Writing: No Expectations and That Time Paul Tucker Met a Freaking Unicorn.

WARNING! I realize that I use quotation marks a lot. I apparently have no chill. Apologies.

"serendipity" definition according to Merriam-Webster - "luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for".


A couple of weeks ago, I finished writing the first draft of my first feature film ever. The entire 90-something pages were written in just 2 days, which was definitely not an easy feat and most likely will be something that I never will do again. hahaha Ink was flowing thick through my veins that day.

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No Expectations is the story about a screenwriter(full of myself? I know, right!? :P), who is completely aware that he is currently living the romantic comedy that he is writing. He has almost full control over his world and often argues with the audience, narrator, director, and other crew members when they stray from the script, but that all changes when he meets...."the girl". Dun Dun DUNNNNN! She's absolute perfection to him(she craps rainbows for crying out loud!). The only problem is that bad timing might be getting in the way of their future. His attempts to "write out" or "fix" these things fail miserably due to him slowly losing his powers because the feelings he has for her are quickly turning into love. She tells him to have "no expectations" about what will happen between the two of them, but our hero decides it might be time to flip the script(ahhhhh! see what I did there?!) in order to win the girl of his dreams.

I've never been great at writing a solid synopsis, but my tired eyes are telling me, at least for now, that I got the heart of the story there. Hopefully, if it ever gets made, the readers and the filmmakers will realize that this is meant to be more pastiche than parody. I am unashamed of my love for rom-coms and this film would be paying tribute way more than making fun of the genre.

Maybe the reason No Expectations was so easy to write was so much of it has been based off recent bits and pieces of my life from the past 3 years. I usually am more a fan of regular routine than inspiration when it comes to my craft, but oh man, inspiration combined with the robotic nature of routine can create incredible results.

What could've caused this extraordinary amount of inspiration for a guy who usually maxes out at no more than 10 pages on a good day? As a writer, what do you do when you find something so incredible that you could never find the words to properly explain it? Well, as the title would suggest, call it/them "a freaking unicorn". Yeah, that is seriously the only way that I can really say it.

Maybe you've met your own "unicorn", or something so perfect to you that you can't begin to fathom how this person, place, or thing could possibly exist(btdubs, you totally have God for this. Just more shocking when you find something so awesome from worldly things or people). This could possibly that juicy cheeseburger that hits all the right spots on your taste buds, the ultimate coffee shop corner to end all coffee shop corners you use to write out your next(or first) masterpiece, or possibly, if you're lucky, a person who absolutely decimates all per-conceived notions you had about what life really was. This is a person who makes your pronoia kick into overdrive because you're pretty sure somebody made a wish to a genie for them to come into life, since there is no reason that anybody like them could ever exist. If they did exist, they certainly shouldn't be giving you the time of day. For a writer, this is my best dream and my worst nightmare. My best dream in that I am now provided with infinite inspiration, but also my worst nightmare because I could never give this real life storybook character justice with words alone.

Energized by such an encounter, you might be willing to do anything for your own unicorn...like...*coughs* *adjusts collar* *heavy breathing*....twerking, but if it makes them crack even the slightest smile in a time where they're dealing with some serious sadness, then it is more than worth the embarrassment(yes, there are multiple videos of Paul Tucker "attempting" the world's weirdest dance style -.-).

Oh, well. Clearly I have too much information on this topic with all the rambling that exists in this post. hahaha If you find or have found your own "unicorn" or storybook character brought to life, I hope that they have as much of a positive impact on your life that mine did for me. If you haven't found one yet, I hope you do and do so soon. :)


And to end it back on stuff for No Expectations, here are a couple of lines from the script that are completely meaningless without context, but I don't care ;P hahaha Quick note..."(beat)" means taking a breath or break.

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"You could, but I'm just a girl who likes her beans and her solitude."

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"​I'm a die-hard liberal, but I'm also like, super conservative."

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"I wish I knew how to fight for you. (beat) I mean, I know I just maimed and mauled about three-hundred high school band geeks on my way to declare my love for you, (beat) but I mean really fight for you, (beat) like in the emotional sense."

Writing AND Directing: Comedic Relief

The filming for Comedic Relief is DONE(as of 4/4/16)! Post-Production will start today(4/5/16) and I am physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Comedic Relief is a film that was written out of frustration with Thor 2 for having way too many jokes. So I thought I'd flip the situation and take something that should be funny and make it super serious :)


Things I've learned so far with pre-production and production of Comedic Relief...

