Movie of the Moment

Gimme a few seconds to catch my breath

Maximum Z half-marathons, hockey, Movie of the Moment, multitasking, Netflix, networking, parenting, running, screenwriting, script, Stage 32, writing
I'll get back to work in a minute. Promise.
I’ll get back to work in a minute. Promise.

Hokey smokes, am I exhausted. But it’s a good exhausted because there’s just so darned much going on in my universe.

First and foremost, the churning-out of pages continues. It’s a good thing I know how to edit, because it’s really going to be necessary. Basically, my scene-to-page ratio is rapidly becoming misproportioned. A scene originally intended as half a page ends up being one, one and a quarter pages, so I’ll have to figure out how to cut it down to the absolute bare bones and make it, say, a quarter of a page. Challenging, yes, but doable.

In some ways, the transition from outline to pages at first seemed rash and premature. But since I think my writing is a lot stronger than it was before, it doesn’t bother me as much. As a result, I can crank out 1-2 pages a day with confidence, and be as equally confident that the inevitable editing phase will be just as effective.

What’s also cool is being able to write while V takes part in her many after-school activities.  I find a nice, quiet spot and type away. Productive and makes the time fly by. Even better if there’s free wifi (loves me that Pandora!).

-Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve become more active within the online community Stage 32, which connects all type of creative folks from around the world. I’ve made some great connections, including the sharing and critiquing of pages, as well as somebody who read my script and offered to forward it to an associate with a ‘highly recommend’ label attached.  Nice.

-I haven’t been able to run as much as I’d like to, but I make sure to get a good one in on weekends. This past Saturday, I did 12.44 miles in 1:50 and change, for a pace of about 8:45. It felt great, and boosted my hope of breaking 1:55 at the Oakland Half-marathon on March 24th.

Not sure if it’s my shoes or just me getting old, but lately my right heel has been getting really sore after I run. It seems to hit a few hours later, and originally lasted for about a day, but the length of time and intensity of pain have each been shrinking. My retired-doctor father says it’s bursitis. K thinks it’s the shoes, which are about a year old. Knowing me, it’s probably both.

-Movie of the Moment – GOON (2011) If you like hockey, you’re going to love this.  I don’t even remember if it was released in theatres, but it’s on Netflix streaming now. Seann William Scott plays completely against type and is very effective as a soft-spoken, nice guy thrust into the ragtag world of Canadian minor-league hockey.  A lot of fun, but knowing something about hockey will definitely increase your enjoyment.

Blink and you’ll miss this post

Maximum Z Movie of the Moment, podcasts, screenwriting, westerns, writing ,

Current script status: up to page 7, and getting ready to introduce my bad guy. Oh, this is going to be fun.

My page-a-day method seems to be working out nicely. Some days it’s perfect, while some days it’s just enough.

-Got to read a fantastic script similar to mine in a handful of details, while the rest is totally different.  Nothing to worry about.  If anything, it’s a great example of what works to tell this kind of story.

-Been woefully lax in getting this podcast up and running. Have to set more time aside for it. Just need another 1-2 hours in the day. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

-Movie of the Moment – CLASH OF THE TITANS (2010) Man, did this suck.  Almost feel compelled to see how the sequel compares. Almost.

I’m guessing this was a result of studio interference, since Travis Beacham, the writer of A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW and this summer’s highly-anticipated PACIFIC RIM, was one of the writers. I’ll stick with the 1981 version with Harryhausen effects, thanks.

-Since you’re in the know about my stuff, how is YOUR latest project coming along? Good, bad, need help? Let’s work together, gang.

A world of my own design OR Atlas, schmatlas

Maximum Z creativity, geography, history, Movie of the Moment, outlines, research, screenwriting, storytelling, westerns, writing
The land is mine to manipulate as I see fit. So there.
This land is mine to manipulate as I see fit.  So there.

Making some good progress on the western outline. This “working at least 30 minutes a day” thing has really moved things along; actually much faster than originally anticipated. Give it a try if you haven’t already.

Sure, there are still some small details here and there that need to be hammered out, but for the most part the majority of the story is pretty close to being done.

When I started this, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible (or at least as much as a story about a female train engineer in the Old West can be), and that included using real geographic settings.  I wanted the fort here, the showdown here, etc.

But that just raised more questions. If the fort’s here, how far is it to this other point, and how fast would the train have to go in order to get there, and could trains go that fast during that time, and was there even a rail line between those two points?

This was becoming way more complicated than it had to be. I want to tell a story, not set up a math word problem.

So as I was going back and forth between the new and previous drafts, it dawned on me: I can just make stuff up, including where things happen.

I’m the writer. I’m allowed to do that.

So out went locations that actually exist, and in came totally fabricated ones (yet another benefit to all those years of listening to old-time radio westerns).

