Karen Sandler

Tag: short film

  • Recombined Shoot

    DGA director Regina Ainsworth on the set of Recombined.

    As I described in my post Movie to Books to Movie to TV, I’ve been working with director Regina Ainsworth with an eye toward pitching my young adult sci-fi novels, the Tankborn trilogy, as a television series. Regina suggested we needed a visual expression of Tankborn‘s world as part of our pitch. To that end, I wrote the short script, Recombined, while Regina built relationships, raised funds, and gathered cast and crew who were as passionate about the project as we were. We shot the film December 1st, 2018 on one long (and very cold) day in Burbank.

    I’ve written a number short scripts and have seen three of them made into films, but other than one SAG actor in one of those films, cast and crew were amateurs. The cast of Recombined were all SAG-AFTRA, and we had a professional union crew.

    The Warner Bros. signature logo

    The shoot took place at Warner Bros. Ranch, just down the road from Warner Bros. main studio. It’s where the iconic Friends was shot, and it’s currently the home of Veronica Mars.

    It was an unusual arrangement allowing us to shoot a short film on the Warner Bros. Ranch lot (one of the security guards said “That never happens”), and we were all so grateful for the opportunity. The cast and crew blew me away with their performances and dedication to the film.

    As screenwriter, my main role was to consult on the script as needed. I also volunteered to be amateur stills photographer (we also had a pro, Molly White, taking stills). I entertained myself by getting pictures of the action between shots.

    Most gratifying for me as the author of the Tankborn novels was seeing my characters come alive. The lead actor, Naïma Hebrail Kidjo, did an amazing job breathing life into my main character, the GEN (Genetically Engineered Non-Human), Kayla. I loved how the makeup/hair artist, Alexandra Bayless, created the GEN tattoo on the GENs’ cheeks and how she did Naïma’s hair for her role as Kayla.

    Naïma Hebrail Kidjo (Kayla) in the makeup chair getting her hair braided and standing for a shot in front of the blue screen.

    The script is loosely based on a “wedding” scene that I’d originally written for Tankborn which never made it into the final published book. With several modifications, the scene became the script for Recombined. Since I started from my own source material, I had the freedom to add any necessary characters, including the GENs Gaddiel and the Intercessor who officiates the wedding (joining).

    Left photo, Glenn Stanton (Gaddiel), right photo, from left to right, Dane William, Jessie Hendricks (Alia), and Leilani Smith (Intercessor)

    Recombined is now in post-production, Regina working hard on putting together in a cohesive way the jigsaw puzzle of the shots we got that day. I can’t wait to see the final product.

    A picture, or it never happened. Here’s me hanging out with actors Shay Ali (Ved) and Patrick McCarthy (Captain Ansgar) before the first shot of the day. Photo credit: Molly White

  • Movie to Books to Movie to TV

    What starts as a movie script, morphs into a trilogy of books, segues briefly into a short story, rises again as a movie script, and aspires to be a TV series? The Tankborn Trilogy.

    First came the movie script, Icer. I’ve been a science geek most of my life. I studied math, physics, and computer science in college and grew up reading and watching science fiction. During a UCLA Extension course on screenwriting I started my first feature length script, Icer, an SF story that revolved around genetic engineering.

    After I finished Icer, I wrote other scripts and the occasional novel. But screenwriting is a tough business, so I decided to focus just on novels, and I published my first book in 1998. I wrote mainly romance novels, ten of them for Harlequin. After 16 books, I hit the wall with romance and decided to switch to young adult.

    But what to write? I still loved sci-fi. And I had this great sci-fi story in Icer. What if I adapted it as a book for teens? I jumped into the project feet first, moving the Earth-based story from Icer to the planet Loka and changing my main characters from adults to teens. The result was Tankborn, which became a launch book for Lee and Low’s brand new Tu Books imprint.

