The Writing Week (Vol. 5) part 228 - Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

I think it's nearly impossible to make a good script too simple. Look at some of the most successful loglines and movies. Die Hard always jumps to mind when talking about the beauty of simplicity. A New York cop tries to rescue a group of hostages from terrorists in an office building. That's a pretty straightforward premise. The plot has twists and turns and complications, but the driving goal is direct and simple. 


W.A., my collaborator, and I had a call with our producer at the end of last week to talk about the sci-fi spec outline we submitted earlier this month. The call was an illuminating one, though as often happens, the outline we thought we had primed for the pages stage was revealed to be overly complex and confusing. due to its nature as a sc-fi, there's already an inherent degree of complexity in the premise. But the execution doesn't have to be nearly as multifaceted as we were making it. As the producer put it, "you have three layers of things going on in this world, which hardly seem connected." We thought the elements were working together, but clearly they weren't. 


With that little kick in the pants, W.A. and I met yesterday to discuss things. Going into the meeting, I wasn't sure where either of us stood. I was beginning to think we might be facing a larger re-write, but I had no idea if he felt the same. The meeting proved quite fruitful, with us stripping some large elements completely, reducing others, centralizing the story, and working in a great overarching goal that we had subconsciously already been working our way toward. Over the course of an hour and a half discussion, the script became a lot simpler and more manageable in scope, with fewer rules to explain and locations to justify. What was left, though, after we peeled off layer after layer wasn't weaker - it was stronger and far more engaging due to its concision. Both W.A. and I walked out of the meeting jazzed about what we had come up with and hope that those changes become the bedrock for the pages I soon hope to start drafting. 


The simplest stories and often be the most difficult to write. I remember thinking that my Medieval spec was going to be a breeze. It's a simple revenge thriller, but man oh man was it hard to crack. I still haven't figured it out, and I'm two full drafts into it. The protagonist's drive is still very simple, but that doesn't mean that I can be lax in my writing. The story still has to flow organically and logically, and while the overall arc was and is clear in my head, the plot points aren't. 


As the producer also said when we were talking, the outline stage is the best time to catch these changes and work on streamlining the script. The last thing you want is to wind up having to do a page one rewrite because you didn't take the time to plan before you sat down to write. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 207 - 2011 Year in Review

It still seems hard to believe, but 2011 is coming to a close very quickly. Even more surprising to me, is that the close of this year marks my fourth full year of Writing Week entries. Absolutely incredible; that means that I've been seriously pursuing the wring for about five years since I left NYU (I began the Writing Weeks a year after graduating). In those years, I've managed to achieve many things, some small, some a little more monumental. My final Writing Week of 2011 seems a great opportunity to look back on this year and see where 2011 brought me that 2010 hadn't.


When 2010 ended, I had an agent at UTA, a lawyer, a manager, and a team of two producers working together as independents shopping around my post-Apocalyptic script. Since then, the spec market has done little in terms of rebounding from a slump - at least, that is, in terms of any immediate benefit to me. I still have the representation team and the duo of active producers, but the script remains unsold. We're still pursuing the feature film route, but the team has decided to add another option and have begun exploring setting the  project up for television, as well. So far, no one has jumped on it yet, but we're hoping that some of the showrunners and talent freed up by end of the year cancellations will come on board sometime next month. 


By mid year, I was getting a little nervous about my lack of new material. My agent was told I could produce a couple scripts a year - an ambitious promise no matter how long a writer's been in the industry, I think - and I had (have) yet to make good on that. I devoted a good few months to a Medieval revenge spec, but after two drafts - only one of which my manager saw - my manager decided that was not the right direction to go at the moment. Period pieces can be a tough sale, and this one just wasn't quite clicking yet. Rather than devote more time to it, I decided to shelve it for the moment and approach another.


Back to the drawing board I went. I tossed a couple ideas out to the writers group, but none really got me too excited. Jon and I then came up with one we wanted to collaborate on, and though we got some good excitement about it from my manager, the amount of work we were going to have to do to get it to a place where it would be viable exceeded our ability to also work on other projects independently. More importantly, though, we were going to have to compromise on a couple key points about it, which we both liked, and we were not prepared to do that yet. 


Finally, I came up with a new idea that I liked, the group liked, and which the manager also liked; this is my demon thriller. I did a barebones two page synopsis of it, which raised a lot of questions about the script (for both me and my manager). At present, I haven't done much more work on it, which - you don't have to say it - is no bueno. That's the chore for this break, but I've yet to really dig into it. Don't ask me why.


Other than that, I'm putting more ideas down on paper for potential graphic novels, a field that my manager might help me break into. Again, like the above demon idea, that's about all they are. An idea. So, I have to get cracking on those, too.


My writing year might not have been the most eventful, but the year itself was pretty good, for the most part, which leads to my growth as a writer. I was - and still am - getting restless at work. I told my boss, and after much deliberation, she let me take the summer to work remotely. I did some domestic traveling and took an international trip (not on company time), which was a great recharger. I'm still unsure how much longer I will be in New York. It might be a few months; it might be a year and a few months. If I do decide to stay, I'll set out to make my (quite possibly) final year in the city a big one - big, New York year as one would imagine life in New York is displayed in movies and on tv. 


