ASCOT J SMITH

Dec 19 0 comments

ESSAYS

WRITE NOW PT. 2

: The end is near. But how do I get there, hmm…

Write Now, the ongoing blog post documenting my screenwriting process, continues in Part Two!

Within the writing process I have found a contrast between the allure of coming up with ideas and the challenge of executing them. I find nothing more exciting than writing scene ideas like:

Biker hero rides through the post-apocalyptic highway.
Drunken female Protagonist fends off marauders with an extendable baton thing!
Group of children looters steal getaway car and celebrate by getting drunk off cough syrup!!
Another cool scene with a tank in it!!!

Clearly I’m working on some kind of world-gone-haywire sci-fi story and maybe my problem is with the genre. But I don’t think so. I think you could replace the tank with a wedding ring and the marauders with conniving ex-girlfriends and you’d still have trouble shifting from the excitement of brainstorming to organizing chaos.

WRITE NOW PT. 1

"La, la, la. Writing is so much fun. La, la, la."

I had always pictured the successful screenwriter like this: a guy with beefy forearms rolls up his sleeves, sits down at his typewriter, and starts to write. Occasionally, he gets up and takes a few minutes to stare out the window as he drinks a glass of bourbon. (I pictured the female counterpart exactly the same, minus the beefy arms and replacing the bourbon with wine.) Weeks, maybe months would pass and then BLAMO! there was a completed script. The point is throughout my fantasies I pictured writing to be an effortless endeavor. Read more...

Tags: 2012, ESSAYS, FILM, Web-Series

Oct 06 1 comments

FILMS

IN-BETWEENERS (2012)

In-Betweeners is an upcoming web-series I am producing and writing starring Trey Hock and Rhiannon Birdsall. Expect beautiful images and a mystery that is both mundane and epic in origin.

Here are some exciting production images (you know the good stuff!).

Cinematography by Joesph Fuller.

Costume by Rachel Rolon. Sketches by Johan Criswell, Rachel Rolon, Chris Garrett, and me!

Costume design by Chris Garrett Read more...

Tags: 2012, FILM, Web-Series

Jul 29 NO comments

PRESS RELEASES

Forever People Wins National Arts Award!

Forever People was selected in Americans for the Arts 2011 Public Art Network Year in Review

Kansas City based artist Ascot Smith was recognized by Americans for the Arts for his project titled Forever People. It was named in the Top 50 Best Public Art of 2010. Notable award winners from previous years include Yoko Ono (2007), Jenny Holzer (2008), Barbara Kruger (2009), Cindy Sherman (2009), and the late Louise Bourgeois (2008).

The announcement was delivered on June 16, during the Americans of Arts 2011 Public Art Network Year in Review, in San Diego. Forever People was one of 47 artworks selected from 430 competitors nationwide. Americans for the Arts is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization advancing the arts in America. Their Public Art Network Year in Review is the only national program that specifically recognizes public art projects. For a list of the Recognized Public Art Projects: http://www.artsusa.org/networks/public_art_network/year_in_review/YIR2011ProjectList.pdf

Forever People Audio Archive

Forever People Press Archive

Tags: 2011, PRESS RELEASES

Nov 04 0 comments

PRESS RELEASES

FOREVER PEOPLE FINALE!

Come see a live reading of Forever People followed by a Q&A!

To RSVP, please visit the Kansas City Public Library Event Page.

Date: Friday, November 12, 2010
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Downtown Central Public Library
14 West 10th Street, KCMO

Local artists Porter Arneill and Ascot Smith discuss the state of public art in Kansas City as well as Smith’s Forever People, the most recent addition to Kansas City’s ARTwall, the custom-designed billboard that exhibits super-sized contemporary art at 13th and Grand streets.

A script-in-hand performance of Forever People follows. The story is set in the year 2200. A nameless couple sends recorded messages into the past hoping to prevent a dystopian future. The two begin to confess their struggles with sustaining a relationship amid holographic love affairs and android rivalries. Smith is a writer as well as a multimedia artist.

Tags: 2010, PRESS RELEASES

Apr 25 NO comments

INSTALLATIONS