    Over the ensuing years, I completed the trilogy: Tankborn, Awakening, and Rebellion. The three books didn’t follow the original movie script exactly. A feature script is usually only 100-120 pages and the trilogy ended up comprising more than 1100 pages. I had to expand far beyond the story of the script. But each of the books contains bits and pieces of Icer’s story. Step 1 was complete: movie script → book trilogy.

    Then in September 2016, I had an opportunity to attend an event sponsored jointly by the Alliance of Women Directors and the Writers Guild of America. At the time, I had a number of polished feature scripts I wanted to pitch to the women directors I’d be meeting. Of course, one of those scripts was Icer.

    With every intention of pitching Icer, I also brought along a copy of Tankborn. I had no feature film credits to my name, having only had a few short scripts produced. I thought showing the directors a published book might impress them.

    It worked, although not necessarily the way I thought it would. Several of the directors I pitched were more interested in the three books of the Tankborn Trilogy than they were in Icer. They kept referring to the trilogy as “IP” (which I eventually figured out was “intellectual property”) and peppered me with questions about them. Three requested copies of the books.

    One of those three was director Regina Ainsworth. She’d requested autographed physical copies (I’d sent the others ebooks), and a few months later she contacted me to let me know she wanted to chat with me about my work. We spoke in January 2017 by phone. Regina proposed a feature film (maybe a trilogy), but by then I’d had a real vision of the Tankborn Trilogy as a television series. I made my case, and Regina agreed.

    So how was I going to adapt the big, complex plot of Tankborn to the visual medium of television? Especially when I admittedly have a love affair with internal dialogue and tight POV. Being in a character’s head, thinking their thoughts and seeing the world through their eyes, might work in a novel but it’s a non-starter for film or television. An actor has to be able to act out (make visual) everything a character does.

    I could have cut all those internal dialogue/tight POV scenes. But sometimes there’s important information in the character’s head that the audience needs to know.

    Having written both scripts and books, the challenge was an intriguing one. It was reminiscent of when I was a software engineer and had to modify and debug computer code. Maybe more like translating a program from one computer language to another.

    To demonstrate how I translated some of the internal dialogue into a visual scene, I’m including a couple of examples from the novel & pilot below. But first, here’s a thumbnail sketch of Tankborn to give you some story context:

    Genetically Engineered Non-humans (GENs) are created in a gen-tank, programmed with a particular ability or skill called a sket, and enslaved from birth. As part of GENs’ gestation in the tank, gene-splicers install circuitry in their bodies and brains. This includes an interface on their cheek that allows “trueborns” to upload or download new programming, or to erase GEN identities entirely during a reset.

    On to the examples. Here’s some text from Page 1 of the first book, Tankborn.

    An actor could show Kayla hunched on the river bank with a disagreeable look on her face showing that she’s unhappy to be there. I could have written some dialogue between Kayla and her nurture-brother Jal to reveal what Kayla’s plans had been for the day. But there was more subtext that needed to be included besides just Kayla’s grumpiness. I really needed to rethink this scene to make it work for a visual medium.

    So I created a new scene that hadn’t been in the book. I placed Kayla and her nurture-mother, Tala, at a worship service. Kayla’s and Tala’s argument about why Kayla has to go to the river with Jal is woven in with the worship prayers.

    This bit of dialogue serves three purposes. 1) Introduces the GEN faith which is based on servitude. 2) Sets up Kayla having to go to the river with Jal. 3) Teases Kayla’s “sket,” the special ability that the gene-splicers programmed into her while she was in the tank. Her sket will be revealed in the river scene.

    In another new scene that follows the worship service, I include the subtext of Tala’s real reason for sending Kayla to the river to accompany Jal.

    Once I finished the pilot and outlined the entire first season of the Tankborn series, I felt I was close to getting the pieces of a “series bible” together. Then Regina introduced a new wrinkle: we needed a short film, set in Tankborn’s world, to be part of our pitch. We needed a “visual” to sell our concept.