•  Producers are wonderful, magical organization fairies that can make a director's life infinitely better.
• This job is going to be far from easy.
• Clown culture is a real thing...and I've offended the people of that culture :P
• Other aspects of life don't hit the pause button just because you're trying to make a film. 
• Pre-production is crazy important.
• Storyboarding can be an incredible stress reliever. 
• Having people who are actually studying audio do your audio work for you instead of other video people, is like shaving with an actual razor instead of the spoon that you usually use.
• Working with the same people over and over again creates a great efficiency.
• There HAS to be some sort of hierarchy on set. If everybody is talking to everybody all day, things can get scrambled and disorganized.
• Choreography for fights needs to be figured out weeks in advanced and practiced heavily.
• My art is therapeutic
• Directing is an absolute blast.

Main difficulties on Comedic Relief...

•  The weather is not your friend

• Or the sun. Got burned while filming the big fight scene.
• Don't even get me started on wind...Stupid, ugly, fat WIND
• Balloons are sensitive and pop, even if you're just looking at them too hard.
• Scheduling everybody(we had to deal with people who had other school requirements, but still)
• Controlling actors, while also trying to make sure that they're having fun.
• Every dollar spent at this level of filmmaking SUCKS SO BAD.
• People not associated with the short, who wanted to sit in their car in the background and honk at us. 
• "Training" actors in last minute choreography

Comedic Relief was written to make something serious out of things that should usually be funny. I think the process of it so far, as we prepare for post-production, has been the perfect balance of serious work, but also having fun with a collection of fantastic people.

This was my first time getting to truly take a step back and really direct an entire short. I loved it. Oh boy, did I love it! I can't wait to do it again, especially on my own work.

On the horizon is a screenwriting competition where if I win, I'll get flown out to South Africa to watch my 20-30 minute film be created! :) We'll see how it goes, but I have high hopes. Wish me luck!

LOTS AND LOTS of love out to all of you.

- Paul

Producing: Anxious Masculinity - and movie updates(at the bottom) :D

This subject has been on my mind for a while. I just finally decided to write something on it. Little bit of film stuff, faith based stuff at the end, and a lot of exploring myself. If you'd rather just read up on my film updates, just [ctrl/cmnd F] and type in "movie updates" Let's begin...

"Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." - Ernest Hemingway

In so many ways, I wish I was Ernest Hemingway. At this point in my life, that is one of the truest sentences I know. Embarrassingly enough, I've yet to read a single book by Hemingway, but it is the life the man lived that is so fascinating to me. He will never be considered a man of perfect moral character, but as a man, there are SOME characteristics that can be seen as admirable to somebody like me.

Papa, a nickname Hemingway had people call him from the age of 27 onward, was a rough and rugged man who did what he wanted, which wasn't always a good thing, but that is who he was. Rough and rugged are two adjectives that will never be used to describe me, unless I haven't shaved in some time and you're talking about how my face feels. For the most part, we'd be foil(opposite) characters in the others story.

Hemingway loved to hunt. I parked my car and prayed for the health of a doe after it "gently" shoulder checked my car. This animal was fine, but I am still partially haunted by the death of one poor raccoon.

At the slightest offense, Papa would knock the snot out of any man who dare question his manhood, while I like to imagine myself fighting for my honor or another in a similar manner against those who have wronged me/them... in the privacy of my own mind. Don't worry though, I creamed them. ;)

Ernest was a bit of a womanizer and I've been struggling for almost 23 years to even get one real date. Interjection: there is a girl that I've recently become interested who I met on...*sighs* Tinder(Sorry mom and dad, but I promise I don't use it like all the other people do. *awkward silence*). Took me a month to get her number and I'm taking about as long to ask the girl out on a date.

There are clearly more things that could be listed, but apart from being men who write, we couldn't be any different. This is both a good thing and, from my perspective at least, somewhat of a bad thing. This is finally where the title comes into play.

Ladies, we're insecure. Shocking, I know, but there is this thing called "anxious masculinity"(thanks to prof. Mayeux for making me aware of this). It's all about the perpetual [junk] measuring contests that men put themselves through, in order to prove to women and other men, just how "manly" they are. This is another thing Hemingway and I have in common. Hemingway lived a life that seemed to be overcompensation from his childhood where his mother made him dress up as a girl(yes, that's terrifying AND spoilers: also the plot of Sleepaway Camp). Thank you, Sherrie Tucker, for not being creepy.

I don't feel as though I live a life of overcompensation, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I worried about how my manliness is perceived. There is a great desire in my heart to be the "handyman" type, who can fix anything, mixed with the other "good" male stereotypes.

