By Mike Dean @deanonyc

A clean room and full fridge were always a given for the time home over college winter breaks. Time with family and friends always beat procrastinating on the couch and mountain dew supported all nighters. My favorite part of being home on break though, were the movies. Just me and the remote and any of the early 90’s best from Sneakers to A Few Good Men, and have to watch classics like Scarface, A Christmas Story, and too many others to name. At the time it was entertainment, and an escape. Movies seemed great because of jokes, explosions, or beautiful people saying their lines. Story, character, and tight writing were way too grown up concepts.

As I got older and baseball hats were just for nights and weekends my movie palate matured. I started to see through the smoke and mirrors of the machine of Hollywood. Anything edited the right way with the right music into a trailer could get anyone excited. The fluff was a harder and harder sell to me. I still couldn’t see the underlying story pattern no matter what laid on top of it that hit the chord. I laughed and years later would frown at inconsequential subplots that entertained, jokes that didn’t move the story ahead, and knowing a few more rewrites could have made a flop a great one.

As a fifth year senior, a second year finance guy, or whatever version of grownup I grew into, each December I’d relish that afternoon when shopping was done, or late night before having to go over the hills and through the woods to Grandma’s. I’d thank Santa for hidden gems I never heard of like Amongst Friends, Safemen, and a quirky comedy called Napolean Dynamite everyone swore by. There would always be one or two pieces of coal in my stocking from the disappointing ones. What was different from the college days and feeling robbed of my $2.50 lost forever to Blockbuster would be the five words that have ignited something in all of us. I could write something better.

My journey in recent years has me celebrating the triumphs of writers and directors with vision. It’s also found me dismissive and at times angry at the crap. Most of the crap is updated crap or a new spin on an old storyline that was crap. Irritation and angst in the college years have turned to knowledge gained and inspiration to right so many movie wrongs from over the years.

The hurdles for a writer like myself, or any of us in the aspiring category can be enormous. As December closes and memories of what got me excited in the first place to write a great story, the juices flow. The call to action to make something better harkens. Plot points in everyday life throw twists into the story of my own and all of our writing paths. I hang on for the payoff, which I know will be worth staying on the ride.

12/27/11