    I proposed we base the short film on an “outtake” scene from Tankborn that didn’t make it into the final version of the book. Regina loved the idea, and I went to work on the script. While the pilot was 50 pages, the short film had to be only 5-7 pages. Writing short is tough, but after some back and forth, we locked down the script. We nailed down a title too: Recombined. Step 2 was complete: book trilogy (a fragment of it anyway) → movie script.

    We’re now on to the next phase of our short film, crowdfunding. That’s where we’ve asked our friends, and friends of friends, and people who don’t even know us if they can pitch in a little bit to help us make Recombined. Click the picture below to check out our campaign.Regina and I are very passionate about this project (as is Neobe Velis, our producer). We’re especially excited that Recombined will be a inclusive production, with a diverse cast and crew. With a particular commitment to gender parity in front of and behind the camera.

    But we can’t get it done without help from others. And by “help,” I mean donations. If that’s something that inspires you, check out our campaign page. Any amount from $1 on up will be greatly appreciated. Even better, donations are tax deductible. And every one will help us complete Step 3: Movie script → TV series.

    Want to share about the campaign on Facebook or Twitter? Also very much appreciated. Here’s a sample post:

    I found this fantastic campaign to support – written, directed & produced by women. Join me in amplifying an awesome story! Donate here:  https://www.hatchfund.org/project/recombined_a_sci_fi_short_film #diversity  #inclusion #femalepower #scifimovie

    And going back to the beginning of this blog post, you might remember I mentioned that Tankborn segued briefly into a short story. That story is “Sacrifice,” set in Tankborn’s world and featuring new characters. “Sacrifice” is for sale on Amazon, but if you donate any amount to the Recombined campaign from $1 on up, forward me the receipt at karen at karensandler dot net and I will send you a free copy of “Sacrifice” as a thank you.

    This post originally appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

  • Fake Blood and Shooting After Dark–the Making of a Vampire Flick

    Poster 2At this point in my career, I’m a dedicated novelist. I’m sticking to writing and promoting my traditionally published books like the Tankborn Trilogy and the upcoming Janelle Watkins mysteries, as well as my indie published romances.

    But there was a time when I would fill in the gaps waiting for an editor’s notes or when I was between book contracts by writing screenplays. I’d work on my own or with a producer to write feature length scripts. I was a member of the Writers Guild of America and made a little bit of money as a screenwriter.

    I’d also play around with short films. I’d write a short script (ten or so pages, which translated into about 10 minutes of film), then find ways to produce that script. It helped having a friend with a production studio (The Studio Center) complete with cameras, sound equipment, a green screen, and editing bay. Frank would charge me bargain rates in exchange for directing credit.

    Sweet Tooth was one such project. I’d gotten the idea years before and had intended to write it as a short story. I ended up writing it as a short script instead. Here’s the logline for Sweet Tooth: It’s Trish’s last chance–she either makes big sales at her next WundaWare party, or she’s history.  Trish does her best, but she can’t seem to overcome an irresistible temptation that ruins everything.

    Linda-Karen-Frank Since this was a super-low-budget film, I had to make some choices in the writing of it. I had to be able to shoot the whole film in one location–my house. Since it was a vampire movie and shooting “day for night” wasn’t practical, it all had to be shot after dark. Other than the camera and sound work (and the editing later), I did pretty much everything. I was writer, producer, set decorator, propmaster, continuity, and craft services. All the props came from either my own kitchen or the dollar store. The actors all worked for credit only.

    We shot over two weekends, Friday and Saturday nights. There were a few pitfall in our choice of a production window. First, we started on the night of the summer solstice, which meant it was the longest day of the year. Waiting for “dark” made for a very late start each night.

    Myrtle-deadThe other issue was that the first couple days of shooting were hot-hot-hot (we can get over 100 degrees here) and my AC wasn’t working right. So it was sweltering in the house.

