Nicholl Fellowship

That’s almost that

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Reaching my goal seems a little closer now

It took me longer than I wanted, but I finally finished the DREAMSHIP rewrite. 116 pages, which isn’t too bad. Now begins the editing phase, primarily of the second half.  I managed to trim about 7 pages for the first half, and hope to cut at least 4-5 this time around.

It bothers me that it won’t be ready for the Nicholl, but I’ve accepted it and moved on.

I’m also exploring the idea of sending it to a couple of professional script analysis firms. One of them might be ScriptQuack, especially since this rewrite was based on their suggestions for the previous draft.  I like the idea of getting some solid feedback, but I don’t know if I have it in me to go through another rewrite.  I like the idea of doing what I can with this and moving on, since LUCY is still waiting.

There’s something that’s been gnawing away at me inside for the past few weeks. I’ve noticed a unique writing style in a lot of recent scripts I’ve read; a lot of it really good.  My writing may not necessarily be as vivid as others, but it gets the point across. I try to use a little flair, but not enough so it distracts you from the story.  I’d rather let the story do its job than wow you with fancy-schmancy writing.

I’m also hoping that once the editing/polishing is done to fine-tune the logline and start sending out query letters. I did this before using a hard copy of the HCD, sending out about 200 email queries. It got the script optioned, which unfortunately didn’t lead to anything.  Maybe I’ll have better luck this time around.

 

Maybe next year

Maximum Z Drive, Girls With Slingshots, Moneyball, Nicholl Fellowship, productivity, rewrite, screenwriting, The Script Adventurer!, webcomics
So close to being done, but just not enough

Based on my recent productivity, or lack thereof, I don’t think the DREAMSHIP rewrite will be ready for the Nicholl deadline.

At first I was pretty disappointed in myself. I’d set a goal, but fell short.

But while it’s taken longer than I wanted, I’d rather take the time to make sure it’s a solid piece of material, and not “good enough for now”.

And it didn’t help that my work schedule the last few weeks has been all over the map, which completely messed up my chance to just take some time to sit down and write. But it’s starting to calm down a bit, so I’ve been able to make a little headway. Latest example – 3 pages yesterday.

Besides, if things work out the way I’d like them to (re: agent, manager), I won’t worry as much about making next year’s deadline.

-In case you missed the most recent edition of The Script Adventurer!, it’ll be on again this Sunday at 7PM PST. I had the pleasure of talking with Danielle Corsetto, creator of the webcomic Girls With Slingshots. I got a very nice email from her afterward saying it was one of the most complimentary interviews she’d ever done, which I guess is saying something.

-Movie of the Moment – I forgot to post this last week, so another twofer.

-MONEYBALL (2011). Loved it. A great look at behind-the-scenes baseball. Especially poignant to me since my daughter loves the A’s. Very worthy of a Best Picture nomination; seemed more like that kind of movie than THE ARTIST or HUGO, which now come across as lighter, fluffier works.

-DRIVE (2011). Loved this too. An extremely quiet movie that simmers with suspense in a lot of scenes. Not as gory as I’d been led to believe, but a lot of make-you-squirm scenes both on- and off-camera. I was surprised Albert Brooks had such a small part, but I agree that by playing completely against type, he was (no pun intended) criminally overlooked for a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

15 days and dwindling fast

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NOT the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

The deadline for the Nicholl Fellowships is coming up fast – May 1st! – and I keep going back and forth as to whether I want to submit DREAMSHIP.

I like how the rewrite’s been coming along and think it’s pretty solid, but I want to be absolutely sure the end result is what I want it to be, which could mean another pass at it once I finish this rewrite/edit.

A tough choice, actually.

I’ll have more time to write between now and then, so I’m hoping to have a better idea of what I’d like to do near the end of the month.  Either way, I’ll end up with a script I like, and that’s the important part.

If you’ve already sent yours in, good for you. If not, are you and your script ready?

Fitting the pieces together

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While I was working on the last quarter of Act Two today, I realized I didn’t have any hard copy of the previous draft: outline OR script.  Which means I didn’t have anything to really reference as part of this rewrite.  I know how I’d like to move forward, but once again find myself streamlining how that’s being accomplished.  A lot of unnecessary fat is being trimmed away. For the better.

An interesting side note  to all of this is that I took a look at my notes from the fine folks at ScriptQuack and discovered I’ve put a lot of their suggestions into play, which in turn renders a lot of their notes irrelevant.  I should probably X out all the parts I don’t need anymore, which would enable me to focus on what I haven’t used yet (or may not need at all).

This heading toward the end of Act Two is really presenting a challenge: how to best have the situation increasingly worsen so that all definitely seems lost for my hero.  I’ve got a few ideas to work with, but I’m not in a rush, so this can be carefully planned out.

-Nicholl deadline has come and gone. I’m glad I didn’t try to rush through this; it would not have yielded good results.  Better to give myself more time for next year.  Very interesting to see some critique comments on Facebook.  Who couldn’t read those and hope it was their script being praised?

I’m sure a lot of people enter only one or two contests a year, if that often, the Nicholl probably being one of them. Have winners of less prestigious contests ever gone on to fame and fortune?  Not that I know of, but I don’t research them that much.

-Just wondering – I get more done on a script when I’m where I really shouldn’t be working on it (read: actual paying job).  Does this happen for other writers?  I can get some work done at home, but the creative juices really flow when I can spare a few minutes between on-air reports.  Again, just wondering.

-Movie of the Moment: 500 DAYS OF SUMMER.  We watched it over 2 days, despite it only being 95 minutes long.  I didn’t really know what to expect, and that I’d heard good things about it.  One line in particular stood out for me in the beginning: “This is not a love story.”  Boy, ain’t that the truth.

I liked it, despite how sad it is.  Like they set out to make an anti-romcom.  It was kind of refreshing to jump past the meet-cute and avoid any kind of wacky hijinks and cut straight to the beginning of the end.  The whole jumping-around-in-time aspect was also well-executed.  I had a little trouble keeping track of things when the jumps were significant (Day 348 to Day 22, etc), but it was better than just letting it all happen in a traditional linear way.

Another benefit to that is how it doesn’t treat the viewer like an idiot, which is always important.

We can rebuild him

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Some good progress on the rewrite today. I’m getting closer to the page 45 twist, and may have also come up with a few ideas on how to fix a few glaring plot holes.  Always nice when that happens.

While I do the work, I usually have a piece of paper in case of sudden inspiration, the word document containing the current outline, and the original script open in a separate window.  All three slowly working together, hopefully to result in something good.

Looking over my previous draft, I can’t help but notice how slow parts of it are. Here’s hoping this rewrite will avoid that.  When other writers start a page one rewrite, how much do they refer back to the previous draft?  Do you start completely from scratch, or take what you have and see if a little tweaking would do the trick?  Just askin’.

-My Nicholl-deadline-reaching may yet again be in jeopardy, but not because of the rewrite.  I’m waiting to hear back about a project involving punching up somebody’s script, at least in terms of the action lines.  One of the instructions was basically “do NOT touch the dialogue”.  It’ll be interesting to see what the writer says regarding making changes (read: fixing), if necessary, to the story.