Obama the Builder: Can We Fix It?
Writing for Children, Writing for the World
by Jaden
“Yes we can!” Obama said several times on the historic night of November 4th, 2008, as he spoke after his landslide win for President of the United States. Whether he injected that into his speech himself or his writers did, someone was watching TV with their small children.
All I could think of was Bob the Builder, a program for young children. Throughout the show and in the intro jingle, the chorus sings, “Can we fix it?” and all the tractor machines say, “Yes we can.” One tractor always says, “Um, I think so.”
I can still remember many of the plots from the cartoons I watched when I was a kid — mostly all violent blow-up-each-other sort of stuff: Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and poor stuttering Porky Pig. And hey, look at me, what a stellar upstanding citizen I am… with a twisted sense of humor.
Bob the Builder is one of the most positive and educational shows for children. If there were shows like this available when I was a kid, I missed them.
At some point, construction worker Bob was just an idea in a writer’s mind to teach and educate children. Now, this writer’s words are an important part of history. Keith Chapman is credited as Writer / Producer of Bob the Builder. As television shows have many writers, I can’t say definitively whether he actually penned the “yes we can” part. Roland Lee is credited for the music.
If you are the bud of all your family’s jokes for being the weirdo eccentric writer, just think, someday, something you write could be part of a colossal historical moment. Don’t expect to get credit for it. This is the life of a writer: to be a humble servant to the people — albeit a totally narcissistic self-absorbed one.
Some other great writing for children that deserve honorable mentions, while we are on topic, are:
TELEVISION
Jakers and Piggley Winks
It’s a Big Big World
FILM
Finding Nemo (2003)
Toy Story (1995)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Mary Poppins (1964)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
If you are interested in writing for children, study these closely. Although Willy Wonka terrified me as a child, it was a good terrify, the kind that teaches kids important lessons about behaving well; still, I pouted quite a bit over wanting candy, successfully, I might add.
What are your favorite children movies, television shows, and jingles?
BOB THE BUILDER
Writer / Producer: Keith Chapman
Music: Roland Lee
aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
(Take your places)
aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Can we fix it?
Yes we can!
(chorus)
Bob the builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the builder
Yes we can!
Scoop, Muck and Dizzy
and Roley too.
Lofty and Wendy
join the crew.
Bob and the gang
have so much fun.
Working together,
they get the job done!
(chorus)
Bob the builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the builder
Yes we can!
Time to get busy.
Such a lot to do!
Building and fixing
’til it’s good as new.
Bob and the gang
make a really good sound.
Working all day
till the sun goes down.
(chorus)
Bob the builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the builder
Yes we can!
Can you fix it?
Right.
Left a bit.
Right a little.
Ok, straight down.
We can tackle any situation
Look out, here we come
Can we dig it? Yes!!!!!!
Can we build it? Yes!!!!!!!
Can we fix it? Yes!!!!!!
(chorus)
Bob the builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the builder
Yes we can!
Digging and mixing
Having so much fun
Working together
They get the job done
Can we dig it? Yes
Can we build it? Yes
Can we fix it? Yes
Bob the builder! Hey!!!
Bob the builder! Altogether now
Bob the builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the builder
Yes, yes we can!
We’d better get some work done!
Bob the Builder Official Website
Bob the Builder Little Toons Site
10 Great Old Movies for Tough Times
by Muzz Zennick
Nixed the vacation? Dining at home? Pop some corn, check out these classics, and take heart.
1) You Can’t Take It with You
1938
Director: Frank Capra
Screenwriter: Robert Riskin
Starring: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Ann Miller
A class struggle romance between Jean Arthur and James Stewart provides the simple framework for Lionel Barrymore’s magnificent riffs on uprightness.
2) Sullivan’s Travels
1941
Writer/Director: Preston Sturges
Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake
As a man learns about life while traveling hobo style, Preston Sturges offers a layered account of artistic integrity as America reels out of the Depression and into World War II .
