Fade Out on Script 6

When I made my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (which I was nowhere near completing at the end of 1001 days, but I am still working on), I made one of the items to have finished seven feature length first drafts. I'm one closer to my goal of 7 which--illogically so--seems like some magic number. When I hit 7 completely scripts I'll have learned something or mastered something or at least come up with one marketable idea. And in some sense it's true--I've noticed a slow but steady development of good concept and craft with each script. Nearly all of these projects have been documented in some way on this blog, but here's a recap. Cause I'm narcisstic.

1. The 4:05 -- My first script ever, I wrote it while living in England in my semester between my two universities. That sounds very romantic, and it was. I sat in pubs in the middle of the afternoon--drinking soda, mom and dad--writing on yellow legal pads, a hastily scrawled paragraph as an outline. I love this story, probably because it is my own, but it's not a fresh enough take on the coming-of-age romantic dramedy. It placed in the top ten screenplays at the University of Michigan's most prestigious writing competition, warranting some of the harshest comments I've ever received on a piece. I have a soft spot for this story but currently have little intention of revisiting it.

2. Making It -- A very terrible coming of age story. I didn't like it very much even when I was writing it, so if it's ok with you, we'll just acknowledge that this one happened in order to make it count for the tally.

3. Whatever You Ask -- 2007 Script Frenzy project. A romantic comedy with three male protagonists. Because I know so much about the male mind. While I was very excited about the idea when I was gearing up for it, I honestly don't think I've looked at it since I finished it. I have zero desire to revisit it.

4. Collapse/In Memoriam -- I wrote this script for my first screenwriting class. I wrote it for a friend. Since our second screenwriting class as a rewrite class, I took this script through a couple drafts. It might be good. I don't know. I haven't really looked at it since then. It's a story about death, and right now it's just so damn depressing. I'd need to figure out a way to make it more light-hearted without making it a Big Chill rip off (thought that would be a bit fitting). But after the flops that were Making It and Whatever You Ask, this script did good things for me. I again entered the Hopwood Awards and again placed in the top ten, where the comments were not AS mean as they were for The 4:05 [improvement!]. This script also got me into the master screenwriting class, where I wrote--

5. The Garden [Even Angels Swear] -- I can't really call it that, but I wish I could. This script is definitely my passion project script. I wrote it for my master class, had pages workshopped by Tom McCarthy and Pamela Gray, and spent many hours in my professor's office trying to make it work. I finished my third draft of it last summer. It was a shredding rewrite, and a fourth draft is definitely needed. I will get to it--I think I'll always return to this project--but I'm hesitant about how marketable it is. It'd be a big budget movie with strong religious themes and a real cliff hanger ending. I've got to make it phenomenal before anyone takes a risk on that.

6. The Exit Strategy -- Clocking in at 75 pages, this is the first feature length first draft I've completed since graduating in 2009. It's an incredibly personal project, though if I had to pitch it I'd say it's My Best Friend's Wedding meets Tiny Furniture. Meets Forgetting Sarah Marshall meets (500) Days of Summer. I wrapped it last week and am taking a break before diving back in for the rewrite. I have a couple friends who I know would be willing to look at it after I get it to the best I can by myself. And I have secret hopes for this script.

7. Found Footage Story -- My next project. Am I jumping on this bandwagon? Heck yes I am.

I remember after I wrote Whatever You Ask, I had this terrible wave of self doubt. I had written three scripts, and the last two were real bombs. But looking back I can see the gradual improvement [and this isn't counting the numerous ideas, loglines, shorts, first acts, pilots, and tv specs I've banged out]. They say it takes ten years. Or is it ten scripts? A million words?

Whatever it is, I'll get there. Eventually. Cause I just keep on typing.

Ain't No Line like a Deadline

Last night I had a dream within a dream. Like I woke up once, went about whatever I was doing, and then woke up a SECOND time. I have some crazy dreams, but this is the first time a dream within a dream has ever happened to me. Doesn't that only happen in scary and poorly written movies?

I am not participating in Screnzy this year (I know you all have been on the edges of your seats to know what I decided). I am insanely busy and can barely fit in my regularly scheduled writing, never mind a completely fresh story I hadn't even thought of yet. Screnzy, you're so much fun. Maybe next year.

