Finis
I'm done on the second draft of my screenplay!
Strangely, I don't feel euphoric ... I don't feel anything much for that matter.
Weird. However I am glad to have reached this milestone. Next steps...
- Print the sucker out - 95 pages. I just can't stretch it any further, not without some really good reason.
- Have a read-through with my wife
- Correct any glaring errors
- Register it with the WGA
- Get feedback from the host of people who I'll get to read it
- Have a read-through with some actors
- Make any good changes that come out of workshopping and feedback and reading
- Phone up film production companies thousands of miles away and pitch my precious script
- Be turned down a few times
- Find the perfect fit, and either sell this screenplay and make a mint, or get an assignment on the strength of my writing.
See? I'm an optimist. You've got to be.
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Congratulations also to Joan from Houston, who emailed me for some local advice on NZ, before finishing her screenplay and submitting it to some competitions. All the best for those, Joan!
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Of note:
- The Break-Up opened well, but I haven't yet read a good review of it. Billy Mernit sums up the reason why: what sensible couple would go to this movie on a date?
- Perhaps the reason for Break-Up's success is not so much the story, but a combination of the star appeal and the fact that, according to the BoxOfficeMojo article I linked to above, "The industry frequently is surprised by the success of romantic comedies yet doesn't churn them out at the same rate as other genres, like horror or action. That leaves the field wide open for the few high profile romantic comedies, like this year's The Break-Up and Failure to Launch, to clean up."
Sleepingless
I love A6's.
That's when my wife Marie, a shift worker, gets a 9am to 5:30pm shift. It means I wake up when "normal people" get up, as opposed to 5:30am or 10:30am.
But it does kind of spoil my carefully crafted timetable, which was:
- 5:30am Kiss Marie goodbye as she drives to work.
- 6am-ish emerge bleary eyed, boot up computer
- 6:10am ish ... remind myself I need to get a RAM upgrade for this slow computer - or stop trying to run so many programs on it...
- 6:10am ish - about 8am ... write script
- 8amish or 7ish or whatever really - about 9 - blog.
So, apologies for the long delay. Actually Marie's been off in the last three days (her weekend) hence both our routines are out the window.
Poor excuse, really. I'm a
professional, dammit. But anyway... the movie watching has continued, whether Marie's there or not. In fact, she's not much of a chick-flick fan. I'm more into them than she is ... give her an action film any day. We are a weird couple.
So anyway, I watched
the chick-flick on the weekend,
Sleepless in Seattle. Loved it! I am at heart an incurable romantic, and that final meeting on the top of the Empire State building is for me one of the defining moments in cinema.
"I think I left it by the tele... scope...." is now right up there along with
"I am... and always will be ... your friend" and
"Tell your sister you were right about me...".
A true romantic who likes sci-fi... go figure...
Also watched
Coming to America, which while a romantic comedy is probably more of a date movie or even a guy flick (I'm thinking of the bathers here...) than other rom-coms. Funny, but in an 80s, Eddie-Murphy playing half the cast kind of way. In other words, a good laugh, but not a heck of a lot I could learn from it.
I also saw
Before Sunrise and
Before Sunset - not comedies by any means, but definitely romantic. Linklater is an artist! And so are Hawke and Delpy. A really deep movie to get into, and it's good to see them back to back.
Meanwhile, I'm mere pages away from finishing the screenplay. I reached 90 pages today, Woody Allen's ideal comedy length, and am trying to flesh out the subplots without making it seem like padding. Just making sure to pay off everything I've set up.
I'm done on the second draft of my screenplay!
