Well, here's how:
Last month, I stumbled onto the world's biggest social network and educational center for creatives in movies, television, and the stage.
And I got hooked!
It's none other than Stage 32, and right now, it's up to 500,000 members worldwide...more people than live here in Omaha (by itself, not counting the suburbs).
For almost three years, I've been trying to kickstart a pursuit that hooked me from 1980 to 1994: Screenwriting.
When I was still attending Iowa State University, I bought a paperback copy of the script to the 1973 classic "American Graffiti." I really liked the way George Lucas (the movie's director...that's right, that George Lucas!), Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck wrote the story.
Bought a couple of handbooks on writing for TV and for movies...and I've still got one of them to this very day: "The Television Writer's Handbook," a 1978 publication Constance Nash and Virginia Oakey teamed up to bring to the world.
Then in 1979, as an elective, I enrolled in a screenwriting class Joe Geha conducted. The chief project for each class member was a 30-minute script...and I ended up concocting a TV sitcom pilot called "Long Way," about two women who drove a truck for a Central Iowa soft-drink bottling company. (I worked at such a company during the summers of 1976 and 1978...and liked it!)
The next year, I moved here to the Big O, where I tried and tried and tried to come up with movie scripts (when I wasn't working for a local inventory service). I subscribed to Writer's Digest as well as something called Hollywood Scriptletter, a newsletter that, in the mid-1980s, was renamed Hollywood Scriptwriter.
Through WD, I found out about the Peggy Lois French Agency. Armed with another TV sitcom pilot ("Edna's Garage," about a New Orleans auto mechanic and her crew), I tried to get representation through that Sun City, CA firm...but I was told: "You haven't had enough life experience."
Not even working for my dad at his own Des Moines auto-reconditioning firm during the summers of 1969-72 and 1977 (as well as most Saturdays from 1969-72) supposedly counted to the PLFA staff.
Well, in the middle 1980s, I joined a screenwriters' support group. In those pre-Internet days, we mainly wrote letters to each other. Things were fine...until a letter from a Phoenix member named Willi Waltrip stated that I should give up trying to write scripts and, instead, peck out novels.
OUCH!!
I dropped out of the group, stopping trying for a few years to write scripts, then got back into it by 1990- two years after I'd moved from Omaha to Sioux City, IA.
Between 1990 and 1994, I'd typed out four more screenplays...then packed it in as I started hitting the unemployment lines as the used-record-and-tape-and-CD store I moved to Sioux City to help launch got ready to call it quits.
I was through trying to cook up screenplays. That was it.
Until 2016.
Three years before that,
Nick Holle (who teamed up with Michael Zimmer to helm a 2012 documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival, "The Entertainers") gave me his Power Mac G5 computer...originally purchased by a former OTPP contestant,
Brent Watkins (who teamed up with his wife Jackie to help produce the documentary).
This Power Mac had- and still has- a copy of Final Draft 6. (Yeah, I know...that was five Final Draft iterations ago.)
But since 4-18-2016, I've been using that copy of Final Draft 6 to get back in the screenwriting race, cooking up a fresh-out-of-the-box, 2010s effort and refurbishing three others (two from the 1980s and one from the 1990s).
I've learned a lot from logging onto Richard Botto's claim to fame
...especially when it comes to how a spec script should look. First of all, I learned that, in today's screenwriting, you don't refer to camera angles in a spec script. You keep character descriptions to, basically, age and traits.
And every scene, in addition to being "EXT." or "INT.," must also be labeled "DAY" (if not "MORNING" or "AFTERNOON") or "NIGHT."
I've never been more fired up about writing scripts than I am right now, thanks to Stage 32 (named after Paramount's Stage 32, a property that previously was in the hands of the old RKO Studios; in fact, "Citizen Kane" was filmed on that very stage).
And I can't wait to pitch my stuff, either. Stage 32, matter of fact, has a page full of listings for pitch sessions.
Well, all I can say after that is: Log onto stage32.com to see what all the hoopla is. And if you'd like to see any (or all four) of the screenplays I've loaded onto Stage 32, just visit stage32.com/profile/673680/scripts_screenplays.
Thanks, thanks, thanks for reading "Boston's Blog!"
You pack the place, that's what!
It was standing room only at Ed's (No Name) Bar in Winona, MN, for the 2-17-2015 showing of "The Entertainers."
And one of the movie's two directors, Nick Holle, joined us just in time.
Faye Ballard, Nick, and I received a warm, warm welcome from the audience...an audience that included festival director Crystal Hegge, Dave from the Upper Mississippi Jazz Society, and Ed himself (the man who runs said venue).
