How to Make a Movie

I want to turn all of my fiction into film. All of it. Every bit of fictional work I have composed I want to bring to life on the silver screen. Perhaps even adapt it for stage as well. The longer fiction is easy—there's so much more with which to work. The shorter fiction would be a little more tough as it is typically just part of a much larger story. For instance, I wrote a story last fall entitled “You Are My Best Friend (My Best Friend Is You)”, which is about a young man who blames himself for the murder of his best friend and roommate and subsequently locks himself in their apartment doing nothing but writing the novel he always said he would write—it is a fictional account of their many crazy adventures. From the beginning you know that the main character doesn't leave his apartment and that he has spent all of his time writing something, but it's not until the end of the story that you find out that the roommate/best friend he has been mentioning was the victim of a stabbing. There is a whole set of scenes that would have taken place before the scene described in the short story; in fact, the scene in the short story would most likely be the final scene of a movie of the whole story. Unless opting for a short film of just the one scene in the short story, adapting “You Are My Best Friend (My Best Friend Is You)” to film would be more difficult than, say, adapting On the 5:15, which is a full-length novel detailing an entire story from start to finish.

I've actually already put much thought into how On the 5:15 could be made into a movie, even deciding which actors should play which characters. The main character, Eoghan Dunne, would be played by Rupert Grint (assuming he can pull off an Irish accent) and his best friend, Paul, would be played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Eoghan's wife would be played by Zooey Deschanel and the trucker he meets at a diner would be played by Johnny Depp. In all honestly, I could probably go down through a list of every character in the novel and name the actor I would want to portray that particular character. Even though the story spans over forty years, I want the same actors to play the same characters for the entire film. I've also already envisioned how some scenes would pan out: how they would be shot, what the setting would be like, what music would be in the background. The start of the film is one part which I already have figured out. It will open with 17-year-old Eoghan exiting a record shop with an LP under his arm, going through various alleys and gardens to get back home where he must then sneak the LP in so his rock-music-hating parents don't see it and snap it in half. I haven't figure out how he's going to sneak it in, but I do know that MGMT's “Time to Pretend” will be playing in the background.

I can already tell you now that whenever I get my writings transferred into film, I will have control issues. Nothing could happen without my approval first. My stories are mine and I won't let someone else ruin my vision. My friend Marcus and I always joked around that we would make movies together since we're both self-proclaimed movie buffs. He has a degree in philosophy though and is currently getting paid to chill on Facebook and send out Tweets. He also lives somewhere in England (is Oxford right?), so that makes things difficult, nevermind that neither of us have the funds, equipment, time, support, or anything really, needed to make a film—a quality film anyway.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt recently started a website called hitRECord. I just joined up tonight and haven't taken the time to explore, let alone post anything. But it is a very interesting website. Essentially, it is one giant collaboration. One artist posts something and then another does something else with it and if anything is ever sold, every splits the profit. Very interesting, right? It is kind of like deviantART, only 1000x cooler (mostly because it features Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is a total badass). I'm hoping if I post some things on hitRECord, it might lead to some kind of film collaboration. At the very least, it will get me more exposure.