Be The Power
By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Here’s a rough screenplay treatment that has popped in my head of late for some reason.
The setup is that we learn that the Greek and Roman gods were real. They were just invisible (to humans) multi-dimensional machine intelligence creatures. They messed with the affairs of Man all the time until Christianity began to take over the world.
Or something like that.
I just can’t figure out what type of plot to give the story now.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’m always thinking of scifi concepts and it seems like one interesting one would be the idea that the U.S. Government — specifically the U.S. Military –has already “achieved the Singularity internally” as the old saying goes. I don’t know what that would look like, but it’s an interesting idea to toy with as the potential premise of a novel or screenplay.
And if you really wanted to put a unique spin on it, you would have it a “Her” like movie fused with Annie Hall, rather than something dark and dystopian. It could be quite romantic and humorous.
It’s times like these when I wish I was younger so I could have the time and energy to throw myself into a project like this.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Time to stop screwing around when it comes to these novels I want to write. The main “passion project” novel should be pretty easy to start up again. But it’s the other novel — the scifi novel — that could be tough.
It’s just tough to change my style of writing after so long of looking at specific type of novel. But I really want to do it. So, here we are.
I keep going back and forth about the need to use AI on any of this. I used it some on the scifi novel and I realized it just slowed me down. So, I don’t know. I think maybe I will be really selective about it going forward.
I hope to write a six novel series that will appeal to readers of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It’s set in a small town in Southside Virginia.
But I really do hope to begin the querying process for the thriller novel this spring. And, I think, I need to star to tinker with the other novels in the projected six-novel project. It sure would be nice to have huge chunks of those other novels done if I manage to sell the first novel in the series.
And I am WELL AWARE that I have a very peculiar project on my hands — I mean, how many people want to read about strange events in small Southern town over the course of 6 novels set over 25 years? It’s not like I’m writing “It” or something.
My version of Lisbeth Salander looks a lot like Corrie Yee.
But I have six novels gamed out in my mind and I want to see if I can pull it off. All the novels are really interesting and I have the ending of the last novel already thought out. It’s just — I’m not getting any younger.
If I don’t get something, anything done soon, lulz it’s all over –I’m just be 100 years old before anything is done.
But the reason why I like this six novel project is it gives me hope. Reach for the moon and you might just fall into the stars, as the old saying goes.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Every 10 years or so, a romantic comedy comes out that sets the mood of the zingiest. In the 1970s, it was Annie Hall. In the 1980s, it was When Harry Met Sally.
Lately, these romantic comedies have become less comedic and more melancholy — both The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and Her were a bit more dour than one might expect for a romantic comedy. And there was a technological element to both of them.
Well, it seems there is an opening for a romantic comedy that would have elements of Annie Hall, Her and The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. It would go something like this — a man begins to believe that a chatbot is fucking with his algorithms in some way.
But it would happen in a “day after tomorrow” situation whereby LLMs might be a bit more powerful and interconnected around the globe. So instead of having a traditional fight, the LLM would make things more difficult for the man as he went about his day.
Something amusing like that. It would be kind of like the movie Maximum Overdrive if it was fused with Annie Hall. I think audiences would really enjoy something innovative like this.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I have begun to game out a new scifi novel using AI. It at least gives me a reason to use AI on a regular basis. But I do find myself thinking about the fate of Hollywood in this brave new world of AI and…Tik-Tok?
Apparently, one of the big concerns within the Hollywood community is that one of the reasons why the industry is imploding is people are more interested in Tik-Tok than they are movies.
I don’t know what to make of that. It is possible that Hollywood is undergoing a downlow disruption because of the one-two punch of AI and Tik-Tok. But I wouldn’t be so sure. I think maybe if Hollywood generated more movies that people actually wanted to see, that such concerns wouldn’t be so bad.
But I do think, sad to say, that AI is really, really going to disrupt Hollywood in a big, big way over the course of the next few years. It could be that the very idea of Hollywood will end — it will just be producers and software engineers and that will be that.
There will be no (human) creatives left at all.
Yet, who knows. Anything is possible.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Yet another movie I couldn’t finish — this time it was “The Idea of You.” I went into this Anne Hathaway vehicle thinking maybe I could get some insight into how to write female characters.
Soon enough, however, I realized — this movie is definitely NOT for me.
It’s a chickflick and, well, lulz, no need to watch it — not that some chickflicks aren’t pretty good, all things considered. But, as always, the moment I got to the inciting incident, I bounced.
It was at the inciting incident that I realized that not only was I not the audience, but it would be too fucking grating on my nerves to continue to watch. So, I stopped watching.