The feeling’s quite liberating. No longer do I have to worry about making sure every single detail is spot-on accurate, and can now focus on developing a rousing tale of adventure populated with colorful characters.

Which is how it should be.

-Major crisis narrowly averted! I’d lost a flash drive with a lot of script stuff on it. Only during the DREAMSHIP rewrite did I start making additional copies onto my hard drive, so a lot of projects I’d started before that were apparently gone forever.

I did a fairly good job of masking my pain, but was internally kicking myself for not having more backups (20/20 hindsight and all that).

Happy ending – K found the flash drive. Lesson learned – I’m in the process of saving everything on Google Docs so I never have to panic like that again.

You’re probably thinking “that’ll never happen to me. I’m always careful.” I used to think that too. Now it’s all about taking extra precautions.

-Movie of the Moment – FRANKENWEENIE (2012). A lot of fun that cleverly pays homage to classic monster movies. Parental advisory – V cried when the dog was killed (done very tastefully offscreen)

Can’t forget B, C and possibly even D

Maximum Z characters, Movie of the Moment, Netflix, outlines, plot, rewrite, screenwriting, script, storytelling, subplot, Wizard of Oz, writing
It’s not all about Dorothy, right?

It’s been a productive couple of days.  I worked a ton of hours on the air, made two well-received pies for Thanksgiving, and even got some writing in.

I’ve reached the part of the outline that says “The End,” but it’s not time to celebrate just yet.  Far from it.  There’s still a lot that has to be done before those words can really be applied.

While the main storyline has wrapped up, it became glaringly obvious that I’d completely ignored my supporting characters. I was so focused on the main character, I forgot to give the others something to do during the climax/showdown portion of the story.  And that’s just wrong.

This has the potential to become a somewhat sticky problem. It’s important that the individual arcs and storylines/subplots each come to a satisfying conclusion, but just as important not to overdo it and drag things out too long (e.g. LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING).  There’s always a way to wrap things up. The challenge is finding the right one AND making sure it works.

As always, this is going to take some carefully-orchestrated and organized planning.

Still, any progress is good progress.

-Movie of the Moment. This weekend was also good for making a dent in our Netflix queue.

-BLACK DYNAMITE (2009) A hilarious satire on blaxploitation films that really feels like it came out of the 70s. Star Michael Jai White was also one of the writers.

-DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010) A great combo of martial arts and supernatural mystery set in 7th century China. V was really excited to watch this at first, but in the end was too freaked out. End result – more kids movies for now, leading into…

-PUSS IN BOOTS (2011) or IF ZORRO WAS A CAT. Since there’s a western element, I enjoyed it, and probably would have loved it if I was a cat person.  A sequel to this would be more preferable than yet another SHREK film.

Figuring my way out/through

Maximum Z Disney, goals, ideas, motivation, Movie of the Moment, outlines, problem-solving, rewrite, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, writing
The solutions are in there somewhere. Just gotta work at finding them

In an attempt to keep the outline momentum going, I’ve been making a sincere effort to squeeze in some writing on a daily basis. Sometimes it may only be 30 minutes or an hour, but I can’t keep making excuses as to why I’m not writing when I’ve got the opportunity to do so.

Lighting a fire under my ass is the only way. This thing ain’t gonna write itself.

And this is especially true now because I’m a few scenes into Act Three, and it’s quickly becoming all uphill from here.

I’ve got a semi-workable previous draft to work from, but some of the story details have been changed.  My next task is basically figure out what happens next using the practical approach: plot out each storyline, then weave them all together into an intricate, compelling and satisfying finale that ties up a lot of loose ends.

Daunting, but not impossible.

Also doesn’t hurt that I’m working a double shift on Thursday, which means lots of time to make some good headway. Dare I even consider reaching The End? We’ll see…

-Movie of the Moment. WRECK-IT RALPH (2012) – the latest from Disney*. If you were part of the 80s arcade experience and stayed involved with video games into the present, then you’ll probably enjoy this.

I liked it, but more for how the story was told, rather than what it was actually about.  It was impressive how there were a lot of setups throughout Acts One and Two that all paid off during the climax of Act Three. (I’ll be keeping this in mind for my outline).

Maybe the one thing that really stuck with me was that during the second half of Act Two, the focus seems to move away from title character Ralph and more towards supporting character Vanellope. I’m trying to figure out how it could have stayed more on Ralph.

As always, the voice talent is perfectly matched with their characters – especially John C. Reilly as Ralph, Jack McBrayer as Felix and Jane Lynch as Calhoun.  It was also surprising to see Sarah Silverman have a much bigger role than expected.

I’d categorize this as another movie I enjoyed in the theatre, but don’t feel like I need to own it. Same thing applies to BRAVE from earlier this year. Still, Disney always does high-quality work and it’s a feast for the eyes on the big screen.

*I originally thought this was a Pixar production, but it’s not. Proper edits have been implemented.