The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 87 - Ahead of Schedule for the Competitve September Spec Market

When last I spoke to my producer and manager, we agreed that I would get them what is hopefully the last rewrite by September 1st. That's tomorrow.

The more I focused on the job ahead of me, the less daunting the task seemed. The larger rewrites shrunk as things clicked more and more. Before I knew it, I was targeting August 26th for my final rewrites and giving myself the 27th and 28th to re-read everything before sending. On Friday the 28th, I shot the "final" major rewrite for this stage of the script off to the producer and the manager.

This process has taught me a few things, and reminded me of others. For one, it's great to have a deadline. I usually approach rewrites by starting with a very cursory grammar and spelling check. That gets the ball rolling on prepping myself for making some actual changes. With a tight deadline, though, the comfort of doing those superficial (and sometimes meaningless, once scenes are cut) changes is gone. Only having time to focus on the actual rewrites with one proofing round at the end forces attention. I usually try to avoid the meat of a rewrite as long as possible, but this week, it was all business all the time.

Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is deadlines. September 1st was a nice round deadline. Many production companies end their year in August, so I'm told, and have little to no cash left for acquiring material then. Come September, though, their bank accounts are open again (so-to-speak) and the buying begins. Add to that the fact that most execs and VPs take their vacation in August, and September becomes a highly competitive time in the spec market. It's our goal to be a part of the competition this year. It was my goal to make that as much of a reality as possible, so I pushed myself to beat the deadline and give the producer and manager more time to read and, therefore, give myself more time for any final tweaks they feel necessary.

That brings me to the last point. Though this will hopefully sound intuitive to most of you, re-reading your material is essential. And I'm not just talking about for typos and grammar - if you don't reread for editing purposes, though, you should probably re-think your career choice. It's important to go through for other reasons, too. Did you make every single change you meant to? If you cut a character, did you cut him/her everywhere, or does their name pop up somewhere. Same with changing a character or location name. Make sure the old is fully flushed away. Also, depending on your method of sending - do you email your contacts scripts in Movie Magic, Final Draft, or pdf format - check the final version. I once sent Onyx a pdf created from Movie Magic, which I use, only to discover that 5 pages had been corrupted. I now scan every single page before sending anything out.

These things might seem small and very "Screenwriting 101," but at a certain point, they become just as important as the content on the page. Make sure the presentation is as flawless as can be, and take the extra hour or so to do so.

Wtf is Up With the Number 9?

Is it just me, or does it seem like 9 is everywhere these days? I started wondering this when I first saw a preview for 9. Set in a future where humanity is screwed, 9 little doll-like things run around and fight machines. Or something. In addition to that one, Daniel Day-Lewis (a personal favorite actor of mine), just wrapped shooting NINE, a film adaptation of the 1982 Broadway musical.

Before that, there was the hardly watched (though I both tuned in and enjoyed) THE NINE, which ran on ABC for a short-lived 13 episodes. The plot - 9 people are held hostage during a bank robbery; something (which, had the show lasted longer, viewers would have found out) happens that creates some very weird character dynamics between those involved.

Some other imdb fiddling brings up a handful of other, sometimes lesser known 9 titles. NINE LIVES (2005) chronicled events in the lives of nine women. In 2000, there was NINE - a psychological thriller by Jane Shepard that I've never heard of. 9 SOULS is a Japanese prison break movie from 2003.

Then, just today, just a few minutes ago, I clicked on over to Done Deal Pro. What is the very second logline I see?

Title: I Am Number Four
Logline: A group of nine aliens flee to Earth, disguised as teenagers, when their home planet is destroyed.
Writer: Al Gough, Mils Millar

More number 9! What is it about nine that makes the number so special? Nine circles of hell. Nine choirs of angels. Nine as a perfect number in Hinduism. Nine innings in a baseball game. Nine planets (when I was a kid) in our solar system. Nine as a purity grading scale for metals?

I just don't get it. Maybe it's all a coincidence. Look out vampires, Nine is the new Twilight.

Casting jitters

Pick one. Hearing actors read one of your characters for the first time is:

A) Exciting
B) Creepy
C) Both

We started auditions for katie55 over the weekend. This is the first time I've heard anyone besides myself read any of the script aloud - let alone anyone with a real background in acting. It's an exciting and unnerving experience.