Who knows where I'll wind up at the end of 2012, but I'm determined to go as far as I can in my writing during the year. I hope you'll continue to join me for the ride.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 196 - Developing (More) Ideas (Again)

Another week, another set of experiences and work. following a recent discussion I had with my manager, in which he told me that - due to the fastidious state of the spec market industry now - I should consider developing some more ideas to pitch as my next script. Unfortunately, that means temporarily casting aside the Medieval spec, which I already did two drafts of. C'est la vie. 


He gave me some guidance for going forward with crafting these new loglines. The short of it is that I should come up with something tried and true (i.e. a hitman on his final job), but with a unique twist (his targets are monsters). [Aside: this probably isn't unique - I can almost guarantee it isn't - but hopefully you get the idea.] The theory behind this notion is that Hollywood is particularly finicky now, and that the only way to really break in with a spec is to do so with something that's been seen, but is a new angle for the premise. My post-Apocalyptic spec fits this criteria (though, that wasn't intentional on my part); it's a post-Apocalyptic detective story. So far, though, that hasn't amounted to a sale or even really any glowing interest. Again, c'est la vie. 


Now, I can imagine that there are a lot of detractor out there who feel that this sort of advice is a corruption of a writer's "artistic integrity." You're probably right. I probably agree with you. But we have to keep a couple things in mind when discussing this holistic approach to writing a spec. First, the compound ideas that I'm talking about relate more to giant blockbuster tentpole ideas (summer action or horror flicks) than to smaller indie ones. If you write smaller scale character dramas, you needn't concern yourself with the above. Secondly, as much as it might seem like selling out to some people, I feel you have to ask yourself; "would I rather break in with something I'm not quite as keen on than not break in at all?" 


That's an oversimplification of the issue. Let's look at it this way: Sure, mashing two ideas together to create something commercial and "new" as your inaugural script might seem like a less inviting way to explore your writing skills. However, these projects can still be a Hell of a lot of fun to write. More so, if they take off and you nail that major sale, then soon enough, with a few more projects under your belt, not only will you be able to support yourself as a writer for a bit, but you will gain the coveted and necessary power to pitch your dream project. And, quite likely, to get it made. Now isn't that a fair trade off?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 195 - Slight Frustrations

You know, the screenwriting market is a fickle thing. One day, something's a good idea, and the next, it's decidedly not. On paper, in logline format, and idea sounds great, promising even. In reality, the full script presents marketing issues. Unfortunately, it can be tough to tell what the case is going to be, until the pages are all there to be read and judged.


This, sadly, is something I recently experienced. I had turned in a copy of my Medieval spec to my manager. He gave me a ring late last week. While he liked it as a first draft (I knew it needed a lot of work, and sent him an email to that effect when he indicated that he wanted to set up a call about it), he didn't think it was the kind of script the market would really take to right now. Not that it's a bad idea - in fact, we had both agreed on it as the idea I should most ardently pursue a few months back. Rather, it just doesn't offer enough of a hook to set itself apart in the industry right now. And, there's little that can be done about that without altering the entire story, which neither of us want to do and is a bit beyond the point anyway. 


Does that mean the idea will never be a valid one? No, of course not. However, right now, after reading the draft, my manager just didn't feel as though it has the necessary components to work in a very competitive market right now. What are those components? It's becoming increasingly difficult to tell. But this is a pretty straightforward revenge story set in the Middle Ages. Knight and king stories haven't done remarkably well recently, so despite the fact that the logline was promising, the more full execution proves itself difficult from a marketing point of view.


Whether this is the end all and be all answer remains debatable. You might disagree. Other representatives might disagree. Even I have the right to disagree. At the end of the day, though, if this isn't material my manager feels very strongly about - and he has his reasons and insider knowledge - then it's probably not one I should pursue. At least not right now. (A quick aside before I go much farther - I don't advocate sending material out when you know it needs a lot of work; I did this, because I was confident that the second draft I presented to the League was strong. It was, well, stronger than the first, at least. When they pointed out some things I hadn't previously seen about it, I sent a follow up to my manager letting him know I would be doing another overhaul of the script.)


My main concern these days is my lack of production. By that, I don't mean not having a movie produced. Rather, it's almost a year to the day since I landed my agent at UTA. When that happened, my manager promised him I would deliver two scripts a year. To date, he has seen nothing new from me. I've developed a lot of material and did two drafts of the Medieval spec. But nothing completed has gone out. I have that - and the sense that my "one shot" might have peaked - hanging over my head. The only thing I can do about it, though? Keep writing. I have to develop new ideas, ones that my manager will take to again, and push through with them. To the end. To my agent. To, hopefully, a sale.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 193 - Slowly Starting to Get Writing Again

It can be quite the long road back to productivity after taking a hiatus from writing. However, I think I made some (small but good) progress this past week. The biggest - though it might also seem most trivial - step is that I finally found that my Medieval script was sneaking its way back into my thoughts. It may seem completely pointless to even mention that, let alone tout it as an accomplishment, but I bet many of you readers would agree that when your mind's not on the work, even allowing an errant thought about it can be a losing battle. To discover that, suddenly the other day, my mind was back on the script... what a great feeling.

