jokes

The countdown continues!

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**Disclaimer – this post is for the most part promoting stuff I’m doing, especially the second one, so it won’t be shared to some of the usual social media platforms because they frown on that sort of thing and I do my best to not be a rabble-rouser**

And with that out of the way…

Here’s a pair of brief but very, very important announcements:

-One week from today is the great unveiling of The Maximum Z 2025 Script Showcase! A thrilling assortment of screenplays, TV scripts and short scripts* from an exceptionally diverse cadre of skilled and savvy writers.

If you’re among those who has NOT sent in the info for your script, you have until Thursday 18 December to do so. All the details can be found here. Please make sure to read them carefully and be diligent about following the instructions.

*no webseries submissions as of yet, but it could still happen

-The crowdfunding campaign to raise post-production costs for my thrill-omedy short film SHECKY is up and running. The editing and sound departments are working their magic, and the latest cut is looking mighty good.

There are tier rewards, including invaluable feedback on scripts, directors reels, and acting reels. Great stuff all around.

If you’re a fan of indie filmmaking, terrible jokes, and supporting the screenwriting community, then I sincerely hope you can help out by chipping in a couple of bucks.

Thanks.

Get the forks ready

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After I-don’t-know-how-many drafts, this most recent version of my animated fantasy-comedy is pretty much it for me. Granted, I’m waiting to hear back from some readers – some new sets of eyes and one who’d read a previous draft, so there’s a chance of more notes, meaning most likely one more revision, but for the most part – j’en ai fini avec ca.

This has been a long time coming – a few years, in fact. I often hear how you should learn to move on from projects, but there was always something about this one that always seemed to whisper “not yet”.

The work this time around definitely felt a little different. Scenes were moved around, trimmed, or flat-out cut entirely. Action lines and dialogue were tweaked accordingly, some more than expected. Sometimes I’d get a jolt of sudden inspiration and change something that hadn’t been touched since very early on. There were even a few new opportunities to add in a joke, including one that still makes me chuckle when I think about it.

Since I’d already planned to drastically cut back on contests, this one will probably be sent to just Austin and PAGE. I’m not really sure if this is this sort of script that Nicholl readers go for, although an animated script has been a finalist before, so you never know.

It’s a little frustrating it took so long to get here, but I’m extremely proud and happy with how it turned out – especially after this latest draft.

What a good run this was, and it definitely helped raise the quality of my writing.

Taking a little time off to catch my breath, with the gears already turning for the next one.

Took a while, but oh so worth it

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The last batches of notes are coming in for the animated fantasy-comedy spec, and believe you me it is SO MUCH better for all of them.

I had faith and confidence in the story and the writing when the initial drafts were done, but it was the as-always-invaluable feedback I got that really helped fine-tune and polish to what it is now.

Bonus – everybody really liked the story and had fun reading it

Bigger bonus – the jokes worked, including more than a few “I actually laughed out at this”. This was a very important issue for me, and I’m elated that this was the result.

I’ve completed a quick tweak/polish and will probably do one more read-through just to be sure before I start sending it out to the big contests next week.

(Reminder for those who enjoy working under pressure – Nicholl early bird deadline is Mar 1 – next Wednesday)

In years past, I’d seek out notes from just about anybody and everybody. When you get numerous sets of notes, and many have conflicting opinions, it does no favors for you or your script.

Lesson learned. Now after each draft, I reach out to 2-3 readers with the same level of experience as me, or more, when possible. It might take a few rounds of doing this, but each draft gets the script to where it needs to be.

With my western, I thought my writing was as good as it was going to get. But working on this script has shown me that I wasn’t done yet. I’m the last one to toot my own horn, but this one seems more solid and put-together on several fronts.

They say you should be able to hear the writer’s “voice” when you read their script; that it sounds like something they would have written. I think that’s always been the case with each of mine, but for this one, you can hear me loud and clear.

It may not pretty, but at least it’s something

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This isn’t saying the Mona Lisa isn’t pretty. It was just tough to find a picture of people looking at art.

Some exceptionally helpful notes continue to come in on the latest draft of the animated fantasy-comedy spec. For the most part, very supportive and encouraging, along with some great suggestions for small fixes here and there.

But one note really hit home – not because it was overly negative, but because it touched on something that I’d been uncertain about.

I won’t go into too much detail, but it involves how in one sequence the focus shifts from my protagonist to set up the backstory of some important supporting characters. Even while I was putting it together, it seemed kind of odd and I wasn’t entirely sure it worked, but felt it was “good enough for now”.

Nevertheless, something about it still didn’t seem right.

Numerous options rolled around in my head as I strained to come up with a solution, but still nothing. Also not helping was that constant trepidation when dealing with a rewrite. Would I be able to come up with something that works the way I need it to?

So I decided follow one of the most important tips for writing, screen or otherwise:

I just sat down and started writing. I knew what I wanted to accomplish – have the protagonist be part of it, which helped guide things along.

And thus the words did flow.

Revised and totally new scenes were churned out over the next 60 minutes or so. As is my usual m.o., there’s probably more in the new stuff than I’ll need. Trimming the fat later shouldn’t be too challenging, but I’d rather have more than I need than come up short.

I also managed to come up with a few details that I could plant early on in the story that would pay off later, and came up with a joke that actually made me laugh out loud. Hopefully others have the same reaction.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Confidence and enthusiasm for this script continue to build.

But don’t get me wrong. There’s definitely more work that needs to be done, but this is a pretty encouraging step.

–

A friendly reminder – just two weeks to go until the Maximum Z Winter ’22 Script Showcase goes up (Dec 2), so make sure to send in the details about your spec screenplay or TV script ASAP.

All the info is right here: https://wp.me/prjnO-8yJ

The next mountain awaits

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Wrapped up the latest draft of the animated fantasy-comedy earlier this week and sent it to a few readers.

Notes have begun trickling in.

Overall responses: very positive, but could still use some tweaking. Points were awarded for creativity, originality, dialogue, and the jokes.

I appreciate all of those very much.

But…it can still be better.

I’d estimate it’s maybe one to two drafts away from being where it needs to. Waiting for a few more notes to come in before diving into that.

What’s also helped is that a lot of the changes don’t seem to be of a major overhaul type, but I suspect it won’t be a few minor changes here and there either. Somewhere in that nebulous middle.

It’s been quite encouraging how fast and effectively things are playing out for this one. It’s taken a while to get to this point, but all the time spent writing, rewriting and constantly trying to make previous scripts better are yielding the desired results for this one in a more timely manner.

Another thing that’s different about this time around is that confidence levels were already pretty high about the script, and getting comments about what still needs work hasn’t diminished them. Many times in the past I would get notes and think what a terrible writer I must have been, which was not the case.

I’m quite psyched about this one, and can’t wait to get back to work on it.

**SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION!!**

I was the featured guest on some recent podcasts:

–What Are You Watching? with Chris Mancini (who has a q&a on this blog)

–The Successful Screenwriter with Geoffrey Calhoun (a 2-time q&a on this blog – here & here)