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.