You can no longer consider me a screenwriter without representation.
I signed with a manager this week: Sean Butler of The Mikael Group.
He found DREAMSHIP on The Black List and liked it enough to want to work with me on it. The enthusiastic comments from his coverage person were also a nice little ego boost.
(Fortunately, his suggestions about changes to the script all are pretty minor and shouldn’t make a rewrite too difficult. We’ll be discussing those next week.)
Simply put, it feels really good to have all that hard work finally pay off.
But this is a short-term celebration. I’ve overcome the first hurdle of getting a career going (hence the “(part 1)”), and there’s still a lot more to go.
Next up – getting an agent.
I’d also like to offer an extremely hearty thanks to all of you who’ve been so generous with your time and feedback on this script. I really could not have gotten here without you, so enjoy a piece of pie of the flavor of your choice with my compliments.
The first draft is coming along quite nicely. There was a little bit of writer’s block that held me up for about a day, but I managed to work my way through it (which included the creative placeholder SCENE INVOLVING BAD GUY & HIS GANG. This was the scene before the one giving me trouble.)
The current page count is somewhere in the mid-40s, and maybe about 5 pages off from where it should be, which actually isn’t that bad.
At this point, I’m not even thinking about a potential end-date because I don’t want to be disappointed if I go past it. So for now, it’s all about cranking out a few pages a day.
In summary – this thing’ll get done when it gets done, and I don’t want to rush it.
Keeping that in mind, there’s now a slight chance this could all be delayed, but just by a little bit.
After way too much procrastination, and the realization that I’m actually capable of setting up a schedule and sticking to it, I’m going to complicate things even more by devoting a small portion of each day to finally getting my podcast up and running.
Learning the basics still seems a little overwhelming, but this phase is always an awkward time. Like with most things, it’ll get easier the more I work at it.
No proposed launch date for this either, but hopefully soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Just wondering – what podcast(s) do you enjoy and/or recommend? They don’t have to be screenwriting- or film-centric. As long as they’re entertaining.
It’s spring break this week, so script progress has been somewhat limited, but at least it’s still happening. In the meantime…
-Had an unusual case of writer’s block yesterday. Scene notes in the outline had the main character asking something completely out of the blue, and I didn’t want that. Just couldn’t fix it, so rather than sit and stew in frustration, I stepped away. Potential solutions have been brewing ever since.
-Been reading some great material from assorted gurus – check out recent scribblings from Lee Jessup, Erik Bork and Michele Wallerstein. Each has some info and comments worth hearing.
-For all my fellow Passover celebrants, do NOT be misled by the way Manischewitz portrays its products on the packaging. Just about every one of their items tastes the same, no matter what it looks like. Trust me on this one.
-Seriously considering entering DREAMSHIP in the Tracking Board’s Launchpad contest. deadline is Sunday night. Details here.
-2nd year in a row of not being able to attend Wondercon this weekend in Anaheim. It’s usually here, but the idiots who run the venue can’t get their act together so it’s down in SoCal again. Hope fading it’ll return for 2014.
-Movie of the Moment: Since it’s spring break, V and I had a double feature yesterday. First up was OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL (2013). Liked it, but didn’t love it. Thought it felt kind of sluggish in parts.
And you know how an antagonist’s goal is supposed to be contrary to that of the protagonist? Didn’t really get that here. If they really wanted to stop Oz, wouldn’t they have been more active, rather than just sitting around?
Still, nice to see Sam Raimi include Bruce Campbell’s obligatory cameo, and I think I figured out where the 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 made its appearance (courtesy of a teaser from Campbell himself at a personal appearance a few weeks ago).
-Second movie was JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (2012) Never saw the first film – JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, but this looked like something V would like, and she did. Family-friendly Disney-esque adventure with some honest laughs (courtesy of Dwayne Johnson and Luis Guzman). Not a bad choice for family movie night.
Don’t you just hate when you mess up, especially when it’s something entirely under your control and you really should have just known better in the first place?
That was exactly the case for me running the Oakland Half-marathon this past Sunday. I started out with lofty expectations of potentially surpassing the much-desired goal of 1:55, but poor choices did me in before I crossed the starting line. Details aren’t important, but I messed up on several fronts and the results weren’t pretty.
2:01:10*. Ugh.
*I know some people would think this is still good, but not when you set certain expectations for yourself.*
I’m not making excuses for my performance, but after the obligatory beating myself up over it, I’ve already started figuring out what I did wrong and what I need to do for next time, which for now is in mid-June.
Taking a look at it from the writing perspective, imagine you had a script you were all fired up about and sent it to a contest, potential rep or producer. Then you realize there were a lot of mistakes still in it.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to fix it and will just have to chalk this up to experience. The benefit of making mistakes is learning from them and making sure they don’t happen again.
You work harder and harder so next time, that script will be more than ready.
You’ll double- and triple-check that thing, taking as many precautions as you can to make sure it’s as rock-solid as possible.
Remember, writing a script isn’t a short run; it’s a marathon (or a half-marathon for some of us). It’ll take a long time to work your way up to getting through it.
So keep at it, no matter how exhausted you feel, and the finish line will be that much closer.
Despite how it may look, I assure you everything is under control
I wouldn’t say the first draft is becoming bigger than I could have possibly imagined, but when a scene in the outline is 1-2 sentences, and it takes 2-3 pages to properly execute it, then chances are pretty good that overall page length is something to keep an eye on.
Fortunately, this is a first draft, so the primary goal for now is just working through the story and putting it all on the page. At the rate I’m going, I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing hits around 150.
Not an issue for a high-profile pro, but way too much for somebody like you or me. Would you want to read a potential 2-1/2-hour spec? Me either.
This is another item added to the mental scene checklist – on top of everything else, can this scene be written as short as possible and still do what it has to? (moving the story ahead, character development, etc.)
Take a look at this post by John August from 2007, which has also been turned into a very useful infographic every writer should print out and keep near their workspace.
I’ll worry about the numerous edits and changes that will no doubt be necessary later.
For now, I’m focusing on reaching the finish line, page length be damned (but still kept in mind).
Maximum Z 