The epidemic that is OCGD

OCGD or Obsessive Compulsive Gratification Disorder is a mental disorder or illness that gradually develops in the human mind and within a short span of time. It is contagious like a virus and it predominantly affects those in the film and television industry. Side effects include:

1. An obsessive need to glorify anything and everything that is infact insignificant - things in life that don't deserve to be glorified in the first place - and yet, they are anyways
2. Heightened egos
3. High levels of excusidus - meaning the individual having the disorder will be making excuses to justify the glorification to either themselves or to others when questioned, and
4. Extreme lethargy - propensity to either take the easy way out or be lazy enough to produce quality in their work

This particular disorder is a mental illness that hasn't been registered with the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual) used by psychologists and psychiatrists around the world, and the only possible treatment should be to admit the individual having this type of illness into a well-known or reputable mental institution for between six to twelve months.

To clarify, an example of an individual who has this disease or disorder is a filmmaker engaging in storylines that involve the 'boy meets girl' or 'man meets woman' romance style content without any clear meaning or purpose: simply just for the hell of it or a form of self-expression, or 'art for art's sake' even.

One may argue the reverse where a filmmaker is constantly engaging in storylines that involve the 'boy meets boy' or the 'girl meets girl' style content without any clear meaning or purpose, but those types of storylines aren't that prevalent to begin with or are rare. If they were, they would be classified as woke ideology by some.

There is another disease or disorder that is akin to this one. It is called: ADiS or Acute Disconnect Syndrome. This is also a kind of mental illness that needs to be registered in the DSM as the major symptoms include, but are not limited to:

1. Forgetting that you've disowned a family member for whatever reason they've been disowned for (there are plenty of examples of this)
2. Trying to fix who isn't broken in the first place
3. Hypocrisy (Delusions of deleting a person to "save" them or using religious scripture to fix them)

One example I can provide is the case of Thomas Bridegroom where he was disowned immediately after he came out as gay. They even made attempts once or twice to change Thomas by having a bible session but were unsuccessful. When tragedy struck, the demonic and entitled parents wasted no time by rushing to the hospital, claiming to be 'family' and preventing his significant other from visiting him. They have since blamed and continue to blame the partner for 'turning their son gay'. They have even prevented the partner from attending the funeral by threatening violence. This is an example of an extreme case of ADiS. 

At the end of the day, this is one of the ways we can protect our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters from this brand of harmful behavior by institutionalizing mentally ill individuals like the ones described in my example above to restore harmony to equality.

Why it isn't worth getting into mainstream cinema anymore than it is today.

Getting into mainstream cinema was a big deal for an aspiring creative practitioner at one point in the past. It meant that either a production company, producer, a talent agent or a manager discovered you or you constantly had to go around and knock on their doors like some sort of an obsessed maniac until someone gave you the time of day or by some pure luck of the Irish to be discovered. However, the way things are headed in this day and age, be it all the cost cutting decathlons, I wouldn't hold my breath. Pretty soon, AI might be taking the place of a lot of the gatekeepers and this might make that even tougher for an aspiring creative practitioner to be discovered, given the fact that AI could be programmed to go through criteria that is often impossible to meet.

Overreliance on unqualified critics:

There is a lot of overreliance on critics who is by far more times than one, unqualified to make any credible criticisms of a creative practitioner's work from the get go. Granted that a producer or a show runner would want an ROI of the breakeven cost of a production + 30%, and considering the time and effort that is needed to develop an idea, a lot of them resort to taking the easy way out and a part of that would be to rely heavily on critics that do not have a background in film or TV production. A lot of times, these critics offer criticisms that sound smart, but in actuality, isn't. These critics are more about destructive criticism rather than being constructive. The only ones that are worth listening to or taking advice from are the established critics who do not have a god complex. If these so called 'critics' are supposed to take place of the average Joey to help decide whether an idea being developed is commercially viable or not, they aren't doing a very good job of it.

Sticking to a recycled formula:

The 'roll your eyes' kind of stick to the formula mentality applied to most of the movies produced through the decades and in recent years with all the book adaptations, the remakes and the reboots speaks volumes. Luckily, there are a handful of production companies and or producers or show runners that are taking the risk when a fresh idea comes across their eyes. The stick to the formula kind of movie production may also be a contributing factor for utilizing unqualified critics to safeguard the industry practice. At some point, we the average Joeys may be getting sick and tired of this type of movie production, leading to the gradual gravitation towards independent productions.