    We were all troopers, though. I got to make some fake blood on the fly (corn syrup with red dye and a touch of chocolate syrup for color). I’d sold Tupperware for 15 months back in my 20s, so I had a lot of fun setting up a display of the faux plasticware, WundaWare. I also enjoyed getting inventive with the various rooms of my house, transforming them into the sets we needed.

    Trish-vanityMy takeaway from the experience is that filmmaking is an entirely different animal than publishing. The biggest difference is how many people are involved. Yes, when you’re publishing a book, you rarely do everything yourself, even if you go indie. There will be an editor, a cover designer, marketing folks, and if it’s print, someone to manufacture the book.

    But imagine if books were written like films are made. You’d have to hire people to act out your characters. You’d have to bring in a propmaster to acquire every single item you’ve described in your scenes, plus a set decorator to lay everything out. A sound crew would have to record the sound or you wouldn’t have any dialogue. A gaffer would have to make sure the lighting is just right, or your reader wouldn’t be able to see who or what is in that scene. And craft services had better feed everyone, or your characters would be getting mighty cranky.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g9lU5MVM-k]

    That would certainly make things a lot livelier for the novelist–and a lot more expensive and time consuming to write a book. I think I prefer the thinking-it-all-out-in-my-head-and-typing-it-on-my-computer way of doing things. That way, the only one filching out of my refrigerator is me. My characters can just eat air.

    How about you? Have you ever been involved in a film production? I’d love to hear your experience.

  • 15 Videos in 9 Hours (With a Break for Lunch)

    I’ve wanted to create a book trailer for a good long time. I’ve watched other authors’ trailers, admired them, dissected them, and pondered how I might adapt from the best of them a structure for promoting my own book, Tankborn. The process seemed pretty overwhelming to me. Although I’m a former software engineer, I balked at having to learn new tools to create a video. I knew it would take a great deal of time I just don’t have.

    Also, I consider Tankborn to be a fairly cinematic book (seeing as how it originated from a film script). It seemed to me the best way to make an effective trailer for the book would be to use a script and live actors; i.e., to essentially create a short film, which would be pricier than I could afford.

    Without a bottomless budget for said short film, I had to consider a different design for a book promotion video. I’m fortunate enough to have a good friend, Frank Casanova, who owns a production studio, The Studio Center. I’d previously produced a couple of short films with Frank  (check out Sweet Tooth here). So I contacted him in early October 2011, and we did some brainstorming via phone and e-mail about how to proceed.

    Having read an article about creating and releasing a series of videos, Frank and I tossed around ideas of how to create content for multiple videos. I thought that an interview format would work well. I’m comfortable with doing live interviews and have been on camera a couple times before.

    My original concept was to set things up in a talk show format. Frank is also good on camera and as a former radio personality, he has a great voice. I thought we’d both be on the set and he’d ask me the questions and I’d answer. But he nudged me away from that idea, suggesting I be on camera by myself.

    Eventually, we settled on a design for the videos. It required that I come up with a number of questions in advance, as well as formulate how I would answer the questions. Frank agreed to do the camera work and his brother Fred Casanova was kind enough to agree to do the editing work.

    While the idea was still fresh in my mind, I created my list of 15 questions. For at least my own purposes, I categorized the questions by type: Intro (introducing me and Tankborn), Characterization, Multi-Culturalism, World-Building, and Role-Playing. I also devised five “fun” questions which would be edited in if a video required additional length. You’ll see one of my fun questions in the very first video. My goal was to keep the videos at about two minutes, since that’s my personal attention span for a YouTube video. Anything much longer, I tend not to take the time to watch.

    I’d intended to set up some studio time in October right after my brainstorming session with Frank. Life had other ideas, however. Two deaths in the family, not to mention the end of year holidays, delayed production of my videos until January 25, 2012.

