plot

Slow, steady and all that

Maximum Z birthday, comic books, movies, outlines, plot, screenwriting, story, Uncategorized

No post yesterday because I was completely spent.  Wiped.  Totally pooped.  There wasn’t much to write about anyway, since I didn’t get to do any writing.

Today, which also happens to be my birthday, saw a little progress on LUCY.

I tightened up the first 10 pages, and am now moving on into that 10-17 range.  I have to keep reminding myself that everything is still in the ‘putting together’ phase, and not to stress out about it.

It’s easy to forget that this is one of the harder parts of the whole process.  Almost a ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ method.  Seeing what works and what doesn’t.

Most of all, I can’t get discouraged.  That would be too easy, but it’s also not an option.

Movie of the Moment:  I finished THE LOVELY BONES earlier today. I watched it over the course of three days.  At 2:10, it probably could have been about 20 minutes shorter and still worked.

I liked the concept, but there was a little too much ‘Hey, check this out’ in terms of what was going on with the dead girl in the afterlife.  Also a lot of expository narration and odd metaphoric images.

I didn’t read the book, so can’t compare them.  The subplot about the mother running away didn’t really seem to accomplish much, and it’s a shame they wasted Susan Sarandon in such a comedic way.  I do recall Stanley Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and I guess that works.  His character is really creepy, but I don’t know if it warrants a nomination.

SUPERMAN is on Encore, and Glenn Ford just died. How can you not get choked up at that?  But in the scene where Clark tells his mom he’s leaving, Phylis Thaxter’s makeup looks awful and unrealistic.

That being said, this really is an outstanding template for what a comic book movie should be like.  Too bad Bryan Singer blew it with SUPERMAN RETURNS.  Man, that was boring.

Little by little

Maximum Z Netflix, outlines, plot, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting, westerns

School was back in session today, which let me get back to work on LUCY.

The first act is slowly coming together, emphasis on ‘slowly’.

My problem seems to be trying to fit scenes into the standard form.  And that might not work for this.

I’m concerned I’m throwing too much action at the viewer, rather than setting everything up so it can be paid off later.  Take RAIDERS, for example.  The opening sequence shows Indy in his element and all his expertise (and quite well, I might add).  Then we go to the college to show him in another element, followed by the expository scene where he (and we) learn about the Ark from the G-men.

Maybe part of my problem is I feel married to my original plot points and am trying to shoehorn everything in to make it fit, rather than be willing to bend a little and try to flesh out the story.

And I don’t have to do that.  For now, the plot points are guidelines and NOT written in stone. While I like the way the story is developing, it really feels like it needs more set-up and less “hey, check this out!”

It seems a bit daunting right now, but I bet the more I work on it, it’ll come together a little easier.  At least, I hope that’s what’ll happen.

Movie of the Moment: I don’t remember how it popped into my Netflix queue, but there’s this British pseudo-holiday miniseries called HOGFATHER from author Terry Pratchett.  It’s kind of an alternate universe where the Santa-like Hogfather is missing (possibly dead?), and Death takes over the job, while an aspiring assassin tries to off the aforementioned Hogfather.  It’s a mash-up of Dickens, fairy tales, Monty Python and Hitchcock.  It’s better than I expected.

I started watching it by myself, but V was intrigued and sat down about 20 minutes in.  She was quite mesmerized and we watched the rest of part 1 together.  We’ll see how it goes for part 2 tomorrow.

And he’s off!

Maximum Z outlines, plot, screenwriting, story

I managed to start putting together Act One.  Even though I only have approximately five scenes, and each one is basically a sketch of an idea, that’s more than I had yesterday.

And that’s nice.

Is it wrong for me to say the more I work on this, the more I look forward to working on it?  While I rack my brain trying to figure out what should come next, I keep referring to examples of what I’m trying to accomplish in each scene.

The opening where we meet our hero?  See the introduction of Indiana Jones in RAIDERS.  Is the villain a badass (Chigur in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), or incompetent fop (not sure about that one)?

How many members are in the gang?  Should there be a love interest?  Can the proposed bounty hunter be likable or a complete mystery?

Questions to be answered for each scene, more into each sequence and none of it is easy.  Part of the fun of the writing is figuring things out.  At least it is for me.  I also like trying to stay ahead of the reader/audience so they can’t figure things out too easily.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it here, but just in case, here it is again.  BACK TO THE FUTURE is my gold standard.  To me that is a perfect screenplay.  You can go on and on about CHINATOWN, which is also mega-impressive, but to me, BTTF is what I aspire to.  There really is nothing unnecessary in it.

Everything that is set up has a payoff, no matter how big or small.  I’ve read that co-writer Bob Gale worked super-hard on making sure everything worked.  And boy, does it.

THAT’S what I’d like this be like.

Will it?  I was about to say ‘probably not,’ but something tells me there is a slight, remote, kind-of possibility it could.  Maybe.

And that would be, of course, AWESOME.

But first I need to get past page five.

Nice

Maximum Z adventure, Cat Ballou, characters, Hollywood, movies, plot, screenwriting, script doctor eric, story, treatment, Uncategorized, westerns, writing group

Do you remember the very last Calvin and Hobbes?  I don’t have it handy, but it talks about all the possibilities that await you/us out there.  How metaphoric.