The ridiculous mantra and daily production schedule being followed:

When I was still in film school learning the filmmaking craft or fine tuning it, I quickly discovered that you are allowed to work a maximum of 12 hours a day in a production set and that there are productions that would easily take advantage of this. This leaves you little to no time for yourself or to unwind properly. You are expected to be on call at any time of the day no matter where you are or what you are doing at that time of the day the call comes through. I remember one perverted producer telling me (and I quote): "You can't have days off unless you are a hot girl", which was borderline disgusting and perverted. Also, the industry is infected with the saying: "If you're early, you're on time, and if you're on time, you're late." Personally, I found this to be not only ridiculous, it should have no impact on the quality of the work or the work itself that is produced that yields the finished product. You also sometimes get treated like you do not exist or verbal abuse is thrown at you for not trying hard enough. For this reason, independent productions are far better.

Do not be fooled by the celebrities and their facade of fame and fortune as what is happening behind the scenes suggests that the juice may not be worth the squeeze anymore for aspiring creative practitioners and screenwriters alike.

What is an acceptable cost for consumables when using writing tools and your printing equipment?

Buying and using your equipment is one thing, but as soon as you start factoring any operational or maintenance costs, they tend to add up to a significant amount. A lot of us make the mistake of adding in what it costs to operate or maintain our writing instruments or printing equipment into the cost of ownership and conclude that the new figure is in fact the true cost of ownership. However, this will not be the subject of discussion in this article. The focus is on the question on what is the acceptable cost of operation of the printing equipment or writing instrument after we have acquired it to make it worthwhile the initial investment. In other words, what would be a reasonable price to pay to use given a lot of times, equipment manufacturers will discourage us consumers to purchase competing brand or manufacturer's supplies so that the equipment manufacturers get the best benefit from the deal?

To help us decide, I've included a list options to choose from (expressed in percentage form). I'd like you to note that the amounts mentioned below are calculations based on the cost of ownership.

1. 15%
2. 20%
3. 30%
4. 40%

To help you choose, here are a few factors to consider in an example that I will use to illustrate my point: Let's take fountain pens and fountain pen inks. With fountain pens ranging from the most affordable that university students are included to purchase to the most expensive pens money can get its hands on. Fountain pens like the Pilot Kakuno or the Metropolitan, or the recently introduced Sailor TUZU with its adjustable grip feature and compare that to something like the Pilot Elite 95S (E95S), and something like the Fulgor Nocturnus by Tibaldi, which apparently, at an auction sold for a whopping USD8 Million.

It is crazy how much money is spent on something as simple as a writing instrument. I am including this fact just to put it out there. The average Joe on the other side of the nib doesn't have the kind of disposable income required to lavishly shell out such a huge amount on a luxurious fountain that costs at least an arm and a leg. IMO, the most reasonable price range that people would be able to afford without breaking the bank is around USD400 max. Anything above this price range can be viewed or written down as a luxurious spend on any writing instrument, don't you think?

Now that I've given you some idea or an outline of the prices for fountain pens, I would be more likely to choose option 2 from the above list of options presented. Once I've taken into account the quality and the characteristics of the fountain pen ink that I will be using from bottled sources, which is touted as the most economical way of purchasing and refilling the fountain pen in question. I am not taking into account the basic maintenance of fountain pens as these cost next to nothing. Keep in mind that this is to be used as a guide and not as a gospel of any sort. And simply by adding the cost of operation or maintenance to the cost of ownership and complaining about it won't magically make these costs disappear or take the pressure off the ink bottle.

Having said this, there is nothing stopping you from shopping for the cheapest fountain pen bottled ink available for your fountain pen and start using it - so long as it still offers the best performance and writing experience for your fountain pen and it doesn't do anything that either a) disrupts the flow of ink and,  b) does anything to your fountain pen to cause any major malfunction to your fountain pen.

Good writing techniques and the techniques of holding a fountain pen will also refute the notion that a more expensive fountain pen writes better than a more reasonably priced one. It is usually the person or the writer using the fountain pen, combined with the techniques of writing is what will make for a smoother or a better experience in using a fountain pen.

