Sometime in the fall of 2024, I started working on this new script. As is my standard practice, I came up with the main plot points and then started filling in the blanks.
Made some good progress – to a point. Act One came together pretty quickly, so now it’s all about Acts Two and Three. Those are proving to be a bit more challenging, so work has slowed a bit. But not stalled, which is important.
Part of this stems from not wanting to have things come across as too similar to the films that inspired the idea (so much that they’re the comps). Obsessing about finding the perfect solution won’t help, so I’ve opted to write down any and all ideas, see which ones are the best fit, and then figure out a way to put that “familiar but different” spin on them.
As is usually the case, there will probably be a ton of ideas that end up unused, but better to have a lot of those rather than fall short.
I already had a list of possible scenes/ideas, and have started expanding on each one while also considering how it could involve or affect the protagonist, the antagonist, or possibly both.
It’s also very important to not get frustrated about how long this is taking. It’s better to spend time figuring things out now while still in the early stages rather than have them cause problems later. Also good – not having everything locked in. Flexibility is a good element to work with.
And by coming up with a lot of ideas, if something doesn’t work in one spot, maybe there’s somewhere else in the story that might be a better fit. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.
I’m making a deliberate effort to really take my time with this one, and am confident it’ll all pay off.

And if you can’t use it in this script, you can use it in another. [Don’t ask me how I know.]
I have a drawer full of slips of paper with scene ideas, one-liners I’ve come up with and an array of characters.