"The Entertainers" really went over with the overflow crowd at the bar located at 3rd and Franklin Sts.
About 95 minutes after the film rolled, Nick, Faye, and I fielded questions from audience members. (And we had a ball!)
Then the crowd switched from the barroom (where the documentary was actually shown) to Ed's (No Name) Bar's concert room...where a 1970s (or maybe 1960s or 1980s) Kimball studio piano was located.
Faye and I really went at it...me doing "St. Louis Blues," E. Warren Furry's "Robardina Rag," and "Santa Lucia."
Then Faye showed the stuff that made her a frequent Regular Division finalist at the documentary's subject event, the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival (now held at the Embassy Suites East Peoria in Illinois).
The contestant-turned-contest coordinator's selections were her trademark tune "Mack the Knife," "Sailin' Away on the Henry Clay," and "Pork and Beans."
Then the university office systems coordinator (Faye) and the factory machine operator (me) teamed up to do "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey."
The audience ate it up so much that they asked Faye to fire up an encore.
She did...and it was none other than "The Entertainer."
I ended up doing the last tune in the mini-concert...and it was a rag written in 1954 and recorded the next year by Fritz Schulz-Reichel (its author) and by Johnny Maddox, "The Crazy Otto."
I felt very comfortable...I felt the fun...I had real fun.
And most important of all, the people who crowded into Ed's venue had a blast, too.
When's the next screening of "The Entertainers" going to take place? Where will it happen?
Wherever it is, I hope I'll be able to make it there...and I hope you can, too.
The 2012 Ragtime to Riches Festival turned out to be the most successful one yet.
And it couldn't have happened if Nora and Mark Hulse (the husband-and-wife duo also known as Ragtime Razzmatazz- she plays piano, he plays banjo) hadn't brought their considerable talents to Omaha's First Central Congregational United Church of Christ.
The success of 7-8-2012 also wouldn't have come if Nick Holle hadn't brought the movie he and Michael Zimmer codirected, "The Entertainers," to R to R 8.0.
On top of all that, this year's event wouldn't have succeeded without the 38 people who came to savor the workshop, the documentary about Illinois' World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival, and the two R to R concerts. Because of the fans' enthusiasm for ragtime and old-time piano, the Great Plains Ragtime Society raised $380.
But the whole thing started out slowly...and I was really nervous about that, even with more publicity about the festival than before and the added attraction of a documentary, part of which was filmed here in the Big O.
Last year, we sold just ten tickets to the R to R get-together (the first one-day Ragtime to Riches Festival ever; this started out as a three-day event before we had to shed Fridays in 2009).
And by the time Nora and Mark got well into their workshop at this year's festival, only six people had paid to take in the festivities. (A camera operator from one of the local TV stations came by and taped footage...only to leave a few minutes later.)
But by 2:45 PM (Central time), more and more old-time piano fans (and people who were curious about the existence of a ragtime event in Huskerland) started to trickle into First Central's Memorial Hall.
Fifteen minutes later, the Hulses shifted from talking about the banjo's place in America's early pop music scene (and sprinkling the workshop with a spotlight on some of the 500 women who'd written at least one rag apiece) to giving the first of two R to R concerts for 2012.
And Mark and Nora put on a real humdinger!
The Lawrence, KS couple started it all out with "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," then turned to a composition written by one of those 500 women, "The Missouri Girl March." They then strung together "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," "The Band Played On," and "The Sidewalks of New York" before mastering "Dill Pickles," "A Spanish Serenade," and Ed Claypoole's "Ragging the Scale."
It was reminiscent of when our piano-and-banjo duo did their thing at the old Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Columbia, MO during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
And it was FUN!
Nora and Mark pulled out one of their Shakey's showstoppers, "Hava Nagila," following that up with "The Piano Roll Blues" and Dick Hyman's "Ragtime Razzmatazz-" the piece that gave the duo their nickname.
And then a photographer from another local TV station (Fox affiliate KPTM) came in to get footage...and stayed long enough to seek an interview: "Who's the organizer?"
I raised my left hand and the photographer- Eric- motioned me into the hallway to take part in that interview...while more people kept coming into the church to dig the festival.
That did it.
By the time the workshop presenters ended their concert with BOTH "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever," every seat in Memorial Hall was filled...in anticipation of "The Entertainers."
I wasn't sure how the film would go over when put in front of Omahans' eyes. It'd already passed five tests since its unveiling on 4-20-2012 (in Madison, WI)...but how would Nick Holle's and Michael Zimmer's presentation do in a city where one of the movie's six main subjects lives?
