Later in
the day something happened that made me feel all squiggly inside: both the
producer, Shaun O'Banion, and the writer, Chad Shonk, tweeted me to thank me
for my post about their movie.
Um, say
what?
Yeah, that
was my reaction.
And then
I flipped out and couldn't respond . . .
BECAUSE
WHY DIDN'T I POST IT ON MY
I'M-SERIOUSLY-TRYING-TO-BE-A-LEGITIMATE-WRITER-SOMEDAY BLOG AS OPPOSED TO MY BLOG WITH RPATZ DANCING TO I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT?
O! M! G!
But you
know what?
To quote
Jonah, "Who has time to be embarrassed?"
Not me.
So, yeah.
This is my blog, and while I am currently writing my first novel, I also write and
publish stories online. Masen Days is my most popular piece, and it takes place
in Scottsdale , AZ. Masen, the protagonist’s boy
of choice, is an abused skater who hangs at The Wedge in Scottsdale . He’s damaged, unassuming, sweet, and
poetic, and Jonah reminds me of him. So I had to tell my readers because they
will want to meet Jonah too. Sigh and yay for sweet boys.
After my
freak out and the following calm that came via Jonah’s wise words, I got to
comparing my story, which seemingly no one will ever read (though it’s had
close to 200,000 hits, so that’s not no one), to Dakota Skye. And you know what?
They’re both independent. And independently good, in my opinion. So that’s
good. It’s all good. And it made me realize I could respond to the producer
and writer without any hesitation. I mean, just
because Dakota Skye doesn't have Ellen Page in it and Masen Days isn’t on
shelves at Barnes and Noble doesn't make either of them any less fabulous. There’s something so great about
indies. They’re real and gritty and dirty and relatable. And thank goodness
too.
And now more clips and random gushing about Dakota Skye . . . because that's how I roll.
There’s a scene wherein Dakota is on the phone wearing a
wrinkled bland shirt, and I thought, “Awesome! Now that is real!” And the ugly
dresser in her room is real along with the hideous pillow shams. And Jonah
wears these Hanes undershirts. And Kevin has a hideous rat tail that makes him simultaneously
goofy-cute and skeezy. And I love it all. Real. Real. Real.
Know what else is real? The way these characters treat each
other. Dakota can barely stand Kevin. She merely tolerates him, but that’s
better than being alone. Plus, he’s not bad in his band and apparently the sex
is good. And she doesn’t have to pretend to be happy while with him, which I
think for someone miserable like Dakota would be important.
And now a Kevin clip because I did not do him justice in the first post . . .
And now a Kevin clip because I did not do him justice in the first post . . .
I love how ornery Dakota and Kevin are together. I love that we don't see his sweet side until after Jonah confesses that he likes her. That was a bittersweet scene. Because aw, now I feel bad for Kevin. But back to thier realistic relationship. I love that she lashes out at him about things like bowling and ordering the same hamburger and Coke every time they’re out at Jim’s. Because that’s how real couples behave. They are mostly trying to put up with each other’s crap and trying not to kill each other. I’m so glad that that was portrayed and Dakota wasn’t vilified for it.
In fact, quite the opposite happened. Jonah tells her that
she and Kevin are good together, and they are – for them. That’s their dynamic,
and it works. Though, obviously Jonah and she will be better for one another
because he’s honest and she can learn to actually be happy. That
would certainly be interesting watching that story arc – chronically miserable
girl gets fairy tale ending and is actually happy now. What would that look
like? Man, I’d like to know.
Now meet Dakota and Jonah . . .
Now meet Dakota and Jonah . . .
Doesn't it look great? Go watch it! Go buy it!
But in all seriousness . . . what the hell am I talking about?
This post was meant to do two things: 1. explain that I am
legitimately trying to be a writer, but I was initially embarrassed which is
why I did not respond to the special tweets, and 2. share more thoughts about why
I love Dakota Skye and why my readers will too. And now I hope there’s a surge
of Dakota Skye fandage. Tweet the producer and writer. They tweet back. No
joke!
A special thanks to Shaun and Chad for reaching out to me via
Twitter and then my blog. I can’t even begin to explain how humbling it was to
wake up to see the writer of a touching movie had written
something kind in turn to me. Wow.
Seriously, wow.
And now for my insipid questions for Chad:
1. Where the hell do I find this music?
2. How else can I pimp this movie? Because it needs to be pimped!
3. When was this movie filmed? Because as an Arizonan I was perplexed as to why Dakota wore her jacket in May. Not a complaint, just an observation. :)
4. Who was attached to this movie that was from AZ? They highlighted all the right things, and on a side note, every time Dakota said, "It's so hot" I laughed. Out loud. It doesn't matter than I'm native . . . it is hot!