Instead, the following things are actually what describe the kind of person I am: I like cheesy love songs(or just "bad" as my friend Tani calls them), totally pro-gun but I'm slightly nervous around them due to my clumsiness, I get teary-eyed all the time, which could be from telling my friends I love them or even dumb things like deaths in horror movies lol(Krampus got me...), I wish I lived in the movie world where seeing a beautiful girl and reciting poetry to her wasn't as super creepy as it is in real life, hugs are significantly better than handshakes, I've wanted to be married and be a dad since I was 6, and rom-coms are my jam. The list could go on forever, but this is a blog post, not my autobiography.

When I first started this post, all I could think about was encouraging my fellow dudes of the world to be their own man, but as the words came out of my mind and onto the screen, a different sort of ending was placed on my heart. The only one who has an opinion on my manhood that I care about is God's. One of my goals in life is to be the man that He wants me to be to the best of my ability. My ability to hunt, build a house from scratch, or chop down a tree is of no real importance to Him. He cares more about what I'm doing as a man to help the Kingdom. So all this worry that we have is ultimately nonsense. The only jobs we have as men are those that God has asked us to complete. That's actually a huge weight off our shoulders when you think about it. No more need worry about those silly social media posts that come from people who usually have a very narrow view on life. So go out and be your own man, but do it to the glory of God.

I definitely have more to say on this topic and I'm sure whenever I feel like posting again, I'll tackle it again :)

Now onto...

MOVIE UPDATES -
Springfield Documentary - My documentary is closer than ever! Pre-production is in effect and I'll soon be meeting with various organizations and people who will help fund and produce a short documentary on the city of Springfield. Shooting on the film will also start very soon and I'm sure I'll be posting many obnoxious posts about it for you all to see ;)

Student Films(1/4) - I'm in my last semester of school and that means the shorts I make need to be top-notch productions. Right now, I'm working with a group, for my Advanced Cinematography class, who is mostly done with the filming of a music video that will be used by my film prof. to pitch a potential stage production to Cedarville's theater department. I helped with the story of the play, but I had no part with the songs.

S.F.(2/4) - The hope is that within the next few weeks, my Audio for Film/Video class will begin production on one of three of my scripts as a final project that consists of one director(fingers crossed it's me), who will be assisted by the rest of the class in the production process. The scripts are Krampus - the same Krampus from the Adam Scott movie, but my script was written before that movie was even announced! haha, Comedic Relief - a story about mimes and clowns having a brutal fight to see who can be the entertainment for a small boy's birthday party, or Blitz: A Caretaker Story, which is the first short to be released in the world-building series that will help me tell the tales of the larger Caretakers world, this particular story introducing a steampunk themed "superhero" of sorts.

S.F.(3-4/4) - Still waiting for the first student film of the Advanced Cinematography class to be finished, but after that, there will be a short "dark/moody" film to be made. When that film is completed, I'll be moving on to a film that seems to have a lot more creative freedom and is therefore incredibly exciting.

Mumblecore Film - My collaborative project with fellow poets is well on its way and I'm still totally psyched about it. Asking Tani and Dom to come up with original poetry for a film is no easy task, but I'm sure their pieces will be as beautiful as the rest of their work. The story though...oh my gosh the story! It's going to be so good. My goal is to have the script completed by the end of this month(February 2016) and get started on the pre-production as soon as possible. The hope is to get as many local artists(actors, musicians, poets) involved as possible, with the whole scratching each others back approach.

Lots going on and it is all too exciting to handle. As usual,  I love you all and if you actually read any or all of this, you're amazing. Keep looking out for updates because by the time I get that Oscar, this stuff might all be gone ;)

Producing Consistency(Part 1)/Writing the Love is Dead

Hey! Remember when I said I was going to do this once a week? Yeah, me too. Clearly, I forgot about my consistency issues.

 I've always had trouble with consistency. It could be working out/dieting, schoolwork, or preparing a portfolio for my future career. For most of my life I've had way more "off" times than times when I'm "on". It is an aspect about myself that I am far from proud of. At this moment in my life, I am thankfully SO "on". I have a great job working in a coffee shop, I have lost a little under 30 pounds so far this year, I've finished some short scripts and a web series pilot that people seem to LOVE(which doesn't lower my inflated ego any. HA!), AND I am going to L.A.(YES LOS FREAKING ANGELES) where I have the chance to take some of my pilots and other scripts to potentially sell, or at least get my name out this September. The last half of 2014 and the first half of 2015 has seen a Paul who is much more consistent and I am loving it.

