rewrite

Voice from the past

Maximum Z outlines, rewrite, screenwriting, writing gigs
early model not-so-mobile phone

Completely unexpectedly, the director I co-write the short with last year rang me up. After much delay, he’s finished all the post-production work and is making copies of the end product.  I should have my own copy within a month or so.  I’ll update the link in the portfolio section once I get it.

He moved to LA about a year ago, and is currently working on directing trailers.  As he succinctly put it, I now know somebody working in the industry.  Always a good connection to have.  Gotta start somewhere.

But he was also calling because he wants me to help write his next project: a 30-minute short he hopes to eventually submit to the student Oscars. I’ll have more details in a few days, but it’ll be some kind of crime thriller.  Yeah, I can write that.

While I was originally hoping to have the DREAMSHIP draft done by the end of the year, this may slow that down a little, but working on that, the short and the LUCY outline is a good challenge.

They say you should write every day, which I try to do. Some days are really productive, some not at all. But the effort is always there.  Sometimes it’s how much drive you feel inside.  I can’t explain why, but that feeling’s been stronger for me the past few days.  I think I’m feeling more confident in the strength of my stories and how things are developing overall, which always yields better results.

Suffice to say, I’m expecting great things from myself between now and the end of the year, and am fairly confident I can pull it off.

Set up, pay off

Maximum Z Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark, rewrite, screenwriting
Yep. It HAD to be snakes.

I’ve said before how BACK TO THE FUTURE is one of, if not my absolute favorite script.  One of the many amazing aspects of it is practically the entire first act is setup, with the payoff throughout the second AND third acts.  I think it’s safe to say the story may be practically impenetrable, if you’re talking in terms of looking for a flaw in the armor that is it’s story.

While I’ve been working on both DREAMSHIP pages and the LUCY rewrite, I’ve been paying special attention to certain aspects in each to find out if there’s something that can be set up early, leading to the resulting (and satisfying) payoff later.  Hammering out story details during the outlining process has been extremely helpful.  It’s a lot easier to figure things out when you’re working with a scene of 1-2 sentences, rather than 3 whole pages.

As a result, planting story details throughout the first act hasn’t been too difficult, mostly because I know how I want them to play out as the story progresses.

Reading scripts over the past few weeks has been an eye-opener in terms of seeing who knows how to do this effectively.  Consider this yet another argument of why writers should read them. You should be able to see setup and payoff in action. It’s especially good when you don’t even realize it’s happening.  And take the time to think about whether the setups and payoffs in your script are just as effective.

The joy of words

Maximum Z rewrite, screenwriting
lots and lots of words in here!

After days of reading and commenting on scripts, I was happy to jump back into working on my own stuff today.  Apparently time really does fly when you’re having fun.  Which I was.

Even though this is a rewrite, in some ways it feels like a brand new start. I’m allowing myself to let loose and write what I feel like.  Within reason, of course.   It’s quite liberating.  It boosts the self-confidence and makes the script that much more enjoyable to read.

The one thing that slowed me down was attempting to put an abstract into words.  I was able to do it last week with the polar opposite of what I was working on today, and really liked that. I was hoping to accomplish the same thing today, but it still doesn’t have that same pizzazz like last week’s.  Time to implement the ‘don’t look back and move on’ rule.

Next up – Act Two

Maximum Z rewrite, screenwriting
just some of the music playing while I write

Finally finished Act One today.  It probably needs a little tweaking, but for the most part I like how it turned out.

A potential agent once said the previous draft was good, but could use some ‘punching up.’ Until recently, I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. But reading other scripts over the past few weeks, including ones that have circulated throughout the industry, really helped me understand how it could be accomplished.

My writing used to be simple, straightforward and to the point.  No flair. No pizzazz.  But this time I’m striving to have fun while I write, as well as make it fun to read.  So far, seems that way.

 

Hence the “re-” part

Maximum Z rewrite, screenwriting, scriptshadow

Part of my problem the past few days has been a combination of agonizing over each scene, hoping it works in the grand scheme of the overall script, and reading some of the selections for the past few weeks on ScriptShadow.

Despite how that last part may sound, I really enjoyed it.
Some were okay, while others were just jaw-on-the-floor amazing. Reading them reminds me of what I should be aspiring to, especially when it comes to making not only the story interesting, but the actual reading as well.

As always, I’m putting too much pressure on myself to try and make this current draft absolutely perfect. Which is a foolish endeavor, to say the least. It’s better to punch my way through, THEN go back and fix where necessary.

I get so caught up in trying to perfect what I’ve already done that I waste time looking back when I really should be charging ahead.

I’m around page 18 now and plan to get to the end of Act One early next week. Self-imposed deadline activated!