    A few days before V-day, thanks to a referral from Frank, I found a makeup artist to “make me beautiful” for the camera. I also baked several dozen chocolate chip “thank you” cookies to take down to the studio.

    With the family issues going on in my life, I didn’t prep my answers for the questions until the day before the shoot. This isn’t quite as crazy as it sounds, since I’d done numerous interviews for blogs where I’d answered questions similar to the ones I’d devised. So the answers had been percolating for some time, at least subconsciously. Also, when I’m presenting in front of people I know I work best speaking off the cuff, using a bullet list. In this case, the “person” I would be speaking to was the camera (and Frank standing next to it). But the extemporaneity coupled with the bullet list works far better for me than trying to memorize a bunch of material.

    I developed a bullet list of three to five points for each of the 15 questions. The sample at left, which I used for the first video, shows the format I used for my bullet list. This first question starts the video series.

    My plan was to glance at my bullet list right before answering the question. Knowing I might forget my points, I also wrote individual keywords on cards for Frank to hold up next to the camera. The night before, as I ran through my bullet points using my keyword cards to trigger my memory, I had no idea how well my process would work during the shoot. I paper-clipped together the keyword cards by question so that Frank could easily reference them and got everything I would need packed up, including my box of Tankborn author copies.

    I arrived at The Studio Center at 8:30am. Since the makeup artist hadn’t arrived yet, Frank and I went into the studio to work out how we wanted the set to look. He pulled out an interesting looking bookshelf and I loaded it up with copies of Tankborn. The section of the stage where Frank would be shooting the videos had been painted a nice medium blue. He added a lighting effect that dappled the wall behind me with cloud-like white. I wanted to be on my feet since that’s how I’m used to presenting, but I was worried I’d move around too much. So I compromised by half-leaning against a tall stool to anchor myself. Another stool beside me held my stack of bullet lists. As you can see in the screenshot above, neither appears on camera in the finished videos.

    After my session with the makeup artist, we started the shoot at about ten. Starting with the first question, Frank grabbed a stack of keyword cards and read the question printed on it out loud. This was for my benefit (so I would know which bullet list to glance over) and also so that Fred would know which video was which when he was later editing. When I let Frank know I was ready to start my answer, he’d hold up the first keyword. While I began to speak, he’d flip to the next card so I’d have a chance to mentally prep for the next bullet.

    That part of the process worked great. Out of the twenty questions asked and answered, I only flubbed four times, such that it required a re-do. There’s also one video that I’m going to need to fix because I later re-thought what I’d said and decided I wanted to edit that out. But we pretty much sailed through the shoot in about an hour and a half.

    The editing part of the process, of course, took much longer. Fred got started while Frank and I broke for lunch, then later I sat looking over Fred’s shoulder while he worked. I’d supplied Fred with the creature artwork Lee and Low had commissioned artist Matthew Leese to do for the tankborn.com website. Fred used a portion of the artwork background for the graphic card background. He also included the creatures and flora on the graphic card. When I realized the Tankborn cover font would be perfect for the question text, I sent an emergency e-mail to my editor and luckily caught her right before she left the office. She e-mailed Fred the font.

    Fred, of course, did most of the work, but I contributed in small ways (like suggesting the font). We worked together to add in the five fun, silly questions/answers, making sure they fit with whatever more serious question we appended them to. When we thought we were finished, then realized we needed music in the background while the graphic cards displayed, I picked the music. Frank has a good-sized collection of royalty-free music and the titles on the CD cases weren’t always enlightening. I lucked out when I found a very cool Indian music piece that fit the mood of Tankborn beautifully.

    We finally finished around 6pm. The next day, Fred sent me preliminary videos and I had him tweak them a bit. I had a link to the final videos two days after the shoot. An hour and a half of shooting, many hours of Fred’s work in the editing bay, and I have 15 videos to share about my book.

    Lee and Low will be putting the videos on their YouTube channel over the next two weeks. Here’s the first one.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxA7LW1kRaw]