Dave Brandl's Blog

Posted by Dave Brandl

Sorry for the delay in posting, but between family responsibilities and all the wintry weather we've had in Denver the past two weeks, I have only recently been able to focus my attention on writing here.

Which leads into the subjects of focus, attention, passion, and duty. My November and December 2006 were largely devoid of writing activities because of several other activities, including family activities and financial/occupational activities, all of which demanded significant chunks of time.

So, during this period of writing downtime, I experienced a lot of mental arguments with myself about the pros and cons of the activities I was doing and the ones I had to defer to a later date.

I've always been of the mindset that a starving artist, while a definitely romantic notion, is not a lifestyle I crave. Especially now, with a family to support, steady and sufficient financial income are greatly desired and necessary.

And while I always consider myself a writer, the semantics of "vocation" become fuzzy. As a profession, my royalty income makes my writing part-time; at least until the first million-dollar sale. But as a calling or an aptitude, my writing is of paramount importance to me.

Balance is the word that comes to mind now. Even with only 24 hours in a day, there should be time for the variety of activities that life offers, without obsessing or fixating on just a single set.

So, my New Year's resolution is to work on that balance - seek to fulfill the responsibilities and duties that my life situation demands, but also ensure the time to focus on those activities, including - and especially - writing, that are done simply for self-fulfillment, joy, or relaxation.

And I hope your resolutions, if you make and try to observe them, bring you success and satisfaction in this next set of 365 days of achievement.

Posted by Dave Brandl

I recently finished a second production of a script of mine, and with many notes and ideas, I'm ready to begin a final rewrite. However, life intervened, and while I was in the final dress week of my own show, I was asked to step into a role for another production where they had to let an actor go.

I was given multiple parts that total about 180 lines. So while the final dress week was occurring for my show, I was simultaneously learning my lines for the new show. Monday, after my show closed, I was at the rehearsal for the new show, which had been in rehearsals for about three weeks already. But I showed up at the rehearsal off book. I learn lines quickly.

Anyway, every show I'm in, I get the opportunity to explore someone else's script in depth, at least for the scenes I'm involved with, but usually much more, as I carefully watch all the scenes I can to dissect and analyze. Many times I'm able to uncover the playwright's motivations and techniques. Sometimes I merely enjoy being part of the whole creation. And on occasion, I learn what not to do from a less than excellent scriptwriter who barely went far enough to complete the script, and certainly didn't go far enough to complete a remarkable script.

Over and over, I encourage every scriptwriter to become involved in productions for the sake of experiencing the various aspects, and therefore knowing what is involved in all those aspects, from acting to stage management, to set building, directing, lights, props, costumes, and even taking tickets. All these elements are vital to the complete production, and one only learns these aspects if one personally experiences them.

Posted by Dave Brandl

Case in point: I just finished the 2nd production of my new play, "Nobody Goes Caroling Anymore." As both director and prompter, I took extensive notes during the rehearsals and performances.

As it turned out, I was also asked to be in a different production before that one was over, so I began rehearsals the day after my production closed, and have had no time to even review my script notes yet.

But I am not despairing. Allowing a bit of distance can be beneficial. Neil Simon started "The Odd Couple," hit a snag, and then left it in a drawer for seven years before he pulled it back out and finished it.

And I'm not being idle in the meantime. I always have scripts calling for my attention, and until I'm ready and able to jump back to this script with sufficient time and inspiration, I can work on other scripts. But the prominent script continues to be in my mind, churning, options being considered and evaluated, and changes being formulated, so that when I do sit down to begin the next revision, I'll have plenty of ideas and a major approach to accomplish the task.

So don't fret about "writer's block," which is a really not a condition as much as a state of mind, or a lack of planning. Each script demands its own approach and each script needs to be considered independently. Like children, each should be considered as an individual and approached as a unique creation.

Posted by Dave Brandl

The 2nd production of my Christmas play, Nobody Goes Caroling Anymore, was quite an eye-opener. After the first production, last year, I struggled for months, unsure how to edit and polish. I knew things were not at their best regarding some of the characters. The story line seemed solid enough, though.

Finally, I felt that another production would help me define what to do with the script. Because of so many people who auditioned, I ended up double casting the show. One cast had five adults and two teenagers, as the script calls for. The other cast was children, 5th through 8th grade, with five of them playing adult parts.

So, in essence, I got to see two more productions of my script, to determine how to edit and finalize before submitting to publishers.

I not only worked on the directing of this script, but also acted as the prompter, which gave me even more insight into the dialogue. During rehearsals, I marked the lines people were repeatedly missing.

What I discovered in closely reading the lines night after night was that some of those missed lines were due to less-than-sparkling dialogue. I repeated content in some speeches, which caused actors to stumble over similar-sounding lines. I could use some better cues. And I realized that I can probably cut about 10% of fat from the script by eliminating unnecessary words and "what?" kind of questions.

I'll let you know how the rewrite goes.

Posted by Dave Brandl

You are probably aware of the week in the U.S. where there were three shootings at schools, in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Living in Denver, I was more than interested in the shooting that occurred in Bailey, Colorado.

Following that shooting, an idea was created to hold a parade for the victim of that shooting, Emily Keyes, who apparently was a big fan of parades. One unique aspect of this parade was that it was for bikers, so 5,000 bikers, including me and my wife, rode in this 40-mile parade that went from Columbine High School (alas, the site of another school shooting) to Platte Canyon High School, up in the nearby mountains outside Denver.

What I noticed as we met in the morning and heard from the organizers and parents of victims of both tragedies, was the openness of all these people to help out. Now there were many hard-core bikers there, with the long ZZ Top beards and tattoos, and many weekend bikers, such as we are, who may wear suit and ties during the week.

It was an eye-opener for the cliché, "You can't judge a book by its cover," seeing these thousands of people devoting their Saturday to spend six to ten hours on this event.

Additionally, there was the character of the people along the parade route, who had parked their cars in highway turnouts or along the road, and stood with signs and banners for us in the parade, expressing their thanks, blessings, and love. When we got to Platte Canyon High School, it seemed like the entire town had showed up to feed the bikers. There were burgers, dogs, Sloppy Joes, lasagna, gumbo, and tons of chips and cookies and gallons of water and soft drinks.

It was hard not to be emotionally touched in some way by such an experience, and it was also inspiring for me to look back at some of my unpublished and unfinished scripts to see if there's anything in there that could help out this issue of school safety.