This past Saturday, December 7th, I had the chance to sit down with my mentor, Mark Sanderson, to discuss the notes on my first screenplay I had alluded to in a past post. I had since calmed down, and backed away from the bridge's edge, to speak, and the first thing I offered up was that I wasn't up and quitting, and apologized for the rash outburst online. But I was also fairly adamant that I was halting work on 'Baidarka' and stepping away to receive some education in how to really write and craft stories.
Mark is a great coach. We sat and talked for almost two hours, went through all the feedback, plus several more anecdotal stories told by each person. By the end of the session, I think we had a pretty good idea of how the other operated. Most importantly, I really started to understand the errors I had made, and more importantly, how to go about fixing them. For what seemed like harsh feedback on paper, Mark was able to talk through and it all become much more clear, both in diagnosis and prognosis. By the end of the session, I was once again filled with purpose and a passion that I once had for the project. While I might have been a bit wounded upon first receiving my notes, Mark made it clear that it wasn't coming from a place of malice. After all, his consulting business is helping his clients succeed, not scaring them away back to their day jobs, heh. If you read his book, if you listen to him talk, he's all about championing your effort not to give in, and I've come to really appreciate that. Mind you, I'm essentially going back to the beginning, and a lot of work lies ahead of me. There are a few key takeaways from it all. The first is character development. I basically had none, other than loosely basing some of the characters on myself and my family members. But I really need to dig in here and create compelling characters. Who are they? What do they want? How are they going to go about getting it? The second is showing versus telling. I really had the wrong idea of what a script was supposed to be, even though I had read numerous scripts before attempting my own. One of my fatal flaws was simply having characters describe everything, but show nothing. Do you realize how boring that is to watch onscreen? I get it now. What if there was supposed to be this great adventure, but all we saw for two hours were two characters sitting around talking about it? Zzzzzzzz. Not compelling in the least bit. My biggest lesson learned last weekend is that if you can show the action, do it rather than narrate it. Constantly put yourself in that seat in the cineplex - would you rather watch a five minute scene showing someone climbing a mountain, or five minutes of someone simply talking about it? Finally, something I had sort of prided myself on, natural conversation, is actually pretty mundane to play out in a script. "How are you?" "Good, and you?" "Fine." You don't need those everyday interactions, as we all know what they are and they lend virtually nothing to a story. Every word, every line, every page should push the story forward. If you're stalling in a scene just to fill page count, the audience, be it a script reader or in the theater, is going to pick up on it quick. So, I'm off to re-work my outline. And really add some depth, some meat to it. I need to crawl inside the head of Chris, my protagonist, to really put down what he's all about. And the same for any other character on screen, I owe that much to my audience. In fact, I'd need to be ready if someone quizzed me about anything related to a given character. What's Chris's favorite food? Where did he go to college (if he went to college)? And on and on. It's important to supply the entire background of your characters. You can't know where they're going until you know where they've been. Weekly Goal: Looking into next week, I want to have a complete outline of characters created. If I can get to a much more detailed scene outline, then that's a bonus. But first of all, who is this cast? What makes them special to this story? Why are they here? Don't let obstacles defeat you, fellow scribes. You all have something to offer, something you're good at, but you need to take the time to address your weaknesses and come back stronger than before. Good luck, and get those pages out.
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So today I received my first round of notes back on my first act. In one word: brutal. I mean, I knew it wasn't going to be all sunshine and kittens, and I knew my story needed work...but when you're presented with nine pages of negative feedback, and not one single line of positive feedback, it really, really makes you question what the hell you're doing. I think I'd be a bit more able to see the silver lining if I felt I was able to fix what was suggested, that's the biggest issue. I'm terrible at telling stories, always have been. I don't know why I feel that just because I can spit out a decent sentence here and there that I'm magically some kind of writer. There's way more components than that, and just because you can manage one, there's four other areas that all need to be A+ work in order to make a compelling story. And the end result I got back today was a big fat F.
