Tag Archives: Life narrative

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Kaleidoscope scoop!

Struggling with a story from your life that has some kind of a problem attached? Take a lesson from the kaleidoscope app like PrismScope that can turn an ordinary old T-shirt that looks like this

Just a plain old T-shirt. ©D.L. Ewbank

Just a plain old T-shirt. ©D.L. Ewbank

into something that looks like this

View 1. ©D.L. Ewbank

View 1. ©D.L. Ewbank

or this

View 2. ©D.L. Ewbank

View 2. ©D.L. Ewbank

or this

View 3. ©D.L. Ewbank

View 3. ©D.L. Ewbank

Does the story told in chronological order lack pizzazz? Take a lesson from Momento and consider non-linear story.

Does the story take place on the fringes of a major event that occurred during your life? Take a lesson from Titanic and consider adding fictional elements.

Is the story dynamic, but too short to carry into a full story? Can it be combined with other stories related by theme like The Hours?

What story from your life are you going to modify to take it to higher levels?

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Pagophobia?

Last week I laughed long and hard at a post on phobias, especially aroraphobia – the fear of the Northern Lights. I laughed because I didn’t see myself as a fearful person. Then came today.

Ice, February 3, 2014. ©D.L. Ewbank

Ice, February 3, 2014. ©D.L. Ewbank

Today the local weathermen have one word for central Arkansas, ICE. Even though I’m warm and cozy and sipping a nice hot cup of lemon ginger herbal tea, I’m getting a little anxious. I see ice for what it really is – a transparent, terror-wielding monster.

Go back to Christmas 2000. I am at my mother’s home in Hot Springs preparing to enjoy the fabulous brunch at the historic Arlington Hotel when Mom says the weather is getting bad. If I don’t get home now, I might not make it back to Little Rock for a week.

I load my clothes, my Christmas goodies and my dog Oscar and strike out in my Bordeaux Pearl Red Honda Accord. Have you ever started on a path you think might be a major mistake? That’s how I feel as I turned onto Hwy 70. “I’ll just take it slowly.”

Traffic is scarce, but I drive slower than the 55 mph speed limit. I am going so slowly I might get a ticket even though there’s no minimum, but apparently law enforcement vehicles are smart enough to stay off the road in this weather.

Thirty minutes later I reach the Lonsdale Rest Area about nine miles out. I breathe a sigh of relief. Ice and snow are scary in Arkansas because few of us know how to drive on it. Even if you can control your car, you worry about others on the road who can’t. If you’ve ever been in a wreck that totaled your car or injured you, you’re aware of what a wreck can mean.

Should I keep going or turn back? Though it means driving through scarcely populated wooded areas, I keep driving. My next goal is the Interstate. Surely the Interstate will be better.

It takes three times the normal thirty minutes to reach I-30. Did I mention I am going slowly? My nerves are as tight as my clenched teeth.

Should I stay on the Interstate or get off on the access road? I am still wavering when a car ahead of me spins out of control and plunges down the grassy slope that supports the road.

The off ramp is a good decision. When cars line up behind me, I simply pull off into the first available, and hopefully graveled for increased traction, off-road space.

Miraculously, I pull into my driveway safely. It has taken four hours instead of the normal one. I am weak and shaky as I carry Oscar inside. As I unload my car, I slip and fall on top of a shoe box I am carrying. After my icy ordeal, sore ribs seem like nothing.

The ice continues. State government is shut down. 300,000-500,000 (depending on which stats you read) Arkansans, including me, are out of power for days. One day I reach my cold tolerance. “If my power isn’t on tonight, I’m renting a motel room.” What a sight it is when I spot my lit doorbell. I have power!

With a storm just two weeks earlier, this ice storm is viewed as the worst natural disaster in the history of Arkansas. Did it leave me with pagophobia, an intense, irrational fear of ice? No. But last fall I spent mega-bucks to drastically clip my gargantuan red-tip Photinias away from power lines to my home. There’s no harm in taking precautions.

