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 181 - The Idea Race, or How My Idea Wasn't Stolen

We're in a race, you and I. But it's not just between us. It's one that all other writers are competing in, too. What's the race, you ask? It's the race to get our ideas developed into scripts that sell before another writer does.


All - or at least many - writers harbor some degree of fear about their ideas getting stolen or leaked. That's natural. The truth of the matter, though, is that there are thousands if not more writers all working on scripts at the same time. Some are doing it for money. Some, like us here at the League, have yet to earn much or anything from our scripts. We're working comparatively off the map. But we're working. And I'd probably put money on the notion that someone out there has an idea for a script that's very similar to one I have and am working on/have worked on. It's just a race to see which of us can produce pages and get them into the right hands first. 


Does the fact that so many of us are working now mean that all similar ideas are stolen? Nope, it means the opposite - simply put, there are a lot of writers writing, and because many of us are trying to write based on an existing market's tastes, we're going to wind up with overlapping ideas. That said, idea stealing can and does happen. It's just not necessarily as common as some might make it out to be. Also, for us off-the-mappers, it's pretty unlikely.


Take, for example, a script entitled ABDUCTED, which just got logged on Done Deal. By John Heffernan, it's described as "'Die Hard' on an alien spaceship." I pitched something semi-similar to my manager a while ago. I hadn't started working on it yet, nor had I really developed it. But the intent was an action movie set in space, mostly aboard a ship. Common threads abound. However, there was no stealing. There was nothing I can concretely claim as having been mine. none of the (few) industry people I pitched it to are involved in this project that I can tell. It's just a fact of this game that there are a lot of people working on a lot of scripts out there, and we're all each other's competition. All I can do is accept that something related sounding got picked up and move onto the next project in the idea bank when it's time. Better I learn about ABDUCTED now, rather than when I have a draft in hand and am trying to circulate it. 


I lost this race. Hopefully, I'll win the next.

What's the Greenest Way to Watch a Movie?

Brian Palmer tries to figure out the more eco-friendly approach to watching movies in this Slate article. If you're an environmentalist like I am, the notion that seeing a movie negatively impacts the environment might be a bit troubling. However, we live in an age where, unfortunately, even sending emails or conducting a web search releases carbon and other nasty stuff into the atmosphere. At least Palmer's research sheds some light on what the least harmful way to enjoy a flick might be. Worth a read!

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?