Captain America

Did it before. Can do it again

Maximum Z Captain America, development, ideas, manager, plot points, polish, rewrite, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, sequence, story, westerns , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Made an interesting discovery this week.

My manager and I have been doing what is for the most part a line-by-line edit/polish of my western.

(A quick aside to note that it is quite a thrill to include that part about having a manager.)

We’re about halfway through, so I took it upon myself to go through the second half and then go over it with him. I like how it turned out.

But while I was reading, one thing that really stood out about it: there were a lot more scenes and sequences than I remember. It had more of an impact this time because I’m still working on the story of my new spec, and seeing all those little scenes in the western that enhance the characters and story make me think “this is what I need to do for this one”.

I’m still figuring out the story, so this may just be me getting ahead of myself. I’m not concerned, and know I’ll eventually figure things out. This may just stem from seeing how put-together a previous script is and wanting to a similar outcome for the new one. This happens a lot during this stage in the process.

Not that I’m looking to re-capture what feels like lightning in a bottle, but figuring out the story and all the supporting details is always a challenge. I come up with the major plot points and then start filling in the blanks between them. Sometimes I’ll create a list of all the ideas and possibilities that could be included, and then start picking and choosing. I already had a few set pieces, so I may work on expanding that.

This is all part of how it works – for me, anyway. I’m always amazed to see another writer just crank ’em out with what appears to be little effort. This just reinforces the idea that I’m a plotter, not a pantser.

I don’t mind having to go through all of this. I’m sure I’ll be happy with the end result; it’s working my way there that’s the challenging part.

So much better

Maximum Z Captain America, Movie of the Moment, rewrite, screenwriting

sometimes it's necessary...

After some intense plotting and structuring, I re-tooled the opening scenes of DREAMSHIP so it focuses more on my protagonist.  Using the concept of as few descriptive words per scene as possible in the outline, I was able to produce a completely different yet more functional first three pages today.

I really like how they turned out.

I had to keep reminding myself that how events developed in the previous draft was not written in stone. I could knock the whole thing down and rebuild, this time letting myself feel free and uninhibited, and put it together so the end result is not only better, but significantly so.  It felt great.

I’ve got everything up to around page 16 plotted out, and may alternate between writing pages and moving ahead on the revamped outline to the end of the first act.

Believe me, this is very exciting stuff.

-Movie of the Moment – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. Loved it! SOOO much better than GREEN LANTERN. A real popcorn adventure story.  I really liked how it never talked down to the audience.  Just a well-written superhero movie.

I couldn’t help but think that this is what director Joe Johnston was hoping for when he did THE ROCKETEER back in 1991. Wow! 20 years ago. Boy, do I feel old.

I was concerned that some parts might be too scary or intense for V, but she was a real trouper throughout. She really liked it.

Getting back to the Green Lantern comparison,CAP took the concept and really ran with it.  There was no blatant hitting you over the head with the hero’s character flaw. Maybe it helped that this had two writers, while GL had four (some of which were from TV, which also didn’t help).

Two added bonuses – loved the post-tease AVENGERS tease. Hopefully Whedon knocks this one way out of the park. The other was the silent reference to the original Human Torch at the World’s Fair. V asked what I was chuckling about, but there was no time to explain.  Maybe I’ll get around to it some other time.

Summer movie season seems to be winding down, so all that seems to remain is COWBOYS & ALIENS and RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.  Would like to see the former in theatres, but will probably see the latter at home.