Because, oh how productive deadlines can make me! Former screenwriting professor recently emailed me details to a screenwriting contest. They were giving a discount particularly to Michigan students. This weekend I thought maybe I had a shot of cleaning up Keys to the Garden in time (when, of course, I haven't even started my draft), but welcome to reality, Amy, you're not in college anymore where you can spend 7 hours at the coffee shop writing for your day of deadline.

Those days were so awesome.

Juggling a job, a life, and my writing doesn't allow for that anymore. But did this contest I won't be able to enter get my butt in gear? Heck yes. I wrote 7 pages yesterday. I got through my inciting incident. If I can keep this self discipline up, maybe I can finish the new draft of Keys by the end of the month, which I NEED to do because that's the Nicholl deadline.

So the deadline to a contest I won't be able to enter will have me pushing to finish my script by April 11th, the deadline for Creative Screenwriting's contest, which I will fail to reach because of the rest of my life, BUT it will give me enough momentum to finish in time for the Nicholl.

It's nice to know that I need THREE deadlines in order to complete one draft. But truly, self imposed deadlines just don't work as well as real deadlines do.

Crazy-A Storm of 2010

A couple of weeks ago we had a massive storm. Power out, floods, trees down everywhere. I was, of course, driving through a large chunk of it, but it wasn't even the storm itself that was the worst thing. The flooding was just unbelievable. Firefighter Friend steered a BOAT down a street where the water was above the mailboxes. And while a lot of cleanup has happened, people are still working on their homes and their yards, especially since we just had another weekend of rain on top of waters that still haven't completely receded.

I snapped this picture today in front of a house in my town. Thank goodness the tree didn't fall *toward* the house.


I would have taken a better picture, but there was someone working in the yard next door, and it was sorta awkward already with the parking and the getting out of the car and the picture taking. You get the point.

Also, still haven't decided about Script Frenzy, which starts tomorrow. I'm sure I can fill the 100 page quota, but I'm not sure I should be focusing on original material right now. And whether it be Screnzy or NaNo, I always have something time consuming and writing-prohibitive to do on the first. This year it's cupcake baking and dinner with friends. Man, such trying obligations!

Restful Monday

I spent about two hours today thinking about cupcakes. I need to make more friends so I have more people to pass my baking off to so my family and I don't get fat. I'm so glad I haven't been keeping track of the pounds of butter I've used these past few months.

Because I was intentionally super bored today (my weekend was craaazzy) and in an effort to distract myself from all things cupcake, I tried out our Wii Fit. Can you believe it kept telling me I was unbalanced? It even asked me if I found myself tripping frequently! Malarkey.

Script Frenzy starts in three days. I participated their inaugural year in 2007, resulting in a bottom-drawer script that I still maintain has a good premise, if terrible execution. I hadn't even considered it this year, really. ANOTHER script, COMPLETELY new? Seriously, why bother doing that to myself, especially right before contest season, when I'm trying to get Keys to the Garden through another draft and a TV script presentable.

But then I read Bitter's Screnzy article, and I started thinking, "3 pages a day? I could do that. It's really not much at all, especially at the first draft stage. And it's not like I'm getting much work done on the other projects anyway... I do have my 17th quirky drama idea that's been niggling in back of my mind. I could use it like a warm up. Sit down, write 3 and a half pages for Screnzy, move onto Keys, get some real work done instead of doodling around in that crap novel idea. Even if I got lazy and just wrote my Screnzy script, at least I'd be getting SOMETHING done. Yeah, maybe this could work..." Basically I will do anything to procrastinate on real work.

So maybe. We'll see. I'm going to think about a stellar idea. But the truth is, I love Screnzy and NaNoWriMo. They're fun and exciting and the closest thing I'll ever get to a marathon. I haven't done either in years. And first drafts are so much fun to write, unlike stupid rewrites. Also, I want a cool Screnzy t-shirt.

I came up with the most killer pen name. I figure I'll have to change my name, since Amy Butler is a queen in the craft world, and apparently it's more likely that I'll get famous before I get married. I've been trying to think up something firey, and it finally came to me as I was spacing out in the coffee shop this afternoon -- B.A. Butler.

