reinalowellwrites-blog

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

college and hotel AUs

so I just started living on campus at uni and I work in a hotel, so I made a list of writing prompts with my best friend @scubadiva that we would really like you all to use and play around with however you want. Make a short story, make a scene, write half a scene and give up, write a full novel, do anything! Just make sure to copy & paste or link it down below because we reallyyyy want to read them. So, without further ado...

College AU prompts:

“Hey you’re in my class and you’re always the smartest and most organized, but now you’re sloppy drunk in this club and grinding on a stranger, also what do you mean we have two tests tomorrow????” au 

“I’m the shuttle driver and you’ve been riding around campus with me for three hours in silence so I finally asked why and you said your roommates hate you and want to fight with you and you don’t have a car to drive away in so now you’re doing your homework in this now-empty shuttle with me which is totally not creepy because I swear I won’t invade your personal space, but you should know I’m missing my break for this so now we’re going to a drive-thru do you want a cheeseburger” au

“You’re the shuttle driver and I don’t have the heart to tell you that you missed the last two stops—mine included—because Mr. Brightside distracted you, but I really need to get to class and wtf are you crying?????” au

“I met you waiting at the shuttle stop while checking my mailbox and stopped to talk to you because you’re really cute but you should know that it’s Saturday so the shuttle doesn’t run today and also can I have your number????” au

“You’re a really cute RA and I’m super into you and I can’t tell if it’s mutual or not but please come over every day so I can ask you questions I already know the answer to also I genuinely don’t think this key opens any of the mailboxes what is it for” au

“I woke up after a college party in a locked building I don’t recognize and hello stranger I think I kissed last night, do you know how we got here or how we escape because I'm scared????” au

“Our college has a game where each student has to find the student they’re assigned to “kill” and everyone who gets a kill takes their victim’s assignment and I’ve been the champ for a while but now there’s a new streak-winning killer on the loose and no one knows who it is and I’m probably about to make out with you at this party when you try to kill me but I catch you before you can because I have your name too and uh oh now what” au

Hotel AU prompts:

“I’m sorry I banged on the wall between our rooms and then also your door so loudly, I thought you were having loud sex but it’s actually just you rocking against your headboard and sobbing are you okay???” au

“You’re the night housekeeper and I’m a guest and I thought you were super cute so now I’ve asked for like four microwaves even though I don’t have any food because I want to see you again and I think you’re starting to realize that I’m not actually having trouble with any of them so hey let’s go eat dinner sometime maybe????” au

“This hotel has a make your own pasta bar and you’re the chef making the pasta and I hate everything you’re recommending but I can’t say no to those beautiful eyes and now you want to watch me take a bite but I’m literally so allergic to dairy and gluten so I’m just gonna box it up and say it’s for my brother when in reality I’m going to go to my room and beg my parents not to kill me for doing this like eight days in a row” au

“My family came on this vacation to explore the town, but I twisted my ankle so they left me behind and my ankle is better now but please don’t tell them because I’d much rather be here on the balcony where I can spy on you every day while you work at the pool” au

“You’re the room service boy and we were flirting earlier but now I’m sulking in my room after my parents embarrassed me in front of you when I hear a knock on the door and I didn’t order room service and it’s just a flower and a note and omg it’s from you” au

“You’re a massage therapist and I’m your client and you haven’t done anything unprofessional but you’re so good at your job and so sweet and cute that now I’m in love with you and I’m definitely coming back to see if you remember me tomorrow because if you do then I’m asking you out” au

“I’m a chef and you’re the room service attendant and we’ve got a full house of people with special dietary needs so they keep sending you here to yell at me or something but you’re being really nice to me and now everyone is staring because I haven’t threatened to kill you with my favorite cleaver yet but it’s because you’re really cute????? fuckin marry me, you little shit, wHAT DO YOU MEAN THE THIN CRUST IS TOO THICK” au

