Bio: Andrew Halliday
Screen Writing I
Vaun Moore
19 September 2010
Inspirations
Since I was in the 7th grade, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. I was making a video for a science project and immediately feel in love with the art form. Since then I've been drawing inspiration from many different aspects of my life, directors and other kinds of art forms. With these inspirations, it has crafted me into the artist I am today.

I know it may sound cliché for a film student, but Quentin Tarantino is my all time favorite director. To me, every one of his films shows something new and innovative for the film industry. From a writing standpoint, he's the reason why I ever considered being, not only a director, but a writer too. He creates dialogue that is so memorable that after you watch the movie, you'll undoubtedly be able to quote it. From a directing standpoint, he is my number one inspiration. I love how he's able to bring humor in such dark and gritty story lines. Tarantino has a style in which just by watching the film, you know it's a film by Quentin Tarantino. Whenever I'm trying to write dialogue or even try to create a character, I always go to Tarantino for inspiration. The characters he creates are always so full of depth and show a true identity, even if the world doesn't exactly play like ours. And of course, the dialogue he creates for those characters are as memorable as the characters themselves. At a very young age, I used to really want to be an animator. I would sit in front of the TV every Sunday morning and draw Bugs Bunny and his gang to improve my skills. I eventually ended up creating a character that I made into a series of comics I made called Bad Day. The comics would show my character, The Bad Day Guy, always getting into bad situations where things like anvils, monsters, skydiving and much more would ruin his day. The comic grew huge inspiration from all the crazy things you would see happen to characters like Wiley Coyote and Sylvester
One of my favorite movies is Who Framed Roger Rabbit with Bob Hoskins. The movie shows a universe where cartoons live and breathe along with humans, set during 1947. In the film, I'd be normal to see characters like Daffy Duck and Donald Duck on stage at a club having a piano dual where they end their act by firing canon. After seeing this film, it showed me exactly the blend of cartoon and live-action that I'd eventually like to create.

Robert Rodriguez is also a huge inspiration to me. Like when I was a kid, Robert Rodriguez wanted to be an animator. When you watch his films, you can see his cartoonish flair that he's kept since his childhood. You can especially see it in many of the fight scenes in films like Machete, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Planet Terror, and Desperado. When I write a fight scene, I always go to Rodriguez for inspiration because he is so good at creating a fight that is not only badass, but cartoonish as well.
Music has always been extremely prevalent to me. I may not play any sort of an instrument but I still have music surrounding me everyday. Some of my best friends happen to be in a blues-rock band called Sons of the West. Often I will work with them on trying to promote different shows they have lined up. I have made many posters, taken many photos and filmed many live shows for them. Ultimately down the road we have plans of making a documentary together based on the band.

Along with Sons of the West's music, I go about my everyday listening constantly. Every chance I get, whether it's walking to classes, riding the train, doing homework or even just hanging out, I am almost always listening to music. Music stimulates my brain and helps me think. Many times I find myself coming up with a scene or sometimes even a music video while just listening to music while doing something. Some of my best ideas have come from just doing that.

I'm a huge tech geek. I'm the guy who is reading and commenting on all different types of blogs such as Gizmodo, Slash Film and That Video Game Blog. I'm even the guy who watches every one of Steve Jobs' Apple conferences. I love all that nerdy stuff, that's why I take pride in being a nerd. Recently I have really gotten engrossed with all the different types of video podcasts that are on the web. Shows like Diggnation, The Totally Rad Show and Food Mob are all video podcasts that I watch on Revision3.com. With this new form of media, it's really inspired to come up with some ideas for my own video podcast. With our laptops and iPhones all being able to play these videos, it's a new type of medium that has now become a valuable source of entertainment and information, especially with America's new trend of watching shows on demand, video podcasting is at the forefront. As I've watched this new medium grow in the past few years, I have really been inspired to join in on this new trend.

Who doesn't love playing a little Super Mario Bros. from time to time? Videogames, since I was a little kid, has always played a big role in my daily life. There was even a point in time when my parents would give me an hour limit a day when Halo: Combat Evolved came out because I was spending so much time glued to the T.V. set. But ever since I started gaming as a kid, I have found myself drawn to many characters in these games such as Solid Snake, Mario, The Master Chief, Sonic, Kratos, Nathan Drake and Donkey Kong. To me, I find videogames very character driven since you have to be with the same character at all times during the game. If you don't like the character, then the creator has failed in creating a good game. But with much detail in their stories and characters, I cannot help but draw inspiration from these games. After playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, I am dead set on bringing that videogame to Hollywood.

It seems like a majority of big blockbuster movies coming out these days seem to be based on graphic novels. Interested, and having somewhat of a background making comics, I recently started reading graphic novels such as the Scott Pilgrim, Marvel Zombies, The Goon, Kick-ass and Deadpool. What's amazing about these books is that not only are they fun and original stories, but they're storyboards too. After reading these books I understand why so many film adaptations are coming out. These books have really shown me a new type of story telling, where it's all right to go past that line of being politically correct. With this new mindset, it's only going to make my writing even better.
Growing up, I was lucky enough to have a group of friends who were as much into the arts as I was. With my group of friends though, we were all interested in different types of art like music, theater, photography and film. It was a great environment to grow up in because we could feed off each other with our different talents. There were many times when I could write a part for my actor friend Mark where I know he could nail the part, then have my music friends Gregg, Nick and Anthony score the movie to bring a stronger tone and then have my friend Alex take photos for the films behind the scenes and cover art. It was a perfect collaboration that we all hope to continue into the future.

Like my collaboration with my friends, I collaborate a lot with my family. Back in 2004, my cousins, Chris and Geoff Haskell, and I started our production team called H Cousin Productions. Since then we've worked on many different projects where we together write the film, Geoff does the cinematography, and I direct. Together we've made our own Matrix parody trilogy, a fake ad for Paling Lotion, and two short films. We plan on working together in the future because we work and feed off of each other so well.

The Coen Brothers have made some of my favorite movies of all time. Having films like Fargo, The Big Lebowski and No Country for Old Men in your filmography shows what a great team they are, and that's only a few of their films. The fact that they are two brothers who make such great films together is extremely inspirational to me since I want to work in the industry with my family. Whenever I'm trying to add more depth into my story, I'll always go to Coen Brothers for inspiration. The Coen brothers are always so good at creating drama even in strange situations. Even in a film like The Big Lebowski, as funny as it is, they still find a way to create drama.
Without having these inspirations, I wouldn't be the artist I am today. These inspirations have helped crate many works that I've done so far and ones that I'm working on for the future. In the future I hope to expand my creative abilities through these different inspirations and ultimately create a something just as inspirational to others. close