First of all, I only did just over 1 page today. But I’ve got a good excuse. I was crazy busy.
I had to get ready for the meeting with the guy looking for a screenwriter for his short from Craiglist. As soon as V and I got home from work, I printed out some pages from WOK & ROLL and DREAMSHIP, as well as the first half of the outline from MONSTER HUNTER (which needs a new title, so as not to confuse it with the video game of the same name. Too bad.)
I also sent an email to a client I’m doing some editing/proofreading for to see if the project was done yet.
The ‘no TV’ rule was instigated, so V played while I printed and got organized (which included a very necessary 15-minute nap for me). We played a bit, had lunch and zipped off to today’s installment of camp.
Following a brief chat with K, I raced my ass downtown to try and be on time. I think I made it with about 2 minutes to spare.
So this guy is finishing up his MFA in Film at the local art college. I gave him the thumbnail version of my experience. Then he asked how I would approach this kind of film. I rattled off a few ideas.
Then he started to explain the concept behind his story, but it started to sound very ‘this is from an art school; can’t you just feel the esotericness of it all?’ There was all this explaining of what was going on. I thought he said this was an action-thriller. I’d yet to encounter any action or thrills.
While some of his ideas were clever and original, overall, I wondered how much of a grasp he really had on the writing process. Being as diplomatic as I could, I explained that nobody wants to see a bunch of talking heads discussing where inspiration comes from.
I took his ideas, and gave them a necessary twisting around. How about changing this? Don’t be married to what you have now; things WILL change. Don’t fight it. I think I scared him because these seemed to be things he never thought about.
Before we finished, he mentioned that I was the first writer he was meeting with about this. He got something like 20 responses! Including a pair of writers who have actual credits. I couldn’t help but wonder why somebody with produced material would respond to a Craigslist listing like this? Smells fishy to me.
He expects to make a decision by Friday. If I get it, great. If not, that’s okay too. He added that he basically can’t pay anything, which I expected. The writer gets an onscreen credit and a sample to actually show around. Me likey.
The rest of the day involved finishing up the editing/proofreading project, followed by picking V up at camp and making a pecan pie to take to work tomorrow.
While I thought it would be nice to write 3 pages today, I was happy with the 1+ I did do because it signals the END OF ACT ONE!
Tomorrow: short run, 3-5 pages and whatever else comes up.
No movie tonight. Too exhausted, and I wanted to focus on this. I also made a point of making sure I did this because I don’t want to slack off.
But I’m done now.
Zzzz….