Special Request

I'm proud to announce that for the first time since Hold My Beer (or Try Again Tomorrow, if you're only counting feature-length scripts), I've completed the first draft of a screenplay!

It's called Special Request, and it's actually an expansion of a 5-minute short I wrote back in 2020 as an exercise for a screenwriting workshop conducted by Jonathan Stark and Tracy Newman, creators of According to Jim.

The short was a fictionalized account of the time when my son Torin asked me to write him a book (which was the genesis of the Joel Suzuki series). The funny thing is, I had previously submitted the original version of Hold My Beer for Jonathan and Tracy and the rest of the writers in the workshop to review, but after we did this exercise (which was meant to get us to write a new script from scratch), they actually liked it better than Hold My Beer.

Despite that, I never did anything with Special Request until just recently when I decided to expand it into a feature-length script, mostly just as a way to keep up my writing chops. As it turned out, since it's semi-autobiographical, it was fun and easy (and somewhat cathartic) to write, and in a couple of weeks, I had a 100-page draft. It's still fiction, but it's based on real-life people and events, telling the story of what led up to Torin asking me to write him a book and what happened after.

Will it be turned into a film one day? Who knows. But if it is, the big question will be: who will play "me"? Let me know your suggestions!

(I've always thought it funny that Brad Pitt played Billy Beane in Moneyball. It's like, "Hey Billy, we're making a movie out of this. Who do you want to play you?" and he says, "Brad Pitt, of course!" and everyone has a good laugh but then it actually happens.)

Why Are Anime Theme Songs So Good?

If you're a fan of anime like me - or even if you're not - you may have noticed that anime theme songs totally rock. Or "slap," as the kids say. Do they still say that? Or is that a Millenial term, supplanted by another word that Gen Z uses? (to an old Gen Xer like me, Millenials and Gen Z are all lumped together in the "kids" category.) 

Tonikaku ("anyway"), what was I saying? Oh yeah, anime theme songs: SO GOOD. I enjoy them so much, often playing YouTube mixes of them while I do chores, that at one point I decided to try to figure out why they are so good. This reverse-engineering process led me to a couple of interesting discoveries:

1. A lot of anime theme songs (and just J-Pop/Rock songs in general) tend to use a similar structure that goes something like this:

- Instrumental or vocal introduction

- First verse

- Pre-chorus that increases the tension

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental or vocal break (usually 1/2 of the original intro)

- Second verse, usually with an additional element that differentiates it from the first verse

- Pre-chorus

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental solo

- Bridge

- HUGE CHORUS

- Outro (usually a reprise of the intro)

Two songs that are good examples of this structure (and are personal favorites of mine) are "Shunkan Sentimental" by Scandal (from Full Metal Alchemist) and "Zankyou Sanka" by Aimer (from Demon Slayer).

2. Anime theme songs tend to have vocal melodies that "tell a story" in the chorus, as opposed to a lot of western-hemisphere songs that rely on the "repeat the same line 4 or 8 times" method. A classic example of the "tell a story" melody is the "Happy Birthday" song (sing it to yourself and you'll see what I mean):

- Happy birthday to you (introduction, like you're setting out on a journey)

- Happy birthday to you (rising action)

- Happy birthday, dear Brian (climax)

- Happy birthday to you (resolution)

A couple of good examples of this are "Blue Bird" by Ikimono-Gakari (from Naruto: Shippuden) and "Gurenge" by LiSA (also from Demon Slayer). These songs also utilize variations of the song structure I went over in point #1 above.

In addition to making them rock/slap/whatever, utilizing these techniques allows these songs to be shortened down without diluting their effectiveness into the one-minute-or-so range that animes will use over their intro or closing credits. So keep them in mind if you want to write a song that would make a good theme for an anime (and optionally, maybe also consider learning Japanese)!

Our Mr. Matsura

This past Sunday I had the privilege of attending a screening of Our Mr. Matsura, the latest documentary from my friend and filmmaker extraordinaire Beth Harrington at the Kiggins Theatre in beautiful downtown Vancouver, Washington.