Beyond thinking - albeit just briefly - about a script, I actually made some strides in other areas this week, too. I'd say the results are tangible, visible ones, but that only really applies for me. Realizing that I had other things I wanted to say, other stories I wanted to tell that are not suited to the feature scripts I'm writing at this moment, I actually launched another blog. Well, sort of. I created one. I did the design and layout for it. I even began posting. Only, it's not public. Not yet. I want to work out a few kinks in the voice and, to be one hundred percent honest, remove my info from it. I like the idea of it being anonymous. It's not something I plan to advertise. When I click to make it public (I'm even going to disassociate it with my profile here), I'll let it be its own thing. If people find, read, and like it, fine. If not, also just as well. It's for me. It's an outlet for what's on my mind now. Maybe that's all it needs to be. Hell, maybe that's what my scripts are lacking - the "me" element. 

In terms of the post-Apocalyptic spec, we're still waiting to hear back from companies. My producer's going to be in the City later this week, so it will be nice to grab a drink with her. Hopefully, we'll have some good news to toast while she's in. If not, it's just the same waiting game I've grown very used to. All I can do is sit back, wait, watch, and write.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 192 - Back on Schedule

About damn time it happened. The first Monday Writing Week in... months? Scary how quickly time can fly, and at what point that triggers a realization of completely thoroughly a schedule was abandoned. Well, at long last, I'm back on track. With the Writing Weeks. My script is another story, all together. 

Unfortunately, this return to routine has yet to include any progress on the Medieval spec. And, I realized this afternoon while buying deodorant (how the mind does wander), tomorrow is our League meeting for the month of September. My script was reviewed back in August. That means, it's been a solid month since I touched the script. Blame some of that on being out of town (because excuses are one of a writer's best friends), I've already been back two weeks and haven't even thought about the thing.

It's time to get back to work. We're not reviewing any pages tomorrow, so it's all just catching up and dinner and drinks. Even without pages, we find it important to keep meetings on schedule. Ideally, the amount of time I've had away from the material will have set in motion the solution to some of the problems, even if I'm not consciously aware of them yet. Time will tell.

This coming week continues to be busy for me. But I have to write. No more dilatory dawdling. The pages need attention, attention that can only come from me. Set the schedule, Cake Man, and stick to it!

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 191 - The Importance of the Routine

The writer's routine. Many of us have one. Some of us don't (and work better without one). As is evidenced by the irregularity of my recent writing weeks, I am not one of the latter group of people. 

Having a regular, anticipated writing time and practice is one of the tools that helps me complete my projects. For example, The Writing Week used to be (read: should again be) a weekly Monday post. Summer travels and - who's going to lie? - laziness threw me off. Even today, on a Tuesday, I'm the closest to posting on time that I've been in months, but I'm still not on time. That will change. Starting next week.

The frequency and timeliness of a blog post is nothing, however, compared to my actual writing. One hour a day after work, or before work, if I know I am going to be home very late one night. How hard is that? On paper, no very. In practice, though, I slacked off on that a lot in the past month, too. Chalk some - or most - of that up to travel if you (I) want, too, but it still has resulted in a net zero pages. I need to get back into the routine.

I'm coming up on the one year anniversary next month of when I signed with UTA (well, no actual paperwork, but you get the idea). At the time, my manager promised my agent two scripts a year. Ambitious, but doable. The sad truth, though, is that I've produced an outline and two drafts of a different script, but nothing worth reading yet. And that two draft script? Needs a major third (and probably fourth) draft. That's what I'm going to start on soon. When I get back to my routine. When I feel that I can conjure up something good again. Only, I can't wait for the mood to strike. I have to get working again. I simply must. Time is ticking. I might not be able to hit the two script benchmark - hell, I know I can't at this point - but I surely can do one, can't I?

This is a test for my career. Hopefully, we'll hear something back on the most recent round of submissions from the post-Apocalyptic spec. My producer and agent were going to do some followups this week, now that Labor Day is over. But I can't wait around for that. I need to get writing again. I need to get back into my routine.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 188 - Crisis of Confidence

Screenwriters must be tough. I don't mean physically (though being able to land a solid right hook isn't a terrible thing). No, screenwriters need an incredibly thick skin and ability to take a lot of criticism on their work and a lot of rejection in their attempts to get it sold and made. And it can be very difficult to resist all the pessimism and negativism.


I'll be honest, as much as I know how vital that "I am rubber" attitude is essential to an unblemished pursuit of professional screenwriting, I still fall victim to what I dub the "crisis of confidence." I fell victim to it this week. The League met on Wednesday night to review my second draft of the Medieval spec, and I received a very healthy serving of notes, feedback, and thoughts on it. Some of the notes jive really well; others didn't sit as comfortably with me. I have yet to decide which I'll implement and which I won't, but there's a wealth of information for me to sift through now. And the notes all mean I'll be doing undertaking another major overhaul of the script once again.


That feedback (too) easily fed into doubt when I got an update on my post-Apocalyptic spec from my producer. Though we've sent the script out to a number of companies, we are still waiting to hear back from them - and that is frequently not a good sign. Unfortunately, the realization that the script, which I thought was working (the Medieval one), was in need of a lot more work compounded with the non-update update from my producer, and the result was a damning and damaging crisis of confidence that's detrimental to any writer. Will I ever make this script work? That one that's circulating in the industry, which I thought was my strongest, isn't getting traction - will I ever be able to surpass that? If it doesn't sell, what does that mean for me? Will I continue to pursue this path?