The documentary went over fine!
The film actually rolled at 4:30 PM so that technical glitches could be ironed out. Once the movie came to an end 93 minutes later, a Q-and-A session ensued...and it lasted longer and was livelier than the Peoria counterpart. (Nick fielded most of the questions.)
After dinner, it was time for one more concert...and that one got started at 7:08 PM.
I wanted to take a page out of Burns Davis' book and build my own show around a theme...and it stemmed from a missed opportunity to use such a theme on 4-15-2012, when the Great Plains Ragtime Society held a meeting at Omaha's Hollywood Candy/Fairmont Antiques store (at 1209 Jackson St.).
That April weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic (you know, the ship that was supposedly too big to sink). And I had a chance to do some of the songs that were popular in 1912.
Well, almost three months later, I went ahead and played ten of 1912's most popular cuts...starting with 1911's final Number One song, "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." ("Sweetheart," recorded by the Peerless Quartet, was the top song in the land for seven weeks...as was the recording that knocked it off the top of the charts, Harry MacDonough's "Down by the Old Mill Stream.")
After doing those two songs, I went ahead with "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" and 1912's most successful song, "Moonlight Bay." (When the American Quartet- probably the New Kids on the Block of their day- cut "Moonlight Bay," they took it to Number One and kept it there for eight weeks.)
I stuck in "Alexander's Ragtime Band" because Charles Prince's Orchestra tried the tune on for size in 1912...but had nowhere near the success Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan did with the song the previous year. (That duo's recording of Irving Berlin's first real songwriting triumph enjoyed a ten-week run at the top of the charts!)
It was then time for a couple of actual rags: Imogene Giles' "Red Peppers" and the Brandon Walsh-Charles Straight number, "Mockingbird Rag."
All this time, I'd sneaked in information about some of 1912's biggest news events. For instance, I told the audience- the biggest one I'd ever played for at an R to R Festival- that New Mexico became a state of the US during "Sweetheart's" chart run...and that "Beautiful Doll" peaked at Number One eleven days before Arizona got in...and that the Girl Scouts of America were founded while "Moonlight Bay" was on the charts...and that Charles Prince's ork's version of "Alexander's" was on the charts at the time the Titanic fell into the Atlantic Ocean.
More of that to come, with three more tunes: "Ragtime Cowboy Joe," Bob Roberts' smash (tops for six weeks) that came out as William Howard Taft sent US troops to Nicaragua over a debt that country owe America and some European lands; "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee," another number that spent six weeks on top (by the Heidelberg Quintet, which was actually the American Quartet Plus One) while the Boston Red Sox were stopping the then New York Giants in the World Series; and "The Ragtime Soldier Man," one of Irving's lesser-known tunes and one that I wanted to send out to today's members of this country's military.
What a time everybody had at this year's Ragtime to Riches!
Finally, the club has a bank account (and now, I can tell people who want to contribute financially to GPRS that they can make their checks out to the club...and I can really mean it).
More important than that, the sky's the limit for Great Plains and for its signature event.
Thanks, Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue, for removing R to R from the area's list of secrets.
The weekend after I traveled to Des Moines (to see my younger brother, younger sister in law, and nephew) and to Madison (to check out the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival), I made it to the Twin Cities...for this year's Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.
That's right...the area that gave us James Arness and Peter Graves (to say nothing of Prince) became the second one to officially see "The Entertainers," that documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (an event that's coming up next weekend).
The Minneapolis-St. Paul get-together has been taking place every year since the early 1980s (if not the late 1970s); this year's version ran from 4-12-2012 and finished up on 5-3-2012. The organizers treated moviegoers from everywhere to 300 films...and, as was the case at Madison's Wisconsin Film Festival, the Twin Cities fare ran the gamut from full-length features all the way to shorts.
70 of the 300 movies shown in Minnesota's biggest metro area were documentaries.
And all the motion pictures presented at the Gopher State festival were run at Minneapolis' St. Anthony Main Theater, overlooking the banks of the Mississippi River.
Festival organizers scheduled "The Entertainers" for 9:20 PM on Saturday, 4-28-2012...as well as for 3:30 PM the next day.
And both sets of audiences ate it up...as well as the live music "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Ethan Uslan, and I were able to provide after each showing of the film.
In fact, the audiences liked "The Entertainers" so much that they voted it the International Film Festival's best documentary.
Meanwhile, I was eating up my stay in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
It's a great, great place to walk around in...especially the underground walkways situated around and through downtown Minneapolis. With the walkways, you get a climate-controlled environment where, in winter, you don't have to worry so much about freezing your hind end off (and don't have to worry about facing the same demise as a Popsicle in the summer months).