3) Meet John Doe
1941
Director: Frank Capra
Writer: Robert Riskin
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper
A laid-off reporter writes a letter to her newspaper from a fictitious person that gets her rehired and starts a political movement. A timely tale for the holiday season: pawns versus kings, class dignity and degradation, ambition within the Fourth Estate, intrigue versus simplicity; this one is ripe for a remake!
4) City Lights
1931
Writer/Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill
Dubbed ‘A Romance Comedy in Pantomime,’ a vagabond falls in love with a blind flower girl. Watch the tramp’s eyes in the final scene; the light provides a compelling reminder of what is truly important in this fragile life.
5) The Great Dictator
1940
Writer/Director: Charlie Chaplin
Before the end of World War II, Chaplin made this historic comic satire of Nazi Germany. If you’ve never seen it, flix your net; if you’ve seen it a dozen times, see it again.
6) To Be or Not to Be
1942
Director/Producer: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenwriter: Edwin Justus Mayer
Starring: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
Carole Lombard was an audience beacon through the ‘30s in legendary comedies like My Man Godfrey and the hilarious hoax-driven Nothing Sacred. In this final role, her greatest humanity is illuminated; she plays a part of a Polish comedy troupe who endeavors to keep a spy from delivering information to the Germans.
7) Christmas in July
1940
Writer/Director: Preston Sturges
Starring: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew
Christmas in July is Sturges’ lesser known tale of truth and consequences. Continuing to ring true today is the famous line, “If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee – it’s the bunk!”
8) Dinner at Eight
1933
Director: George Cukor
Producer: David O. Selznick
Writer: Frances Marion (wrote from 1912 until 1979!)
Starring: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Jean Harlow
Dinner at Eight is a surprisingly serious, yet comedic and an oh-so-relevant take on greed and gain, loss and love. This complex film and its stars continue to shine seventy-five years later.
9) Baby Face
1933
Director: Alfred E. Green
Writer: Gene Markey/Kathryn Scola
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent
Barbara Stanwyck starred in so many films that it’s not easy to identify the one that illustrates Hollywood’s penchant for portraying broads who’d do anything to get by: Baby Face is that film.
10) Little Women
1933
Director: George Cukor
Screenwriter: Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Edna May Oliver
A Civil War coming of age film, the underrated character actress Edna May Oliver nails the wealthy, crotchety aunt whose power trips regarding capital, decisions, and opinions greatly influence the fortunes of three of the four sisters.
Interview with Muzz, Winner of SFH ‘Write a Screenplay in One Month’ Competition
by Jaden
Completing a minimum of 90 pages within a one month period, Muzz won the Screenwriting for Hollywood competition of August, 2008.
Muzz, tell us where you were raised.
I was born in a steel town in western Pennsylvania that was and is populated with characters that remain a primary source of inspiration.
What is your scholastic and work experience?
I took a B.A. in English from Carnegie-Mellon, studied writing with brilliant professors. After graduation, during difficult economic times, I wrote for small publications; bought a bass; fixed up a duplex with fun roommates; worked various jobs, even as a florist.
Why did you move to New York?
I attended grad school here. Though I’d worked a publishing internship, I wasn’t ready to pick up stakes for a job. My friends were here; I could see the NY skyline from my porch!
Were you in New York on 9-11?
Yes. I was headed to work when the first plane flew overhead. There was the bluest sky, but melancholy in the air, the way it gets when the humidity finally breaks.
At the time, I was teaching ESL and working as a manager of instruction at a language school where there was a true community of teachers and students from many countries; journalists, diplomats, business people, musicians and rap stars, actors and actresses. There was a lot of love and diplomacy there; after ten years, I left to freelance in 2005.
How have movies affected your life?
They have always affected me deeply as I’m drawn to storytelling, music and the study of the human condition. My mother had wanted to be an actress and my father was in radio for many years, so they both had the bug. There was a big build up for my first movies: The Wizard of Oz, which I saw at age four; Disney’s Cinderella and Mary Poppins. My hometown had two vaudeville relics with nubby velvet seats, musty curtains and balcony smoking sections. I adored them. My grandmother played piano for silents in those theaters. I used to keep a scrapbook about the Gish sisters, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd.
