Well, I didn't win, but I didn't expect to either. I spoke with a rep from the contest today and she gave me some feedback on it. Most of the stuff she said, I've been telling myself ever since I finished it. She encouraged me to fine tune it and send it in to the regular contest if I wanted, but I think I'm going to let it stew.

A few days ago I was inspired to write a new story and two days later it's done. I know... a screenplay in two days? Come on! But what can I say, it is. It still needs work and revisions, but for the most part the story arc is finished. Much of the dialogue is "on the nose" so I need to rethink what is said and how it's said. Don't want a "talking head" film. I really like this one though, much moreso than the first one. I'm thinking of really buckling down and freshening it up for a couple of different contests. I'll let you know how it goes!

By the way, the screenplay I mentioned in my last post... it's on the backburner for now. It petered out. It has legs, but it's too tired to run right now. I'll probably go back to it. I have to write what I can when it happens for me, and this other script took over.

Mailed the script out to Slamdance on the 1st. Spent some time on the 30th, polishing it a little. It's still not perfection, but I never think anything is (hence the name "Work in PROGRESS Productions"). I'm just glad to have it done and am now already 50 pages into a new script. This one is about an accountant moving up in his firm, who is also a hired assassin working for a corporate world mafia. His two worlds are usually completely separate, but a turn of events has suddenly threatened them both. It's an action adventure, shoot-em up. Just for fun, you know? Just to keep myself writing. That's what matters. KEEP WRITING!

Well, I worked all weekend, slightly neglected my family which I swore I wouldn't do, but it's done. Thank God!

At a mere 110 pages, I've documented the story of a guy who nearly loses his job, friends, and family in order to pursue his dream of making a movie. In the end, he... and I... have learned the lesson that sometimes what you want, isn't worth the cost of what you have.

It needs some revision, but I still have a few days before I have to have it postmarked for Slamdance. I'll probably let it stew all day today, do nothing with it, then pick it up again tomorrow, revise, move a few more things around and get it a little more clean before I send it. It won't be near perfect, but it's done. I did it in 30 days!

I could enter it in Slamdance's regular screenwriting contest with a deadline in June, after some revisions, but I need to decide if I want to start something new, or fiddle with this one some more. It may be best to let it sit a month and come back to it. I may have better changes to make after it's cleared my head for a while. Then I'll decide what to do with it next.

Wow, I haven't wrote here in a little while. Lots of reasons why, but suffice it to say, work has gotten in the way of all my writing. As for the screenplay, I'm on page 60 and realized that I haven't gone far enough into the story. At this rate, the script will be 200 pages long! But looking back, I realized there is a lot of stuff that can be combined and shortened. Typically my character should be well into his trial by now. He hasn't even STARTED!!! That's not good. But I was on a roll, what can I say?

The good news is I know exactly what to change, and this process of rewriting has given me the perfect way to drop in a meeting with an important character earlier in the script. I think I can condense it well, without losing what I wrote, and I'm well on my way to finishing it. It has to be done by next Thursday, so here's hoping!

I actually can't wait for it to be done, I am so ready to start on some other projects.

One of my biggest faults is procrastination. Heck, 12 years ago I was voted "biggest procrastinator" by my peers in my high school senior class. I was going to run a campaign to get myself "class clown"... but I never got around to it.

It's not so much procrastination as it is an inability to focus. I find myself FULL of ideas and have a hard time settling for just one. Which is why this Slamdance contest is perfect for motivating me, only I am still having trouble focusing. I have been trying to write my screenplay and have lots of ideas about it, but I'm also contemplating other projects and can't get them out of my head! It's been three days since I wrote last on the contest script. I need to get focused!

One of the things I've noticed about writing, is the more I do it, the less I like the stuff I wrote before. That may seem an odd statement, but basically it means, I see improvement the more things I write. Does this mean what I write now is great? That's a matter of opinion, but in the area of self analysis, I see improvement and it encourages me.

A key area I notice as I read previous work that is slowly improving with each new script is character dialogue. It's very easy to create one dimensional story progressors who say the things that make the story go, but it's another to make those people natural and realistic. A lot can be said in a line of dialogue, but more can be said in the way it is worded. The way a character speaks, his choice of words in particular, or the way he doesn't speak, can reveal a lot about the character.

I've found when writing for the screen, it doesn't pay to get too descriptive because there is a director and an actor who are going to interpret much of what you've written into their own ideas. The script in many situations provides a framework, but you have to leave a little room for the actor to make the character their own... AUGH! I know what the writers out there are thinking: "But the character is NOT theirs... it's MINE!" Look at it this way. If the actor can't find something in the character to make their own, then they're going to give a lackluster performance. While it will reflect badly on them, it will also reflect badly on the writer. If you want the film to be good, you have to allow for the fact that the better actor in the part is going to better represent those words, even if they have "notes" of their own. It's tough to let go of your "baby", but you really don't want an automaton actor in there delivering lines for the hell of it. So with that in mind, leave out some of the little descriptions of how something is said unless absolutely necessary. Let your character's personality come out in WHAT is said, not HOW it is said, or better yet, with no dialogue at all

Actions speak much louder than words, and reveal MUCH more about the character. Not to mention it's more realistic. Real interaction has much more silences than we realize.

Writer's Exercise: The next time you have a serious conversation with someone, listen to the silence as well as the words. Run home and script out the conversation you just had no matter what it was about. What did you or the other person say exactly? Do the specific words chosen by the other person say anything about them? If you were going to say the same thing as them in the same conversation, would you have used different words? Think about why or why not? Think about what it is about the way other people speak, or when they choose to stay silent that makes them who they are.

Just my thoughts for the day. Thanks for listening!

Here's what's going on right now. As always I have a couple of screenplays underway but nothing finished, however I am currently devoting my time to just one I started three days ago for the SlamDance April Screenwriting month contest. SlamDance got it through their head that in order to get procrastinators like me off our butts and writing is by challenging us to take an idea we've been brewing and get it written in 30 days.

Well I entered. I figured, if there's a way to get me motivated, this may be it. So the screenplay is underway and I'm 40 pages in so far. At that rate, I should have it done in a week or so and have plenty of time to do some revisions and rewriting before the deadline. It's amazing how much inspiration I've found from being under the deadline. Will it be good? Who knows... but it'll be DONE. And I can finally officially call myself a "Screenwriter", because I finished one.

It's probably the same reason every report or project I ever did in high school or college was always at the last minute and got the best grades on them. Planning is essential, but you CAN over-plan. Sometimes you just have to shut up and get it done. Thanks Slamdance! I'll keep updating here as I go!