals to bolster it a little bit. Did you do the exercises of writing log lines for 5 of your favorite movies and 5 versions of your attraction? If so, can you send them over to me (you can just copy and paste them into this message, if you would like). If you didn't get the chance to do the exercises, I recommend doing so because I think you'll land on the right combination for your log line that will make it "pop" - it's ALMOST there!
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