My mom and I used to watch whatever feature was on Sunday afternoon, whether it was a musical, a crime drama, whatever. My father was nuts about Barbara Stanwyck. My friends and I saw the same features over and over pre-video, sometimes for as little as fifty cents.
Also, my uncle was an actor who lived in New York; he did theater and soap operas, then went west for TV roles and became active in the union. His trips to our house were exciting; he brought books, creativity, and a sense that adult life begins in Greenwich Village.
When and why did you decide to write screenplays?
I was always an art nerd, musician and behind the scenes type, who wrote poetry, short stories and journalism, took lots of art classes and acting. In grad school I took a script analysis course taught by USC’s renowned Frank Daniel, and that lit the spark.
How does your experience help you to write screenplays?
Writing is cumulative; I write, edit and produce curricula for a range of clients. I’ve written about music and culture for small (mostly defunct) magazines. The world of Pennsylvania continues to inform my own work. A trip to a local social club can be an inspiration. I’m halfway into a novel that’s set there and have written two comic scripts that draw on people from home. I once wrote a somber short film based on a story of mine; it was optioned but not produced. Given life’s perplexing oddities, I’d rather be laughing.
What is your favorite screenplay?
We watch a lot of movies, which has led to reading more screenplays. My current favorite is The Apartment by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. It captures a moment in NYC history, circa 1960, that is poignant and hilarious. There are others: Caroline Thompson’s singular vision, Nora Ephron, Preston Sturges, and Woody Allen — a reason to fall in love with NYC.
Favorite forms include comedy classics like Sullivan’s Travels and Meet John Doe. I admire great drama also; Crimes and Misdemeanors, because it is such a skillful blend of comedy and tragedy; Brief Encounter of 1945 with dame Celia Johnson, which captures a particularly complex set of emotions.
What is your secret to winning the Screenwriting for Hollywood challenge and being able to write a screenplay in one month?
To paraphrase the guy in Annie Hall, this script started as a notion, then a concept and finally an idea. The premise was crafted from an image on one of your ‘write a pitch’ Sunday Picture Posts. I’d been thinking, but couldn’t articulate the idea and then five minutes later, there it was.
We spent a rainy Saturday watching Chaplin movies: City Lights was an inspiration for this new script. I wanted to write a modern comic fable where hero and heroine share a moment like its final scene. I knew the ending even before the hero emerged.
It was a laid back summer, so I worked in the community garden, walked and thought quite a bit. Walking is important; a good day is five to six miles. Writing was completed in an uncomfortable thrift shop chair I’ve had for years. (I have an attachment to working in this chair.) Drafting this script was like taking dictation from an uncanny radio broadcast; it was written in about three work-filled weeks. Other secrets include my wonderful, supportive partner, a gifted, hard working mathematician and writer (he wrote an adapted screenplay in two weeks), good friends and the SFH community, which provided encouragement.
Our days start early, so leaving the apartment for coffee is a reward. Seeing friends, shopping the farmers’ markets, walking to the Hudson River at sunset, chatting with folks in the shops . . . all of these are rewards in my book. And I carry a notebook, just in case.
Thank you Muzz.
Sunday Picture Post 33 / What is Scary?
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: WHAT IS SCARY?
There are a few things that I find most scary in movies.
1) Mystery and the unknown: wondering what is happening, hearing mysterious noises, seeing bizarre signs, not knowing where is the bad guy or what he is doing.
2) True horror stories.
3) Suspense: knowing something is going to happen, but not knowing when or how. This makes me sick to my stomach.
4) Horrific acts that I never could have imagined.
What are the best scare tactics you have experienced?
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday, I post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Sunday Picture Post 32
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday, I post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
-
Subscribe
-
-
content rss