editing

Warning! Contents approaching levels of overstuffedness!

Maximum Z Bruce Campbell, editing, Sam Raimi, screenwriting, story, structure, writing
Why this man isn't a megastar is beyond all comprehension
Why this man isn’t a megastar is beyond all comprehension

This past Saturday night, K and I got to attend an extra-special screening of that beloved classic film: Sam Raimi’s ARMY OF DARKNESS.

Part of what made it extra-special was that before the show, there was a live, onstage Q&A with the film’s star, the immortal Bruce Campbell.  Icing on the cake – Patton Oswalt was the interviewer. Yes, it was fantastic as bon mots were liberally tossed about, audience questions were handled with severe aplomb and a rousing good time was had by all.

Then the movie started.

We’d never seen it on the big screen, which definitely makes it that much more of an enjoyable experience.

If you haven’t seen it, make a point of doing so.  It’s silly fun and clocks in at an amazing 81 minutes, including credits.  That may sound short, but writers Sam and Ivan Raimi really jam a lot into it. There’s no fat, every scene serves a purpose AND advances the story. Earlier drafts and certain scenes may have been longer, but they kept what was necessary to effectively tell the story.

I was reminded about this important rule this week as I worked on my outline. While a lot’s going on in the story, there are still things I need to include (mostly subplot stuff). What I have to be careful about is making sure there’s not too much going on.  You want to engage the reader/viewer and keep things moving; not make them feel like this is a slog they wish they didn’t have to endure.

For now, the best strategy is to keep pushing forward and make sure the story and characters are solid.  Once I’m confident that’s been accomplished, it shouldn’t be too much of an ordeal to go back and trim the fat (since I always put in more detail than I probably should during the outlining phase).

Look at it this way: nobody wants to read a bloated script. Specs over 120 pages better be incredible to warrant that kind of page length.

Go through your pages. You may be reluctant to edit them down, but it must be done. Once you get started, streamlining is easier than you think, and it also gives you the chance to flex those creative muscles. Find a way to say something in less words.  You can do it.

You’ll be surprised and possibly even impressed with the end result.

Going for that streamlined look

Maximum Z antagonist, creativity, editing, outlines, podcasts, productivity, protagonist, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, story, structure, westerns, writing ,
No, no. The car.
No, no. The car. Aw, never mind.

With most of the querying out of the way, I’m now focusing on two things: getting the podcast up and running, and fine-tuning the western outline.

There’s not much to say about the podcast, except it just hasn’t been a priority. I could have spent more time on it, but opted to get the queries out, which was very time-consuming. It’s looking more likely now to be a February launch.  Stay tuned for more details.

Regarding the outline rewrite, although I had a pretty solid outline already done, it still needs a lot of work.  Up first: tightening things up.  There are just too many scenes.

Using the existing outline, I’m now figuring out ways to move story details and plot points around so everything moves along faster.

For example: the earlier draft didn’t really introduce the villain until around page 17 (he’d been lurking around in the shadows up until then). I’ve since moved things around and now he shows up around page 4, which also includes a follow-up scene to show just what kind of a bad guy he is.

There was also the decision whether or not two scenes could be combined into one. I’ve gone back and forth on this. Scene 1 advances the story/continues to set things in motion, while Scene 2 provides some backstory about the connection between the hero and the villain. Although each has merit on their own, I’ll probably remain undecided up until the end.

Happy to say I’m still enjoying the whole thing.

-Movie of the Moment Two-fer!: THE OTHER GUYS (2010)   I don’t really care for a lot of Will Ferrell’s films, but this caught me totally off-guard. It was actually funny and had a good story. Surprisingly entertaining.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011) Another clever film from Woody Allen. Probably doesn’t hurt that I love Paris too. Kind of wish he’d write characters other than those from the upper classes.

But I look so good in jodhpurs

Maximum Z Comedy Film Nerds, directing, editing, feedback, podcasts, rewrite, screenwriting, writing
And a beret, too
And a beret, too

I’ve been poring over the notes I’ve received, and included within were a few suggestions for improvements, including cutting back on the use of CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis.  In fact, it was recommended I cut them out altogether.

I always thought doing that really got the point across, especially for really active verbs. Add that to the list of things to consider/investigate.

It was also mentioned that I could cut about 4-5 pages if I eliminated my ‘directing the action’ in so many scenes.