That’s how LUCY is starting to shape up.  The more I think about what I could do with this, the more positive it feels.  To quote Steve Allen, this could be the start of something big.

No, really.

The writing group came over last night.  If we were able to stay a little more focused, we’d get a lot more done.  But I digress.

There were only five of us, and everybody ‘checks in,’ which means they give a little update as to where they are with their material.  A status update, I guess.

So when it came to me, I explained how I was abandoning BABY LIKES JAZZ because of my inability to write comedy, then explained how I came up with LUCY STEELE.

It got a positive, enthusiastic response.  Which was awesome.  They liked the concept, the story (such as it was) and the potential.  All of which I am also excited about.

I started compiling a list of everything that could possibly be connected with this story, including whatever I could think of regarding westerns, trains, post-Civil War America, and so on.  Not surprisingly, the list keeps getting longer.  Although I don’t plan to use everything, a lot of it could factor in somehow.

I feel like I’m on the cusp of having a plot-point outline done; still needs some fine-tuning.  Once that’s ready, I’m hoping a lot of it falls into place.

I’ve also been trying to figure out supporting cast, but I really want to have fun with this, so I may let my imagination run wild on this.  For some reason, the idea of a medicine show huckster-type character popped in and won’t go away.  That could work.

And a bounty hunter.  And a handsome authority-type figure (US marshal/cavalryman/etc).  Still working on those.

I’m also reminded of how much I enjoyed CAT BALLOU, which is also one of K’s favorites.  An often-overlooked western-comedy with the surprisingly-funny Lee Marvin and a catchy theme song.  I think I’ll have to watch that again to get a better sense of a female protagonist up against tremendous odds.

Once I get started, I suspect writing this may be as fun as DREAMSHIP was.

Not to get ahead of myself, but maybe this could be THE ONE that does it for me.  And that would TOTALLY AWESOME.

Of course, I have to write the damn thing first.  Well, one step at a time.

-Once again, I did not win the logline contest.  Ugh.  I’m seriously considering giving up entering.  Or at least giving it one or two more tries, THEN giving up.

Goosebumps, I tell ya!

Maximum Z adventure, comic books, Netflix, outlines, plot, screenwriting, story, thrillers, westerns, WWII

I didn’t get to do much story development today due to time constraints, but what I did accomplish was the ongoing fleshing-out of the LUCY outline.

Last night before I went to sleep, I thought I hit on the right first act turning point and midpoint, but didn’t write them down!  Argh.  So the latter half of this afternoon involved trying to reach back into my subconscious and get them back.

I think I sort-of managed to do that.

I worked on filling in the blanks of my little ‘plot milestone’ sheet, and there were some spaces that remained empty longer than the others.

What I think my next step really needs to be is where I write down all the things I can think of that would be connected with the major plot elements of the story, and see if anything develops out of them.

I’m sure this will pay off; it usually has before.

The more I work on this, the more excited I get to do it.  I really think that when all the elements are in place, this thing will take practically no time to write up.

But I have to make sure it works from both the story and thrills perspectives. I want to keep the reader/audience enthralled.  That’s right.  Enthralled.  This is supposed to be a western-adventure that I would want to see; even pay to see, so it HAS to be good AND exciting.

I think I can do that.

-This past weekend was the Alternative Press Expo, or APE as it’s commonly called.  My friend Neil and I have gone for about the past four years, except last year (timing).

It’s a great mix of independent comic artists and writers.  Some are people who xerox stuff at Kinko’s, fold and staple the ‘books’ themselves, then sell them.  Others are people who actually have a publisher.

It’s a nice alternative (hence the name) to the biggies, like WonderCon and Comic-Con, which is kind of nice.

This year we had to take V, since K was unavailable.  While I’m sure a lot of the stuff was over her head, she took great joy in spotting things she knew, like sketches of Spidey, the guy who sold fuse-bead interpretations of Pokemon characters (which we bought one of), or the guy who does some awesome Clone Wars sketches ($20 for a head sketch, $50 for the whole body, neither of which were purchased by us).

I always feel  bad for the people who are hawking stuff that doesn’t appear to be interesting.  It’s so awkward to smile as you pass by, thinking “There is no way in hell I’m buying anything from YOU!”  But maybe they sell a few things, possibly even breaking even, and enjoying themselves.  What do I know?

Going back to the artists’ angle, there are always a ton of incredibly talented artists there with all this phenomenal art for sale, mostly prints, but sometimes the original.  Like I told Neil, if I bought every piece of art I liked at APE, I would have no space left on the walls, and no money left over; not to mention probably a less-than-thrilled wife.

So now the countdown to WonderCon begins.  Only 164 days left and counting!!

-My sister-in-law is visiting, so no Movie of the Moment tonight.  However, I did watch RIO BRAVO, which was okay, but a little long.  Two hours would have worked fine.

The next night was NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH, a pre-WWII British spy thriller with a very skinny Rex Harrison.  It dragged a little in the beginning, but got better as it went along.  It also had Paul Henreid as the bad guy, but I know him best as Victor Laslo in CASABLANCA, so it was an interesting contrast.

What was nice was it actually raised the question of “WOULD HE DIE?”  I won’t give anything away, but it keep you hanging on until the very end.

Nice.