Is this the doomsday of the next digital version of cable TV?

I'm no expert, but given the recent trajectory or trend that has taken place, I'm seeing streaming services that compete for our entertainment dollars are either getting worse or at risk of becoming the next cable TV. When streaming was at its infancy, the few benefits that appealed to subscribers like no late fees, no ads, playing content on demand instantly at the click of a button or a tap on the tablet screen seem to have crossfaded into the ether. The same attractive proposition that allowed streaming services like Netflix discontinue their mail order DVD/BLU-RAY rental division and started this whole streaming explosion seems to have left a static malfunction on our screens lately.

Popularized by Netflix itself, streaming services have disrupted DVD and physical media sales for sure, but there were no annoying ads interrupting your viewing experience like every few minutes or so. That has all changed these days - unlike cable TV. I could understand that the channels and or your cable TV provider needed to make money and would have had agreements with companies where they get to advertise their products or services on cable so we viewers can buy said advertised product or service. At least with cable TV, the ads were timed into slots of every five minutes or so of the movie or TV show playing. You at least had the option to get up and walk away during the commercial break and do something else before returning to your regularly scheduled program. Albeit, you may or may not have noticed that the movies or episodic TV shows themselves were edited specifically to allow for commercial breaks.

Now a days, you have subscriptions plans that are cheaper for sure, but they have limited ads but it also limits the quality to Standard Definition (SD). If you needed to streaming in Full High Definition (FHD) or 4K, you needed to select a plan that costs even more. This practice seems to be on the rise and not as simple as it was once before. And I do believe it will be getting worse.

We are currently seeing this with YouTube with monetized channels on the platform. It started out with one ad at the beginning of the video when you clicked on it, but it then morphed into every 30 seconds to a minute per video. I get that content creators on YouTube need to make money somehow to keep their channel and content growing for us viewers to enjoy them, but having ads randomly play every bleedin' 30 seconds to a minute is a bit too much.

Plus, to add to the frustration, streaming providers can, and at little to no notice, pull that favorite movie or TV show that we love and cherish off their streaming library at anytime and we still have to pay a monthly fee to access their library. They can claim licensing issues from the suppler or the production company of the movie or TV show or space constraints all they like, but they will remove them nonetheless. The ever popular saying in the comment section on a handful of YouTube videos: "You will own nothing and you will be happy" comes to mind, which by the way is being trending around a lot lately.

So, the best solution I believe given the circumstances is to either go back to owing content on physical media or producing content on physical media for as long as it is still available and or source able.  This way, we can avoid the annoying ads, the monthly fee we have to pay regardless or our favorite TV show or movie being deleted from the library regardless of the excuses given by streaming services. I know this is something that is inconvenient to a lot of you, but would you rather contend with annoying ads every 30 seconds to a minute, making the content less enjoyable, or would you invest a little bit extra and own a physical media copy of said content.

Scarcity of specialist stores for screenwriters

How can it be that there are literally fewer to no stores that cater to the screenwriter demographic? The last such store I was aware of was it in Los Angeles, California, home of Hollywood called The Writers Store that also has an online presence and a dedicated customer service line. When a store like that exists and has been around for a while, then why on great Zeus’ Olympus would there not be one in either Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, Australia, or countries like New Zealand for that matter? Considering the fact that every single one of these countries has their film industry based on one the major cities, it should be a no brainer that one should not exist. No matter how many times I have googled or searched the Internet for the keywords: “screenwriter stores near me” or some variation of the keywords, I have found that the search results would only reveal either stationary stores or stores for art supplies. Perhaps, the keywords are rather vague or ambiguous. Perhaps, I needed to be more specific in my search. Perhaps, there were other suppliers that I am not even aware of - perhaps.

There are certain benefits, no matter how few they may be, a specialist screenwriters store where resources and products are available to assist the independent screenwriter or filmmaker with their filmmaking or screenwriting journey and add tools like the screenwriters initial draft pad to their workflows relatively easily. Considering that every movie or TV show originates from writing that first initial draft during the pre-production stages, why not have these readily accessible in physical form? It would save a lot of time and effort fruitlessly searching on the Internet.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a physical and an online store that curates and have expert advisors and sales consultants assist customers/clients with their screenwriting and or filmmaking journeys? May be research needs to be done regarding whether the business model in question would be viable in the countries where such stores do not exist and one can argue that people usually find things like this on Amazon. Truth be told, when people flock to Amazon by default for things like this, their customer service are no experts - all they do is reach out to the sellers of the products in order to get the information needed for the customer before the purchase. A brick and mortar store or at least an online version of the store with a dedicated customer service phone number like what the writers store has is a better proposition than the default setting.