When I say unnerving, I'm referring to the odd feeling of hearing familiar words coming from an unfamiliar face. I'm watching these girls read and I can't help but think "those are MY lines - why are YOU saying them?" Once that initial shock subsides, it's quite exhilarating to see your characters start to come to life.

We've seen our first batch of actors, and will be screen another batch soon. Then, it's time to make some serious decisions...

Screen Alert: Inglourious Basterds - Basterdizing History (In A Good Way)

*SPOILER WARNING*

Major spoilers discussed throughout the entire post.

Last Sunday, after a rave review from Zombie and mounting curiosity/excitement throughout the summer, I treated myself to an early morning screening of Quentin Tarantino's latest film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. I was glad I went early, because even though it was before noon, there was not one seat to spare in the theater. It's no surprise BASTERDS opened at nearly 38 million.

For those who (somehow) don't know, BASTERDS is treated to Tarantino's signature over-the-top yet slightly humorous (at times) violence. Set in World War II, BASTERDS might just be the most acceptable setting for the gore that Tarantino rewards audiences with. The increasingly visible Brad Pitt (or am I the only one who feels like he's been popping up in movies a lot more in recent years) plays Aldo Raine, a U.S. Army lieutenant who assembles a squad for one reason and one reason only, "killin' Nazis." The hook? The squad is comprised entirely of Jewish soldiers, and to them, the war is personal; they're out for blood.

BASTERDS is one of Tarantino's most linear films, if not the most linear. Sure, he still jumps around a little here and there. While certain characters don't meet up until almost the last hour of the nearly three hour picture, everything seems to be happening chronologically, for the most part. However, my interest now isn't so much to review the film - you can find a ton of reviews online, many of which praise BASTERDS - but to analyze a key part of the ending.

To set the final scene, the orphaned Shosanna Dreyfus owns and operates a movie theater in France. The sole remaining member of her Jewish family, she has a deep rooted hatred for SS Colonel Hans Landa, the man responsible for her family's death. When she finds out that her theater has been chosen to host a premier of a new Nazi propaganda film, she concocts a plan. Burn the theater down with over 350 Nazis - including the top man himself, Hitler - trapped inside.

As the action built, I found myself starting to squirm in the seat. She had such a good plan. Top it off, the Basterds got involved. Overkill (literally). But how, I wondered, was Hitler going to escape sure death? I've been so programmed by historical fact that it never once crossed my mind that Hitler might... dare I say it... die onscreen from anything other than the suicide we know he actually went from. Then, it happened. Eli Roth - "The Bear Jew" stormed Hitler's balcony while the fuhrer was watching the movie and shot him. Dead. To pieces. Not only had Hitler been killed, but it was an unceremonious death. He stood up, got shot, and went down. It was only when The Bear Jew shoots his corpse that we even get a close up on Hitler.

Wow. Hitler killed on screen. I hadn't seen it coming. Then I got to thinking, has that happened before? I've seen some films based on his actual last days - like the amazing DOWNFALL - but I can't recall any movies where he's been blown away like that. I thought it was great. Yes, we got to see Hitler get his, but more than that, my expectations were completely shattered. I honestly wonder now if we can expect to see more movies do this - blatantly buck historical fact for a more gratifying ending. Part of me definitely hopes so. I was apparently way off on my expectations with BASTERDS' loyalty to certain historical facts (not that I thought the film was rooted in accuracy in any way). For the ending I didn't see coming, Tarantino gets my kudos (if he ever wants it, that is).

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 86 – Does Page Count Really Matter?

If you go back and read the archival Writing Weeks and some of our other more writing-centric posts, you’ll probably see a lot of talk about page count. We also talk about it a lot amongst ourselves in the League; “what page are you on?” “Do you think 85 pages is too short?” and that sort of thing. Sometimes, the discussion seems to lean so heavily toward page count and position that I wonder if we’re proving ourselves to be amateurishly focused on the wrong thing.

When we Leaguers were in school, we were taught basic three-act structure. A script is (supposed to be) 120 pages long. Act One is 30 pages long; Act Two is the next 60, and Act Three is the final 30 pages. Even while we were in school, I remember noticing a collective shift away from a 30 page third act. If a script came in at 105 pages, chances are Acts One and Two were pretty true to form, but Act Three was shortened. I actually don’t know if I’ve written a 30 page Third Act in years. Probably haven’t. And of course, depending on the genre, a script might be as short as 90 pages. I personally still aim for a 25/50/25 percent act balance when writing, no matter the page length. (Disclaimer before I go on, I know a lot of people have abandoned act structure for the sequencing method; I haven’t yet, so apologies to anyone who isn’t a fan of Three Act Structure.)

