The Stories of Scott D. Southard

April 26, 2012

Pixar: the Film Studio I Would Sell My Soul to Write For
Being a parent of young children has made me an expert in a few different, new, and exciting fields.

You need to talk about superheroes, I am your man. If you want to discuss which lullaby CDs are best, and more importantly, work, talk to me. Which TV shows for kids might actually educate your child, I’m an e-mail away. Also, if you want to know about Pixar, I have an altar for them in my house.

Well, maybe not a real altar, but it does feel that way sometimes. Of course, can you truly use the word altar to describe a state that seems to have taken over your whole house? From the toys on the ground to the boy dressed like Dash from The Incredibles.

In my house, simply put, we live Pixar films.

Heck, when I discovered I was going to be having a daughter, her first present from me was a talking Jessie doll. Looking back, I think I honestly made the purchase immediately after calling my family members.

Yet, my own personal love for Pixar goes beyond just the joy they give to my children. As a student of film and a writer, I respect them more than most filmmakers working today. I have yet to be disappointed by a Pixar film; and their weakest film is still far and away better than most exhaled from other studios for our children to consume (Alvin and the Chipmunks, how about The Smurfs, Shrek, etc.; I feel dirty just referencing these films in an editorial about the genius that is Pixar).

Here are three reasons why I am a fan, and would, quite honestly, sell my soul to work with them as a writer: (more…)
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March 8, 2012

My Six Favorite Comedies
I am a comedy snob.

I don’t laugh at fart jokes or burps, and most sitcoms bore me to pieces. Some of this elitism is because I studied comedy writing and seeing behind the curtain can take the surprise away (and much of comedy is about delivery), my upbringing since my dad introduced me to Monty Python at a young again, but most of it is just, frankly, because I am a comedy snob. And because of that, I have never laughed at a single scene in a single American Pie movie…

Not a single scene.

I expect more.

I expect more than stereotypes, pratfalls, sarcasm, easy parodies, and physical body humor. You can keep your Three Scrooges (even though I do like some of the Curly episodes), I’ll take the Marx Brothers any day of the week.

Here, in all my snobbery, are my six favorite comedies:

–

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

When the American Film Institute (AFI) did their list of 100 laughs, they did not include a single Monty Python movie.

Not a one.

Their justification is that the films chosen had to have significant financial or creative production elements from the USA. Fine, whatever (even though, I would argue that the films were distributed and produced by a few Americans and American companies), but yet, they included A Fish Called Wanda on the list. Is it because two of the main cast members were American? Should I point out that Terry Gilliam of Monty Python (director, actor and writer) is American?

No, this doesn’t make sense to me either. (more…)
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February 23, 2012

Recommending Woody Allen…
When I was 14, I wrote a letter to Woody Allen.

I’m pretty sure it was a long letter (I never skimped on words), detailing how I wanted to grow up and be just like him. It’s not like I really wanted to be him, per se; I just loved the idea of the freedom he had to make the stories he wanted to tell. See, even then I could tell this was a storyteller not only having the creativity in abundance, but the capability to let that creativity reach its heights. As an adult, I am even more floored by his ability.

So my letter begged for advice. What did I expect from him? I couldn’t say, I was a kid trying to latch on to some kind of a future, like any typical young teen. Maybe I was hoping he would send me a plane ticket and take me in as an apprentice? He didn’t write back, of course, but he did send an autographed picture, which I still have today.

There is a chance that Midnight in Paris, Woody’s most recent film will take home the Oscar for Best Screenplay (It is also nominated for Best Picture), and I think well deserved. Of course, Woody won’t show up for the award. That is not Woody’s way, and I find that also very bad ass. Simply put, he is too busy making his movies to stop and take an award for the past, he is already on the next story, the future.

These, as a Woody fan, I would recommend as first dips into his library. (more…)
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January 24, 2012

Are the Oscars Really Necessary?
The Oscars always make me feel a little queasy. Award shows in general around the arts make me feel that way.

Oh, I’ve won some writing awards (it’s the reason why my books MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS and MEGAN were published- they were both honored in a writing competition), and was very grateful, but it still feels odd to me. I have no problem telling someone that a story they have is great, for example, or another writer that their story needs work, but to say one is better than the other… there is that queasy feeling again. (more…)
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January 18, 2012

10 Works I Wish I Had Written
Sometimes I feel like December and January are the times all entertainment Web sites and writers set aside for creating lists. We drown in them; from movies, to books, to important people, etc. Lists after lists after lists.

