Donald L. Vasicek

Category: Other Musings

  • “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

  • “Zen Values, July 4th and Writing”

    What do you see when you
    look at yourself in the mirror?
    Exploding fireworks like July
    4th? If so, you’ve celebrated
    July 4th when it wasn’t July 4th.

    Why the fireworks? Does it
    have anything to do with how
    you feel about yourself, your
    life? If it does, then, you might
    want to replace the explosion
    with peace.

    “How can I do that? I’m in debt.
    I hate my job. Gas prices are
    greed at its finest. Peace? What
    am I supposed to do, smile while
    my life dissipates?”

    “That is your choice to make. I
    choose writing.”

    “What does that do for anyone?”

    “It gives one a point of reference,
    a place where one can go to pull
    the weeds out of their life. Writing
    can be metamorphic. It can change
    the way you perceive yourself and
    your life. Try it today. In one hour,
    you will feel something inside of
    you that you have forgotten.

    “Simply, you will remember to be
    happy today. Tomorrow is up to
    you, just don’t forget to be happy
    tomorrow as well.”

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

  • “Annabelle, My Love”

    First, just a slight sound. Sort of I’m frightened,
    but I want to do this. Not in words, but her eyes,
    there a murky green with rounded pupils as large
    as dimes.

    They shed love on me. “Please, help me. Please,
    I want to die.”

    I leaned down to her ear. “Annabelle, I love you.
    I will always be with you.”

    She suddenly felt warm next to my hand on her
    shoulder. Emaciated, six years old, and dying.
    I stroked her. I nodded to Dr. Green.

    She removed a needle from her white smock,
    in one of those large pockets.

    “I love you, Sweety. I’ll always love you. I
    will always be with you.”

    It happened in a short second, or less. Dr.
    Green slipped the tip of the needle into a
    catheter on Annabelle’s right leg, which was
    wrapped in a royal blue cloth. Dr. Green
    pushed her thumb on the butt of the needle
    holder.

    I looked at Annabelle. Her eyes looked at me.
    Then, she died. Her eyes, frozen in death,
    stared at me. No breathing now.

    Her shoulder, skin and bone, some black and
    white hair, quiet and dead now.

    Where was I to go without Annabelle? Home,
    I decided. That’s where she wanted to go, I
    knew. I buried her under the cherry tree in
    the shade, one of her favorite places.

    It is so quiet without Annabelle. Who can I
    turn to now? Annabelle’s eyes instructed me
    to follow the bright star in the East, Venus, I
    believe, someone named it that. She said that
    is where you will find your direction “without me.”

    “Go there. It will give you information you do
    not now have. It will give you information that
    you can utilize.”

    When I looked at Venus the next morning at
    4 a.m., during my run, I saw my life in front
    of me. It was clear.

    Dick Sutphen’s THE LAW OF NEW BEGINNINGS:

    For each of us in our time, there are major life
    turning points. There is a break in the energy
    wave patterns and complete change results.
    Everything is affected this change in flux; some
    things to a lesser degree than others. Examples
    would be: 1. A traumatic situation or tragedy,
    such as the death of a loved one. 2. A religious
    conversion. 3. A point in therapy when
    something clicks and from that time on the
    patient begins to get well. 4. A mother giving
    birth to a baby. The lesson is to learn to take
    advantage of these new beginnings.

    This is Annabelle’s legacy to me.

    I let go of Annabelle. I am writing, something I haven’t
    done to any great extent for eight years
    since I began “The Sand Creek Massacre”
    film project. Although there is a physical void
    without Annabelle, she is with me…always.