Done and done.

Acta non verba

I love my desk.

It's about to get packed up, but the collection of things on it is - well, so amazing. I'm finally using the bud vase I painted in Chicago last year to hold two beautiful pink roses. My worn copy of the Princess Bride, recently returned from another convent, is sitting onto of my hardcopy of my script from screenwriting class. On the cork board leaning against the back of my desk is a sheet of those inch wide stickers with your face on them of me and my best friend up here when we were at a pinball place. 8 mm film hangs from my pencil holder. And I have pictures of the people who are my life are plastered all around.

I'm done with school. It's over. How quickly the year went by. I might wax reminiscent, but another time.

We edited today (I feel like that's a really annoying word to say in real life: "edited." It's because there are three "d/t" sounds in it) and got a rough cut of "Join This Group?" done. We actually didn't watch it all the way through, but the audio - which was what I was concerned about - came out ok. I didn't realize, though, that some of the facilities start closing soon. I'm recording the voice over with the talent tomorrow (we'll see how I do with the equipment all by myself), and we'll layer that on and work on the fine cut Wednesday. My editor is great - she's so familiar with Final Cut.

I went to a showcase of films made for classes over the past semester. It was really cool seeing what some of the other students have been working on. I especially liked the use of locale in one, and I hope that one day - if I have time - I can just wander around and take pictures and let the creative juices flow. In order to choose between a typical location and a unique and interesting location, I need to know where the cool locations are.

I was eavesdropping in feminist film class the other day and heard another girl talk about how our screenwriting program chair had advised her not to move out to LA yet. Among one of the reasons was that when everyone gets out there, they all write the same stories. You can see that here sometimes, people writing the same stories. We have limited resources and are going through similar life issues, which can make it seem dull in this context. But I think there are a lot of opportunities for unique stories using those same resources. It just takes an extra little digging trying to find them.

I realized the other day that I've only stayed awake for one out of class movie this entire semester. I watched all of Vantage Point - barely, I barely made it through the movie. All others I've fallen asleep during.

My Screnzy script - does not exist. I have the six pages I wrote way back when, and that is all. I may be could do it, if I wasn't working long hours this week, working on "Join This Group?", cramming in those last few memorable hours with friends, and suffering from a complete lack of motivation. I hate being this unbusy. It drains my energy and motivation like nothing else.

But I shouldn't whine. I think I'm just annoyed that all my friends are leaving. Really, as much as I wanted to spend as much time with all of them as possible, I should have left as soon as I was finished. Now instead of one good bye for me I have to say good bye multiple times to multiple people. And one of my closest friends is graduating this year, so ever time I walk through the Diag and the sea of 30,000 folding chairs there, I suffer a mini heartbreak. Sometimes I struggle with the balance between letting go and holding on, between running away and carrying useless torches. But you know what? I'm ok with being sad about the end of the year. Because all it really means is that I love this place and these people so gosh darn much.

April Fool's Day!

I feel like the end of winter semester is so much longer than the end of fall semester. We've been "ending" ever since the week or so after Spring Break, I feel. I don't like it, or the massive amounts of work I've been dealing with. Therefore, I blog.

Script Frenzy started today. Whoops. I sorta know what I'm going to write about, though. I would have some time this weekend to write, but I'm shooting. I would have time next week to write, but my screenplay is due, I would have time next weekend to write, but the following week I have two 8 page papers and three exams. Maybe the weekend after that. Yes, maybe by the 18th I'll have started my screenplay for Script Frenzy.

One of my biggest pet peeves is knowing that I had things I wanted to blog about but forgetting what they were once I actually sit down to write.

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one of my friends might be moving out to LA after December graduation. That would be kinda fun, having someone I knew out there that will be familiar with the area.

I finally got my fourth main actor for "Join This Group?" committed. Of course, it means pushing up the shooting time on Sunday, like we had to on Friday as well. But hey, we've got the actor. Whew. I can't even hardly think about shooting because of all the academic stuff I have due this week. There's still a lot to do - hey, let's not even think about post yet, m'kay? I was going to have a whole week after exams finished to sit around campus and do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was going to write and watch movies and edit. But I thought over things more practically and realized that it would be better if I worked that week instead of during exams. So now my post exam week will be all about working, watching movies, and editing. I will probably get too lazy to write.

