Just posted my Script to ZOETROPE ...

Anybody have any luck over there? Anybody want to read my war movie script called "MOCKINGBIRD DOWN"?

-CM

Well, what is it about? What's your log line?

It's about a mockingbird helicopter that crashes in Zimbabwe and the subsequent rescue attempt by a group of guys who all look alike. Or something.

that reminds me of my uncle who was a prisoner in the korean war.

I am from Hawaii. He was in a unit that was made up of orientals. When the fighting started, everyone scattered. When they got together, they ended up in the Korean formation. That's how he got captured.

He ended up being a cook while he was a POW. He eats everything with heavy chili pepper. They had to kill the taste of the chickens that they got. They boiled it until they killed everything in it and put lots of chili pepper for taste. I guess they got pretty bad looking chickens.

POWs never get to eat the good-looking chickens. I think that's some sort of rule.

But heres how I answered the question on ZOETROPE...


Q: How would you describe it for someone who hasn’t had the chance to read your screenplay yet?

A: It's a war movie, in the vein of the "mission" movies of the past. A group of British SAS commandos are sent into Kosovo in the early days of the air war (anyone remember that?) to serve as ground spotters and to rendesvous with the local Kosovo Liberation Army rebels. They are caught up with the carnage that they see on the ground and their mission has an unexpected outcome.


-CM

I've registered on Zoetrope but can't locate the link for the Screenwriter's Virtual Studio which is where I assume the screenplay posting takes place.

What am I overlooking.

Best,
julian

Kosovo

The picture lies.
Blood parts
The hill of green.
One foot smiles.
Another froze dead.
Winter has come,
But the houses are empty.
The hours are empty.
Remains of the men
Decorate the village.
Blankets protect the flies
And the eyes.
The camera man vomits
Behind the lenses.
A cow runs free.
No one drinks the milk.
Half a head
Sucks the hole
Of freshly, fleshly
Exploded balloons
Under the bush
Of the Cornus alba sibirica.
The blood blends
With the cream
Of the camera man.
The world hopes
For falling interest rates,
As property prices plunge
In Kosovo.

Copyright 1998 Kahaokamoku

When I was in the army, I used to copy Yugo's in the mid 80's. We dropped the mission, but picked it up when the fighting started up. Since I have been out, I have run across all types who come out of that area and the east block.

Copying the yugo's war was a joke because we copied armies not small units. I tried to explain that to the officer in charge. He said do what you normally do. "

We don't copy yugo's anymore. (at least, the field station doesn't. I was now with a tactical unit. They never copied yugos.) "We copy only russians. Don't you remember the wall came down. Dummy."

I didn't say all of that. I only said, "We only copied russians."

His answer was "Do what you do and get Yugos."

My question was "which ones?"

He actually smiled at that remark.

I got together with the brits and a old friend who became a warrant to get info. I had to beg the warrant because he hated the officer in charge.

Well, We were the only one's to pick up copy. The officer in charge got the credit. The battalion sent people all over europe and over to Turkey to try to get copy. The wall fell and we had no mission. The officers were trying to save their careers.

Nobody else got copy. They did not know what to look for. I hate copying yugos. This was the early part of the mess over there. Kosovo came later. I was out of the army.

Since then, I have made some good albanian friends. I ran into some croatians and serbs. Unfriendliest were the serbs. The albanians are a crazy bunch of guys.

I have some Polish friends as well. I made my name copying polish army. I broke copy on all the call signs and freqs for the coming year. I did not get an award for it because I failed to recognize the Brigade CO when he came to congratulate me. I was changing a wideband tape to send to NSA.

Since the americans left, there are a whole bunch of east block people who live here now. They all should be like the Klitschos and move to America, the land of opportunity.

I always tell them that. America big country . . . lots of jobs. Big houses. Cheap. You can be millionaire in USA.

Screenplays take place in screenplays. Look under subheading what you want to do. Read, review, submit etc etc . . .

Damn, K, you ARE a poet. [pat myself on the back here for my observation in the other thread].

kahaokamoku, I really enjoyed reading that. Is that fictional or is that just you talking?

The poem was very telling.

We don't really get many "war" stories about this.

If there was one central lesson or conflict that you encountered during your time with this situation, you may have a screenplay.

Do you already?