Donald L. Vasicek

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  • “Write, Writing, Short Stories, Zen”

    Til Death Do Us Part
    by Don Vasicek

    Vermillion Capulet’s hit with a hammer eyes jerked. The pain, evident in the crimson edges and disbelief, catapulted as she bungled the ring in her hand. The metallic noise struck the dead cement floor. It cracked the noiselessness like a car horn blown in her ear. She gripped her head tightly. Her picket fence teeth stood like a barrier behind her cherry red lips. If you looked closely, you could see an edge of blood in the left corner of her mouth.
    Recent, ruby and scintillating against the churlish light, it shoved itself at her animated skin as though it had a deadline to meet.
    Vermillion urged her tongue. From somewhere not out of the mystical abyss inside her mouth, she flickered over the blood. Near at hand, a coffee-maker perked.
    The Dutch chocolate coffee odor bit at her gaze like an intrusion into the Vatican. The coffee spewed over the lidless glass pot. She watched it splatter on the floor. Enough so that she guarded it’s spitting dark splurges on a human hand.
    She inspected her hand. A pane of mirror coffee pot lid plopped blood. A droplet at a time.
    Vermillion’s stare chased them. One. Two. Three and so on. They began to suffocate the ring which had come to rest on the outstretched palm of the hand proximal to a matching one on the ring finger which would experience rigor mortis promptly. Suddenly, a telephone rang.
    One of those presumptuous sounds, like an ultimatum.
    “The Capulet’s, this is Vermillion,” Vermillion stammered.
    “A thousand and one are waiting, Vermillion.”
    Vermillion pressed at her side. Blood, almost black, saw the world around her side. Not caught up by the snow-white dress, the splotch continued to spread like black death seeping on every side of a meat dealer’s knife.
    “Seems Harvester had his lascivious eye on another, Boris,” Vermillion uttered.
    “Obsequies to remarriage?”
    “You might say I lost my ring somewhere in the vital fluid of life.” Vermillion slumped to the floor.
    The phone followed her. It clumped on the hand of blood. The ring there, jumped like a bean, and landed on Vermillion’s heart, just above her laid open rib cage.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net

  • “Action, Sex, Violence, Hollywood Zen”

    To write a box office hit screenplay, you
    should do some research first before you
    decide to write a screenplay. Passion for
    your subject matter plays an integral role
    in the writing of your screenplay, but
    common sense dictates that you put certain
    elements in your screenplay if you want to
    sell and get your screenplay produced.
    Otherwise, it will be an exercise in futility
    as far as getting optioned, selling and/or
    getting produced.

    If you research the kinds of genres that
    have been the largest Hollywood box office
    hits, you will see that action,
    violence and sex, however subtle these
    elements may be in these films, dominate
    the box office.

    According to FilmSite.org’s listing, the all-time
    greatest box office hits are:

    1. “Gone With the Wind” (1939)
    2. “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977)
    3. “The Sound of Music” (1965)
    4. “E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982)
    5. “The Ten Commandments” (1956)
    6. “Titanic” (1997)
    7. “Jaws” (1975)
    8. “Doctor Zhivago” (1965)
    9. “The Exorcist” (1973)
    10. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937)
    11. “101 Dalmatians” (1961)
    12. “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” (1980)
    13. “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” (1959)
    14. “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983)
    15. “The Sting” (1973)
    16. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981)
    17. “Jurassic Park” (1993)
    18. “The Graduate” (1967)
    19. “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999)
    20. “Fantasia” (1940)
    21. “The Godfather” (1972)
    22. “Forrest Gump” (1994)
    23. “Mary Poppins” (1964)
    24. “The Lion King” (1994)
    25. “Grease” (1978)
    26. “Thunderball” (1965)
    27. “The Jungle Book” (1967)
    28. “Sleeping Beauty” (1959)
    29. “Shrek 2” (2004)
    30. “Ghostbusters” (1984)
    31. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969)
    32. “Love Story” (1970)
    33. “Spider-Man” (2002)
    34. “Independence Day” (1996)
    35. “Home Alone” (1990)
    36. “Pinocchio” (1940)
    37. “Cleopatra” (1963)
    38. “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)
    39. “Goldfinger” (1964)
    40. “Airport” (1970)
    41. “American Graffiti” (1973)
    42. “The Robe” (1953)
    43. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006)
    44. “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956)
    45. “Bambi” (1942)
    46. “Blazing Saddles” (1974)
    47. “Batman” (1989)
    48. “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945)
    49. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)
    50. “The Towering Inferno” (1974)
    51. “Spider-Man 2” (2004)
    52. “My Fair Lady” (1964)
    53. “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952)
    54. “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978)
    55. “The Passion of the Christ” (2004)
    56. “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”(2005)
    57. “Back to the Future” (1985)
    58. “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002)
    59. “The Sixth Sense” (1999)
    60. Superman (1978)
    61. Tootsie (1982)
    62. “Smokey and the Bandit” (1977)
    63. “Finding Nemo” (2003)
    64. “West Side Story” (1961)
    65. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001)
    66. “Lady and the Tramp” (1955)
    67. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977/1980)
    68. “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)
    69. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975)
    70. “Rocky” (1976)
    71. “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946)
    72. “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972)
    73. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)
    74. “Twister” (1996)
    75. “Men in Black” (1997)
    76. “The Bridge On The River Kwai” (1957)
    77. “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963)
    78. “Swiss Family Robinson” (1960)
    79. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975)
    80. “M*A*S*H” (1970)
    81. “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984)
    82. “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002)
    83. “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993)
    84. “Aladdin” (1992)
    85. “Ghost” (1990)
    86. “Duel in the Sun” (1946)
    87. “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003)
    88. “House of Wax” (1953)
    89. “Rear Window” (1954)
    90. “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997)
    91. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989)
    92. “Spider-Man 3” (2007)
    93. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991)
    94. “Sergeant York” (1941)
    95. “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000)
    96. “Toy Story 2” (1999)
    97. “Top Gun” (1986)
    98. “Shrek” (2001)
    99. “Shrek the Third” (2007)
    100. “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003)

    Examine each one of these films for sex,
    action, and violence. They are present.
    Locate these elements in each film.
    Utilize what you discover for your own
    screenplay and you will enhance your
    chances for success. Otherwise, find
    another job, or write simply for the
    sheer pleasure of writing.

    It’s that basic.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.netsbox o

  • “The Zen of Spec Script Versus Shooting Script”

    A shooting script, written from the
    spec script by a screenwriter with
    the director, puts everything in the
    screenplay that needs to be there
    for shooting. Therefore, the lines
    spoken in a foreign language are
    written out in its native language
    for the actors.

    The first time a character in your
    spec script speaks in a foreign
    language, simply put under the
    character’s name in parenthesis,
    (Spanish). Then proceed to write
    the dialogue in English throughout
    the rest of the script.

    Remember, a spec script is written
    to get doors to open. So, the
    screenwriter must make the screenplay
    easy to read, fast to read, and cut-to-the-
    chase so that the reader can move on to
    the next script he or she has to read.
    They don’t want to stumble upon some
    foreign language. They’ll toss the script
    in the slush pile.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Writer/Filmmaker/Consultant
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net