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Let’s get our Mojo working

What can get our creative juices flowing and tone up our resolve to keep pounding away at those computer keyboards better than waving the possibility of dollars for our efforts before our faces. Come on, let’s get our mojo working. And by mojo I mean Box Office Mojo.

Computer keyboard with dollar signs. ©iStockphoto.com/firebrandphotography

Computer keyboard with dollar signs. ©iStockphoto.com/firebrandphotography

How is life story doing at the box office? Let’s take a look at the financial returns for the five life narrative films nominated for Academy Awards. How can we do that? We’re going to search at Box Office Mojo. (Numbers from February 2, 2014)

12 years a Slave: Solomon Northrup, a free black man living in New York, is kidnapped in 1841 and spends 12 years as a slave in Louisiana

Fox Searchlight distributor. This film had a limited release on October 18, 2013, earning $923,715. Wide release was on November 18 with earnings of $6,675. 731. Total earnings worldwide are $96,408,000 with $45,808,000 domestic (47.5%) and $50,000,000 foreign (52.5%) over 108 days in release. Production budget not listed.

Captain Phillips: Captain Richard Phillips’ cargo ship is hijacked by Somali pirates

Sony/Columbia distributor. Captain Phillips opened on October 10, 2013, earning $25,718,314 in 3,020 theaters. As of February 3, 2014, it has earned $217,060,934 worldwide, with $106,547,000 domestic (49.1%) and $110,513,934 foreign (50.9%)  in 115 days of release. Production budget was $55 million.

Dallas Buyers Club:  Ron Woodroof, when diagnosed with HIV, expands the 30 days doctors have given him to live by seeking out alternative medicines, smuggling them into Texas and distributing them to others illegally

Distributed by Focus Features. The film was released limited (9 theaters) on November 1, 2013, earning $260,865 and wide (666 theaters) on November 22, 2013, earning $2,687,157. In 94 days of release the film’s lifetime gross is $22,542,486 domestic (100%). Production budget not listed.

Philomena: Philomena Lee searches fifty years for the son she was forced as a young woman to give up for adoption

Weinstein Company distributor. The film opened limited (4 theaters) on November 22, 2013, earning $128,435 and wide (835 theaters) on November 27, 2013, earning $3,676,001. The worldwide gross is $69,475,425 with $27,342,000 (39.4%) domestic and $42,133,426 (60.6%) foreign. Production budget not listed.

The Wolf of Wall Street: Wall Street stockbroker Jordan Belfort rises high, then plummets

Paramount distributor. The film opened in 2,537 theaters on December 25, 2013, earning $18,361,578. Total lifetime grosses are $226,377,000 with $104,077,000 domestic (46%) and $122,300,000 (54%). Production budget was $100 million.

It’s hard to tell what ballpark balance figures are, especially on the films where production budgets aren’t listed. But often more information can be found in articles like How the Producers of ‘Dallas Buyers Club,’ ‘Wold of Wall Street’ and ‘Fruitvale Station’ Got the Films Off the Ground. From this article we discover that Dallas Buyer’s Club was made for under $5 million. And despite using more than 100 locations, Wolf came in on time and on budget. The New York Times article The International Fate of ’12 years:’ Steve McQueen’s Film Is a Bos-Office test Case indicated the budget for 12 days a Slave was around $20 million.

In the end, what these numbers tell us as writers is that life story is making a profit in the hands of Hollywood in the U.S. and often even better in foreign markets globally. Maybe this is one reason hollywood elite show up at the Golden Globes in great numbers.

Come on, let’s get our mojo working today!

 

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A salute to Captain Phillips

In Invictus William Henley says, “I am the captain of my soul.” After watching the Academy Award multi-nominee (including best picture and best writing, adapted screenplay) Captain Phillips, I prefer to say, “I am the captain of my story.” There’s much to learn about telling life story successfully from this film.