Directing? Me?

I looked over some of the pages in question, and wouldn’t you know it? They were right.

This isn’t about camera angles or more technical aspects.  I put in too much detailed description of the action between lines of dialogue, or give too much of a suggestion how a line should be delivered.

Apparently I do it a lot, not even realizing I was doing it.

I’ve always made an effort to avoid an excessive use of adverbs and parentheticals, but this really is something new.  While it’s something I’ll definitely need to work on in the future, making the appropriate fixes this time around doesn’t seem to be too challenging.

At least for now.

Teaching myself to not do this seems a little daunting at first, but the person who pointed this out to me added that he’s been a working screenwriter for 30 years and is still learning.

So there may be hope for me yet.

Just wondering – has there ever been something about your writing that was pointed out to you that completely caught you by surprise?

-This post was written during a very quiet Christmas morning shift at work. Hope you made watching a movie part of your day. Happy holidays!  One of my gifts was the COMEDY FILM NERDS GUIDE TO MOVIES, which comes from the always-entertaining and incredibly hilarious podcast of the same name. Definitely worth subscribing to. Please note the very apt ‘explicit’ tag on iTunes.

Three to get ready…

Maximum Z creativity, editing, feedback, goals, motivation, productivity, rewrite, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, writing
Yeah, it kind of feels like that…

It took a while, but the initial editing phase is complete.  There aren’t a lot of significant changes to be made, but almost every page has something that requires some kind of fix. Fortunately, most of them are very minor, like changing a verb or rearranging the way a scene is described.

There are at least 3, maybe 4 scenes where something needs a little more attention, so I circle it and write my standard “Work on this”.

So all that’s left is one or two thorough typing sessions, one more read-through, a little feedback (professional and trusted colleague), and then diving headfirst into the fray and getting the script out there. (which reminds me I really need to get on the ball and get back to the research phase)

And honestly? I’m getting a little nervous.  But in a good way.

This is what I’ve been working towards, and now it feels like it’s just about here.

Is it wrong for me to think there could possibly be a good chance of something happening?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not expecting a million-dollar sale.  Although selling a script would be fantastic, I’d much rather get representation and take some meetings that result in steady projects.  That would be phenomenal.

For some reason, I’m flashing back to a meeting I had about 11 years ago with a professional writer. I’d written 2 scripts and he read both of them purely as a favor.  When we met, the first thing he said was that I was a good writer. I had the talent, but really needed to keep writing in order to get better.

Which is exactly what I’ve been trying to do ever since.

Keep in mind that like everybody else, my first efforts were incredibly lousy (at least compared to my current stuff), so either he was being kind or he actually meant what he said. I really hope it was the latter.

For now, this remains an ongoing process. I’ve said many times it’s all been an absolute blast, and that still holds true.

And something deep inside tells me there’s bigger and better things ahead.

Ready. Set. Edit!

Maximum Z Aardman Films, editing, outlines, proofreading, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, writing
And I'm off!
Although the starter’s pistol might be a bit much…

My worries may have been for naught.

Fixing those angst-inducing scenes?  Not as tough as I expected. (Maybe I actually AM getting better at this. Wouldn’t that be cool?)

Final page count – 127, but the last page has 3 lines of text on it, including FADE OUT, so paring this down seems a lot more doable now.

So off I go to toil away with my trusty red pen.

In the meantime….what’s on YOUR writing agenda this weekend?

-MOVIE OF THE MOMENT – ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (2011) I don’t usually go in for modern-day Christmas movies, but this was an Aardman production,  which meant the writing  would at least be of good quality.

The plot – Santa’s nerdy younger son must deliver an overlooked present by Christmas morning.

Overall – fun, enjoyable, but not sure I would classify it under ‘the holiday season just isn’t complete without watching this’.

My biggest problem was how they handled the ‘all is lost’ moment at the start of Act Three. It felt like Arthur’s motivation was rejuvenated because the plot required it to be, not because of what was happening. If they had made it feel more organic, I would have probably liked it more.

Still, while some scenes fell neatly into expected/almost-cliched story points, there were others that pleasantly caught me off-guard.  I also liked how there was a lot of the wonderfully dry British humor (which could partially explain why US audiences haven’t embraced Aardman films).

If you’re looking for grown-up-friendly kid films this winter break, this and THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS would make for a good double feature.