“You’re a server and it’s so late that you forget yourself and sit down at my table, but it’s so cute and I feel so bad for you that I let you stay and you say the candlelight makes this seem like a date and I don’t have the heart to tell you I think I just got stood up and oh nvm here is my asshole bf and you definitely don’t like it but you leave and the next day I get a note at breakfast from you saying thank you and oh great now I’m feeling feelings I gtg jk a snowstorm has come to trap all three of us in, thanks bomb cyclone” au

“You’re simultaneously setting up my sister’s wedding and counseling her and her husband through their first big fight and I’d hate to add more to your busy schedule, but I’m in love with you for reasons I don’t quite get yet and I want to go out with you asap but you’re super busy so I guess I gotta bring you lunch on your break do you like Panera???? that seems pretty grown up and you’re pretty grown so” au

“We both work night shifts in the lobby, you’re at front desk and I’m guest services, and I definitely want to make out with you after last year’s ~close encounter~ but I’m scared you don’t feel the same but then one day a coworker backs out of coat check with you and I’m filling in and it’s so late and we’re basically in a closet without a camera and idk if you remember, but night shift means no rules so let's just kiss and see what happens” au

“You’re the engineer’s apprentice and I’m the guest whose thermostat won’t cooperate and the hotel is too full for me to move rooms so I’m just gonna have to call you for help every day oh well so hey do you like cookies because I bought some to thank and maybe seduce you idk I’ve never done this before pls just don’t laugh at me” au

“You’re the engineer’s apprentice and I’m the guest who’s broken two microwaves, a shower wall, and a lamp, but now I’ve clogged the toilet and as it turns out, the plunger I ordered on prime now is useless because I refuse to admit it’s my fault and I told you it’s my friend’s, but you don’t buy it at all and now I’m blushing red as fuck pls stop laughing okay yeah I guess it’s kind of funny do u wanna get dinner” au

“all available staff is staying overnight bc of the inclement weather protocols and we somehow got adjoining rooms and I knocked on the door between us to tell you to shut up and when you opened your side I saw you shirtless and wtf why are you so hot this does not fit with your job here also did I just agree to sit with you at dinner tonight“ au

I’ll be adding to this post in the future if I think of any more. For now, please enjoy the fact that these are based loosely on things that have happened to me and scubadiva irl (except the first one, which is from one of our friends’ stories about uni (she’s the organized/sloppy drunk one lol)).

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Morally grey: A character who does too much bad to be a good person, but does too much good to be a bad person.

Sympathetic villain: A character who is a bad person, but whose backstory/character arc makes you feel sorry for or sympathetic towards them.

Anti-hero: A character who does bad things to achieve a good goal.

Anti-villain: A character who does bad things to achieve a goal that they believe to be good, but is actually messed up.

Just plain annoying: A character who does bad things to achieve a bad goal but has one throwaway line about a hard childhood that is expected to put them into one of the aforementioned categories when in reality it just makes them annoying

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Fun with slate names on the set of Inglorious Basterds

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

You can join the movement here and to any of you struggling out there just know that: It Is Going To Be Okay

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Got bae amped about the nonexistent cinnamon roll emoji just so I could steal four of the rolls and run away 😘

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

The problem with being a writer is that you have to be your characters.

You can’t write a charming character by saying they’re charming, you actually need to be charming and write them charming dialog. You can’t just state somebody is smart, you need to write smart things for them to say and do.

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

YOU ALREADY KNOW WHO IT IS!!!!!!!!! (Endings Too Vague to Reach)

what’s up this is my band Comma Overload

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i found a list of stock characters in ancient greek media

tag yourself i’m the man of petty ambition

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

you know whats wayyyyy easier than writing? scrolling through tumblr for hours and hours and tangentially thinking about your WIPs but not Actually working on them

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

do u ever really think about the Holy Grail filming though

the primary camera which had been specially designed broke on their very first day of filming so everything was delayed as hell while they sourced a new one

they couldn’t get Scotland to let them use its National Trust castles so they ended up using the same one for every single fucking castle and/or used paper cutouts

the only reason they used the music they did was because after a whole fucking soundtrack had been written they realised their budget didn’t actually expand to an orchestra, so they used stock music and the only actual original Python song in the whole deal is Knights Of The Round Table