After some serious brooding this evening, what I've decided to do is cancel the current project and focus on actually learning how to write. I think it was pretty cocky of me to think that I could just pound out a draft with no real training and expect it to be any good. I'm sure there are some folks with superior talent who can, but it's become quite clear I'm not one of them. After almost up and quitting the whole show tonight, I've since calmed down and focused on the core problem, and how to remedy that problem. I'm not into people who just whine and don't do anything to improve their situation, so I won't be that guy. But I have to face the music that I'm no storyteller, at least at this point. I don't even know what goes into making a story compelling. Hopefully it's something I can learn. I am not going to be continuing the current story, or anything new, until I take some classes and learn the craft a bit better - why continue to write if it's just shit, anyways? So I'm going to step away for a bit, and I'm not even sure if I'll return to screenwriting - perhaps some other form of writing might work better for me. All I do know is I'm at the bottom, so there's only one direction to go in. Thanks for hanging with me for a while, people, and perhaps I'll catch you back on the flipside if I decide to ante up and get back in the game. Ciao for now. Over this past weekend, I had a chance to partake in the annual Seattle Film Summit at the beautiful new southend luxury hotel, Hyatt Lake Washington. I was impressed with how much further the entire festival has grown, and not to condescend but it actually feels like it's a fairly "grown-up" conference now, gaining maturity, speakers, and sponsors. While it wasn't devoted entirely to screenwriting, but more the overall filmmaking community in the Puget Sound, I got enough out of it to justify attending.
The first event I was involved with was pitching my current project to three different panels of judges. You had a 30-second elevator pitch in each room, and there were approximately 40-50 people signed up for it. They took us up to the pitch rooms in groups of three, and we were solo in each room, which was nice for the introverts among us, heh. However, I was so nervous in the first room, I absolutely cratered my pitch attempt. I was stammering over words and statements, and barely got any coherent thoughts across in those 30 seconds. And upon leaving the first room, there was a conference interview crew stalking the hallway, wanting to know how it went: "Well, Margaret, I'd rather have scrotum surgery while awake than go through that first room experience again." Or is at actually came out, "that was a bit rough." Understatement. Fortunately, I took a breath, told myself to calm down and remember my talking points, and went in and performed better in the second room. By the time I worked the third room of judges, I had the pitch pretty dialed in and was able to relax and speak naturally. I suppose it didn't help that on the way up to the floor, I was in the elevator with the person who won the year prior - that didn't exactly boost my confidence, knowing I'd be going up against her in short order. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the finalists chosen to pitch to six industry pros on Sunday. But neither were any of the people I was chatting up in the lobby, so it's not like I was the big loser or anything, I gave it my best shot and that's all you can ask. Later that evening, while waiting for the opening night party to start, a gentleman introduced himself and upon hearing I was a writer, wanted to hear my pitch. So, I pitched it to him. And he then followed that up with 500 detailed questions, of which about 483 I couldn't really answer. Why is your story unique? What's the theme? Why gold mining in Dutch Harbor, when the first thing that springs to mind is fishing? I mean, I understood why he was asking some of the questions - as I've remarked before, people give you notes because they're trying to make the film work for them specifically - but I was also becoming a bit annoyed, at both him and myself, because I couldn't articulate answers very well. It seemed that he was leading me to answer the questions the way he wanted to hear them, which doesn't really sit with me. It's my story, why would I placate to your specifics simply because that's the way you would've framed it? The fishing versus mining thing got to me as well - just because a story is set in an particular environment doesn't mean it has to necessarily follow the status quo for that environment. Do all films set in Seattle have to revolve around coffee and grunge music? No. However, it did really get me thinking about one big takeaway - I'm not well-versed at all in proper story structure and the more technical aspects of storytelling. I just write what I think is compelling, but have never really consorted with any sort of story guide - I'm well aware, I know about the Saving the Cat structure, etc., but it did basically knock me down a few pegs, realizing that maybe I've been too egotistical about the whole thing, thinking I could just write without a real framework and it'd turn out to be great. So that has inspired me to look into taking some classes about story structure, and the more fine-tuned elements that make a story a story. I'm not one for sulking too much, but have your little bit of self-pity time, and then