These and other questions - or, rather, the answers to them - can be the deciding factor in any writer's pursuit of his or her career. Ideally, they're not asked. But let's be 100% honest with one another and ourselves. It's damn hard not to ask them. It's human to do so. And writers are students of humanity. The trick, though, which I have reminded myself of, is that one has to look at the silver lining in those moments of doubt. My post-Apocalyptic spec isn't gaining much traction at the moment; however, it landed me an agent at UTA, a lawyer at a respected industry firm, and, most importantly, I have two dedicated producers still doing everything they can to get it sold. For a 26 year old, I'm in a pretty good place in that respect. As for the Medieval spec, I know what's not working, and I have a lot of good suggestions for how to strengthen it. While I might have hoped I was going to get the thumbs up from the group, what I got was also positive - feedback on how to make it even stronger. So that's what I have to do. Write. Make it stronger. And bolster my self confidence. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 187 - Trust your Writers Group

It took a while, but I finally got the latest draft of my Medieval spec out to the rest of the League. We have a group meeting on Wednesday, and mine is one of two scripts we'll be reviewing and critiquing. I'm really curious to hear what they have to say about it - I was surprised by how much I liked it when I read through it last. Other than the page count (92), nothing glaring is sticking out at me so far. That, of course, can all change on Wednesday as we discuss it.


The meetings really are purely for the benefit of whoever has pages in them. Yes, they help everyone by strengthening their analytical muscles, but what I mean is that even if your work is torn apart and fatal flaws highlighted, the goal is to improve your material. Sometimes receiving feedback can be tough. Sometimes it can even feel like an attack (though this more in instances where a note is given in a less professional manner, or a writer doesn't know how to take the feedback). At the end of the day, though, one has to keep in mind that the objective is to improve the script at hand, and both the feedback and peoples' response to the pages are non-subtle clues as to what is working and what isn't. Also, provided you have a writers group that you trust, you should know that they want to like your script, want it to be better, and if they come at it aggressively or (though they shouldn't do this) poke fun at parts of it, they do so because they want to enjoy it more, and it's just not working for them yet. 


It takes a lot to build up the thick skin necessary to take notes. It also takes time and practice to learn how to give notes in a constructive, non-aggressive manner. The group members and I had 3.5 to 4 years of school together in which we did both the above. In the over 4 years since, we've further developed those skills. And, to be honest, even if we slip up now and then or deliver a note in a slightly derisive manner unintentionally, we've known one another long enough to appreciate the fact that there's no malice behind it. Like I mentioned, trust is the key factor - trust them to give you solid feedback (even if you don't take it), and trust them to have the best intentions for you script in mind.  Otherwise, why even send them the pages?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 186 - Reading Through a Draft You Just Finished

At long last, I finally finished the second draft of my Medieval spec yesterday. It was a hellacious, laborious process, especially the "midpoint." (I put that in quotation marks, because what I had considered the midpoint actually falls around page 64 of 89 - far, far too late for that tentpole scene.) All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the read. In my experience, that generally means the script is rife with problems. 


Normally, when I do a read through of a script, I get right to the nitty-gritty, looking for grammatical and typological errors, lines that can be cut, and places where extra dialogue or beats are necessary. Today, though, I decided to try something new, something that I probably should have been doing from the get-go. Rather than pay attention to the small details, I read the script in one sitting looking purely at the story. Does it flow? Are there gaps? Are there character arcs and transformations?


On the whole, I found a lot of my concerns pre-reading to be unfounded. Though short, the script flowed pretty well. I didn't get a sense that there was a lot missing, especially from the first act. The characters had genuinely distinct voices and underwent shifts throughout the story; they had backstory and felt like real people. There were sufficient amounts of action and more even-tempered beats in between.


The main concern is still the page count. Though that strikes even me as a semi-absurd source of anxiety, I've actually experienced it in my minimal writing career to date. At one point, I submitted a solid draft of my post-Apocalyptic spec to my producer. Though we both liked it a lot, it came in at just about 90 pages - maybe a bit less. The very first thing she said, without even having read it, was that the page count might be too small. It would depend on the notes and the read, but I might have to beef it up by five or so.


The industry is very specific about what it wants, especially from new writers. Not conforming to act structure and not submitting an industry standard page-length script are both warning signs of an inexperienced writer. Yes, great scripts can miss both expectations by a mile. However, when you're breaking in, those are some of the top points on the checklist; not being able to mark them can be the difference between getting your material read and not. 


Right now, the Medieval spec is 89 pages. I know I want at least 5 more. Act One is 30 pages on the dot. That means that 66% of the script is Acts Two and Three. As I was reading, I came to realize that there's another "midpoint" beat on page 54 - sometimes, I have to convince myself of the technicalities in order to be more at ease with what I have. Act Two ends on page 80, so it's 50 pages. That's quite fine. It's the 9 page third act that really worries me. I often do a 15 page resolution, but 9 seems too short. I've identified a couple places where I can fit in another beat, but it will be hard to write them so they don't feel tacked on. I have an idea for the first beat, but the longer page-generating sequence eludes me, which is a good indicator that it doesn't belong in the script.


What are your two cents on the matter? If you had a script that your gut told you was both a little too short but also contained pretty much everything it needs, what would you do?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 185 - Dabbling in Projects

I've been out of the City for two weeks, traveling around the West Coast; San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. I absolutely fell in love with the Northwest. The past week marked my first journey out that way, and I miss it incredibly. Returning to New York was like landing down in a cement garbage dump compared to the lush, green beauty I had spent eight days in. Rain aside - and we had some, but not much - it was gorgeous out there. The trip really made me question why I'm staying in NYC and, more than that, lit a fire under me to get out.

