Norphen's Top Ten

It seems like my buddy Rob becomes an honorary League member this time of year. His top ten for 2007 is up at his blog, and we'll let you know when he posts his annual Oscar predictions post some time next week.

Some of you may see his list and raise an eyebrow or two (I hope no one was a huge fan of There Will Be Blood), but once you get to know his tastes a little more, things start to fall into place.

Back issues, if you will.

2006

2005

Write on...

The Writing Week part 6

This wasn’t the best week. I got sick. Beyond that, I hit a wall in my script. With the midpoint came a wall that seemed impassible. I think, knock on wood, that I hit back at it last night, finally, and maybe Sunday a bit, too. I’ve been working on another very small project for some friends for this weekend, so I’ve devoted part of my nightly writing to that, as well. Therefore, I haven’t even spent my entire hour each night working on the script.

Nonetheless, the hour seemed to stretch on indefinitely some nights. I was at a point in my script where there was just a gap of twenty pages ahead of me. I knew what was to come after them, but I had no way of getting there without infusing the script with scenes that didn’t help, didn’t further the story, and didn’t even interest me. As I said, though, Sunday night was the first time I felt things beginning to click, and last night I wrote a scene I’d been looking forward to for a while. I feel I still have about fourteen or fifteen pages that I’m not sure about (though there is another long bit coming up that I think will be fun). But it’s been stressful. It just goes to show that no matter where you are in your script, though it’s more common in the dreaded second act, I think, a wall can pop up and shoot you down on every attempt you make to pass it.

Maybe all I need is some time away from it, though now that I’ve got my legs back under me, I’m not sure that’s the best idea. (I will be away from it from Friday through Sunday this weekend due to a trip, so maybe I’ll come back refreshed on Monday).

On the other hand, something else happened this week. Well, it’s been happening for a while now. I’ve been getting restless. This week, more than last, more than the one before, I’ve wanted a change. I was standing along the East River in New York, blocks from my apartment in Queens. I looked up at the grey, midday Winter sky, and couldn’t help but wish that I was looking at a similar sky from the middle of the country, where rather than on a sidewalk, I would be standing in the middle of a large, frozen field. I found myself staring into the water, fantasizing about an old prairie house with acres of land around it and a river running through the back yard, a house that would be mine.

How could I get to that place? When could it be mine? The thing about writing, I concluded, is that it can open the doors for me that would take me the places I want to go. But in order to have that happen, I have to be the one to initiate everything. I’m not going to sit around and wait patiently anymore. I’ve given myself a timeframe. Maybe it’s unrealistic, but if anything, I think that helps. I want to write, to sell something, and to start my career. That’s not going to happen if I don’t work for it every day. The need for change ought to be motivation enough.

Links

The New York Times has been pretty good with their post-writer's strike coverage. I've found two articles particularly interesting:

Who Won the Writer's Strike?

and

Agencies See a Window to Alter the Business of Television.

And of course, if you're wondering how your favorite shows will be affected...

Some interesting points are made in both articles, and I think it's only responsible that writers, while essentially getting what they were seeking from the strike, understand that they've altered their working landscape for what could end up being a very long time.

...

I've applied to graduate programs, trying to earn my MFA in Creative Writing, and I've become enamored with this niche of a writing community. Using the MFA Blog as a starting point, there are also two sites, here and here, that I frequently visit where the blog authors are actually compiling admission notification data. The sites themselves may not mean much to you, but if you read the comments, the soul of the writing community starts to come alive. Anyone who's missing their old writing programs, or who forget what it's like to cram way too many writers together in one place, should check it out.

Write on...

what runs in the family

The following is a conversation I had with my 10 year old brother:

Brat: Are you still writing scripts?

Me: Yeah.

Brat: What's it about?

Me: Well, it's about... it's a romantic comedy...

Brat: What's that?

Me: Er... that means it.... has jokes...and is fun...and people fall in love.

Brat: Oh, like Scream 4.

Me: ....No, that's generally considered horror.

Brat: But they usually start with jokes, and then there is horror, and then end with people falling in love. So it should be romantic-comedy-horror.

Me: ....Huh.

Brat: Oh I know! You can have one person sneak up to another person, and then shoot him!

The Writing Week part 5

Well, all in all, I suppose it was a productive week. Scratch that, it was a productive week (despite the fact that I missed a night on Sunday).