One thing that can be done is reaching out to the writers store and ask them how they did it as up until recently, their brick and mortar store in Burbank has closed down since last I heard. This will include the business model to see what worked and what didn’t. Anyone can take a risk and give this a go (if they are passionate enough) and make it work with a business model similar to the writers store. So what are we waiting for? Let’s do this.

What's on your typewriter these days?

If you've ever heard the expression or phrase: "What's on your typewriter?", this comes from the early days of Hollywood and screenwriters who used typewriters and when Hollywood itself was at the peak of the silver screen movie business. Ever since the computer took over the industry, this expression or phrase was adapted or altered to say: "What's on your computer?" This expression is for when you or someone wants to ask a professional or aspiring screenwriter in the business what project (if any) they are working on. They would then turn around and respond accordingly. If you aren't aware, the standard typeface for writing screenplays was in the courier font; it was also the same font used in typewriters. So, you can see where this standard originated from. We are now learning that the pandemic has not only caused people and other professionals to find ways to save money, but was also hobbies like rediscovery of vintage technology like the typewriter. So, should screenwriters return to the simpler time where typewriters were the primary tool for writing screenplays and has reigned supreme?

I remember learning typing for the first time on a manual typewriter. I also remember using one when my maternal grandfather had one in his house, and it was one of those electronic daisy wheel typewriters that allowed you to type one sentence out and then printed it automatically on a piece of paper. The keyboard was that of a computer keyboard as was the tactile feedback that it gave for the time period it was manufactured in. My maternal grandfather was a humble professor and lived in an area with lots of trees and fauna.

The typewriter, as I recently came to realize, offers a few notable benefits over something like a computer or a tablet of today. One such benefit addresses our fast growing concern for privacy: No hacking, no compatible software or firmware updates to contend with, or security patches for that matter, and no spying from big brother or his Uncle Sam. No Internet access to distract us from the pantheon of information or social media stuff that people are so addicted to these days. Typing words directly onto the page is all that is needed, whether you are typing up an original copy of what you're working on for yourself or to be sent to an intended recipient. While this is a benefit onto itself, if you do need to make multiple copies of said original document, there is always the option of heading out to your local photocopy/xerox store and paying a small fee to accomplish this.

Why bother though? Why bother when a screenwriter can use software to easily format their screenplay to industry standards to begin with, save and send it to the intended recipient(s) at the click of a button via email? There is nothing stopping a screenwriter from continuing on with this trajectory, but to quote a recruiter: "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." To be honest, this statement or affirmation resonates in me in a few different levels as it should for a lot of you screenwriters reading this article: We can continue to deal with distractions from social media and other Internet content that is making us lethargic, or we can become who we screenwriters are born to be. I (for obvious reasons) choose the later. It will afford us the opportunity to exercise patience when writing our screenplay, which is a key qualification for any screenwriter to possess.

Now that we've taking a look at the white knights of the round when it comes to typewriters, let's turn our flaming eye from the towers of Mount Doom and towards the dark lord of their misfortune. I give you the darkest of them all: constantly remembering  the margin or tab settings for each screenplay element when you get to it. This dark lord  may be defeated and with Mount Doom felled, patience will once again reveal itself to be the Frodo Baggins that brought in a new age and a new instrument of sorcery to help screenwriters once more who shall be there and back again with another Baggins. So go ahead my screenwriting shirerings, type away your adventures while Gandalf the wise guides you through Fangorn forest while the tree beards show you to the path to the other side, and to Minas Tirith.

Christians: You aren't hated for your Christianity, just your religiosity.

