Buster Keaton

A few more hurdles to go…

Maximum Z action, animation, Buster Keaton, comedy, contests, dialogue, draft, editing, fantasy, notes, reading, rewrite, screenplay, screenwriting, script, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Several days and a lot of pages marked up with red ink later, the latest draft of the animated fantasy-comedy is complete.

But no resting on the laurels for this guy.

I have a few other pending projects that need my attention, and then it’s one more read-through to fix any new issues. That draft will then go to some readers, most likely resulting in another draft. After that, maybe a contest or two.

There weren’t a lot of major changes for this round; more like lots and lots of little ones. A changed word or phrase here, the reorganizing of action lines or dialogue, that sort of thing. Nothing too drastic, but just enough to make a difference.

Additionally, after all the time I spent on a potential new title, I decided to stick with the original one. For now, at least. If a producer wants to buy it and then change it, who am I to say no? Once the check clears, of course.

And a huge shoutout to all the readers whose notes made a big difference.

Overall, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I’m glad I took my time and didn’t rush it. It feels more put-together than before, and hopefully the end result will be as rock-solid as it can be.

Fingers crossed.

On the lookout for: Your Script!

Maximum Z Buster Keaton, film, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, television , , , , , , ,

Greetings! Just a friendly reminder that on 29 October – just a mere 3 weeks from now – the Maximum Z Autumn ’21 Script Showcase will go up, featuring an abundance of spec scripts for film and television…

And yours could be one of them!

Here’s how it works:

Email the following info here using the subject ‘Maximum Z Autumn Script Showcase’:

Film or TV

Title

Author

Genre

Logline

Awards (if applicable, and no more than 5)

Your email

And that’s it.

DO NOT SEND THE SCRIPT

and

ONLY 1 SCRIPT PER PERSON

Cutoff date for submissions is 28 Oct, so send it soon! Don’t wallow in self-loathing and regret from missing out.

Footing finally found

Maximum Z adventure, Buster Keaton, characters, comedy, determination, frustration, horror, pages, perseverance, persistence, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, short films, spec, story, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , ,

keaton wind

Well, that was fun.

After what seemed like endless attempts, I finally came up with what is hopefully a solid beginning for the sci-fi adventure spec. Or at least the first ten to twelve pages or so. If I haven’t grasped you in my yarn-spinning clutches by then and have you begging to turn the page, I’m in trouble.

But with all those previous drafts at hand, along with heeding the guideline that the events of the story need to KEEP PUSHING FORWARD, it all (slowly) came together.

And to make sure I wasn’t deceiving myself, or working with a “Eh. Good enough” mindset, I took a short break (to work on another script, of course). A quick perusal upon my return showed that, yep, it still works.

Finding the right beginning was truly the biggest obstacle. I wanted to really put this world on display, along with better establishing the main characters – primarily the hero and the villain, along with the supporting characters. Numerous options were explored, but none seemed to fully fulfill my requirements. The journey to find that solution was a long and frustrating one, and it was tough to not get annoyed.

But I held on and kept trying, over and over, finally hitting on a solution. Even though the rest of the story looms, I couldn’t have moved forward without reaching this point. Fortunately, most of it is pretty set in place, so hopefully it won’t take too long to work through it.

Quick addendum – during one of my moments of downtime working on this script, I saw several “scripts wanted” listings that were asking for low-budget horror. Last year I cranked out a first draft of a horror-comedy that wouldn’t be too tough to trim down the number of locations and characters so as to make it cheaper to produce. Figure it’s worth a try.

-Writer/filmmaker/friend-of-the-blog Venita Ozols-Graham has put together a crowdfunding campaign to produce a filme version of her award-winning psychological thriller short script WHO WANTS DESSERT? Donate if you can!

Wanted: little-known gems

Maximum Z action, Buster Keaton, comedy, entertainment, film, Harold Lloyd, James Bond, movies, silent films, thriller, Whip It ,

keaton
Luckily, you won’t have to wait to see the show

I’m always keen for a good movie-watching recommendation, especially if it’s something I’ve never heard of, or at least heard of but haven’t seen. We all know a few of those.

So here’s your chance to shed a little light by a film (or films) that you’ve always enjoyed, but a lot of people may not be too familiar with.

Here are three of mine:

The Kid Brother (1927) An amazing piece of work from Harold Lloyd. Worth watching for the boat sequence alone. Plus it has a monkey in it.

ffolkes (1979) Roger Moore at his most un-James Bond-iest. A somewhat dated but still very entertaining action-thriller.

Whip It (2009) A charming and fun story that combines equal parts comedy, drama and women’s roller derby. Features a lot more name actors than you realize, and Drew Barrymore’s directing debut.

It doesn’t have to be a classic, nor does it have to be “a cinematic masterpiece”. You get a kick out of it, and think the rest of us would too. Just write down the title and what you like about it in the comments below.

Happy viewing!

Class is in session

Maximum Z Buster Keaton, Chinatown, comedy, editing, film, L.A. Confidential, mystery, reading, rewrite, screenwriting, script, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, writing

All I need now is the magnifying glass
All I need now is the magnifying glass

When I start on a new project, I make a point of reading scripts and watching films that are similar to the kind of story I’m trying to tell.

This time around, it’s a rewrite of my mystery-comedy, so among the works being studied are CHINATOWN, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (comedy, remember?). There are a lot more to consider (suggestions are always welcome), but I don’t want to overdo it. As much as I love submersing myself into these stories, I would like to eventually get around to actually working on the script.

Putting myself through this has a double benefit: I get to see solid examples of elements of the story and genre, which forces me to come up with different ways of how to tell a similar story but with my my own stamp on it. I’ll also be the first to admit that my skills at putting a mystery together aren’t exactly the best, so studying these will hopefully help me get a better sense of how to develop that part of the story.

Since this also happens to be a story I’ve worked on before, a lot of it is already in place, but there’s still a ton of work to do, with lots of ideas and changes being considered. Luckily, I have a few previous drafts to mine for material. Almost like starting anew, but with something very familiar.

My hope is that studying these scripts and films will help me get a better understanding of how all the puzzle pieces fit together in those stories, which will in turn will help me figure out how to do the same with mine.

This is the kind of homework I actually look forward to having.