The restaurants in the MSP area are no slouches, either. Just like in Madison, they have Qdobe restaurants...and I had a chance to eat late-night tacos again as a result.
The last place I ate at in Minny offers a $12 burger. (And let me tell you, that burger DOES have an act!)
So does the hotel they put us up in. It used to be the local Milwaukee Road train station, but now it's the Renaissance Depot Hotel. They did a great, great job transforming this historic station into a hotel...and it's got so much Milwaukee Road memorabilia it'll make your head swim. (Oops...I mean it'll make your wheels turn!)
Speaking of act...now comes the next one in this journey.
The question isn't "Will it play in Peoria?" (After all, "The Entertainers" will be shown there on 5-25-2012 at 8:00 PM; the free showing will be one of the events at the OTPP Contest itself. And the contest will take place in a new venue: The Sheraton Four Points Hotel.)
The real question is: "How will they like it in Peoria?"
I'm going to the city that gave Richard Pryor to the world...and when I get the answers, I'll sure enough let you know.
I'm Jim Boston, and thanks for reading this blog!
After four years of preparation, planning, filming, promoting, and everything else that comes with trying to put a movie together, it's here!
The very first documentary about Illinois' World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, "The Entertainers," debuted on Friday, 4-20-2012, at 9:30 PM at the Chazen Museum of Art, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And the audience really enjoyed it.
The next day, at 1:30 PM, the film was shown again...this time at the school's UW Cinematheque.
And it was a hit all over again!
The two screenings were part of the thirteenth annual Wisconsin Film Festival, a five-day event where 150 movies of all kinds- feature-length films, shorts, you name it- were showcased all over the UW-Madison campus.
"The Entertainers" struck such a chord with moviegoers at the WFF that they voted the production as the best documentary at this year's fest. (Michael Zimmer's and Nick Holle's baby bested 39 other documentaries.)
Four of the movie's performers- "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Ethan Uslan, Faye Ballard, and I- came to Wisconsin's capital city to help promote the 93-minute effort.
And man, we had a ball!
When Faye, Bill, Nick, Ethan, Michael, and I weren't watching the film, answering audience questions about "The Entertainers," or appearing on TV, radio, and/or the Web to talk about the movie, we ate.
And ate.
AND ATE!!
One of the places we ate at was a sushi restaurant in downtown Madison; it was the first time I'd ever dined at a Japanese eatery.
And I've got to tell you: I'm GOING to learn to love sushi.
I've read where Omaha has more restaurants per capita than any other city here in the United States, but Madison sure gives the Big O a run for its money.
What's more, M-Town gives New York City and Las Vegas a run for their money, too, when it comes to energy...especially on the weekends. (It's one more place where you can get a burrito and/or a pizza at 2:00 AM.)
And it's a great, great place for a film festival.
All I've got to say now is: "Thanks, Madison, for your excellent support of the Wisconsin Film Festival...and for 'The Entertainers!'"
If "The Entertainers" gets to play in your town, and you love old-time piano, just RUN to that venue.
You'll be glad you did! (Hope to see you there!)
Been waiting almost three years to type this out...and here it is:
The first-ever documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, "The Entertainers," is about to make its debut.
It's going to happen at the Wisconsin Film Festival, an event held from 4-18-2012 to 4-22-2012 in Madison.
And yep, I'm on my way to Wisconsin's capital city.
Nick Holle's and Michael Zimmer's (they're the movie's codirectors) project gets two showings- each at a different festival venue: Friday, 4-20-2012 at 9:30 PM and Saturday, 4-21-2012 at 1:30 PM.
Afterwards, Mike and Nick (who did the bulk of the filming in 2009 and 2010...after shooting "The Entertainers'" trailer at the 2008 OTPP Contest) will aim to get the documentary shown not only at different film festivals nationwide, but also at various ragtime festivals throughout the United States.
And one of those ragtime festivals will be here in Omaha.
So if you don't get a chance to come to the Wisconsin Film Festival or to this year's World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (5-25-2012 to 5-28-2012 at Peoria's Five Points by Sheraton Hotel), maybe you'll be coming to Omaha for the Ragtime to Riches Festival (7-8-2012 at First Central Congregational United Church of Christ)...and if you're in the Big O that day, you're in for a real treat.
Had a ball getting involved in said documentary...and I hope you'll have a ball seeing the movie, wherever and whenever it's shown in your town.
Oh, by the way...R to R's showing of "The Entertainers" will take place at 4:15 PM, right after Nora and Mark Hulse play.
