Balance

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a screenplay! ...A screenplay oddly resembling a crappy eclipse photo I recently took with a digital camera, blew up and brightened in Photoshop, that is. After all, what is a screenplay, but a mass of dark and light with the footprints of men all over it?

Parallels

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio once told a tale of a fellow they had read whose script was original and among the best they'd ever seen. It was about a guy who was resurrected as a rat and had to redeem himself over and over, sacrificing himself to come back as a higher animal each time, trying to get back to human form so he could get back to the woman he loves. They offered to assist him in running it up the chain. They went to a round table pitch meeting with some of the best peeps in the business and learned someone else already had a story in development about a guy resurrected as a rat. What were the odds? Pretty good in Hollywood.

I was reminded of that story recently when I noticed that same phenomena creeping into my class. A dozen writers randomly thrown together wouldn't be likely to be writing about anything similar, however, I'm finding odd coincedences in the work posted by others so far, as well as my own work.

Here's the bizarre tally:

Stories with a woman driving a Toyota and listening to the radio: 2
Stories with characters named St. John: 2
Stories with animal noises described musically: 2
Stories involving Greece: 2
Stories with scenes in France: 2
Stories with scenes set in the 1790's: 2
Stories that describe a person's neck as "twisty": 1 (so far)
Stories where paternity is in question: 3
Stories with elevator scenes: at least 3

There are probably more and most likely will be more as more stories are posted in the next few weeks. And this from a dozen random writers thrown together. As unlikely as parallel development seems, it's all too real.

Speed Bumps

My rewrite is coming along...slowly. But, after hitting a speed bump last week and searching in vain for a solution, I finally had a breakthrough with a troublesome scene. It still needs some tweaking, but I think it's got more power than even I anticipated going into it.

I've got two weeks to finish up Act I for my class. I've got about 10 pages to go, but technically less because a few of the scenes I salvaged from my prior draft will be in there. They just need some modification to mesh with the new storyline.

Then the real pressure kicks in. I'll have five weeks to come up with 30 more pages and I'm not entirely sure yet how I want to fill them. I've got ideas, but nothing that has hit my outline as a definite, yet.

It seems like we've got a pretty good group in class this time around. More people participating. Still a few that seem to be there in name only. Some appeared on the message board in the first week that haven't been seen since. Some that appeared on the message board, but haven't left feedback for others and some that showed up for an impromptu chat last week that haven't been active on the message board nor have they left feedback yet. Those who follow the message board discussions, chat and leave feedback for everyone - THEY are the people who make the class worthwhile. Unfortunately, not everyone in the class feels it's as important as others. Still, this is still a more active group than last. It'll be even better when Paola returns with her unique voice.

Meanwhile, I've got all of my week two checklist done for the class and have a lot of writing to do, so hopefully Monday and Tuesday will be fruitful. I made decent progress (for me) on Friday. We'll see what happens this week. The clock is ticking.

Se7en

"Koalas. They're telepathic. PLUS they control the weather." - The Nines

On an occupational scale, I suppose screenwriter would qualify as a 9 as defined by John August. Most of us struggle to be decent 7's. And while I endeavor to be a 9, I shall remain a 7 for the short term, at least. Being an 8 would be pretty sweet, though.

With that cryptic, non-spoiling post behind me, I can now focus on Class Eve - the night before class. My next structured foray into screenwriting education begins at midnight. The core of my last class will remain intact for the new one. Hopefully, I can catch up on pages.

After a major shift in story, most of "Protocol" had to be relegated to the 'Prev Drafts' folder. Here I was on page 42, scratching my head, when a bomb went off. I had to return to the index cards to outline my new storyline. So far, I've got 8 pages and a few scenes I can probably salvage.

Rewriting. It's all part of the process. I wish it had happened sooner. Glad it wasn't later.

Feedback

I'm about halfway through my second screenwriting class. In it, I posted the first act of "Protocol" and have received mostly enthusiastic, positive reviews. I'm still waiting for the instructor's notes. The comments were all very accurate. I haven't given enough detail. Or, at least, some questions came up that have answers much later on in the story. A big part of the reason you submit this stuff to others is because you're so close to the work you can't be objective about its content. Several comments reminded me that I know a whole heck of a lot more about what's going on than anyone else and there are a lot of subtle details that haven't been revealed to the reader/viewer. I need to be mindful of that.

