Re-writes. The cosmetic fixes are done. The I's are all dotted, the T's all crossed. I've struggled over single words for ten minutes or more in some instances. I can't find anything else left to do other than address some of the major changes I still need to make. I just haven't figured out how to make them.
I find myself in a new situation these days, and think that part of why I'm stuck is that I'm still acclimating to it a little bit. When I first started working with the producer who optioned my script, she and her manager gave me notes on the draft they had. While I could get behind pretty much all of the notes, the re-writing process has revealed that I don't quite understand the reasoning for all of them.
This is where the clear issue arises. Obviously, though my previous manager tried to sell my script and I've shown it to other people in the industry, it hasn't yet sold. I'm now fortunate to be working with two people who believe in the material as much as they do, and I know that they have reasons for suggesting everything they did. Those are probably some of the very reasons why the script was passed on at other companies. And, at the end of the day, I understand where they're coming from with their notes. I'm just having a hard time incorporating them.
Last week, I talked a lot about acknowledging that my script isn't perfect. With that now fully accepted, I think I'm still having issues letting go of some of my existing interpretations of scenes. I like a line or banter too much to cut it, though I know that cutting it will be the first step toward implementing the changes. Other ideas I like, yet I just don't know how I'm going to work them in. Ultimately, the solution is simple: sit down and do it. The producer can't move forward until she has the newest draft, and as fun as coming up with ideas for directors or production companies to take the script to it, it's irrelevant now. I just have to write. I gave myself the deadline of the end of the month to have the draft done, and that's less than a week away. The clock, my friends, is ticking.
