Year: 2011

Fitting the pieces together

Maximum Z 500 Days of Summer, Dreamship, Movie of the Moment, Nicholl Fellowship, plot, rewrite, screenwriting, ScriptQuack

While I was working on the last quarter of Act Two today, I realized I didn’t have any hard copy of the previous draft: outline OR script.  Which means I didn’t have anything to really reference as part of this rewrite.  I know how I’d like to move forward, but once again find myself streamlining how that’s being accomplished.  A lot of unnecessary fat is being trimmed away. For the better.

An interesting side note  to all of this is that I took a look at my notes from the fine folks at ScriptQuack and discovered I’ve put a lot of their suggestions into play, which in turn renders a lot of their notes irrelevant.  I should probably X out all the parts I don’t need anymore, which would enable me to focus on what I haven’t used yet (or may not need at all).

This heading toward the end of Act Two is really presenting a challenge: how to best have the situation increasingly worsen so that all definitely seems lost for my hero.  I’ve got a few ideas to work with, but I’m not in a rush, so this can be carefully planned out.

-Nicholl deadline has come and gone. I’m glad I didn’t try to rush through this; it would not have yielded good results.  Better to give myself more time for next year.  Very interesting to see some critique comments on Facebook.  Who couldn’t read those and hope it was their script being praised?

I’m sure a lot of people enter only one or two contests a year, if that often, the Nicholl probably being one of them. Have winners of less prestigious contests ever gone on to fame and fortune?  Not that I know of, but I don’t research them that much.

-Just wondering – I get more done on a script when I’m where I really shouldn’t be working on it (read: actual paying job).  Does this happen for other writers?  I can get some work done at home, but the creative juices really flow when I can spare a few minutes between on-air reports.  Again, just wondering.

-Movie of the Moment: 500 DAYS OF SUMMER.  We watched it over 2 days, despite it only being 95 minutes long.  I didn’t really know what to expect, and that I’d heard good things about it.  One line in particular stood out for me in the beginning: “This is not a love story.”  Boy, ain’t that the truth.

I liked it, despite how sad it is.  Like they set out to make an anti-romcom.  It was kind of refreshing to jump past the meet-cute and avoid any kind of wacky hijinks and cut straight to the beginning of the end.  The whole jumping-around-in-time aspect was also well-executed.  I had a little trouble keeping track of things when the jumps were significant (Day 348 to Day 22, etc), but it was better than just letting it all happen in a traditional linear way.

Another benefit to that is how it doesn’t treat the viewer like an idiot, which is always important.

Ain’t no stoppin’ me

Maximum Z Dreamship, rewrite, screenwriting, seminar

Today was quite the milestone. While I didn’t actually advance past the page 75 twist, I did type up everything from the midpoint to there, and I really like how it’s coming along.

It seems a lot more…streamlined than the previous draft. Things happen much quicker, there’s less lagtime, and I like to think it’s showing my hero in a more active role.

All that remains is getting to the end of Act Two and the whole of Act Three.  The former may be somewhat similar to earlier incarnations, but the latter may have to be totally redone.  At first, that sounds a bit intimidating, but that’s how I felt about this whole project since the beginning.  Happy to say my expectations have been a bit overestimated.

We’re supposed to go away for a few days near the end of June. I’m really hoping to have some kind of rough draft for K to read on the plane.  She enjoys doing that, and I appreciate her feedback.

-If you’re a screenwriter in the Bay Area and are free next weekend (May 21 & 22), click here for what sounds like a great opportunity.  I can’t do it because I’ve got prior commitments.  I don’t know if it’s still available, but it couldn’t hurt to check it out.

-No Movie of the Moment today, but THE KING’S SPEECH, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and TRON: LEGACY are due up next. Always welcome to comments on any of them.

Wheeeee!

Maximum Z Dreamship, outlines, screenwriting

It’s amazing how accomplishing just a little bit more than you originally anticipated can make you feel pretty darned good. That sums me up quite nicely today.

I’m working on the third section of Act Two, between the midpoint and the page 75 twist. I have a target amount of about 18 scenes, with 13 or so being the current tally.  What’s great about this is not only do I remember some of what happened in the previous draft, but without those actual pages in front of me, it’s a lot easier to pick and choose from that and keep what I think still works.