An exposition scene that I originally had in an earlier draft had since been pulled in order to get to the reveal of the protagonist's goal by the end of page 10. There were things in that scene that visually provided some important information. Reading the comments, I realized they would not have had the issues they had if I'd left that scene in. The trick now is editing it back in and still meet that ten page mark. If I pull the opening grabber that I had moved there to get people's attention immediately, my first 10 pages won't have much of interest. It's already a pretty fast-paced opening. It's going to take some work to squeeze more into it. I've got some ideas how to do it, but I can't add without taking something out.

In the meantime, I've already enrolled in my third class, starting Feb 13th. And I've added some incentive (aka pressure) to the sidebar - a countdown encouraging me to finish a screenplay by the end of the year. I'm going to say that's as good as done. I'm also going to say that maybe I'll try to finish two this year, but the key to all that is staying focused and motivated - two things I'm finding difficult. Hopefully the classes will keep the pages coming out. I'm due to submit up to 30 more pages of Protocol the end of this month. That would take me to about the midpoint of the script. I think that's doable. Let's make it so.

Working Title

Sure, movie titles have been reused from time to time, but generally Hollywood wants an original title. That's all fine and dandy, but a writer can't have a little thing like a title holding up progress when the creative juices are flowing. Both of the projects I have listed have been titles of existing movies. "The Search for Sarah" was a Patty Duke made-for-TV melodrama based on a true story. I certainly don't want my script associated with that. The alternate title I've used on and off again is "Protocol," which some will recall was also a film - a mediocre Goldie Hawn comedy. So, although the meter says the project is 27% complete, I'm still without a proper title. That's okay. Even when I do come up with an original one, it probably won't end up being the final title if it ever gets made.

Been revisiting my index cards to strengthen my story leading up to my class on Wednesday.

Another update soon.

Learning the Trade

One piece of advice I constantly hear for aspiring writers is to watch as many movies as you can. Being sick and laid up in bed yesterday, I took that advice and browsed my MoD channels. The only one I was interested in seeing was "4: Rise of the Silver Surfer," not that I'm a Fantastic Four fan, but rather because a friend of mine loves his Silver Surfer comic collection. So, I said, "Let's see what $130 million buys these days."

Five minutes later I was asleep. Literally. So, late last night, riding a second wind, I started it up again and this time I made it all the way through, but I can't say I'm happy about it. We're talking one hundred and thirty million dollars spent to make two hours of entertainment and this was the result? One of the cardinal rules of screenwriting is to stick to the story. Anything that doesn't advance the plot doesn't need to be there. These guys are pros, they should know this. While I applaud the special effects, particularly the Silver Surfer himself, the story just didn't play out very well for me. I don't know how closely it resembled the comic, but to me, the whole Reed and Sue wedding storyline was extraneous. The pre-wedding dialogue, the bachelor party, wedding #1 and the wedding at the end served no purpose here.

As the credits began to roll, the only word to come from my lips was 'ridiculous.' Okay, so maybe a 39 year old isn't the target audience, but that's no excuse to put out a mediocre film. Did the producers really think it was good? If so, that explains why so many films these days are less than remarkable. Of course, I'm sure they weren't looking for a Best Picture Oscar. Oscar films are made for Oscars, not audiences. In the past several years, the nominees have largely been films I hadn't seen and had no desire to see.

Being a writer-in-the-making, I knew better than to blame the writers for the final cut of Silver Surfer, but thought I'd check their creds just the same. The writers, Don Payne, Mark Frost and John Turman, I'm sure are all lovely people and there's no way to tell who contributed what to the story. Maybe Don turned in the draft, then Mark and John were brought in to polish. Maybe John wrote the Silver Surfer parts, Don - the lame wedding parts, and Mark only provided the idea that Torch be able to swap powers with the others. Who knows? Doesn't matter, really. Odds are, they submitted something perfectly viable and worthy of a big budget, only to have the bosses pull out the good parts and replace them with filler. Good work.

