Harry Potter

Time won’t let me

Maximum Z Harry Potter, screenwriting, scriptshadow
>Insert time pun here<

I may have overcome my opening pages dilemma. I thought things through, figured out what I needed to show, and took it from there. It’s different than what it was before, and I think a little stronger this time around.

I’ve been working a split shift this week (4:30-9am, then 3-6pm), so my available writing time has been short. As you can imagine, there just hasn’t been much time to work on my own stuff.  Sure, this will push back my target end date, but that’s just the way it is.

On that note, I read this earlier today.

I paid particular interest to his comment that he set about writing eight hours a day, seven days a week as he could manage.

Wow.  I wish I had that kind of time available to write, but I don’t.  I don’t know if he ever got out of the house or spent all his off-the-job-time writing.  I can’t do that. Not because I don’t want to, but I have other stuff that needs to get done.

I really hope this doesn’t come across as sounding whiny or jealous. I may be a little jealous of his success, but not in a “why this guy and not me?” way; more of a “that’s great; hope that’s me someday” way.

I wish I could get more writing done each day, but for now, I work with my schedule and just do the best I can.

-V and I saw HARRY POTTER PT 2 last night. It was fun, but don’t feel like I need to go out of my way to see it again.  Maybe the next time it’s on TV. I’m also feeling a little burned out by the whole series. I read the books, which I really hope V will be motivated to actually read herself someday, and we own the first 6 films, which have been watched many, many times.

V grabbed my arm tightly a few times during the more intense parts, but she enjoyed it.

It was hard not to think about JK Rowling and how she came up with all of this. Really impressive. I’m almost tempted to skim through some of the later books again.

Almost.

And that was the easy part!

Maximum Z Harry Potter, movies, outlines, plot, Richard Curtis, screenwriting, story, train, westerns

I must have gotten more done on the first act of LUCY last week than I thought, because I didn’t have to spend much time on it today, and for the most part, it’s done.

Hooray for me.

While I’m extremely happy with the way everything’s working out so far, I’ve also been mulling over what happens in Act Two, aka the vast wasteland.

It is somewhat daunting to be starting on the bulk of the story, which is why I’m really glad to be fine-tuning everything now.  I can figure out what works and what doesn’t.  I’m also really glad I set up those plot point milestones, which will help me get where I want to go.  That western and train checklist has also come in handy.

I’ve started plotting out what happens as Act Two gets underway, but still need a plausible way to get to my page 45 twist.  Somewhere in there I’d like to introduce my bounty hunter character (and I already have his name ready).  What would be even cooler is to somehow tie him in to what we’ve already seen, but I think I can do that too.

Movie of the Moment:  I took V to see HARRY POTTER 7 yesterday.  A little long, but seems like a nice start to wrapping the whole thing up.  I remember when the book came out, a reviewer commented on “HP and the never-ending camping trip.”  Which was on full display.  Despite the occasional question (“What did he say?,  What does that mean?, etc”), V seemed really enjoy it.  I’m sure we’ll see part 2 next summer.

There was also the requisite GREEN LANTERN trailer, which V was very excited about.  I am also guilty about that, despite Ryan Reynolds still being better for the part of Barry Allen rather than Hal Jordan.  But that’s what they get for not asking me.

I did watch PIRATE RADIO earlier today.  It was a blast.  I didn’t realize Richard Curtis wrote and directed it; he wrote FOUR WEDDINGS & A FUNERAL, NOTTING HILL and wrote and directed LOVE, ACTUALLY.  After I learned that, I could see similarities between some of the films.  Multi-character storylines with one main character tying the whole thing together.  And he collaborated with Rowan Atkinson on some of the later Blackadders, so you know his comedy skills are top-notch.

But getting back to PIRATE RADIO.  Lots of funny stuff, most of it possibly true, and just a fun story.  It also had the requisite happy ending, but I won’t say how.  Suffice to say, what led up to it was unexpected, but it all fit together very nicely.