Residence change plans aside, the trip hadn't been the most productive for writing. I was in San Fran for a week before Seattle, and managed to get a good chunk of script work done. But then I hit a wall. I haven't been able to move past the midpoint scene that was giving me issues yet, and - to be completely honest - I haven't really tried in the past week, either. 

On the other hand, Jon (Onyx) and I have been tossing around some ideas for a collaboration we might start working on, and that's been fun. the change of pace is nice, and after my struggles with the Medieval spec, developing a new project is a breath of fresh air. We're trying to keep all ideas in a single email chain for the time being, just to make sure we're always on the same page. 

I ended last week with a few updates on my post-Apocalyptic spec, too. Nothing major - just considering going to buyers directly, having not had a ton of luck with production companies. I guess this is a tough time of the year for spec sales; then again, when isn't? All part of the game, I suppose.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 184 - Damn Midpoint

Act Two (in a standard format script) is notoriously the hardest. Spanning pages 30-90 (again, in a textbook script), it is not only the longest portion of the screenplay, but also the one that is the hardest to sustain. That is why, here at the league, the Dreaded Act Two is one of our most hated of arch enemies.


Act Two is split into to sections, right down the middle at the midpoint of the script (page 60). That's typically either a crisis point, or a majorly uplifting moment for your protagonist. It is also the point that must compel the next 30 pages into the climax of the entire story. Your character has been working toward a goal for the first half of the script; at this juncture, she either has to redirect, find a new path completely, or finds the inspiration needed to carry her onto the next stage of her journey. What follows - pages 60-70 or 75, can be misery for a writer, as you and your story and protagonist are coming down off of a major adrenaline high yet need to sustain the audience's attention.


Right now, I'm still grappling with the midpoint. I've actually gone through and written the remaining pages of this draft through the final Fade Out, but left the midpoint unaltered. I know it needs work, and I know where the rest of the story goes, but I'm not sure how to achieve what I need in that core section. (And, it's a long section, currently clocking in at about 10 of the now 87 pages I have.) To be honest, this is probably my fault as a writer for not fully fleshing out the needs and arc of my protagonist. I kind of know where he needs to get to and where he's coming from, but the bridge between the two is muddled, since it can go a few directions. I should have been better prepared, but maybe that's what the third draft will bring.


Another interesting development - the script is a love story, and the titular female character, though not the protagonist, is emerging as the one with the greater arc over the course of the story. I don't actually think this is a problem. And don't get me wrong, the male protagonist does undergo a change. But her's is much more visible and multi-tiered at the moment. Again, this could be a product of work that is lacking on my part, but it's an interesting transformation to watch. Maybe in a way, she actually is the protagonist, despite the fact that she's not on screen as much as he is. Either way, I'll solicit feedback before I alter that at all. 


I kind of like the way it's going. Have you ever worked with multiple strong characters, one of which eclipses your protagonist in terms of experience? Can you think of strong examples of movies that do this well?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 183 - What is Your Writing Process?

Some writers are incredibly picky when it comes to their process. They have to be in a certain seat at a certain desk, facing a specific direction at a specific time of day. They can only use their typewriter (or computer, or notepad) and can only write in two hour uninterrupted intervals. Music must be playing continuously, and the phone must be off. Others are complete free-for-alls in their approach - they will write when the mood strikes, wherever that may be, and will use whatever writing tool is handy.


For the most part, I land somewhere in between. I put in an hour a day (at least). Anything less, and I feel like it's been a waste or a sham - unless, perhaps, I was overly productive for 40 or 50 minutes. I generally write to music (soundtracks) and have a few go-to staples, along with a mix of some of my all-ime favorite soundtrack bytes. I write from home for the most part, though if I'm going out late after work but don't have time to return to Queens first, I'll bring my laptop to the office and get work done there after business hours. The time of day doesn't matter too much; I'm not really a morning person, so it tends to be in the evening. 


This week, though (when I got writing done), I worked wherever I could. I'm revising my Medieval spec still - just about wrapping up Act Two; however, I left a major sequence at the midpoint blank because I'm still not sure how I want it to unfold. Sometimes, when I'm doing a page-one rewrite, I'll literally start with a blank document. This time, I saved the script as a new document and and gradually working my way from page one back to the end, cutting, adding, and changing as I go along. Even if some of the scenes and characters get cut, I like bits of the description and lines involving them, so those parts are staying. It's also easier - I find - to move forward, even changing directions in the script, if I can continuously work off of what was there to begin with. Perhaps a strange approach, but I'm finding it effective, especially because I am not changing the pacing too much. 


At any rate, writing time was making itself pretty scarce, so I had to be flexible. I wrote on a bus down to DC for the 4th, which was a first. Then, yesterday, I spent two hours writing while on a plane en route to San Francisco (another first). It's amazing how much a set of headphones and the right volume levels can help one zone into the work and zone out everything else. And with little other time to write, those few travel hours were integral to furthering the script.


What's your approach - do you have any nonnegotiable essentials to your writing process?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 182 - Working from Home

This marks the second official week that my employer has allowed me to work from home. I had to sign a contract agreeing to meet certain benchmarks, but the short of it is that I do not have to reappear in the office until August 29 (or whatever that Monday is). My boss and supervisor and I have an understanding that this (incredible) offer is also supposed to be a boon to my writing. 

