Screenwriting

I'm working on my second full-length feature script. The first was Voir Dire, which I banged my head against for a couple of years. It was a learning experience and getting committed to finishing a script that I started. I rewrote it about six times, it's been in development for so long, many people have offered opinions and suggestions to make a good script better. Even now, Kim is rearranging and adding some extra touches of her own before it gets sent out to Hollywood.

Now, the new story I'm drafting is a radically different idea, as all of my story ideas tend to be. Kim and I were talking last night, and the funny thing about writing is -- letting the story come out.  It's inside, but I'm always wanting to second guess and challenge it. If it's easy to write - there must be something wrong - it can't be good if the scenes just spill out on the page without all the struggle and debate of "is this really any good?" Kim tells me that a partial script I wrote years ago is really great, but I tell her that I wrote it over a weekend, it can't be any good. That's the benefit of allowing other people to read stuff. Get feedback and see if it's going anywhere. So I'll be experimenting with just letting the images come into my head and writing the scenes. I'm always up for trying new things, and easier is better than difficult -- but is it any good? Perhaps that's not for me to decide.

It's been fun to write some of the smaller short stories, like "All I Ever Hear Is Crabcakes!" That script was written in a couple of hours and then put on the shelf. When Kim and I were looking for a story to create for the Trail Dance Film Festival short film competition, Lexi kept asking when we were going to make that movie. After all, she's the star, it's her story, and she wants to be famous.

So, we dusted off the script, Kim rewrote it and got it into a few pages. We went and shot it, and after getting in the cutting room, I realized there was no way in hell it was going to fit into one-minute. Yet, through the magic of editing, I ruthlessly cut out every second that didn't have a purpose in telling the story, and managed to squeeze it into 60 seconds. It turned out to be very cute and funny. The kids all did great and it's satisfying to see a story come to life and watch other people enjoy it.

You can check Crabcakes out at the Trail Dance Film Festival website. They are having a competition - go vote for it (yes, you have to!)  Click the link HERE.

For me, screenwriting is such an internal affair. When I wrote Contactee, it was the first story I crafted with the intention to direct. It was subject matter I knew about in depth, but I still struggled with the writing. It took a couple of months to get 20 pages written. Contactee turned out well and is doing good at the local festivals and will be playing at Trail Dance in January.

I would like to expand Contactee into a feature story and the concept Kim and I came up with is different in it's scope and much more tragic. If I get the chance to write it, the exploration into that world again will be an interesting journey. I love UFO's and the paranormal, and that's something I always want reflected in the stories I tell. The fantastic tales.