notes

Two down, one to go

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The past week has been really productive.

My goal for 2026 was to complete two rewrites and a first draft. The two rewrites can now officially be checked off. I really like how each turned out. Currently standing by for notes on both.

Now it’s all about getting this first draft of the action-comedy done. Target date: Dec 31. Pretty confident I can swing that. If things go the way I’d like them to, a second draft is not out of the question. But let’s not get too ahead of things.

I’d also forgotten I wrote about 32 pages a few months ago – before the rewrites took over – so those have already undergone a quick polish-edit. Now on to the next 70-80 pages.

Taking a look at the outline, the subplot front definitely needs some shoring up – especially in terms of having some. Rather than spend time on that now, I’ll stick with what I’ve got. Inspiration, ideas, and possibilities have a tendency to make themselves known along the way.

For the most part I’m keeping details about this one under wraps, but the small number of people I’ve pitched it to were very positive about it. I’m very much looking forward to when this draft is done and can start spreading the word.

Circling back to the first go-round

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My current project is rewriting/revising my fantasy-comedy (animation-optional). It has undergone numerous drafts, along with multiple revisions and variations on both the primary storyline and several subplots.

There have been a handful of the latter which have been particular tricky to figure out the best approach. Something just wasn’t clicking, so I took my usual approach to finding a solution and stepped away from my laptop, put on my running shoes, and hit the road.

While my feet pounded the pavement, the next hour and seven minutes heavily involved coming up with possible alternatives to how the story reads now. A few possibilities presented themselves, but nothing to make me stop short and proclaim “That’s it!”

So I took another usual approach, that of taking a step back for a more of a “big picture”.

Silly as it sounds, I’d forgotten that one of those earlier drafts had some decent contest success (not that that’s my goal), so I dug up that one to give it a read.

A large percentage of that script remains in the most recent one, but especially close attention was paid to “what drives your protagonist”. More than a few readers had similar things to say about that. My hope is that fleshing that out a bit more will have the desired effect and reinforce the whole story.

There are a few other subplots that also need work, but this was one of the big ones.

This kind of approach will be the strategy for this latest draft. The last thing I want to do is over-complicate things, and I’m fairly confident that doing this will help keep things simple.

Nicely done, me from the past

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Having (for the most part) completed the outline for the action-comedy, attention has shifted to revising/rewriting another script.

I’m not sure the last time I’d worked on it – maybe March?, but I opened the pages and was pleasantly surprised how many changes had already been made. There are still some rough spots, including figuring out the best moment to have a key part of the story take place. Weighing my options on that one.

But it was very reassuring to see how much work had already been put into this before switching to another project, and not at all surprising. This has happened before.

I’d also forgotten how much work overall had been done for the new draft, including questions about potential subplots and character arcs. This helps lighten the load – albeit just slightly. Looking over some of the notes I got on the previous draft, a few sticking points remain that need addressing.

There were also some suggestions from readers that didn’t mesh with what I was going for, or felt like they wanted things to go in a different direction than what I was intending. I weigh the merit of what’s being said, and then decide if there’s something in there worth salvaging.

Whenever I start a rewrite, I try not to put a limit how much time I’m allowing to get it finished. Many times it’s longer than I’d like or expect, but this time feels a little different. I suspect once things get started and more pieces fall into place, the shorter the time to get to the finish line.

Figuring out all these solutions won’t be easy, but I’m confident it will happen. Hopefully sooner than later.

Just your typical rewriting rigamarole

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Figuring out the rest of the story for the action-comedy spec continues, but there was a slight change of focus this week to the rewrite of the fantasy-comedy.

A lot of the story remains in place, but there are still some tweaks and minor adjustments that need to be made.

First was seeing what still worked. This involved the very-helpful writing out the entire story scene by scene, with a quick sentence stating the point of each. Or at least “here’s what’s happens here that moves things forward”.

I also dug up notes from the most recent round of readers – first-timers all. I’m still working my way through them due to the sheer volume of comments and suggestions. Some pretty good stuff, with lots about the characters and potential ideas of how to make them better.

One reader’s comments really resonated, mostly due to the fact that they pointed out something regarding the story I wasn’t aware I’d done. It was as if my subconscious was a contributing writer. Good when I do it intentionally, even better when it’s unintentional AND still works within the context of the story.

As I often do during the figuring-stuff-out phase – no matter what draft it is, I tend to overthink and cram too much stuff into the story. That’s something I want to try and avoid this time around. Like I said, most of this should only require some minor touch-up work, and I think I can limit the bigger changes to a relatively small number.

Once all of the changes are made, I’ll go through and trim the excess fat while fine-tuning it as much as possible.

Like with all of my projects for this year, progress may be slow, but it’s still coming along.

Still happy to help

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A few years ago, I wrote about some then-recent interactions I had within the screenwriting community. A lot of the sentiment still resonates, and this week saw a few more examples on display.

Last Friday was the San Francisco Writers Conference, and I was the coordinator/moderator for all of the panels for the Writing For Hollywood track. A good time was had by all, including panelists and attendees. It’s also why there was no post last week. (Want to go next year? Just click on the link in that first sentence.)

I didn’t get much of my own writing done because two writing colleagues asked for notes on their scripts, each saying “Don’t hold back. Be as brutal as necessary!” And I was. Well, maybe not brutal; let’s call it “critical, but in a positive way”.

I read each script twice, jotting down notes when needed. Both ended up jam-packed with sticky notes on almost every page with a comment, question, or suggestion.

Both writers were very enthusiastic about their notes. Maybe they didn’t agree with everything; at least a large percentage. Best of all – they were both eager to use those notes and start on the next draft.

And in the middle of all this, a friend referred me to a writing group interested in a screenwriting presentation. A few emails with the coordinator later, I’ll be running an all-day workshop later this year.

I’ve always said this is one of my favorite parts of the screenwriting community – lots of people helping others in one way or another, and that sentiment still rings true.

Writing is already a solitary experience, so when you get the chance to help somebody or somebody asks you for help, you should take it because not only is it good for both of you, but it’s a great reminder that you’re not alone in this.