To be honest, I wouldn't say I've managed to do a whole lot more on my script than I would have had I been working 10-6 each day in the office. I've made consistent (and sometimes consistently slow) progress reworking my Medieval revenge spec. If all goes well, I should have the revised first act about done today. But I need to get cracking more, pushing out those pages so that I can meet my earlier goal of completing two scripts this summer. I got a one page revised outline of Act Two done (which felt pretty stellar) and reworked the first act outline prior to doing the new and tweaked pages. Act Three is still a bit shady, but it's going to be short and to the point, so I'm not very concerned.

Having extra time has enable me to watch more movies, which I guess is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I have a lot more "study" time. On the other, that's time that could be spent writing. I'm heading down to my parents' place in Arlington, Virginia for about a week, and ideally will be able to crank out a lot of pages there (and on the bus ride down, which would be a first). 

In the meantime, I have a lot of waiting to do. I entered Nicholl this year - waiting on that. I applied for an October screenwriters retreat - waiting on that. Waiting, also, to hear back regarding a playwright program I submitted an application for. Finally, I'm still waiting to hear back about what - if anything - is happening with my post-Apocalyptic noir script. We're out to a few companies, but the longer the silence is, the more grim the picture. 

At least I can wait in the comfort of my and my parents' house.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 180 - Best Approach to a Writers Group Meeting

At its core, the League is a writers group. Sure, we have this blog and other outreach efforts. When all is said and done, though, our primary focus is to serve each other as writers.

To that end, we meet once a month in a set place (Jen's apartment) on a set date (second Tuesday of the month). Anyone who plans on submitting something for feedback gives a two week notice (this is informal, but appreciated) so that we can coordinate how many things we'll have to cover. Pages should be in hand ideally a week before the meeting, but certainly no later than the Friday morning before we gather. We read. We take notes. And on that Tuesday, we meet. 

A writers group meeting can be all business, part fun, or any combination that works best for the people involved. Recently, we've been eating and sipping beer or wine during the meeting. None of this detracts from the ideas and comments; rather, it makes the evening a bit more casual, a bit more informal, and allows for an open discussion of the work. Before meeting at the apartment, we used to take over the conference room in my office. That worked to a degree, but on nights when there was a lot of material, people would get a bit restless. The less formal approach has served to keep our attention when there are numerous projects on the table.

Last night, we met for the first time in abut a month. My Medieval revenge spec was the only discussion item. I had prepped the group via an email that the script was a very obvious work in progress. The character relationships and dialogue were (and still are) in need of great work. But I refrained from giving specifics or highlighting my other concerns. I wanted to hear what they had to say and see if they picked up on anything I hadn't, or if some of the areas I found problematic were not too bothersome to them. They touched on everything I thought they would.

In a meeting, it can be all too easy to get caught up in the small details. "This line of dialogue doesn't work" or "I don't think they would say it this way." These smaller edits and points are all valid, but when a script isn't really working, they can detract from the attention the larger picture needs. Luckily, last night, everyone was prepared to help me look at the forest, and ignore the individual trees for the most part. That's what I needed, and that's what the group gave me.

The discussion quickly revealed a key device - which leads to a third act battle - and a supporting character that were both not working. Other scenes and arcs were falling flat, and the titular character wasn't holding her own. What else happened during the talk? A solution presented itself to me. I threw it out there for the group, and everyone took to it pretty readily. Implementing it will mean a major rewrite, nearly a page one new draft, but that's fine. I'll lose a lot, but I'll gain even more. The group showed me that the above mentioned device and character were getting in the way of the more important elements, and I ave no problems about losing them in favor of something much, much stronger.

There's no right way to run a meeting. It should be what you and your group members need it to be. Some groups are massive and meet whenever a few people are free. Some are smaller (we are now six) and meet regularly. Some meet only when there are pages (we just stick to our schedule, regardless). Some have food and drink; some cut right to business then cut loose. Whatever works for you is fine, but I believe that the writer whose work is up for discussion must lead the session by determining and clarifying what kind of feedback he or she wants. If you're curious as to what is working and what isn't, maybe consider refraining from stating specifically the beats you're worried about. If you know something is wrong and you want to figure out how to address that, then open with that - or better yet, mention it in the email that contains your pages. Either way, remember that the focus of the meeting, or at least that portion of it, is on your work and helping make it as strong as it can be. Come prepared with questions, but be ready to listen to all feedback, whether you agree with it or not. The time is yours; use it well.

Do any of you have suggestions for how to best manage a writers group meeting?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 179 - Editing your Script

Fade Out. The first draft of your script is done. All printed out. Look at it. So pretty... Now what?

For a lot of writers, that first draft is a prized possession not to be messed with. It's been a labor of love, and now it's perfect. Only, it's not really. It takes a lot of time (and a lot of scripts) to realize that the first draft is usually far from ready to see the light of day. Unless you're William Goldman, pre-planning your entire script to the point that you can churn out three perfect pages per day, you will most likely face a rewrite of that draft. And of the draft after that. And the one after that. The real trick is setting your game plan for those rewrites.

