Nicholl Fellowship

Tough, but not impossible

Maximum Z Dreamship, Nicholl Fellowship, outlines, screenwriting

Taking on this rewrite has made me done something I haven’t done in quite a long time.

I am really approaching this with the intent of almost completely starting over from scratch.  The last time something even got near this level of difficulty was when I went through the Chinese restaurant script page-by-page with my then-manager.  But even then the suggestions were “make this funnier” or “tighten this up”.

Using my ScriptQuack notes as a starting point, I’m writing down what scenes I have from a previous draft of DREAMSHIP and changing each one as necessary.  Surprisingly, making those changes may not be as daunting a task as I originally thought.  Still challenging, though.

Hoping to have a more solid first act by week’s end, then once again into the abyss of Act Two.

I have doubts about having a draft I’m satisfied with by the Nicholl deadline, but I’d rather take my time and make this as perfect as possible than rush through it and send in something not good enough.

Ugh.

Maximum Z Dreamship, Nicholl Fellowship, screenwriting

I hardly got any work done on DREAMSHIP today. Just a day in, and I’m already running late.

This cannot continue.  Focus, boy, focus!

Putting a positive spin on this, I was at least able to fill in the plot points.  Not what I was hoping for, but it’s something.

No Movie of the Moment tonight. Inadvertently watched all of RED last night.  Could have been a little shorter, but still fun.

Up next: THE WALKING DEAD, Season One.  K likes zombies, I like Darabont. Everybody wins.

Oh. That.

Maximum Z Nicholl Fellowship, screenwriting
Nicholl winners 2010

No LUCY progress today.  Extended workday.  Too much rain.  Picking up V from school because she has a hockey game.  They say a writer can make time to write, but it ain’t easy when you got a lot of other stuff going on.

I got an email a few days ago from the Nicholl people, officially announcing last year’s winners.  It was a good wake-up call.

It had completely slipped my mind that the deadline is fast approaching (May 2nd). My original goal was to do a rewrite on DREAMSHIP.  I even have the great notes I got from the fine folks at ScriptQuack.

Then the idea for LUCY hit, and I haven’t looked back.  No regrets whatsoever.

But now I’ve got another idea.

I’m still planning on finishing the LUCY outline by the end of next week, which would then give me about a month to work on DREAMSHIP and get it in before the deadline.  It’s doable.

I just have to brush the dust off the DREAMSHIP notes first.