Part of that consistency has spawned off a short script that I'm sure some of you have either read or suffered through my various posts or tweets about it. That script is called "The Love is Dead". This particular script is about Chris, who is in an emotionally abusive relationship with his girlfriend, Sarah. Through an..."event", Sarah ends up dead, but Chris isn't quite ready to give up on the relationship, in fact, Chris begins to see that he likes Sarah a lot better now that she is dead.

Kinda creepy/weird, right? The creation of "The Love is Dead" and the aftermath of its birth has been incredibly odd for me. It was the first ever short script that I ever created(the right way), I wrote it in less than two hours within one evening, and it turns out a lot of people REALLY like it. Far from being a great writer, I figured people would like the general idea, but I was shocked that people seem to enjoy it all.

The experience of writing "The Love is Dead" has taught me that as artists, we shouldn't be afraid to expand on what kinds of projects we create. I actually hate other people's dark comedies. I usually find them more sad than funny. The other thing I've learned from writing "The Love is Dead" is that we shouldn't always sell ourselves so short. Have confidence in your work. I'm working on having more confidence in each piece of writing as I'm weaving through the words and I can honestly tell that my ability to tell a story is only improving.

God Bless and have a great week!!
- Paul Tucker

Countdown to L.A. - 96 Days

Producing Dreams

WARNING! This post contains optimism. If that makes you sick, this post is probably not suitable for you. Please consult your doctor before continuing.

Most people who work in film, or want to work in film have probably have heard the argument about whether or not film school is worth it to the ambitious filmmaker. The list of celebrated directors who went through film school is just as spectacular as the one for those who didn't. One of the bigger arguments against film school is often "Spielberg didn't go". Well, that is true, but Spielberg really REALLY wanted to. Steven Spielberg wanted to go to USC's film school desperately. Unfortunately for the younger Spielberg, USC's admissions officers didn't see his C average GPA as worth much to the university. He still applied THREE separate times...and each time, the person who would eventually be the most well-known man in Hollywood, was rejected. Even though he ended up going to another school, but only a short time, his love and appreciation for USC's film school refused to die. After becoming famous, Spielberg was given an "honorary degree" from USC. The talented director has since given millions of dollars to the university and now even has a building named after him there.

I also have this dream of making it to a film school, with USC being my top choice if I were able to actually get in. George Lucas(Star Wars), Ron Howard(Apollo 13), Freddie Wong(Rocket Jump Studios) and many other famous names are all alumni of their Cinematic School of Arts. All of them are women and men who are far more talented than I am and were probably still far more talented as they were applying to USC. Right now, I'm just making baby steps in producing, I feel like I might be in the adolescence of my directing abilities, but recently I've made some larger strides in my writing. I've written three short screenplays this semester, "Krampus", "The Love is Dead", and "Comedic Relief", which have all been received well by those who have read them.  Also, I have this blog now! I force myself to practice my writing on a schedule each week, so that I can release a new blog post each week or hopefully have a new idea for a short/feature in my head. In order to do what I want to do at film school and for the rest of my life, I have to start making strides in other areas like I'm doing in writing. This semester of school, my serious hat has been put on and turned backwards. I'm making sure that my filmmaking abilities improve and that I sure as heck won't be kept out of USC because my GPA isn't what they're looking for. Preparing to do more of the process on my own has been a little nerve-racking. My final video for my digital film class, "The Love is Dead", is going to be exclusively directed and edited by myself so that I can improve in those areas. To be honest, I am scared to death to be doing this video all on my own. I know what to do and I think I'm capable of doing it, but that doesn't make me any less frightened of what is ahead of me. In the end though, I'm improving on my abilities and will work to produce more projects to show off what I'm capable of as I improve. All of this is about me working towards my short term dream of being good enough to be a part of the same family as people like GEORGE LUCAS.  Just making it to the USC School of Cinematic Arts...and do that whole "graduating" thing too, being one of those lucky few. That is what I want for my life. That is my dream.


I don't care if you're nine years old or ninety-nine years old, you should follow your dreams. How cheesy is THAT?! Apologies for the mad cheese levels of this post, but this is all honesty. Don't worry about what anybody says. All sorts of people get to make films for a living and even a select few eventually get recognized for doing it. Why not ME? Other people have had the opportunity to be the astronaut, the chef at a five star restaurant, the hit video game designer, the Iron Man triathlete etc. Why not YOU? If somebody tries to crush your dreams, it is most likely that somebody else has crushed theirs. Keep them around when you succeed. You might just be what they needed for them to pursue their own dreams again. What are your dreams? Wanna talk about them? Or maybe there is something I can do to help you? OR even better, for you to help me?! ;) Let me know in the comments, or email me at ptucker2011@gmail.com(alternate: ptucker@cedarville.edu).