About a week ago, I finished the first pass at my Medieval spec. Even as I was writing, I knew that it required some major attention in a few key places. I pushed through, though, and printed the sucker out a week ago Saturday. Typically, I'll spend the next three days after printing reading over the script, marking edits and places where I need to come back for more extensive rewrites. Smaller edits don't require marking pages; but for instances where I need to revise dialogue, cut a scene, or invest more time and effort, I'll jot the page number down on the title page. Some title pages will wind up with 30 to 50 page numbers recorded. Of course, the level of further attention per page will vary, but none of those are considered simple, quick edits. (Depending on what I know needs attention, I'll also scribble notes to myself on the title page; "Look at the relationship between [characters] X and Y," or, "Is his motivation consistent throughout?")

Once I've completed the read-through, I'll spend the following day doing the small edits. Mostly, these are word cuts or changes, dialogue tweaking where I already know what I want to change the line to, and other simple fixes. (This is also the stage I just finished yesterday.) Then, the real work begins. Scenes need to be reworked or rejiggered. Characters are removed or added. Backstories are fleshed out. In short, this is a larger rewrite. And that's what I'm embarking upon now.

We have a League meeting a week from tomorrow. I want to give the gang ample time to read the full script, but I also do not want to send them pages until I've ironed out some of the larger issues. I'm focusing on about 9 key things right now - many interwoven - that I want to address before doling out the script. It'll still be imperfect, but implementing those changes will at least shed more light on what I'm trying to do in the script. And after all that's done... Another rewrite!

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 178 - First Draft Done! And Now to Scrap It

At long last, the first draft of my Medieval spec is done. It clocked in at just over 96 full pages. And I think it's one of the weakest first drafts I've written in a while. 

First drafts can be agony. They can also seem like a joy, until you reread or get notes on them. Then, they seem like agony. They're all about getting the foundation laid. Sometimes, that means writing through a scene you know isn't working or dialogue that isn't doing it's job, simply so you can get to the next beat and hash that out. Once everything is down on paper, it's time to come back with the proverbial red pen and revise the whole thing. That often means scrapping entire sections and starting anew.

As torturous as this might seem, there's some remedy to be had in anticipating all of this. If you put the draft down believing it all to be gold, it's that much more crushing when your nearest and dearest tell you that's not quite the case. On the other hand, trudging through, all the while aware that the pages are far from Oscar worthy, makes it that much easier to see the flaws and - perhaps more importantly - the trick to addressing them.

One of the frequent problems with a first draft - and the very issue that I find myself facing now - is that a writer will often figure important elements, beats, and motivations out while writing the pages. This is great. Except, of course, for the fact that it might mean your protagonist does a seeming about-face half way through the script, when you realize why she's really doing what she's doing. Or what her past is. Or what the secret tool she discovers is, and how it relates to her mission. These realizations are key to a successful story, and you might even think you've nailed them in the outline, but when they come out in the pages... Well, I'd wager it means you have some rewriting to do.

In the case of my Medieval spec, for example, I found myself hung up on a handful of key beats throughout the few weeks I was writing. I wasn't stuck so much because I didn't know what the beats entailed. Rather, the hold up came from the realization that these beats were perfect opportunities to answer or address some crucial character points. Only, though I knew I had to answer them, I didn't know what the answers would be. More than that, the direction I was heading in for each answer deviated from what had come before. To keep the story consistent, I would have to go back and rework earlier beats and dialogue. Not a problem. That's what the first draft is for. Similarly, certain characters were underdeveloped by the end, and other appeared in a way that was too coincidental, giving the script an episodic feel that I have to do away with.

The episodic issue - a common one in early drafts of many of my scripts - is one I still grapple with. A script should flow naturally, one beat coming from the one that preceded it and all tying together into a cohesive whole. Something like HANGOVER 2, which I just saw this weekend, is more episodic feeling. Now they're here. Now they're there. One scene "leads" into the next, but not too organically and is forgotten as soon as the next location is established. Less episodic scripts are more seamless; of course we're here now, because it was set up that this is where the characters had to go and it is only natural that they're there now. No big coincidence or slight of hand to get them there.

I'll wrestle with these key issues this week. Hopefully, they won't be as monumental as I make them out to be. Either way, I have a (barely) 97 page draft of a new script on my desk, and that feels pretty damn good.

Write on, my friends!

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 177 - How Closely do you have to Adhere to Three-Act Structure?

I nearly finished the first draft of Act Two last night. At this point, the script is 77 pages long. Technically, according to basic structure 101, I am 13 pages short of where I should be. 

If you look at introductory guides to screenwriting, the standard structure is as follows: Act One - 30 pages, Act Two - 60 pages (pages 30-90), Act Three - 30 pages (pages 90-120). Of course, this only follows if you're writing a 120 page script. Though 120 is "standard," the trend I've seen is to cut that down closer to 105. For action and horror, that's about what many writers target; anywhere from 90 to 105 is decent length for those genres. Romantic comedies and dramas can be a bit longer. It has been a long time since I've written a 120 page script, and even longer since I set out to do so.

So how do you readjust? An easy way is simply to do it proportionately. For example, if you know you're going to write roughly a 100 pages script, or are targeting that as a final page count, just reduce everything page-wise, keeping the ratio the same. Acts one and three are 25% of the script; act two is 50%. Therefore, you wind up with 25 page acts one and three and a 50 page act two. By this math, assuming I'm targeting 100 pages, I am two pages over where I should be. In the grand scheme of things, that's not bad, especially for a first draft. In reality, I'm actually aiming for a 95 page script - maybe even 90. So, the other solution to maintaining act structure for a shorter script is one I employ a lot: use the structure, until it begins to use you. 