And I can’t explain why, but it’s also getting easier for me to figure out how to raise the stakes in each scene.  Almost as if I remember what I had before, but now I’m able to take the underlying question – how can this be harder for my hero? – and really run with it.  In all honesty, I’m having a blast.  Color me giddy.

It would be great to finish Act Two by the end of the week, but I think I’ll be happy with what I have no matter what the result.

-Still working middays, so still too pooped to watch anything.  Expecting to resume the usual routine next week.

Feedback, Inc.

Maximum Z outlines, rewrite, screenwriting, writing gigs

I’m really proud of how the end of the first half of Act Two developed today. I managed to make my hero more proactive, which was somewhat of a problem in the previous draft.  I like how things are progressing.  Tomorrow – moving beyond the midpoint! Whoo!

-Despite wanting to put it off, I bit the bullet and told my rewrite client what I thought of her script.  And to be honest, it was what needed to be said.  But I wasn’t mean about it.  That benefits nobody.

I focused on the elements I had problems with, most of which are easy to fix with a more solid outline, a better comprehension of what a script should look like, and a general familiarity and knowledge about screenwriting basics.  Armed with those, and the time and effort put into consecutive drafts, this script could show a lot more potential.

A lot of writers trying to break in think they can crank out a draft, maybe one or two rewrites, and it’s perfect. Not so. Even worse, when you try and point what needs to be fixed, some can get very defensive.  How dare I even suggest such a thing?  Then they’ll wonder why the rest of the world doesn’t recognize their genius.

Hopefully this writer won’t curse my existence too much.  Now I’m wondering what the response will be to my comments.

-No Movie of the Moment today. Doing the midday shift cuts into my movie-watching time.  That and it is totally exhausting.

Eureka! (You don’t smell so good yourself)

Maximum Z anime, Dreamship, inspiration, Movie of the Moment, rewrite, screenwriting

Sorry.  Couldn’t resist.  Old 3 Stooges joke.

The reason behind that exclamation of wonder is because of what I was able to accomplish on yesterday’s DREAMSHIP rewrite effort.

Reading other scripts, especially those from the Black List, has really helped open my eyes in terms of how a good script looks, not only in terms of story, plot and character, but also regarding how it flows from scene to scene, and its actual appearance on the page.

As much as I’d like to name the fantastic actioner I read last week, I promised the person who sent it to me I wouldn’t, so I’m not.  But reading it made me realize I could take the same approach to my script. Great set pieces. Showing character through action. You get the idea.

Part of my problem with rewrites is that I always tend to not veer too far from the original material, so things don’t change that much. So far, that does not seem to be the case.  It’s kind of a thrill to take what I had, see if there’s a way to turn it around, or at least do something completely unexpected with it.  Even better, the new result is stronger, and also strengthens the story in ways I had never thought of or anticipated.  I like when that happens.

-Movie of the Moment: another two-fer. First, TALES FROM THE SCRIPT. A documentary consisting of interviews with screenwriters about their craft. Informative, fascinating, funny, and necessary viewing for writers trying to break in.

Second, AIKA R16: VIRGIN MISSION, anime from Japan. A prequel of sorts for a female adventurer, explaining how she got her start. Apparently this was released ten years after the original series, which I’ve yet to see. A clever concept and fun to watch, but way too many gratuitous panty shots. Just not my thing; in fact, it got a bit monotonous after a while.

Anybody got an anime series or film they’d recommend?  I lean more towards the sci-fi/comedy mix. I’ve seen just about all the Miyazaki oeuvre and most of the more well-known ones (AKIRA, STEAMBOY, COWBOY BEBOP, PROJECT A-KO), but gladly welcome something new.

*Last-minute item. This was supposed to post yesterday, but I wasn’t paying attention and inadvertently erased it.

While I was writing the above content, I got an email from my rewrite client from last week. They thanked me for my work and wanted to know what I thought about the script.

If you’ve been diligently following along, you’ll recall I did not have the highest of opinions.  Therefore, I’m working on a response I can only hope that will be politely and tactfully helpful.