We've seen you complain, and we've heard you scream from atop Mt. Olympus to all the way to Australasia. While your concerns of being crucified each time you voice or share a dissenting opinion on a subject matter or a group of people is valid, you need to understand that these opinions are subjected to (hopefully) objective criticism and consequences. You also need to take on board the understanding that no matter what your religion has taught you or continues to teach you regarding said group of people or subject matter, and about people's livelihoods, you need to live and let live as the old saying goes. Bear in mind that you yourselves have your own lives to life. Adding to societal pressure is what you'd be doing should you continue to impose what you perceive to be an acceptable life or because you believe you have a higher standard on this. I'm not generalizing when I say this in this article, but I am speaking to those who take it upon themselves to not just make it known what they believe and the standards that they live by, but also act on it through violence and abuse (both physical and psychological).

You may find this difficult to digest, but god's true plan is for us muggles is simple - and it does not have anything to do with pure obedience or him having a positive impact on our lives through the teachings of various scriptures. That plan is for us to be born, fulfil or serve our purpose on Earth (our destinies if you will), and when done, return to him. It is definitely not the reason you are hated by the general public or the skeptics, or at the very least loathed by the progressive public.

Amongst your congregations, there is always that one individual who will interpret what is written in scripture and what it has to say about a particular subject matter or a group of people and decide that the only to handle (or correct) the situation concerning said group of people or subject matter is to use threats of eternal torture - or intimidation even. They refer to parts of scripture and argue that god hates a select group of people while sinning themselves. This explains why the world has seen book publications from non-theologians or non believers (as some of you may refer to them as) such as Sir Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens. These henchmen (the religiosity kind) often believe that god has chosen them as missionaries to deliver what is again perceived to be divine justice, when it isn't the case. They have a 'holier than thou' mentality or a "I have to delete you to save you" complex. Yet, we still allow them to live free or die hard with no consequences to them.

What these religiosity individuals fail to understand or grasp is that there are other more pressing issues in the world that demand our attention than worrying about how Joe Bloggs next door is conducting his life. Examples of such individuals include, but aren't limited to the minister or pastor of your local church or may be the country's pope even. There are certainly red flags that are so obvious that are frequently overlooked. I will discuss this later in the article.

Rest assured that most of us are as respectful as they come. However, we know for a fact that there are those in every group that ruin for the entire group. It is up to us to ensure and or uphold the integrity of the groups while not allowing power hungry demons or monsters go all righteous on us and use it as weapons for our psychological destruction.

It is for the religiosity that you are hated for and not for your belief system per se. You can make a difference and get into god's good graces by putting those power hungry demons in their place and promote god's true plan for us. You cannot get your morality from a book but by connecting with god directly.

While it is pretty natural for followers of any religion to look up to a figure of authority when said authority figure deploys their charisma and irresistible charms, we cannot allow these chumps to overrule our sense and sensibility just because they believe that god wants them to eliminate a certain percentage of the population. And for what you may ask: because they are either believed to be inferior or not worthy of god's love or his kingdom - or them for that matter. This form of righteousness should not only be condemned, but also be met with applied consequences.

We cannot stay silent simply from fear of negative consequences or succumb to threats of eternal torture of our souls from these demons. That's how they trap, psychologically bully is and get away with it.

On to the red flags I mentioned earlier. Look for these in your congregations, your place of worship, workplaces and educational institutions:

1. They can't help talk negatively about a specific group of people or a topic of controversy and continue to complain about it.
2. They keep using buzzwords like: "the right path" or "straying away from god" to get us to pay attention to them.
3. They won't stop bringing Lucifer (aka the devil) and how he's causing all the problems of the world or place blame on the devil when they observe changes in the world that they don't like - changes that they'd rather not see.
4. They will most likely resort to unconventional, unproven or frequently dangerous methods to force people into giving in to their way of thinking and believing, which often leads to psychological damage to their victims. Perfect example of this is conversion or reparative therapies that have been denounced by the medical professions of all areas - and they show no remorse or signs of atonement when their dirty deeds are exposed.

Mahatma Gandhi one said - and I quote: "I like your Christ, but not your Christians." If you truly believe in the son of god and what he stood for, you cannot just rest on your laurels and preach about him. Your true Christianity shall shine when you are still able to retain your belief in god without the assistance of a book that contains old and rusty laws, or a figure of authority in your congregation telling you otherwise. 

God's love can be shared without any judgement from any scripture or religious authority. Others may disagree and claim that those who aren't worthy of god and a place in his kingdom do not deserve it, but you need to beg to differ. Let's change the narrative and prevent hostility to anyone in the community. To do this, society will need your help and your effort in this journey. I hope you take the first step.