- 90pp script: runtime of 86-90 minutes
- 5 or 6 locations max
- women lead actors
- room for contemplative shots, visual expression
- must be okay to shoot it in HD
- script takes place in less than a week (fewer costume changes)
- outline first (okay to sketch scenes as they come, too): 75 actions
- write treatment before script finished
Friday, December 22, 2006
the original plan
found this today--the first list i made of parameters for the script:
Thursday, December 21, 2006
the saga so far (part 2)
after outlining and lots of time staring at cards and post-its tacked to the massive corkboard in the kitchen (if you think that's nerdy, wait til you hear that sometimes we switch the corkboard out with an equally huge whiteboard), i had enough of a plan to start filling in dialogue. this is the fun part--seeing and hearing the characters.
at first, it's insanely easy--i'm cranking through scene after scene (of course, i've already seen them all as i hacked through the outline) and thinking everyone should outline--what fools we are for attempting free-form writing of any sort.
then my paid-work workload goes into overdrive and i completely stall out. this is last july--my first inklings of this script were in january, so six months have passed. i've written enough full-length plays to realize that crashing with two-thirds of a script is pretty typical for me, not at all the death of the project, and that it's usually well after a year has passed since my first crack at character work. so i'm not doing so badly.
in late summer i start up with a great writing group--playwrights mostly--and get the chance to hear the first 45 pages of my script out loud. boy, is it rough.
in the fall i rustle up the energy to rewrite what i have so far and completely gut a subplot, replacing it with a more energetic through-line.
in october i write a fluffy short about abby, a supporting role in the feature. in theory, i'm writing a short a month, always starring one of the characters in sky, but on a tangent so i can do character work outside of the outlined scenes. (november's short was for another project--more on that in another post--which will probably take up the rest of december, too. but january should get me a short for daniel, another supporting role.)
there was some more editing and headway in november, but there were also two vacations, a nasty sinus infection, an intense tech writing gig, a family visit, a couple of days of marathon xmas shopping, and then a new laptop, which i'm still moving into slowly.
which brings us to today. i've got 2/3 of a feature that i need to sit down and re-read, and then re-write.
should be doing that now, really.
at first, it's insanely easy--i'm cranking through scene after scene (of course, i've already seen them all as i hacked through the outline) and thinking everyone should outline--what fools we are for attempting free-form writing of any sort.
then my paid-work workload goes into overdrive and i completely stall out. this is last july--my first inklings of this script were in january, so six months have passed. i've written enough full-length plays to realize that crashing with two-thirds of a script is pretty typical for me, not at all the death of the project, and that it's usually well after a year has passed since my first crack at character work. so i'm not doing so badly.
in late summer i start up with a great writing group--playwrights mostly--and get the chance to hear the first 45 pages of my script out loud. boy, is it rough.
in the fall i rustle up the energy to rewrite what i have so far and completely gut a subplot, replacing it with a more energetic through-line.
in october i write a fluffy short about abby, a supporting role in the feature. in theory, i'm writing a short a month, always starring one of the characters in sky, but on a tangent so i can do character work outside of the outlined scenes. (november's short was for another project--more on that in another post--which will probably take up the rest of december, too. but january should get me a short for daniel, another supporting role.)
there was some more editing and headway in november, but there were also two vacations, a nasty sinus infection, an intense tech writing gig, a family visit, a couple of days of marathon xmas shopping, and then a new laptop, which i'm still moving into slowly.
which brings us to today. i've got 2/3 of a feature that i need to sit down and re-read, and then re-write.
should be doing that now, really.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Saturday, December 9, 2006
the saga so far
last january as i'm finishing post on my first short i realize that the script i'm working on can't be the first feature i shoot. (lots of characters & locations--including essential scenes on street corners in nyc; a tv show inside the film--all sorts of production tricks that would kill a first-time director.)
so i need a new script. i spend most of january thinking of new-project ideas. totally from scratch--the dreaded what-do-i-want-to-write-about freewrites. who could i write about? (and since i can only have a few characters, this takes special importance--can't let characters drift in and out of their own volition.) and then i get to outlining. really. outlining before writing. it's an amazing idea.
making my blog
i'm not sure about the wisdom of starting a blog for a project that's not even in first-draft form, but this project's been kind of backwards from the start (which might actually be forward, depending on your pov). might as well embrace it.
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