The plunge has been been taken. The bullet has been bitten. The bull’s horns have been grabbed.
I have started on pages, and it feels quite liberating. I’m still only on the first page, but there’s something about this draft that makes it seem bursting with potential.
In some ways, I’m completely abandoning previous drafts in an effort to make this one feel completely fresh, and so far it seems to be working. Or at least from what I’m feeling while still on the the first page.
One thing I’ve noticed from some of the scripts I’ve read recently is that some of them have quite a distinctive voice, so that’s something else I’m working on.
There are still a few small problems to be addressed, but they have more to do with backstory, rather than what’s going on now. I may even go so far as to write ‘WORK ON THIS’ where necessary and just keep going.
With any luck, a completed draft by the end of September. Into the abyss!
I try to come up with original ideas for my scripts. Maybe something entirely new, or at least slightly different from something else. Example – how many scripts have you seen about a Jewish cook in a Chinese restaurant? See?
A few days ago, it was reported that THE LONE RANGER had been scrapped due to a bloated budget, not to mention a ludicrous storyline involving werewolves(?!) and that it would focus more on Tonto. I don’t have time to go into why all of these are WRONG to begin with, but I just found out that the new draft is going to feature three major sequences involving TRAINS.
Hmm. A Western where a whole lot of the action takes place on trains. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? (not to slight the efforts of this guy either)
Apparently Mssrs Rossio and Elliott are tapping into my mind and extracting the ideas.
Yes, I know there are only so many ideas floating around out there, but this isn’t the first time there’s been a weird connection between me and them.
A few years ago, I came up with what I thought was an original idea story about zombie pirates terrorizing a coastal town. Just as I’m finishing up my initial outline, I read that Disney’s tentpole release for the following summer is PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (the first one). I sally forth and get a draft done. By now, their movie has come out and is a huge smash. Knowing there will be a deluge of similar scripts, I change my villains from pirates to cowboys. I crank out a draft, create a clever query letter campaign, but no interest. That script is in a virtual filing cabinet now, waiting to be retrieved and rewritten at some later date.
Once I’m done with my DREAMSHIP rewrite, I’ll get to work on LUCY, even though it may now be an even harder uphill climb. But I still like the story, and think it would make for an impressive script.
And just think, maybe someday in the future, you’ll catch the latest hit from Rossio & Elliott and be able to say “I bet that was Paul’s idea first.” And chances are you could be right. Especially if it’s THE 3 STOOGES: UNDERCOVER G-MEN!. Then all bets are off.
My writing time has been severely limited the past few days, what with the school year starting, working extra hours, and reading and commenting on a few scripts. But that changed today.
What originally started as hoping to fine-tune the 3rd Act turned into a slight overhaul of the entire story. Scenes which had been giving me trouble before have been handled; there are still some left, but nowhere nearly many as before. All that remains now is wrapping up several subplots at the end.
My biggest decision now: whether or not to have the antagonist make one final appearance. Would it be appropriate, or would it drag things out? I’d rather have it be more like the blonde terrorist at the end of DIE HARD and less like the forty-two endings of RETURN OF THE KING. Maybe I’ll try each scenario and see which is a better fit.
-I was originally planning to catch a matinee of COWBOYS & ALIENS this week, but my schedule won’t allow for it. Maybe next week, but it seems more and more inevitable to be caught on Netflix. Unless you can convince me otherwise…
The editing continues. Still liking the whole tightening and fine-tuning aspects. Really seems like the whole thing is getting closer to what I want it to be.
I picked up where I left off yesterday – the midpoint. No big changes needed so far. Then I decide to do a quick scene count between the midpoint and the page 75 twist. Okay…let’s see. Got it. 26.
Wait. What?
26? 26 scenes? Seriously? No wonder this thing seems so freakin’ huge! Something has got to go. But what? Oh yeah. That completely unnecessary sequence. Zip! Out it goes. Back to around 21.
Much better.
Some quick adjusting and rewriting of the two scenes that bookended the now-gone sequence and you’d never know anything had been taken out. That big chunk of fat is not missed whatsoever.
I also realized a small subplot that was introduced in the removed sequence would serve the story better if it occurred earlier. A quick perusal and I find it: much earlier in Act Two. Don’t know why I didn’t see this before.
Next up – figuring out how much of an overhaul may be necessary for Act Three.
My niece and nephew are in town this weekend, so I expect to be busy playing tour guide, which means no writing work until sometime early next week.
It’s been a while, but I’ll ask anyway. Seen anything good lately?
…and I’m that much closer to a stronger, completed outline. Maybe about 5-6 more scenes to fine-tune and I’m ready to go. Confidence definitely running at higher levels.
I have to be careful because a few of those scenes are key to both their individual storylines AND to the overall plot. Some of them don’t need too much work. It’s more of rewriting what I already had, but in a way that sounds better and stronger. V is out all day tomorrow, which means I should be able to take care of most, if not all of the remaining scenes-in-progress.
Before I went into 2nd-rewrite mode, I was hoping to have a draft done by Labor Day. Ain’t gonna happen. But school starts next week and for now my upcoming schedule appears to be on the light side, which I hope translates into 3-5 pages a day. At that rate, I could be done by mid-September, which is also acceptable.
No Movie of the Moment. Been too busy bein’ a Dad.
Maximum Z 