Monday, September 01, 2008

The Writing Week part 35


Where does the time go? We're (all) 35 weeks into 2008, and 2009 is quickly approaching. I've recently felt myself racing toward anonymity faster than I have been in the past. There's a certain drive people need to have to succeed in this field, and while I feel it often, it just hasn't been there recently. Months ago, I vowed to actually make something happen in 2008 - to do as much as I could toward getting my screenwriting career off the ground.

I intend to devote myself to that for the remaining 17 weeks.

This weekend, I reread my post-Apocalyptic spec. I was pretty pleased with what I read, to be honest. I was uncomfortable last time I sent it out to someone, but out of the entire draft, there were only two scenes that I considered re-working, and they're not even necessary re-writes I considered. This week, I'll be sending the latest draft to a former board member of the company I work for. He (the board member) used to do a lot of television writing, still writes occasionally, and has an agent. I'm not hoping to get in through his agent (though of course if things go that way, that'd be nice), but I am hoping to get some feedback from a working writer who is not my professor. Since getting out of school, I've had little contact with working writers, and I'm curious to see what he says about my script.

Ideally, obviously, I hope he likes it, as the next step for me is to send out query letters. However, if he doesn't like the script, hopefully he'll provide insight into what he feels isn't working, and I'll save face by not sending an incomplete script out to agents and whatnot. Bottom line is this: September, I'm taking the reigns. You will work for me. In exchange, I'll find my motivation once again. I'll work for me, too.