Cargo freight containers at the port awaiting shipment. ©iStockphoto.com/pierivb

Cargo freight containers at the port awaiting shipment. ©iStockphoto.com/pierivb

After identifying Captain Phillips in Is your story ‘award’ worthy? as one of five award-worthy life stories from the 2014 Hollywood award season, I knew I had to see it. As foul weather was predicted for Little Rock, I rented it on iTunes on Super Bowl Sunday.

Captain Phillips is a thrilling story about the hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama and the taking of its Captain Richard Phillips as hostage by Somali pirates in 2009. The script was written by Academy Award nominee and Writers Guild of America winner Billy Ray based on A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy Seals, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty.

Researching the film I found the October 13, 2013, New York Post article by Maureen Callahan “Crew members: ‘Captain Phillips’ is one big lie.” According to the article some of the crew didn’t think Phillips was the big hero portrayed and filed suit against the Maersk Line and the waterman Steamship Corp. claiming “willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety.” I’m not the truth-in-life-story police. Whether Phillips is a hero or not, there are life story elements we life narrators can glean from this superbly written film.

Raise a question. On the way to the airport Phillips and his wife talk about their boys. Andrea Phillips raises a question, “It’s gonna be okay, right?”

Let’s ask ourselves, “What question does my story raise?”

Boil your story down to its ”one word” topic. For Captain Phillips the “one word” might be piracy. Piracy on the open seas, especially off the coast of Africa, has been a threat for some time. “As Seen in ‘Captain Phillips’: 5 Facts About Modern Piracy” quotes piracy expert Jay Bahadur saying that while today many ships hire armed guards, the Maersk crew could not have weapons on board in 2009. “Well,” you say, “nothing in my life is as grand as ocean piracy.” But strip piracy down to its basics and what you have is loss, theft or the threat of these.

Let’s ask ourselves, “What loss, theft or threat have I experienced?”

Have a goal. Captain Phillips expresses the clear goal of this commercial ship is to transport its cargo as quickly and safely as possible through potentially unsafe waters.

Let’s ask ourselves, “Does my story express a goal clearly?”

Eliminate the unnecessary. Captain Phillips is stripped of everything except those things that relate to (or support as background) the piracy experience.  We don’t see unnecessary information about life on board, how they eat and sleep, how they interact. While Phillips has a wife and children, we only get enough suggestion of these to raise the stakes.

Let’s ask ourselves, “What is absolutely necessary to convey my story? What can be cut in order to reveal only bare bones?”

Confine locations. Captain Phillips is set aboard the Maersk Alabama and its lifeboat. We see only the necessary locations of the bridge, ship exteriors, the engine room, the captain’s quarters and, later, the inside of the enclosed capsule of the lifeboat.

Let’s ask ourselves, “How can I narrow my physical scope to strengthen impact by giving a sense of confinement?”

Contrast the antagonists. In Captain Phillips, views of the enemy show the oppression of crime leaders, poverty so deep one man isn’t even wearing shoes and the drug Khat.

Let’s ask ourselves, “What characteristics of my enemy illustrate how they differ from me in daily experience, status and world view?”

Show a resolution.  The best lesson of Captain Phillips, at least for me, comes at the end. After four days aboard the lifeboat, Navy Seal Team Six takes out his three captors. Phillips, spattered with his blood and the blood of his captors, is brought aboard a naval ship where he is attended by a Naval Hospital Corpsman (Danielle Albert). “Are you okay?” she asks. “Can you talk now?” “Are you in any pain right now?” As Phillips begins to respond, she makes assurances that resolve the initial question of the movie including: “Captain, you’re safe now. You are safe and you are fine. It’s going to be okay.”

Let’s ask ourselves, “Is my main question resolved?”

Going deeper, the film raises a fundamental question for life story tellers. Does the ability to tell my story indicate I’m okay? Are we okay when we begin to be able to talk about our traumatic experience? I’m no psychiatrist, but it seems to be a start for Phillips. Richard Phillips returned to sea July 25, 2010.