But I am vowing to myself that as of tonight I will go out of my way to do things that are outside of my comfort zone. So, I’m going to keep pushing myself to read and watch things I usually wouldn’t. I’m really, really beginning to feel my age these days.
Here is how Meta.AI rewrote the post above.
I recently attempted to watch “The Idea of You,” an Anne Hathaway-led film that I hoped would offer valuable insights into crafting compelling female characters. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that this movie wasn’t for me.
Confronting My Biases
As I watched, I found myself dismissing the film as a “chick flick,” a term that, I admit, can be reductive and dismissive. While some movies in this genre can be enjoyable, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that this one wasn’t resonating with me. The moment the inciting incident occurred, I checked out.
Recognizing My Limitations
It was then that I acknowledged not only was I not the target audience, but also that continuing to watch would be too frustrating for me. I decided to stop, but this experience left me with a valuable realization: I need to challenge myself to venture out of my comfort zone.
A New Commitment to Exploration
Starting tonight, I’m making a conscious effort to engage with content that typically wouldn’t be on my radar. Whether it’s reading books or watching movies that push me out of my comfort zone, I’m determined to broaden my horizons. As I grow older, I’m becoming increasingly aware of the importance of staying open-minded and curious.
Lessons Learned
This encounter with “The Idea of You” taught me a valuable lesson: that it’s essential to recognize and respect my own biases, while also being willing to challenge them. By doing so, I hope to become a more empathetic and well-rounded individual, both as a writer and as a person.
The Journey Ahead
I invite you to join me on this journey of self-discovery and exploration. Let’s push ourselves to engage with new ideas, genres, and perspectives, even if they make us uncomfortable. Who knows what insights and growth we might discover along the way?
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Oh boy. Something about working on a novel for years does something to your mind. It is extremely difficult for me to consume media, rather than produce it. The latest example of that is Lucy.
Scarlett Johansson
It’s a Scarlett Johansson vehicle. It’s one of those movies that 10 years ago, I probably would have watched without blinking an eye. But, now, it’s tough. Really tough.
I look at it from the point of view a storyteller and it’s just impossible to watch it without realizing how God-awful bad it is. It’s just horrible. Unwatchable. I just don’t care about the characters, no matter how many times the director makes it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that ScarJo’s character’s life is in danger.
Ugh. So what. Give me something compelling. This is why walk out of about 99% of the movies I go see in the theatres. I get restless and at some point I think to myself, “I’ve learned everything about storytelling I can from this story, why am I watching it?”
And, yet, and YET, I may at least attempt to force myself to keep watching. If nothing else, I’ll find something else to watch or read so I don’t keep being so inward looking when it comes to my art.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
According to the Hollywood-related podcasts that I listen to, “Survive Until 25” is the current mantra in LA. Apparently, showbiz is kind of imploding at the moment. I really don’t know why — I’m just some rando in the middle of nowhere — but it is interesting.
One reason why it’s interesting is it’s happening right as two things — one political, the other technological — are about to crash onto Hollywood in something of a perfect storm.
It could be that by 2025, things like OpenAI’s “Sora” will really begin to take off in the context, of, well the whole world collapsing because of severe political turbulence in the USA and, by extension, the whole world.
(Let me be clear — I can’t predict the future. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I continue to have a lingering fear about such things.)
Anyway, I don’t know what to tell you. It could be that Hollywood is going to undergo a pretty radical transformation in the next few years and 2025 could not be a year of rebirth, but rather one of radical upheaval and transformation.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Something curious is going on in Hollywood these days. It seems as though the whole industry has imploded and is imploding for the time being. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward.
I worry, still, that late 2024, early 2025 is going to be a lot darker than any of us may ever contemplate.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
After a few weeks of aggressive daydreaming, I’m just about in the right headspace to get back to writing on not just one, but as many as three different novels — two scifi and one thriller.
The thriller I’ve been working on for a very long time. The two scifi novels, just a little bit. I’ve been able to speed up the process of writing a great deal by using LLMs. Or, at least, the development that leads to writing.
I can totally see how some people would just lulz it and not do any writing, given how eager LLMs are to write for you. But I just refuse to be THAT lazy, even though I am, in general, pretty lazy at times.
But I hope to really start writing a lot this weekend. I keep wishing I was younger, though. It would be so nice to be 25 years younger and be able to hit the pavement in LA with a half-dozen scripts under my arm.
Yet, alas, I’m an old gray beard now. Even under the absolute best of circumstances, I probably am not going to see any creative success at this point until I’m in my mid-to-late 50s.
Ugh.
You must be logged in to post a comment.