Desk of Amy Suto

TV writer who eats danger for breakfast

On the Importance of Adventures for Writers

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In the past seven days, I’ve shot a balloon with an arrow at the Pasadena archery range, practiced cha-cha one night and learned break on two salsa another, put on boxing gloves and sparred with my self-defense partner as we learned headlocks and groundwork, learned the basics of Python and how to hack a computer to redirect to Bing everytime you type in “Google” (nefarious, I know), and am going to a concert on Friday in Hollywood and the Getty on Saturday for live music. All while being a student and while working on a feature and a dramatic TV spec as well as post-production for my web series and holding down part time jobs.

It’s my belief that in order to write interesting stories, we have to collect interesting experiences. This can be done on a budget with an impossibly busy life, and can take many forms.

Here are three methods of finding adventure on a budget:

[Read more…]

Adventures in 24 Hour Filmmaking

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Every year, USC hosts a 24 hour film contest called the Ed Wood Film Festival. It sets out to prove that students can make a better film in 24 hours than Ed Wood could in his career. Quality aside, 24 hour filmmaking competitions are a great chance to test run ideas, experiment with special effects, and learn how much coffee it takes to pull a productive all-nighter. (Answer: four cups MINIMUM.)

24hourfilmfestivaluscedwoodThis year, I worked with Jen Enfield-Kane, Conner Sorensen, Bryce Sorensen, and Rahne Avant to create a film called TRIGGER about a schizophrenic facing his past. Bryce was our DP and also did spectacular special effects makeup on Rahne — you can see her in full burn makeup below. We also had other advanced special effects that were difficult to pull off but we managed to fit everything into twenty four hours. [Read more…]

Tips and Tricks for Novel Writing

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So yeah this is Maui guys

What did I learn from a week of writing over 13,000 words worth of my novel?

That if you’re going to rent a surfboard and try and surf, you should have some instruction of some kind. Don’t be a lone wolf like me, eager to show the world that the premise of if-I-can-longboard-I-can-surf is a valid one.

Anyways, after finishing a few short scripts up for an upcoming competition, I turned my focus completely on the time sensitive project of my novel that I need to finish by the end of this month!

Now, as you can imagine, writing a novel is not all sunshine and roses. This is my fifth and I can tell you for certain that instead it’s more like you suddenly lose all ability to function and/or write anything good and it’s like help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up as suddenly the walls close in on you and there’s a boulder and snakes and fire.

I don’t know when my novel went all Indiana-Jones-death-trap on me, but it did. My beta readers kept finding glaring inconsistencies in my protagonist’s motivation and flaws, and I also definitely screwed some small picture things up that took my readers out of the story. [Read more…]

Dispatches from Mexico

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Me: “That’s one way to keep people from swimming in the bay.”

Sailboat Captain: “No, we actually have a crocodile infestation problem here. Mi amigo Hernandez? He slipped and fell off the dock, and lost his left leg to one of them. Right over there.”

He points a few feet away from the sailboat I’ll be boarding in a minute, which is across from a narrow, slippery stretch of wood I’d hesitate to call a dock.

There’s nothing like international travel to remind you how much you value your limbs.

Writing Research & Adventures: Amy Fires a Nuclear Missile

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Today was like any other day: I woke up, descended thirty-five feet underground, and turned the key that launched a Titan nuclear missile in Tucson, Arizona. Y’know, Monday morning. Daily grind and all. Don’t know how I do it sometimes.

Does this look like a deactivated missile to you? Hmm?

MY ADVENTURE SERIES

For those of you who don’t know, the “screenwriter” job title is an official excuse for me to plan spontaneous adventures around the globe in the name of research. Last Monday, I fired 500 rounds at the largest indoor shooting range in the country and sat down with an expert who taught me everything I know about guns and how to accurately incorporate them into my movies.

This week, I descended underground to visit a decommissioned missile silo, was dubbed commander, and got to participate in a mock missile firing. So if this whole writing gig doesn’t work out, I’ll always have a job firing deadly missiles at America’s enemies.

Red buttons are meant to be pushed. [Read more…]

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