Hi

I'm an amateur screenwriter.

I intend to work on this blog however if I can't get any momentum I will ask mods to delete.

I'm from the UK. I'm working on a good few scripts but as of yet have none finished so no real successes or accomplishments to speak of.

I am hoping to get down some ideas over the next year on what I consider my writing style to be. (I have a good idea but some research will not harm me)

I am definitely looking for contributions, comments, opinions whether positive or negative. Though I appreciate they are only likely to be constructive if I present ideas or material in the thread.

I will make a longer post in the next few days to outline where I'd like the blog to go, and provide some more relevant information but I am working on a poker themed play. It is set in Vegas and the characters are gamblers.

My problem is, like the size of the currently popular games of NLHE and PLO, the film has gotten out of control. What when I started out I thought was straightforward it has become epic in scope. (That is not a comment on it's quality) My notes for this film are 4.5 times the number for a standard 100 min project I'm simultaneously working on, and as yet aren't stopping. Obviously it is always nice to have more material rather than less and am not looking for advice on this specific problem. Am just outlining the situation.

Any suggestions, if anybody wants some elaborations please stop by in the thread.

I may review some poker/gambling films when I get the opportunity. So I will list the 1's I want to see (again) and obviously if people enjoy them they can suggest some. I want to stay away from the v obvious 1's to begin with, mainly because I know them v well and I don't get as many opportunities to watch films as I used to. In addition, if I can recommend some lesser known films I'll feel as if I'm doing a service to the medium/community.

Cincinatti Kid
Casino Royale
The Stu Ungar Story
The Sting
A big hand for the little lady
California Split
Kaleidoscope
Mississippi Grind
Havana
Hard eight

I watched a couple of these:

Kaleidoscope-

A brief poker game at end (5 card stud).

As all of Warren Beatty's films this was pretty good. I had tried watching it a couple of years ago but the slow beginning had thrown me out of the zone. I stayed in it this time and although a Hollywood film today wouldn't be allowed to take this long to get started there was a point to it.

I will likely go back to this in ~10 years and offer my alternative line (how I'd have done it/how I think it should've been done. NB cutting out that start will give us 5 minutes to work with)

A big hand for the little lady-

Recommended by Greg Raymer on the recent Cardplayer poker stories podcast. Side note: I really like this format of interview, possibly even more than joey ingram's light-hearted style.

Tbh I was a bit disappointed.

I won't give any plot details away and yes poker was a BIG part of the story but you had an opportunity to write some really good characterisations. Heck you've got the great Jason Robards when he was relatively young.

I lost the plot about an hour in though that may have just been me. I thought the premise was a bit preposterous but what do i know i've only seen 5000 films

Next: California Split

So I saw California Split. Obviously I have opinions about it but seeing as nobody really interacted with my last couple of reviews I don't need to share them. I'm not sure if any1's interested at all.

I do have opinions about stuff so I think commenting on poker related thoughts may be better for the blog going forward:

There's this geezer who has a 2p2 coaching advert. (I won't say the name but it's obvious who it is)

He charges $300+/hour to tell you to draw up a to do list and complete the jobs on it. That's it!

I was thinking about visiting his thread and questioning him but you know, what's the point?

I understand his goal in life appears to be making the most amount of $, and playing poker where he says was a v successful player he may have had a v high hourly. Now considering any person of any age who lives within a 5 mile radius from you COULD tell you that after you open your eyes in the morning the next goal is to get out of bed I don't see how he justifies charging this amount and what qualifications he has to choose him over every other wannabe 'coach'.

Any1 wants to hire me to do his job I will charge you $25/hour. This is my method: we talk, we draw up a target for you, you follow each step until you get there! My qualifications: I have stayed alive for 35 years.

Ok i've finally seen the next 2 films on my to do list.

Cincinatti Kid-

This is the (poker) film!

This is slightly better than Rounders. Now, i havent kept on top of Hollywood films for the past few years but IMO this is the type of film they should be making. (Its just a coincidence that these are the type of films i write!)

I'm no poker expert so can't assess the plausibility of the last hand but the themes of this are very adult and all linked with the characters who enjoy playing/being around poker.

I would've liked Lucky You with Eric Bana to have been based around some of the ideas here rather than the direction they went in. It might have been less forgettable.

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story-

Not bad, not great.

No real panache in the directing style. It might be a tv movie.

Acting not bad however story a bit lightweight.

Kind of a bit like Casino, Once upon a time in America, Seventh Seal etc so there was some ambition in the filmmakers intentions.

I think they needed a decent screenwriter to inject something more into the shooting script! I mean, if we can assume the approx 15 year gap between Stuey's WSOP titles is represented by drug use and wasting time (and his/anybody's life can become this/may actually have been like this), I feel the filmmakers could have constructed something more dramatic or substantial in this timeframe to flesh out a story.

That's where the 'film' should be!