Thanks and God Bless!
- Paul Tucker

Producing the First Post

For those of you who don't know, writer's block, defined by Wikipedia as a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work, is usually something that people who have been writing for years usually have. I, on the other hand, seem to have developed it on this first real post. That's not actually 100% true, but I want to save some of my more serious discussions or posts for a later time. We're not getting too deep into this right off the bat.

Isn't it funny how we can imagine something being so simple and easy for ourselves, only for it to seem impossible to us when we actually take a crack at it? That's what I honestly believed when I first got into making films. I didn't properly respect the process the way I should and it showed in my first ever short. Here at Cedarville, the first class where you actually get to make videos for class is called Video Technical Training(calling it vid tech from here out). In vid tech, we were tasked with making a commercial. The product could be one that already exists, or we could create our own product. Choosing the latter, I was trying my hardest to think of a ridiculous product that I could make an over-the-top commercial for. That product would later be called Thunder Punch, the manliest soft drink around. I was absolutely fueled with excitement. I was ready to make this amazing video that would leave everybody speechless.

There is this terrible habit I've had(sometimes still deal with) where I would wait till the night before or day of to do an assignment for school. This project was another one of those times. The night before the video was due, I finally started filming. It was terrible. I was scatter brained and ill prepared. I brought no lights and no sound equipment with me. All I had were the lights that were in the school building over my actors' heads and the audio that my camera was picking up by itself. If you're not somebody who makes films, using a camera's audio is a terrible decision. It will pick up everything you DON'T want and nothing you actually need. I had no knowledge of all the settings video cameras have to make the image look better. All I knew was how to point and shoot. That is exactly what I did. My shots were decent, but with the bad lighting and audio, it didn't matter. Then editing came along. If you ever talk to me about the filmmaking process, I will gladly tell you how editing is by far my least favorite part. Editing is probably the only part I actually do not like. As if I wanted to make editing even more fun, my dumb butt thought I could totally just get up early the day the video was due and knock it out in no time. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...stupid. No, I got up at six in the morning and edited all the way up until vid tech started at about noon. I barely made it through the door as the class was about to start and thankfully I was able to give the professor my flash drive. I ended up getting a B+ on the project, but I deserved much worse. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my actors who were willing to sacrifice their evenings to help out a big goof like me. Thankfully, I have some wonderful friends here at Cedarville that had my back that night. They saved me from getting a terrible grade on my first video. I definitely owe them all BIG time for that. I've come a long way since that first film and my abilities have improved greatly. My hope is that I only continue to get better in every aspect of the process...yes, even editing.

So...a message. There should be one, right? I guess, if there has to be one, respect work. Any kind of work. Respect the custodians who have to deal with messes that aren't their own, respect the waitress who you think is the worst person in the world because she hasn't brought you the ketchup yet, and of course respect the filmmaker/blogger because this stuff is hard! ;)

I promise to work hard and get better at this. There will probably be some errors in here, but I'm at least trying! I enjoy doing this so far and hope to make this a once a week deal. Thanks for reading!

God Bless. :)
-Paul

Producing a Blog

I've found myself to be intrigued by blogging for a while now. People use it as a medium to express their opinions, teach others how to do something, or maybe just put their words out on the net, hoping that somebody will want to listen. I guess when I decided this morning to create a blog, I had a similar mindset.

Not sure if this will ever reach anybody other than my friends and family, but it's probably best if I include a bit about myself. My name is Paul Tucker. I'm from a town in Ohio which used to be a pretty B.A. place to live, but really crashed and burned(more on that in another post). Being a Christian, my faith is the most important part of my life. God has buried me under a plethora of blessings that I can never thank Him enough for. I actually attend a private Christian school called Cedarville University where I study film. My dream is to be a film producer in Hollywood, which is where my blog name comes from and where most of the titles for my posts will come from. A lot of who I am will be revealed in various blog posts, so I don't want to reveal too much now :)

This blog will hopefully serve a variety of purposes. I'm not a great writer and I'm only slightly witty, so I have no crazy expectations for this. I hope to use it as a way to share my faith with others, document my work as I attempt to reach my dream career, tell meaningful/funny/embarrassing stories about me, and maybe something cooler ;) I will be posting at least once a week. Make sure to check back every Saturday from now on! :)