Since this weekend was the 4th of July - Happy Birthday, USA - I knew that it would offer a perfect opportunity for my producer and I to go over the script one more time without the pressure of work days ticking away. So I set an informal but concrete deadline for myself that I would have the script to my producer by Saturday morning. I averaged probably about 2.5 hours a night (or more) that week working on the script, often staying up until about 2am to make sure certain things were ironed out. Then, of course, after I pulled myself away and climbed into bed, I would spend another half hour or so just thinking about the script and jotting notes down while trying to fall asleep.
All in all, I'm still very pleased with the product. It is undeniably and intensely different from the first draft I churned out. Improvements in my writing aside, the story is completely different than what I first set out to do. However, the fundamentals - characters, setting, and underlying goals - have remained constant throughout, which means the project is still mine and, more importantly, still feels like mine. And, as often happens, the larger, more immediately daunting notes didn't seem so bad once I actually implemented them this week. They work in the context of the script, and I think they continue to elevate the work.
The next step - after I get a few notes back from my producer - involves a tiny bit more waiting. But it's something quite possibly worth waiting for. Once my producer and manager OK the script, it goes back to the production company for (hopefully) the final time, and from there, it goes to the whole team for a read. Then, it's just a matter of finding out if they want it or not. Hopefully I'll have some answers in a few weeks.