Readers of this blog may remember a little over two years ago when I was a production assistant on Beth's set during a three-day shoot in Seattle, getting a crash course in filmmaking prior to starting production on Hold My Beer. It was really cool to see the finished product, which was both amazing and inspirational. To recap: it's about a photographer named Frank Matsura who traveled from his native Japan to Washington state in the early 1900s, making friends, touching lives, and uniting communities along the way. If you're a fan of historical documentaries and/or just great human interest stories, I highly recommend trying to track it down if it comes to a festival or screening near you!

Give More 24!

After a couple of years, Give More 24! is back to its previous form and time here in September. If you forgot what Give More 24! is, it's 24 hours in which you can make a positive difference in the world by donating to any one of the awesome nonprofit organizations based in the Southwest Washington area. "Sounds great," you say, "but which organization should I donate to?" Well, each organization is definitely worthy of your support, but allow me to make a suggestion: Autism Empowerment.

Why, you ask? Well, because not only are we dedicated to improving the quality of life for people and families in the autism and neurodivergent communities both locally and worldwide via our various programs (like the Neurodivergent Creators Collective), support groups, events, resources, and more, but also because we promote a global culture of acceptance for people of all abilities.

If that sounds good to you, then simply go this link and make a donation. Even just the minimum of $5 will be greatly appreciated. All donations are 100% tax-deductible, and best of all, giving feels good! I know this first-hand, because I donate to Autism Empowerment (on an ongoing basis) one dollar for every Joel Suzuki book that is sold.

Thank you! Mahalo! Arigatou Gozaimasu! Gracias!

Rock & Brews For Suicide Prevention

This Saturday, my band Second Player Score (yes, we are sometimes a band) and our friends Old Cross will be playing a benefit show for the Oregon chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

(The flyer says the show includes special guest Animation Eddie, but unfortunately he had to cancel. You should still check out his awesome stop motion animation on his YouTube channel.)

It will be from 6pm-9pm at Loowit Brewing Company's downtown Vancouver, WA location at 507 Columbia Street. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so come and enjoy cold beer and hot punk rock tunes while supporting a great cause.

Hope to see you there!

I Am Now On TikTok (Gasp!)

Nearly three weeks ago, I took the bold step of finally setting up a TikTok account!

Some backstory: Andrew York, the star of Hold My Beer, had recommended that I get on TikTok because of a trend known as "BookTok," where authors post videos talking about their books and their personal writing journeys. Apparently, this trend had - and is helping - some authors gain new readers, which is something that the Joel Suzuki series could sure use. 

But while I appreciated his suggestion, I didn't do it at first, for two main reasons: (1) I had an iPhone 6, which, because of its inability to update its operating system, had a hard time running apps and was only good for texts and phone calls and (2) I was terrified of TikTok.

I had never used TikTok before, even just to watch stuff for fun, and the thought of creating an account and posting videos of myself was very intimidating. But then I remembered that I'd actually been doing similar things using other platforms like Facebook and YouTube for years. I also took the momentous step of getting a new phone. At that point, I had no excuse.

So I set up an account and lurked for a while, watching videos from other authors as well as from different kinds of creators, and then, once I got my courage worked up, I took the plunge. And honestly, it's been going pretty well so far! I've been trying to do at least one post a day, and I've been focused on telling the story of how the Joel Suzuki series got started, how it evolved, and where it stands today.

If you'd like to follow along, you can find me at: www.tiktok.com/@brian.tashima.author

Moral of the story: face your fears!

Story Structure Breakdown: KPop Demon Hunters

Yes, I am a fan of the recent hit movie KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix's most-watched movie of all time). Partly because it encompasses multiple elements that I support, including Asian representation, musical magic (or is it magical music?), and the fact that it is a new, original work of IP (intellectual property).

But also because I am 15 years old at heart.

So, after watching it once, I decided to watch it again - yes, I know, I'm waaaay behind those of you who are on your 500th viewing - but this time, I wanted to break down and analyze its story structure to see why it's so effective.

(Note: the folks at Save the Cat beat me to this by one week. Check out their analysis here.)

As I've mentioned in this previous post, I mainly used the books Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (highly recommended for aspiring authors and screenwriters) as my story structure reference guides for the Joel Suzuki series. So, applying their formulae to KPop Demon Hunters, this is what I came up with, after the jump (warning: spoilers):