As I said, though, giving the writers the benefit of the doubt, I thought I'd see what else they'd done to garner themselves such a juicy assignment. Well, Don Payne's writing credits include "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and... and... that's all. That's it? One writing credit and you get to write on a $130M picture? How about Mark Frost? He wrote the first "Fantastic Four" and "The Greatest Game Ever Played." He's written some other stuff and has non-writing credits on stuff I've heard of, but is that a strong enough track record? I'm not sure I agree. John Turman, currently has a Sci Fi Channel original movie in development, a remake of the 1967 James Darren series, "The Time Tunnel," one of my faves. His only other credit? "Hulk." That crappy, unwatchable Ang Lee trainwreck. Like I said, these are probably good people, but were they the right people for the job?

If the producers cared about the quality of this film, why wouldn't they have assigned it to the best people available? People well-established in the genre. Three people who maybe have more than 3 superhero movie credits...combined. I'd like to be proud to see my name in the credits one day. I hope these guys were proud to see theirs.

(Supposedly) No More Excuses

Well, when I last posted, I had just finished my screenwriting class and was trying to give myself the pep talk I needed to keep writing.

Yeah, uh, that didn't happen.

Good news, though! I've registered for the next screenwriting class AND - more importantly - I am now among the happily and intentionally unemployed. Yes, my wonderful wife is now bringing home more income than we were bringing home together just a few months ago. With her encouragement, I've left my soulsucking job and will be taking at least a few months off, possibly a year, maybe two. During that time I'll be playing Mr. Mom to some extent, but I'll still have the bulk of the day open to write! So, in theory, I won't have any decent excuses NOT to write. Besides, the class I'm taking has a much heavier workload than the first class.

I have a few weeks before class starts, so hopefully I'll be inspired enough to get a jump on things and write a bunch before then, but odds are I won't. Who knows, though? Once I get over the "vacation" mentality I have at the moment, I can focus on giving myself some daily structure to hopefully include a healthy block of writing time. I'm going to be optimistic and just say that that's what will happen!

Affirmation

My screenwriting course recently behind me, I'm now faced with having to keep the momentum going and continue the writing I began weeks ago. I recently completed the first plow-through of Act I of my class spec, "Protocol," though I already have changes in mind, and am a couple of pages into Act II. My screenwriting instructor and classmates were all very encouraging with regard to my work. The feedback on my submittals was very enthusiastic and gave me the impression that I might just be on the right track with this pursuit and my writing may be as good as I'd hoped it was.

It gave me that much needed boost that confirmed for me that my instincts are right and I can do this.

Now the task is to try to steer clear of the many convenient distractions that have plagued my progress thus far and write, write, write! I'm refreshed and focused, and hopefully I can keep from being my own biggest obstacle. The sheer amount of work to be done is daunting, especially when finishing the first draft is only the beginning, but it's all part of the process and I need to trudge up that hill if I'm going to complete any of my planned projects.

Trudging time.

Virtual Mingling

I am now in my third week of a ten week online course in screenwriting and I've been enjoying it immensely. Finding time to complete my assignments has been a bit of a juggling act, but the immediate feedback has been exciting to give as well as receive. The instructor for my class is actually in Israel and I got to chat with her and a classmate earlier this week. It was 2 o'clock in the morning in Israel, but she was there! The exercises have been quite effective at fleshing out the material and the characters I have floating around in my melon and I look forward to more.

I'm not sure how far along this project will be by the end of the course. Naturally, I'm tempted to take the level II course, but we'll see. In the meantime, I've got lots of writing to do!

Attention Defic

I swear, sometimes I'm like a little kid who enjoys what he's doing until a butterfly flutters by and I all but forget what captivated me moments earlier. As proof of being an accomplished procrastinator, I hit page 25 of my spec some time ago, put the thing on the back burner and ran off to play with something sparkly. I felt guilty about it, but some good did come from the time I spent on one of my other hobbies - I developed a new idea for a spec based on what I was doing. It's a subject I know a fair bit about, I enjoy it, and the story I have in mind fits into my preferred genre like a glove.

And the timing couldn't be much better. I start my online course next week and the story I was planning on using for the class was kind of fizzling for me creatively, whereas this new one has me totally jazzed and the ideas for it are flowing like a torrential rain storm. Oddly, much of this new story takes place in the same location as my other one and it wasn't at all intentional. Makes me wonder if some unseen force is leading me to write about this place - a place I've still never been, but feel as though I know as well as my own hometown.

I'm looking forward to next week. I'm a little anxious, a bit apprehensive, but mostly excited. Let's see where this thing takes us.