Some MAJOR progress on the outline for the action-comedy spec this week, and I am thrilled.
Among the highlights: figuring out how and where to connect some sequences, plotting out a few others, and coming up with a great new angle about my antagonist’s arc.
Some of these were a long time coming, and some were spur of the moment. I’ll take what I can get.
Also realized a few subplots still need work, which range from “should this be cut or expanded?” to “three scenes should cover it”.
One thing that’s been nagging at me since the beginning is the best way to show my protagonist’s arc in action. How is she changing over the course of the story, and what are the most effective ways to do that? Doing what I can to have this occur at every opportunity, even if it’s something that initially seems insignificant but plain as day in retrospect.
Ain’t easy, but it’s coming together. Would have been great for this to have happened a few months ago, but that’s how it goes.
No guarantee this momentum will continue, but confidence levels are currently registering as high. I may even be so bold as to suggest a strong possibility the outline could be done by the end of the month. This will most likely be followed by either a whole lot of editing and revising, or setting it all aside to work on one or both of the two rewrites.
Either way, there’ll be at least one completed draft of this script by the end of the year.
Every dollar raised goes into the costs involved with making this film, and there are different amounts you can donate. Each tier has its own reward as a thank you for donating.
(and if the names seem a bit odd, just think “showbiz”. It’s part of the story)
$10 – Stage Door Johnny
Social media shoutout of your total awesomeness & onscreen thanks expressing my eternal gratitude
–
$25 – What, And Give Up Show Biz?
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, and your name as “Member of the Chorus” on a Paradise Theater poster
–
$50 – Road Company
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name & your vaudeville act on a Paradise poster
–
$75 – Rising Star
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name & your act as headliner on a Paradise poster
–
$100 – Presenting…
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, your name on the Paradise marquee, a pdf of the film’s poster, a copy of the script
–
$250 – In The Spotlight
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, a video of Shecky telling you a joke, poster, script
–
$500 – Stage Manager
Social media shoutout, onscreen thanks, joke video, poster, script, digital copy of the film
–
$1000 – Publicity Agent
everything above & onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Silver Circle” + 1 ticket to screening (if possible), full-service script notes
–
$2500 – Mr./Ms. First Nighter
everything above, onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Gold Circle”, 2 tickets to screening, script notes, interviewed on The Creative Writing Life podcast
–
$5000 – Box Office Smash
Everything & above, onscreen credit as “Patron of the Arts – Diamond Circle”, 1 ticket to a screening at a film festival, script notes, podcast interview, short film consultation
–
This is a project that’s been a long time coming, so I sincerely hope you’ll be willing to chip in to help make it happen.
A good number of years ago, I came up with an idea for a script.
“Write something you would want to see.” This definitely fell into that category.
There were so many angles and aspects to it I found appealing. The concept kept drawing me in, compelling me to tell the story in the most entertaining way possible.
To say I’ve really thrown myself into it during all this time would be an absolute understatement.
I couldn’t even tell you how many iterations and drafts this story has gone through; let’s just say a whole freakin’ lot.
Notes? I’ve probably received enough to make two books, or at least a really long pdf. Some were good, some weren’t, and some seemed to exist in an alternate dimension where opposites are the norm.
I’d finish a draft, thinking, “Okay. This is IT.” And if you’ve been following this saga, you know how it turned out each time.
There were lots of times of feeling totally burned out, thinking there was nothing else to do. Or receiving comments like “Why keep messing with it? It’s good enough as it is.”
But something kept nagging at me, saying “This can still be better. Keep going.”
So I did. My faith in the story was still strong. I knew I could make this work.
The tweaking/fine-tuning continued, aided by a few more sets of notes courtesy of very qualified readers. My red pen was working on overdrive. Cut this. Move this. Switch these around. Expand on this. Changes and fixes were made, until…
“The End” had once again been reached. But this time it felt different. I won’t say “complete”, but you get the idea.
I’ve been extremely fortunate in connecting with a lot of exceptionally talented writers over the years, and there’s one whose critiquing ability I hold in very high regard. I asked them to look over the script, adding that this was for the most prestigious screenwriting contest of them all.
The last time they read it was two years ago, so there was some extra intrigue regarding what they’d think of this draft. Approval from one’s peers plays a bigger-than-expected part in helping a writer develop.
They liked it.
A lot.
I’ve been writing screenplays for quite a while, always striving to improve both my skills and the quality of my material, all as part of the effort to become a working writer. Reading their notes helped solidify my belief that this could actually happen.
Final preparations are being made to submit the script to the aforementioned prestigious screenwriting contest. Is this draft better than previous ones? Definitely. Has its chances for this contest improved? God, I hope so.
Even if nothing happens with this or the other high-profile contests, I still have a script I consider well-written and exceptionally entertaining. At this point in time, I don’t think there’s any reason to do any more work on it. So now it enters into that category of “calling card scripts”, ready to be sent out at a moment’s notice.
In the meantime, my attention is currently being split between several other projects in various stages of development. And based on how much my writing improved working on this script, I’ll speculate that the quality of these newer ones might just end up being pretty darned good.
Maximum Z 