Coffee Shops
No two scripts are ever the same, and every time I leave my the desk a couple of new things have been learned. The first thing I learned this time, is that I work better away from my desk, and best away from the internet entirely. I realised this on about the 14th day when I arrived at a local coffee shop and the waiter delivered me a cup of tea and a pain au chocolate without being asked. In fact, without even looking at me. About an hour later he returned with a fresh cup of tea. He proceeded to do this every other day I arrived. He never said, “Hello,” he didn’t look at me when he put the tea down, and since we don’t (fluently) speak the same language, there is almost no small talk. Seriously, I think I’m in love with him.
May
2
A Couple Of Things I Learned This Draft
May
0
Dancing with Coma_Boy
I am currently dancing around the apartment to Herb Alpert’s ‘Tijuana Brass’. I really think I should put my hair in a beehive and make some ‘Devil on Horseback’ hors d’ouvres. There’s only one thing which would result in such an outpouring of wild celebration – I have completed the first draft of my screenplay: “Coma_Boy”. Yes, it’s a working title complete with irritating underscore – and it’s all mine, mine, mine.
May
2
We’re not done yet. Join me on Twitter (5oh19)
I’ve failed to ‘win’ Script Frenzy – but I have yet to fail at writing this script, so as you all return to your victorious lives… spare a thought for those of us still out here – blinking away in the dark like Vanguard 1 .
At the moment my script is running at just over 60 pages. I feel I’m on target plot wise, so I’ve still got another 40 pages to write. At the rate I’ve been going – that’s another ten days!
Apr
0
Back Up, Back Up, Back Up.
The universe has just given me a salutary lesson in script writing: make regular back up copies of your screenplay, and save them in a second place off your hard-drive. Not just save – a second copy, in a safe place.
Here – let me write that in capital letters…
BACK UP YOUR SCREENPLAY RIGHT NOW.
Apr
1
The Only Way Out, Is Through
I realise that these posts are starting to sound a bit the same, but there is a tedium to completing a larger body of writing which requires repetition. While the research and preparation phases have the fillip of consultation and an exchange of ideas – the actual gathering of those ideas onto the page requires a discipline for which there is no easy method.
Sometimes the drudgery of writing feels like dragging an oar through open water; or marching the grasslands of the Tundra; or embroidering the Bayou tapestry. Each small step, stroke, stitch, and word makes a sentence, which makes a paragraph, which makes a page. You may be lucky enough to be able to dictate, but for most of us, the only one way out, is through.
Apr
1
All Alone With My Invisible Friends
It’s about now I wish for two things: 1) a natural talent for dialogue. I’d settle for a good ear for dialogue at the moment but no… it’s like I’m tone deaf to what people say… In fact – I was so distracted by that idea I took an on-line test… bugger it – I am border line tone deaf!
Apr
0
Pyjamas, Bells, and Bum Glue
Ok, today is the day to don the jim-jams, and apply the bum glue. I have a story out-line, characters, a couple of jokes planned – now all I need is to write the damn thing.
Apr
4
First Draft Story Outline
Young TOM Cooper (13) arrives home in the endless summer afternoon of school holidays. He lives in a suburban paradise on the edge of the Australian bush. Garden hoses arc with Elysian abandon. Mr Wilson, a neighbour, is washing his car on his drive way. Fairies dance in the cooling air.
Apr
0
Writing for your Audience
Ok, I’m in the home stretch of preparation. I confess, I’m feeling squeamish about showing you the outline for the film I want to write – but having promised to blog the process, I guess it’s time to show you what a charlatan I am.
That said…
Apr
0
The Plot Thickens
I’m like that television ad for language lessons, in which the German Coast Guard receives a mayday call, “Help! I’m sinking!” and the young guard replies, “Vot are you sinking about?”
It’s 2 am and I’m sinking. I’m sinking about my friggin’ plot. Seems we’ve entered the long dark night of the story.