get back on the horse and fix what's wrong. I'm looking at Aaron Sorkin's MasterClass on screenwriting, since he's my favorite screenwriter in the game. Why not learn from someone who you think is one of the best? I also recently turned over Act I of my script to my mentor and script consultant, so will wait and see how that turns out. After realizing I'm not perhaps not well-versed in setting up a story, the feedback should be interesting to see, though I can probably already predict some of it. Weekly Goal: I'm going to focus on learning storytelling this week, from reading more about what Dave Trottier walks through in 'The Screenwriter's Bible," to signing up for that online Sorkin course and get going on that. As Mark noted, though, it's better to multi-task instead of getting laser-focused on one thing at a time, so the learning will go hand in hand with continuing to work and shape the script. I need to get back to Act III and muscle my way through that - being sick and down for the count has put me a ways behind my completion goals, but time to re-adjust and get back to hitting a solid target date. I wouldn't say this was the best weekend after my ego took a bit of bruising, but it has motivated me to dig in, recognize my weaknesses, and build those skills so eventually they are strengths. Have a good writing week out there, scribes. Apologies for a bit of radio silence, all my non-existent blog followers. I had some things to deal with on the homefront, and ending up getting pretty sick over the past week. So, the project timeline has suffered a bit, but as they say in Tinseltown, the show must go on.
What I'm most excited about this week and moving forward is that I have made an appointment to meet one of my screenwriting mentors, Mark Sanderson. I have been reading his book, as I've alluded to in past posts, and his thoughts on how to tackle the film industry as a new writer fall pretty much in line with my own compass and thoughts. Also, and this is just my peculiar take on finding a good mentor, is that I don't really trust advice from people who have either never sold a script, or probably worse have sold one project and think they're the authoritative subject matter expert on all things Hollywood. I gravitate towards people who have deep industry experience, and that is most definitely Mark. He is going to be critiquing my first screenplay, and we're also going to be sitting down in person in L.A. in the coming weeks for some more personalized career coaching and advice. He's a really good guy, very easy to communicate with, and doesn't come across as some Hollywood elitist even though he's more than proven himself as an established writer in the game. As far as the other side of the coin goes, this is going to an interesting process for me, because it will also be the first time I'm having someone with actual industry cred read my material. I've read enough expert advice to know that you can't take criticism personally when it comes to your script - hell, that's what it sounds like notes are, one giant pile of criticism the studios hand over. Instead, you have to focus on the fact that everyone who provides feedback is just trying to make your story work for them, it's really no harm, no foul. I've pitched ideas to friends before who sort of reacted with, "eh, not really my thing." And that's fine. I think it's an important step to realize that not everything you produce is going to be universally loved by everyone, that's a false flag. So even though I know I'm protective of my writing, as I'm pretty sure most writers are, I'm ready for the harsh reality of a veteran writer's opinion of my work. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. While I don't think my screenwriting journey has been that drastic, heh, I've definitely been on the roller-coaster on this project. For every step forward, it would seem there would be a corresponding step back. Stops and starts galore. The upside is, I think I've finally been able to find my screenwriting groove out of the whole thing. Then again, one thing I know about myself is that I'm a fairly big procrastinator, and only once my back is up against the wall and the time is almost up, that only then do I really start to perform a high level with a sense of urgency. Case in point, there were some nights this past week that I had every intention of writing...and didn't. It wasn't until I looked at the calendar, saw the final deadline, and sort of got on myself: "this thing isn't going to write itself - you're either willing to do it, or you're not." And it's been go time ever since. Another thing I've learned, though, is a bit of leniency and patience with myself. It's OK to have a rough creative outing, where a scene just isn't flowing right and you're a bit pent up with frustration. Let it go and come back for the next fight. And so far, that philosophy has worked out pretty well. I wrote last week about a scene that had me jammed up - all it took was for me to walk away and sit back down the following day - the fear was still in the back of my mind, that I wouldn't be able to get past it creatively, but it was really no sweat. It was viewing it with a fresh lens is all. The great thing is all these little lessons and tricks help me settle in to my best writing patterns. That fear of putting the words down on the page is rapidly starting to disintegrate, and that's really great to witness.
