script frenzy starts in 3 weeks and i’m cheating already

the folks who’ve brought us NaNoWriMo (the crazy event that encourages writers to just jam through writing a novel in a single month) have announced their latest brainchild, script frenzy, in which—you guessed it—participants write a script in a single month. they’re open to screenplays or stage plays, and of course they don’t give a hoot about genre or style, but beyond that they’re kind of particular about what they want you to write during that month. no tv scripts, no movies of the week, no adaptations. of course they have no way to check up on any of these things, but those are their rules. also, you can’t start writing until june 1—you can do any prep work you want before then, outlining, background for characters, but no writing scenes.

so what horrible sin am i committing? i’m going to “do” script frenzy with Sky. in the last few months i’ve realized i need a complete rewrite. i’ve changed the circumstances of one protagonist, the habits and major characteristics of both protagonists, the through line with a love interest—there isn’t a written scene that doesn’t need to be ditched, and a complete redo sounds just right (knowing that i can later mine the old script for good exchanges & moments if i want). i’ve got a hell of a solid outline at this point—i just need a script.

now this is in flagrant violation of script frenzy’s no-adaptations rule. they’re really bent cranking out a brand new script and putting your current projects aside for the month of june. but the last thing i really need is another script on yet another back burner. so i’m cheating. or, more generously, i’m doing something different using their mechanisms to guide the process: script frenzy*, if you will.

here are my rules:

• i’ll follow their timeline and word-count goals (20,000 words, all in the month of june).
• i’m not going to use or even look at any of the pages i’ve already written. i’m not sure yet if i get to read my current script once more between now and june. i’m thinking i shouldn’t, but i’m also thinking that if i do it should be sooner rather than later.
• i won’t claim to have “won” script frenzy. ever.