5. Where were the school scenes shot? Kevin's concert? They both look familiar.
6. Will your next script come to fruition? Because, um, it should. If I had money, I'd give it to you.
And now for my insipid questions for Chad:
1. Where the hell do I find this music?
2. How else can I pimp this movie? Because it needs to be pimped!
3. When was this movie filmed? Because as an Arizonan I was perplexed as to why Dakota wore her jacket in May. Not a complaint, just an observation. :)
4. Who was attached to this movie that was from AZ? They highlighted all the right things, and on a side note, every time Dakota said, "It's so hot" I laughed. Out loud. It doesn't matter than I'm native . . . it is hot!
5. Where were the school scenes shot? Kevin's concert? They both look familiar.
6. Will your next script come to fruition? Because, um, it should. If I had money, I'd give it to you.
Hey, it's Chad.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, absolutely no need to be embarrassed. I found your post (and this one) to be touching because of the sheer enthusiasm for the film. 'Dakota' is a little movie. It played several mid-level festivals, but it got no theatrical release and the DVD is not readily available in stores. The only way for someone to see it is to either seek it out or have it recommended to them, either by a friend or by a service such as Netflix.
That said, over the last several months both Shaun and I have noticed s fan base growing. On sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, people are talking about the movie. Posting fan made pictures and GIFS, passing around the most-quoted line on social media. The reason we go on Twitter and retweet people is two fold: one, we are selfish people who want to promote the film and ourselves and two: to thank people for watching our film and talking about it. It makes us feel like we've made something worthwhile, even though at times market forces disagree with us.
An overwhelming majority of the people posting about the film have been female, which thrills me to no end. I am also excited that there are generations of girls who are just getting old enough to watch and get the movie due to its adult content. I knew this would be our audience, and that audience doesn't go to film festivals.
So again I thank you.
To answer your questions:
ReplyDelete1) The music comes from two sources. Jonah Matranga (the namesake of Ian's character) is the former lead singer of a Sacramento band called Far, who opened for the Deftones in the 90s. Jonah has since had a solo career making great DYI records and to me is the definition of indie spirit. Kevin Seconds is a friend of Jonah's from the same part of California. He's the lead singer of a punk band called 7 Seconds. I wrote their songs into the script, and when it came time to make the movie I contacted them to see if we could use their music. They were both generous and said yes.
Bay Dariz was a friend of director John Humber, and now a good friend of mine. We hired him to play Jacob, Kevin's guitar players, and to write some original songs for the film. His band The Mercy Kiss is no longer around, but definitely check out his new band Some Hear Explosions. They're fantastic.
2)Do exactly what you're doing. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Tell your friends. Word of mouth is the film's most powerful ally.
3)October of 2006. My defense is that Dakota is so attached to her jacket as a symbol of her not-giving-a-shit-ness that she still wears it. We do try to have her carrying it at times when she would be hot and using it as a pillow in school. It's more of a security blanket than it is outerwear. But the fact is it's mostly a case of aesthetics over logic.
4) The director John Humber was born and raised in Scottsdale. His family is still there. Also, about half the crew was local and most of the cast other than the top four or five people were all cast in Phoenix. The script was originally written to take place in Atlanta, where I went to high school and college, but when John got involved we decided to move it to his home town.
5) We shot the exteriors at Scottsdale Community College, where John went to school. The interiors were shot at Metro Arts High School. Due to the adult content of the film, most regular public schools would understandably not allow us to film on their campuses.
6) I have many other scripts, and one I am pursuing financing for. It's hard out there. 'Dakota' was not a hit by any means and has flown under the radar. But I'm trying. I'm also working on a novel and maybe comic book or two, including perhaps a 'Dakota' web comic.
If you ever had read any of my web ramblings or movie reviews (and I do not recommend that you do), you will know I understand the difference between a blog post and actual writing. I would never judge or assume to understand someone's word skills from what they post on something like this.
Anyway. I thank you again. Good luck with your book and any other projects you're working on.
Chad J. Shonk
@chadjshonk
OMG! How cool is this that they're commenting on your site! I loved loved Masen Days and can some similarities. And based on your post of Dakota Skye, I definitely need to see it!!
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot. The club scenes were shot at Alice Cooper's bar 'Cooperstown' downtown. Alice's daughter, Calico, plays the waitress in the diner. She got her dad to let us play in his place for a night.
ReplyDelete