SLAMMING INTO TODAY WITH FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF
"Mike, to choose the artists life isn't an answer. It's a mountain to climb."
- KENNETH ANGER
"The modern day artist refuses to die."
- ERIC SATIE
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
- FERRIS BUELLER
A confession dear reader. Writing a blog is much easier than writing a script. Here I can rant. A script? Well, I follow Paul Linebarger's STASM formula. Paul is one of my heroes. He was an OSS agent, the precursor to CIA. His classic must read Intel book, PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE comes in 2 editions, up to World War 2 and Korea. Paul wrote science fiction under the name Cordwinder Smith without CIA's knowledge, and romance novels under the name Frederick Forest. His book RIA about rebels, gun and money running- well you can look at the name of the book and guess what struggle and group it's about. The CIA never knew he was weaving his experiences into fiction.
The STASM formula is as follows: SUBJECT MATTER, TIME FRAME, AUDIENCE, SOURCES and MISSION. What is my subject? The time frame to get it done? Who is the audience for the work? What are my sources, my resources to draw on? Finally, what is the goal of the piece, how does it fit in with my overall mission? Now, taking military iideas and applying them to theatre isn't really far fetched. The two worlds have much in common. Though I doubt many writers ask themselves these questions before they write.
A director wears a mask to rally the actors, so does a General with their troops. You can have the General like Pattton who is aloof from his men, or Omar Bradley who will have beers with them. A director like Ceil B. DeMille who struck fear into his cast and crew, or one like Clint Eastwood who doesn't even like to use the word CUT or ACTION on a set to keep his actors at ease.A general doesn't want his soldiers to die on the field. A director doesn't want his actors to die onstage. The rules of war and theatre are pretty much interchangable ( substitute the word MARKETING with PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE and it all starts to fall into place).
A blog like this is more like a diary. The STASM formula does not fit. Here I can driift from period to period, as I do tonight.
Del called me excited that he had a part in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF which was shooting in Highland Park, a beautiful and rich part of Chicago.
I was living in a highrise at 1120 N. LaSalle that was formerly occupied by a victim of the Tylenol murders (so the rent was cut in half compared to the other units in the building). Del was across the street and behind buildings from Second City.
I stepped into the open door and the wall of pot smoke and Del was excited.
" Michael!' he exclaimed as I entered, " I'm doing a film about you!" and I had no idea what he was talking about.
He handed me a joint that was burning and walked over to his kitchen table where the script sat on his table. I had no idea how to take what he had just said and asked hm instead what part he had.
"Not a big role, but I talk about irony!" he laughed. We'd actually talked about the role of irony in entertainment and how it seemed to be growing. So then I asked him what he meant by 'it was a film about me'.
"It's you with your own place at 12. Teaching before you graduated at the Art Institute,. the women you've known, the luck plane! The Subgenius luck plane that saves you at the last minute over and over." and he broke into more laughter.
He told me I'd just have to see the film when it came out. I don't remember why I didn't, but over the years I never saw it. Until tonight.
Chicago in summer has film screenings in the parks and tonight by the Historical Society was an open air screeniing of FERRIS. So i walked over, found a seat and watched the film with a crowded and young audience. Most were babies when the film came out. I watched and loved the film. It was great to see Del in it. I loved the scenes of Highland Park and the city.
When the final credits ended i walked two blocks over to where Del use to live. i knew he would have liked the film being shown to a packed field in his old backyard.
As I walked to the crash pad I started thinking. You see, i had been living in a house wiith South Africans in a Mexican hood, and someone dropped a dime and wanted the blacks out. Inspectors had shown up and we all had to go with just 7 days notice. Illegal Mexicans calling to complain about an illegal boarding house because blacks were there. Welcome to Chicago!
This caught me offguard. Here I was working with a book company and author to come up with a treatment for a play on Crowley, plus being in a play every week, moving was not part of the plan. A pal was leaving for Asia, and let me stay at his place. For the last 6 weeks I've been in a highrise, with balcony, and indoor swimming pool! Not bad for being homeless! Next week I move into a raw space for a week and a half, then into a newly re-modeled pad. All by luck.
As I walked the three blocks from the museum to the crashpad i could hear Del laughing and saying the film was about me. I laughed outloud, because now I got the comment.