Weekly Goal: to just keep going on this groove that I'm in. Get in the screen time and get it done, period. Eventually I'll have to expand my work habits, so that instead of 90 minutes of writing time, I'm able to dial in and focus for six, seven, eight hours at a time. But I'm not going to stress myself out over getting there, it'll happen. Right now I'm just happy to see some consistency in my writing sessions, really. I'm currently in scene 13 out of 44. It's time to really slug away this week and make up a lot of ground. I knocked out a couple scenes in 90 minutes of writing last night alone, so if I can keep that up, I see no reason I can't be around the 20-25 scene mark by the end of the weekend, which would put me halfway home to finishing. Page count is a bit questionable at this point, but I'll deal with that later if I end up coming up short of 110 pages - all part of the learning process. Happy writing, scribes - make a dent in that page and scene count this week. Well, I've encountered my first stumble - after thinking that the pages were going to practically write themselves, I can say without equivocation that was not the case over the weekend, heh. Where I had my goal set at 20, I met about 25% of that goal. A couple thoughts on that:
It was coincidental that last night in my continuing read of Mark Sanderson's book, that he mentioned that when he focused more on scene completion than page count, the writing became that much more enjoyable to him. So I think I'm going to give that a shot - rather than setting a goal of 'x' number of pages, I'm going to start calling out scene-writing goals instead, and see how that shakes out. Another key point he makes is that if you want to be a professional, you can have and admit your mistakes, but the important thing is to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and keep going on the journey. Sage advice. Weekly Goal: I'd like to get past at least the next three scenes this week, as they set the foundation for the story in Alaska. Another goal I'm going to keep in mind is the dedication to writing time - while there's no harm in walking away from the keyboard when you hit a wall, an hour here and there isn't going to get it done. I have to build up my writing endurance, so to speak, so that I'm able to sit and focus for 6 to 8 hours in a session. So for the weeknights this week, I'm going to set my goal at a solid two hours of writing every night, 8pm to 10pm. Sunday is the best day to try for a larger writing sprint, something like 3 or 4 hours. Eventually I can work my way up to the full day of writing. Above all, I should be excited and enjoying it. If not, then what's the point, really? As always, get those pages out, fellow scribes. Happy writing. Ah, yes, the outlining is complete, and it's time to get this bad boy (script) on the road, heh. It feels great to have a completely fleshed-out and structured story, though I'm positive I'll learn more along the way in this screenplay journey. I'm currently nine pages in, at scene five, before I took the hiatus and came back to outline everything. I have outlined a total of 44 scenes as of this afternoon - I'm not entirely sure how that will translate to page count, though it feels like the right amount of scenes for the story. Of course we'll see what the final product ends up looking like, it could be 40 or 400 pages, ha. So long as I can get to ~110 in a couple week's time, all will be well.
So the next component is going to be commitment to writing time. I'm not sure if I'll really dive in tonight, or wait until tomorrow night, and by the latest the weekend. I suppose there's nothing to dread at this point, since the story is there for embellishing. I should probably just get going and see how much I can knock out by Sunday evening. 110 pages, anyone? Oi, it's been a bit of a struggle the past couple of weeks - I have long-running sleep issues, and they reared their head again recently, so I put the writing (and blogging) aside to focus on regaining my normal schedule somewhat. Now that things have calmed and resumed normalcy somewhat, it's time to get back to the project at hand.