Graham had delirium tremens during his very first take, suddenly realised and admitted that he was an alcoholic, and was consequently hammered out of his brain for the remainder of filming so he wouldn’t go into the DTs again

as a result of this he constantly picked fights with the other Pythons, extras and random hotel staff

and constantly forgot half his lines

and ran ass naked up and down hotel corridors yelling “Betty Marsden” until Michael asked him to stop so he could sleep (and so Michael then woke up to a note pushed under his door reading “with love, Betty Marsden”)

but miraculously still no one realised Gray’s drinking was making him so ill and so Michael’s diaries are full of random excuses for why he was shaking his ass off every morning (“we were up v high today I think Gray was scared” “I didn’t think it was that cold but Graham was shivering” “gosh tensions are running so high Gray was so mad with us he was literally shaking”)

the Terrys tried to codirect and fell out over literally everything

and consequently constantly reshot each other’s takes behind the other’s back

John kept getting upset because he doesn’t like being dirty and/or cold and they were in fucking Scotland and “there wasn’t enough hot water for a shower”

John and Eric consequently switched hotels from the rest of the cast and crew so John could get his fucking shower

they were all wearing knitted “armour” and I reiterate this was fucking freezing wet Scotland so they all froze half to death and had to keeping shooting anyway

and John got so pissed at Terry Gilliam’s directing style (“treating us like pieces of paper”) that he eventually essentially told him to fuck off, so filming was delayed even further so Terry G could go and be offended and cry and sulk by a wall

the highest grossing British comedy film of all time, everyone.

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Writing on bad days is mysterious.

Because nothing is good on a bad day and that includes your writing, it’s just pulling words out with forceps and placing them on a page and there’s no magic or art in it at all.

BUT THEN you read through it the next day, a better day, and it’s perfectly fine.  Maybe it’s even, dare I say… good??  And no reader will ever know that you had zero inspiration in you that day, or that you pulled this section out of your ass with a sorta crazed hopelessness.  To them it’ll just look like another part of the story they like.

What the hell.

I guess the lesson here is to just keep writing haha  Just keep showing up. Your body knows the routine better than you think.

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Hi Jules! I have a personal question to ask. Have people tried to discourage you from going into the film industry? If so, how do you cope w/ it? I'm Asian and a lot of my family members want me to go into medical b/c it's a 9-5 job w/ a comfortable salary. But I don't want to believe that my happiness is based only off of money. I'm a senior in high school and the pressure of going to college is driving me insane b/c I don't know if I want go. I think I want to dive into the industry after HS..

Hey Anon,

I’ve gotten a lot of concerned looks, comments, and questions. A lot of “Well, what would you do with that degree?” “Have a backup just in case” or “But you’re smart, you could do anything.” The people who said these things had good intentions, but those comments were very discouraging (and sometimes insulting.)

My parents were supportive, but I could tell my mother was not thrilled with my decision. So I talked to her about it. As it turns out, she was nervous because of two reasons. First, she had NO idea about the film industry. So I did lots of research and showed her the facts, what I wanted to pursue, what job I wanted in the long-run, various ways I could get there, etc.

The second reason was money. My family struggles financially and mother doesn’t want me to have that same hardship. We actually had a conversation about the 9-5 job and her rationale seems very similar to your situation. Her rationale was that at the end of the day, I could come home and do what makes me happy. Mine perspective was if I worked in film, I would be happy at work, not just after it.

I understand what it’s like to have ambitions different than your parents, and I understand what it is like to be discouraged or to be pressured into choosing a different career. But when it comes down to it, it is your life and you deserve to be happy.

Ever since I sat down with my mother, she has been much more encouraging and even excited about my career choice. (I’ll often talk to her about my scripts or upcoming projects.) So I guess from my experience, I suggest just sitting down and talking to them. Show them why you want to go into film and show them a plan. Most likely, they just want what is best for you but they just don’t understand or see your point of view.