I took a nap this afternoon and woke up with a crease that ran from above my eyebrow to the corner of my lip. I had class in ten minutes. I did not manage to get the crease to go completely away.

I'm reading the screenplay of Garden State right now (it's like research and learning... but also relaxation!). I love this movie. Lost it. The more I watch it and read it and study it, I just fall in love. Brilliance. If you disagree with me, I pretty much will dismiss you - as a person.

Sometimes I want the old studio system back. You know, when talent would contract with a studio for a length of time, not for individual projects. Maybe it's the sense of stability that appeals to me. Really, I think I just like the collaborative nature of that system, always working with the same people. I would love to have that here on campus, a group of film students who all work together and are committed to each other's projects. There's a loose sense of that. We'll openly call for help with productions. And I'm lucky enough to be close enough friends with a couple of other film students that we can shoot a 6 minutes short on the weekend no problem. But what I really want, what I really think would be cool, would be to have a group of 8ish students who are all committed - no washing out - to a project that spans a semester or even a year. A group of people who've caught a vision together. And the pursuit of that vision is not a chore or a job or work. It's a desire.

I'm not a very practical person, though. I'm the one who'll come up with the big idea, get really excited, and may eventually lose momentum, especially if I'm on my own. I'm not always that good at sharing my big ideas either. But maybe, maybe we'll try with this. We'll see.

So much babbling. I wonder sometimes how you put up with it all.

Overheard in a Screening (Christopher Strong):

"Courage conquers death."
"But not love."

Ad absurdum

I realized the other day that my posts had gotten deeply personal and a little sentimental. Ew. Let's get back to real business.

School is getting irritating. I'm so far beyond this semester and the drama it's caused. But really --

We turned in our Act IIbs in screenwriting class this week (20 pages in one day, baby). We workshopped mine, and I got reamed a little bit about de-conflicting my Act II turning point. I would agree that something was not quite right, but I'm not sure that it's what everyone was telling me. I have a tendency to want to drain scenes of their overt conflict - especially if it's not relational conflict. In my screenplay there's the real story about relationships and the conflict there, and then there's the subplot about legal proceedings and such. So for every turning point/midpoint in Current Draft, I have scenes for the relational/emotional plot and the "physical" subplot. The "physical" subplot is really only there to create momentum for the plot points and make them easier to distinguish, so really those are the only times it shows up. So for my Act II turning point I have an emotional/relational turning point and a "physical" subplot turning point. Because the latter is less important, I drained it of its conflict. And that's where I took the fall. It's definitely something I'm going to want to think about. I agree with my classmates that there's a lot of potential in those scenes - but that's not where the story is, so I'm not sure how much importance I want to give those scenes.

I feel sometimes like the story in Current Draft is growing beyond my control, like a puddle of water.

In a week and a half we'll turn in the completed screenplay. So far I like Current Draft, much better than my last two, which is good, because I pretty much went to my professor early on in the semester and said, "I've sucked at the last two screenplays - if I don't do well with this one I'm going to radically rethink my decision to be a screenwriter." I feel like I'm back in the game, though.

I shoot my mockumentary short, "Join This Group?" this weekend. I'm stressed. We only have two crew members for our first shoot (including me), the one that I got the professor that I'm in awe of to act in. First shoot, only two people, and I'm going to blubber around her anyway. Oh no, I can already feel my brain start to fog up and my throat getting sticky. I'm still looking for a fourth actor to shoot on Sunday. I think I would already have one, but it's taking a while for people to get back to me with their answer. Otherwise, I think it's going to be a lot of fun, not too stressful, and I'm excited for both the process and the finished project.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to write a series of websoides this summer. I've got another idea for a series of websoides, but it would require tricking a whole lot more people into being involved.