Last night, after working with notes from my producer and manager on the post-Apocalyptic spec, my perfectly nailed 30 page first act dropped to 25. I got to thinking, does that really matter? The five pages of cuts I made speed the story up, eliminate some of the darker and more macabre elements that were making this a tough sale earlier, and get to the heart of the plot much faster. Bottom line, they’re hard to disagree with. Yet, my first act is under what I normally consider to be a full Act One.

Ultimately, I think that the answer is: page count (in situations like this) doesn’t really matter as long as the script is strong. Act One is generally thought to be between 25 and 30 pages, with those being the respective lower and higher markers. The reason I bring it up, though, is that as a reader, I remember looking specifically for that big plot point right on 30. A bit before? Ok. Too much before; well, we might have to talk about this. Similarly with screenwriting competitions; I’ve entered at least one competition where part of the grading criteria listed on the website specifically mentions Act One ending on page 30.

As writers, page count shouldn’t seem like the end all and be all, but there’s enough out there to support my theory that within at least certain parts of the industry, the 30 page first act is still sacred, and to violate that could mean a step closer to disheartening rejection. My advice – know what the industry standard is (not only for page count, but for formatting and any technical part of the craft) and where you can and can’t bend that.
As a new writer, i.e. an unproduced one, I’m already enough of a risk. If I break all the rules in my first industry spec, and especially if I fail when trying to break new ground by abandoning the standards, then I’m not doing myself any favors. Page count does matter, and while it’s not the first thing worth focusing on, it is very much a part of League discussions because it’s something we have to be aware of and is elemental to further displaying our knowledge of the craft.

Picking Sides

T minus two days until the first round of auditions. We've got a very promising selection of actresses coming in Saturday morning/afternoon, and we hope to come out of the day with our two female leads. Co-prod's Bob and Kennon will be in the room with me, and I'm eager to see how the actors interpret my characters.

Before going into the auditions I combed through my script for more than an hour looking for sides to provide the actors with when they came in. (These are what the actors read from at the audition.) I never would have guessed how hard it'd be to find two pages that really represented the whole of a character... I'm not sure if it's a help or a hindrance that I only had three characters that made up the bulk of the dialogue in the screenplay.

I ended up going with the opening pages of the script. If this is where I introduce the character to the audience, this should make a good introduction for the actors, right? Let's hope.

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 85 - The Home Stretch?

Thursday night, I was sitting in my apartment, drinking a beer and saving Las Vegas from terrorists in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 when my phone rang. Gretchen, the producer who optioned my post-Apocalyptic spec, was on the line. She was wondering if I had a few minutes to chat about the latest draft, which I sent her way on Sunday night. At this point in the game, there is almost nothing that I wouldn't drop or reschedule when she wants to chat about the script.

Much to my delight, Gretchen really liked the new draft. While I certainly didn't want to give her a sub-par draft, I had been concerned about certain elements of the new draft. I wasn't positive that everything had been integrated efficiently, and I was worried that her interpretation of the events might be clouded - as a failure on my part. Though certain things did need to be threaded through more successfully, she was incredibly pleased overall. You can imagine that was a great weight off my back.

We spoke for about fifteen minutes, discussing some of the larger notes and also speculating about potential conflicts (read: similarities) with movies soon to hit screens. On the one hand, if something's a hit - how many vampire things flooded the market after Twilight? - it's good to be able to provide the studios that missed out on round one their own answer to the demand. But on the other hand, being too similar equals unoriginal and, in some extreme cases, out right copying. (I didn't base this spec on anything or mimic and existing movies, but with the market being sort of post-Apocalyptic heavy now, we wanted to make sure we knew what we were up against.)

Gretchen ended the call with the promise of typed notes to come, which I got on Saturday. We have a conference call with our manager on the project on Wednesday, by which point I'll have started implementing the smaller tweaks and will have had time to sleep on the larger ones. We're still on track to try to bring the script to the market after Labor Day. Until then, though, I'm forcing myself to be as re-write and perfection minded as possible. There's no sense in getting caught up with what-if scenarios, especially when the work is far from done.