The League met again on Saturday, and once again, I submitted pages from the script I’m currently working on. Originally, I gave them about 12 or so to read. This weekend, I had 31 for them. All in all, the notes weren’t anything that required I put my forward progress on halt. Sometimes, unfortunately, the notes will illuminate the fact that the script is rife with problems, that it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, or that the all important tone is completely off (if not absent entirely).

This week, however, I did not face that —thank you, screenwriting deities. Rather, my notes were still mostly questions about the world the character is living in (though Backer did have a few things he took issue with other than that). By the time we met, I had pushed on to page 59 and hit the midpoint. Interestingly, many of the questions were regarding things that I tried to answer in that second chunk of pages. But what does that mean? Should I have answered those questions earlier, or were my compatriots just excited about the idea and the gears were turning in their heads? I think it’s a combination of both, or at least, I hope it is.

Like D.O.A. concluded in her most recent post, there’s no single correct answer. Some people were urging me to take more time with the world, while others wanted me to speed everything up and show the viewers less. Notes like that (ones that don’t require immediate attention to character or vital structure) are pleasant to receive, because they get me thinking about a lot, while not forcing me to start at page one again.

The last thing this week did, and, perhaps, one of the most important things, is that it got me thinking about competitions again. Well, to be fair, Onyx is the one who has really be steering that ship. Nonetheless, I found a contest (scriptapalooza) that has a mid-March deadline, and a mid-April final deadline. I am fairly confident that if I wanted, I could have a presentable draft by the late deadline (the early one might be pushing it). That’s not to say that I am going to pay $50 to send something in that is not finished. I don’t recommend that to anyone. However, the thought of it might help compel me to finish this quickly (yet effectively) and look for other competitions to enter it into. Another reason to attack the keyboard each night is always welcome.

101 Best Screenplays

I was searching the WGA site this morning, since Captain Undead mentioned news of a potential strike resolution.

In my search, I cam upon this, http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1807, the WGA's list of the 101 best screenplays.

Whether you're a screenwriting student, a recreational writer, or an expert, it always helps to read as many screenplays as possible. And, while this might not be your top 101, there is something to be said for each one chosen here. I, admittedly, have not read nearly as many of these as I should have.

So take a look, read up, study, and enjoy them!

The Writing Week part 4

You know, I was just thinking to myself last night how good ti feels to be back in it, writing on a nightly basis (maybe a bit more daily on the weekends). There’s just something to be said for writing regularly. It’s like working out. It can be hard to get into the routine in the beginning, but once I do, I feel guilty for missing a day. Writing, even just my hour a day, seems to validate something inside me when I tell people I write screenplays. I always felt I had lied when that inevitable question, “What are you working on now?” would arise, and my answer would be, “Well, nothing at the moment, but I have ideas.”

The process that I’m working with now is different than any other I have used in the past. Typically, I tended to favor having complete outlines done before writing, or at the very least an entire outline for each act before I began putting pages out. However, with this script, I find myself outlining and researching as I write. I’ll sit down and begin my nightly hour, only to realize that there is something I don’t know, a plot hole I have yet to fill, or a chunk of outline yet to complete (that last does not typically come as a surprise).

The result is that I am getting pages written much more slowly than normal. Usually, with an outline all set to go, I can write about 5 pages in an hour (why is it that we talk so much in terms of pages?). These nights, I get maybe 2-4, depending on how many gaps in the outline and research I’m facing.

But that doesn’t mean that I feel the process is any less efficient. In a way, perhaps it’s more so. Rather than just banging out pages mechanically, I’m still thinking about them, thinking about what should come next, what would come next, and how to progress. The story has more room to evolve naturally than it ever could if I had an outline that I felt—whether consciously or not—obligated to adhere to. It’s also more fun for me. I am still discovering the story each night, rather than simply elaborating upon the bullet points I’ve laid out for myself.

Really, I don’t know if this process is going to make the story any stronger or not. We have our next meeting on Saturday, and I’m eager to see what people think. There are almost always problems within a first draft of a first act (that’s how much I sent out to the League), so I’m not expecting solid praise. But, I am curious to see how well the script is received, if at all. Perhaps, too, it could just be that I’m more engaged with this project than I have been with others. Then again, that could be because it is still almost as much a mystery ride for me as it is for the rest of the League.