Structure should be malleable. Yes, there is a definite, agreed upon industry standard format out there. Know it. Even if you don't use it. But that format is more a guideline and an unbreakable set of rules. If your second act is five pages short, so be it. Any reader, producer, or agent worth their salt will be able to tell when something is stretched or gratuitous. And you know what? That will be the first thing to wind up on the cutting room floor. So screw it. You don't need it, and it doesn't need you. 

I also don't follow the structure exactly. I'll aim for the "appropriate" 25 or 30 page first act depending on the final page count, but my third act rarely tops 20 pages these days. It's often closer to 15. I believe that if the first two acts have been successfully written, the ending will come quickly and practically write itself in the process. By the time I'm hitting the climactic final sequences, everything is coming to a head and simply can't sustain much more. There's no room for extra dialogue or exposition or action at that point - it's all been set up, and the proverbial volcano is erupting. No keeping it from overflowing any more.

Granted, I am focusing on action movies now. If you watch some, you'll probably notice that the last 15 or 20 minutes comprise the final showdown. Everything else has been taken care of or lost by then. That's how I like to structure my scripts, too. Dramas and comedies might be slightly different. 

The bottom line: act structure is a great guide, but it's one that is best tailored to the needs of your script.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 176 - Half Way Done

I hit page 50 yesterday. That felt nice. Actually, it felt pretty great. Of course, it means the second-half of act two slump is coming up, but I'll try not to dwell on that now.

Onyx took a look at my first act while I was on vacation last week. He gave me some good feedback on it. Nothing too critical at this juncture, but all good food for thought. Still, I've decided to push forward with the draft and implement the changes later. Unless anything directly affects the structure of the pages yet to be written, I'll save myself the hassle and work of sorting out the details now, in favor of getting the full story on the page.

One thing that happened, though, was that I found myself getting slowed by a particular seven page sequence that took me two days to write. Specifically, a supporting character I had budgeted for in my outline wound up having a greater role - in terms of importance and exposition relating to the protagonist, not in terms of page count - than I intended. He demonstrated himself to be an excellent opportunity to answer some vital questions. However, I was unprepared for the dialogue that unfolded on the page, and it took me longer to sort out the needs of the scene than I planned. Perhaps it means I hadn't done sufficient character work before writing. Actually, that's exactly what it means. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I plow ahead now, 50 pages down and ideally another 45 or 50 to go. I like the pacing so far, but I'm very much in the moment and will have to take a step back to look at the piece in its entirety when it's done. Hopefully, that will be in a couple weeks.

The one other thing I began this past week was some necessary reading to help me inform my creation of the world for the horror idea I was working on a while ago. I was hitting a few big walls with that, due largely to the fact that I had not drawn enough details from the marginal research I did. I needed to know more about the time and world. I still do. The book has been a great influence so far (I've barley crested the 20 page mark - time has been short these past few days), and I know it will prove itself integral to any future progress I make on that project. First I do the draft of the medieval spec; then I'll jump back into horror land with the knowledge I'll gain from my new reading material. Busy times, but it's nice to have two projects going at once. I recommend it, if you have the time.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 175 - A Taste of the Writing Life

I was a Southern house wife this week. One of my friends from high school is an IT consultant, and his job takes him all over the east coast, with an emphasis on the South. He'll be in Charleston, SC until July. Originally, I thought I was going to have to fly out to LA this week for meetings. When it became obvious that wouldn't happen, because we don't have enough meetings lined up for me yet, I decided to leave the time off that I'd already put in for at work and go out of town anyway.


The result was a small taste of what it would be like to be a professional writer. (Mind you, I make the comparison here in the loosest way.) I had to wake up early to drive my friend to work so that I could have the rental car during the day. Dropped him off at the office, "Good bye, honey - have a nice day!" Then back to the hotel, most likely to take a nap; 7:30am is just not a good writing hour for me. Frankly, it's not a good anything hour for me. Except sleeping.


Nap time ended around 9 or 10, at which point I'd stimulate the creative parts of my brain with a little Netflix instawatching. I've always found that watching a movie - or, actually, and awards show, like the Oscars - can be one of the best ways to spark a desire to write. Seeing what others have done makes me want to be a part of the scene, and I try my hardest to accomplish my own work so that I might join them one day. Once the movie was done, it was time to write.


Onyx took a look at my first act. These were the first pages I'd written in about six months, so even though I was rusty, it was nice to have them out there. I'll admit I'm trying to do a lot within the first act, and Onyx pointed out a few beats that could be stronger or that might be necessary to help achieve my goals. Despite the great feedback, I decided to keep on pushing ahead. Right now, I'd like to just get the whole draft out there, and then I can see what needs to be set up either earlier or more completely. I didn't get as many new pages done over the break as I would have liked, but I cranked out over 10, which is still nothing to scoff at.


Once I was done writing each day, I'd work out a bit, then maybe throw on another movie. By the time all that was said and done, it was time to pick my buddy up from the office - "How was your day? Were the other employees nice to you?" It was a little different from being a full-time writer from home, primarily because I stuck around the hotel for the most part. At home, I'd be able to venture out and get a lot of other errands done. Still, it was a nice taste of what might be one day.