When we last left our superhero, he was finishing up story structure. I still need to knock out the last few scenes in the storyboard, and then get running on the writing. I'll pick up where I left off, with a page goal of around 20 this weekend. I'm right up against the self-imposed deadline now, and am keeping to the first draft date of October 29th. That allows me a couple weeks of second and third pass work before the annual Seattle Film Summit where I'll be pitching the idea to some Hollywood folks. From there, I'll look to get it in circulation in the system (though not entirely sure how just yet - but I'll cross that bridge when I get there). But the focus is on today, getting back into the story work and launching into page count from there. Weekly Goal: finish up the few remaining scene structure cards, and get on with the actual writing. As outlined in previous posts, I fully expect the writing to move pretty quickly once the structure is framed scene by scene, so that's why my page count goals are rather aggressive. I'm still sticking with 20 pages over the weekend, so let's get going. Happy writing, fellow scribes, get those pages out this weekend. So this week should see the start of the heavy lifting, really digging into the script and getting the "muscle draft" well underway. For those not familiar with that term, I'm pretty partial to it - it's basically your structured word vomit, heh. I'm a writer who tends to spend a ton of time bogging down and editing and re-editing my pages as soon as I write them. I mean, you can do it, but you're basically trying to form a second and third draft right then and there, which isn't the best idea. It can take hours to get past a single page in that manner. The muscle draft is getting your scenes laid out on the page with your best effort at dialogue and scene descriptions, but not something you're ready to hand over to Universal tomorrow, heh. That's what the second and third passes are for, cleaning up your first draft, making it readable and pretty for your readers on down the line. The muscle draft is your blueprint.
I can't stress enough how much of a breakthrough it was to go all the way through my story, and have every scene outlined in Final Draft's note cards view. It's huge - I actually enjoy my story a hell of a lot more now, and am really excited about where it's going, now that it's all laid out in front of me. It probably took me a bit more time than expected, as a 40+ scene outline is wont to do, but I definitely discovered what works for me. Here's to breakthroughs. This week's goal: I'm likely aiming for the 20-page mark, at a minimum. I have a little over four weeks before my first draft is due (a self-imposed deadline; train yourself for the real deal, when a studio hands you a rewrite project due in 8 weeks), and 20 seems like a solid number for week 1 since I already have some of Act I in the bag. Happy writing, scribes. So now onto the real reason for this blog - to keep on top of my progress in my latest screenwriting project, and share the successes and pitfalls as I make my way through my first real screenplay.
To give you sort of a snapshot of where things stand, I had my initial concept - a young man and his uncle head to Alaska's Aleutian Islands to mine for gold, unaware of the dark past the uncle hasn't divulged until now, which they both must deal with in the present - and a loose idea of the events that transpire. Yeah. That didn't work for me, heh. I felt so stuck, I didn't like writing the pages not having outlined what was supposed to happen next - I needed a roadmap that was much more specific. So, roughly half way through Act I, I have spent some time really setting up all my scenes. This has really turned on the light for me, I now feel like once I'm done with the scene-by-scene breakdown, I can write much more smoothly and swiftly. So, onto the weekly goals, which will be an ongoing checkpoint in these blog posts, at least as it relates to the project development. Weekly Goal: finish the scene descriptions and get on with the writing. I'm roughly halfway done with the scene breakouts, and anticipate one more writing session to get it all completed and fleshed out. I may need to make one more pass to ensure they're all descriptive enough, so that I don't spend time dwelling on what actions or dialogue needs to take place in a given scene, and can just knock out pages. Once this is completed, I really do expect the page count to increase dramatically. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to knock out 10 pages in my typical two hour writing sessions, it seems like a fairly reasonable expectation. We'll see if that matches reality, of course. Happy writing, fellow scribes. Pound out those pages. |
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