Don’t worry, this is not one of those lists. This is something a little more personal.

I’ve been, since starting this blog, trying to rethink my writing and my goals, and one thing I am trying to latch on to is what stimulates me, what means something to me. What do I want to accomplish in my own writing?

This list is of ten creations that, at one time or another, touched me as a storyteller. There is no particular order, no best to worst.

Are these choices the best in their mediums? No, not all of them. Are these things that I could have written? A few, I think with the initial spark I could have devised in a way. Are these works that inspire me? Most definitely. (more…)
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January 10, 2012

Why I am stuck seeing The Phantom Menace again…
They say that being a parent is all about making sacrifices. I had already understood that but I never thought it was something concrete, I thought it would mean I was like The Giving Tree, but in spirit … But because my son is four, and he is the right age for it, I’m about to make another sacrifice, one to hang on the wall of parenthood next to my broken DVD of the first The Pirates of the Caribbean and the torn cover of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles.

I am going to take him to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace on Imax, 3D in February.

Godfather 3 is far too over quoted by people, but seriously, I was out! Lucas and his mad skills at getting to my checkbook has pulled me back in.

Now I grew up with Star Wars (the first movie came out when I was three which was the perfect age for warping my little mind), but after all of his changes to the original trilogy he had lost me. I was free! I didn’t buy the last set of DVDs, I didn’t buy the Blu-Rays. Oh, I held them in the store, but more to study the ugly cover art on the front (and really it is bad). (more…)
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January 6, 2012

Why This Novelist Likes Video Games
I’m not supposed to admit this.

Many in the snobby writing community pooh-pooh it as frivolous and don’t consider it real storytelling, and I might be shunned for this in the future… Sigh… I’ve got to take a deep breath and say it… I think some of the best new stories I have experienced in the last few years have been in video games.

See, for me as a lover of stories, it was never about the medium someone is writing in (plays, books, movies, radio, etc.), but the story being told. So I really have a problem comparing the mediums like some do. I don’t, per se, think novels are better than movies all of the time. There are adaptations of books for the silver screen that I think are better than the book (Obviously, The Shawshank Redemption is an easy example). (more…)
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January 4, 2012

A Writer’s Remorse: Shooting Myself in the Foot…
One of the problems of having an imagination is that you also become burdened by the “what ifs.”

What if I made that decision instead? What if I went with that agent or publisher? What if I didn’t lose that contact?

The trick is not letting these “what ifs” become regrets. And for me that is many times hard to do. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but many times in my career I’ve made decisions more out of my own “vision” of what I wanted to be, as compared to the opportunity in front of me. And in all of those moments I have walked away wondering if I had just shot myself in the foot.

Here, let me give you an example… We’ll start with one of the funny ones… (more…)
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August 12, 2011

10 Best Superhero Films
A new film editorial is up at Green Spot Blue! It is on superhero films, so grab a towel, make a homemade cape with a pin and enjoy.

Here is the introduction to the article:

I have never drunk the kool-aid, but I have sipped it.

That is my experience with comic books.

I did some occasional collecting when I was 12; and from time to time may read a graphic novel. Oh, I can do pretty well on some trivial pursuit questions when they come up, but I am no avid fan and I admit it. What I do love about superheroes and comic books is the mythology and when I am around my friends who are more in tune with that “world,” I will usually ask a hundred questions, trying to discover the new imaginative twists and turns (good and bad) the characters have taken. (Did you know they had zombie superheroes a few years ago!?)

The thing is that now I have a toddler; a toddler with a Superman picture on his wall, Batman bed sheets, and a Flash T-shirt. While he can not see any of these movies until he is much older, I am going to put my film critic hat on and share my opinion on this still evolving meeting of the artforms.

You can read the rest of the article (and my list) here- http://www.greenspotblue.com/world/2011/8/12/movies-10-best-superhero-films.html
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June 6, 2011

13-Year Olds, Superheroes, and Money: This Year’s Summer Blockbusters
An article on summer blockbusters by me. Here is the intro:

Every year, reviewers complain about the summer blockbusters and every year it seems to become more and more exactly what the reviewers are complaining about (destruction, violence, non-stop action films, superheroes, over-the-top/cookie-cutter stories, etc.), but this year seems to knock the rest out of the ballpark. There is just more of everything. And while I agree with some of the criticism heaped upon studios for their choices of what to produce and distribute, I understand where they are coming from. (more…)
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