Best of luck to you,

Jules

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Just a reminder

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs went completely overbudget, and no-one believed anyone would want a full-length animated film. It created a whole new genre.

George Lucas thought that Star Wars was going to be such a failure, he went on holiday rather than attend the premiere. It has become one of the most influential film sagas in film history

The Lion King was listed as a ‘B’ movie by Disney, and thus less effort was placed on it. It became Disney’s highest grossing film until 2013.

Beauty and the Beast had multiple time and money constraints, and was in “development hell” since the 1930′s. It became the first animated feature to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, Disney’s first Oscar nominated film for Best Picture since Mary Poppins, and was the reason the Academy created the ‘Best Animated Picture’ category.

Frozen was stuck in “development hell” since Walt Disney was alive, and had multiple redrafts and script rewrites, and a few questioned whether it would be successful. It became the highest grossing animated film of all time, broke box office records across the world, became Disney’s first movie since Tarzan to win an Oscar (and won two) and became the first Disney movie (not including Pixar) to win the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.

Just because a project may be taking longer than you had hoped, or you have had to redo it multiple times, or you don’t think it will be a success doesn’t mean your project isn’t good. Sometimes our most successful projects are the most surprising ones

Don’t give up!

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Do you have any tips or resources for creating or predicting a budget for a short film or web series?

Hello Anon!

There is a budget template in the resource drive (link in bio) in the “Templates and Samples” folder. The first page breaks down a list of things you may need and has both an “estimate” column and an “actual cost” column. The subsequent pages allow you to list specific items you end up paying for in each section (food, travel, locations, etc.)

To properly estimate cost, you first need to break down your script. How many days will it take you to film and how many props, actors, locations, etc. do you need? For a well-funded indie film, you can film roughly 4-6 pages a day. Dialogue-heavy scenes will take less time while action/special effects-heavy scenes will take longer. The amount of locations also affects time. The more locations, the longer it will take to shoot your film.

When starting out, you main costs will probably be food and props.

For food costs, you need to feed everyone, every day, every 6 hours (a SAG requirement I stick to even when working with non-union cast and crew). So depending on your day, you could have 1-2 meals a day plus snacks and water.

For props, I make a list of what I need and what set dressings would be nice. Then, I search the internet to get estimates of what everything would cost (including the would-be-nice items.)

Once you have estimates of everything, add another number for petty cash. This is for miscellaneous stuff you might have forgotten or will need on set that you didn’t/couldn’t account for. (Usually for student short films, this is around $100.)

Add everything up and you have an estimate for your film! Higher than what you expected? Search for discounts and start slashing that would-be-nice list. Some food places offer discounts for large parties so don’t be afraid to ask. Also, as friends and family for props and locations you can use free of charge.

Budgeting is a pain, but it is great you are thinking about it! A well-planned, well-budgeted film runs much more smoothly and is a lot less stressful for everyone.

Best,

Jules

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

A great Twitter thread on character-driven stories, character arcs, and agency by Naomi Hughes

(The link she referenced is this article)

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

So, let me guess– you just started a new book, right? And you’re stumped. You have no idea how much an AK47 goes for nowadays. I get ya, cousin. Tough world we live in. A writer’s gotta know, but them NSA hounds are after ya 24/7. I know, cousin, I know. If there was only a way to find out all of this rather edgy information without getting yourself in trouble…

You’re in luck, cousin. I have just the thing for ya.

It’s called Havocscope. It’s got information and prices for all sorts of edgy information. Ever wondered how much cocaine costs by the gram, or how much a kidney sells for, or (worst of all) how much it costs to hire an assassin?

I got your back, cousin. Just head over to Havocscope.

((PS: In case you’re wondering, Havocscope is a database full of information regarding the criminal underworld. The information you will find there has been taken from newspapers and police reports. It’s perfectly legal, no need to worry about the NSA hounds, cousin ;p))

Want more writerly content? Follow maxkirin.tumblr.com!

[reinalowellwrites-blog]

Me: Creating a story in my head and trying to write it down.