Since I turned in my first draft of the script, I'm waiting for notes which I should have on Friday. In the meantime I've had to catch up on other things:
THE SKULL - I'm going through my first draft and looking at how freaking awful it is... from formatting crap to stale writing - this one needs an Overhaulin' (Where's Courtney when you need her?) .
There's going to be a lot of red ink on the page after I get through gutting this draft and go into a new outline.
Tip: When you're rewriting, make notes on a script then go through and do a new outline first before you plunge in and rewrite the script. Always have a destination in mind of where you want to go with it. It's quicker, easier and saves you the "work" of writing.
I'm working with a great key/graphic artist, Mr. Lars Canty - who has done some DVD boxes for York, The Asylum and New Concorde - to come up with some art that reflects what the script is trying to tell me it wants to be. Lars used to work for Malibu Comics as well so he always gets where I'm comin' from:
"Lars, I need something really pulpy."
"Shadow pulpy or Spider pulpy?"
"Spider."
""Okay, I'll make the breasts bigger..."
The reason I'm going to the trouble of doing the art work with the script is I'm going to package this one as a producer. I'm also prepping for publishing the script myself once the production deal is set up. All of my low budget scripts that I write on spec and set up through my own shingle will be published by me for all my adoring fans (sarcasm intended - or in this case sar-chasm).
The other stuff - contracted screenwriting, short stories, essays, etc... will be published by other folk (or not) . I'm sticking with my spec screenplays as I want to create the kind of examples I could have used when I was just starting out back in SC. Scripts with notes, sketches, how-to's, crew interviews, storyboards, breakdowns and/or budgets. A lot of this stuff is really easy to put together now thanks to MMS and FD production reports. So it looks like there's going to be a publishing division of Pulp Entertainment.
But - I have to make the movies first, and that means I have to get back to writing them.
Stay tuned...
6 comments:
Bill --
I'm curious how detailed you get on that new outline before you start your rewrite. I've always considered starting a new outline but I'm worried that the new outline will begin to take on a life of its own.
I tend to go page by page, tweaking sentence after after sentence, which lends itself to a really macro vision of the screenplay. Trees before the forest kinda thing.
CD
Nope, I take the broader view - I want it to look like a forest, and THEN I want to know what kind of trees make up that forest.
In rereading the script, I see that this one has all sorts of shrubs in it when I want mighty oaks...the shape is there, I just have to replant.
Also, I limit my outlines to two pages - it keeps me honest...
Wow just two pages? That's almost like a beat sheet.
CD
If your story works on those two pages, then your story will work on the 90+ pages of your script.
By keeping it short and sweet, your narrow your focus to the important stuff: structure, scene flow, and character development.
It's an outline to write by, not a treatment , and not a pitch sheet. Keep it simple.
Oh great! Another straw addict...
Someone call the Doctor and have this guy scheduled for his lobotomy! No wait, the movies will take care of that...
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