April is going to be crazy. No, really. Besides school finishing (two 8-10 page papers and three finals, with a few presentations, quizzes and short papers thrown in for extra spice), I'm shooting and editing this short, doing Script Frenzy, and hopefully pulling Current Draft through a full edit in time for the Nicholl. The only way this is remotely plausible to think about is because of the fact that after April 18th I will have no obligations whatsoever to anything. Nothing. No more school obligations, no more church obligations. Pure, clear freedom. It's like a shining moment I look forward to. I wish you guys could see my Google calender to compare the next few weeks in all their multi colored jam-packed glory to the complete emptiness of the week after April 18th.

Google calender went out for like 5 hours on Friday and I almost had a meltdown. No joke, there were noticeable panic feelings.

Anyone writing anything for Script Frenzy? I'm trying to decide if I want to write something that's been percolating for a while or go with something completely different. I have an idea about Sierra Leone that I really like, a very plot-based, socially concerned piece. Or I have the vaguest idea for a more anti-structure, romantic piece that will explore some questions I'm thinking about right now. Any suggestions? What are you writing?

The Transforming Power of Film

Well, I'm back from camp. No more sleepouts. No more almost stepping on frogs in the middle of the night. No more star gazing. No more showering with insects. No more Bible Exs or devotions or awesome campers. No more cookouts and ice cream and worship Tuesday night. No more songfests. No more counselor hunts. No more bird names. No more of a lot of things. Until next summer, that is. Cross my fingers.

I didn't get much writing done this summer. Waaay too busy. I've got a few ideas though, so we'll see how it goes in the next couple of weeks.

So I have a friend whose friend had a life changing experience with a movie. He saw Transformers, and it's inspired him. To do what, you might ask.

Join the Air Force.

I don't know whether to be encouraged or exasperated, really. It is, at the very least, revealing, I think. Obviously I'm going to have to see Transformers eventually. On a similar writing note, I got my gentle let down from the Nicholls. I finished Script Frenzy with a horrendous script. So I'm feeling a little pressure to make this next script, if not good, at least a story that I like.

Bug Bites on your Feet are not Fun

I wish I had time to talk about how amazing camp is. But I'm the last one of my day off party to be still on the computers in the library, so short it will be.

I finished Script Frenzy! It's awful, my script, for sure, and rewriting will be writing new stuff completely, but I"m glad it's done, and I think there's still a workable story in there somewhere.

Camp is so cool. Campers start coming tonight for a Mother/Daughter weekend, and then we get real campers on Sunday. I found out last night that I'm counseling the first week (we have one more counselor than tents in our division, so we have one "floater" a week), and I'm in Heffalump tent! Yeah, in the Explorer division (the eldest campers) all the tents are named after Winnie the pooh characters. It's awesome. As far as modeling the way that God wanted the church to train up the next generation, for older women to mentor younger ones, camps is great. It's really an amazing feeling to be able to step up to a leadership position like this. And we too have older, more mature women over us, leading and teaching us. That doesn't really happen in the real world. You have your pastor and your Bible study leaders and stuff, but to have this sort of blatant mentorship and leadership going on, it doesn't happen. It's cool to see it the way God wanted it. And camp is also a great place because even though you get to mentor and lead and learn from other women, you also get to be outrageous and silly and have more fun than should be allowed. I'm pretty much super happy (okay, and a little nervous about the campers coming in two days!)

Hope all is going well on the outside world!

To be honest, I based Grace off myself

Tomorrow I leave for camp. I am excited. Not combustible excited, because I'm sick and tired from a fun weekend, but the happy, pleased, content excited. It's going to be a challenge and a retreat at the same time.

I am so excited by camp. This is where I used to go as a kid. We live up in the mountains by a lake in cabins or platform tents without electricity. We have campfires and cookouts. I'll be in charge of a group of eight or so girls, I'll be teaching/assisting two activities from crafts to drama to kayaking, I'll have a couple hours of free time to go horseback riding or practicing my archery skills, I'll get to lead my cabin girls in Bible study every day, I'll get to hang out with girls my own age dealing with similar stuff, and I get a cool bird name! I am going to be busy busy busy. The thing I'm going to miss most? Listening to Mat Kearney!

And I'll have limited, practically nonexistent internet access.

I got Whatever You Ask up to 13K. Not done. I can work on it some a little on the way up to camp tomorrow, but it's not going to hit 20K tonight like I had hoped. There's still a chance for it. Some times writers have to choose between having time to write and having a life. As that old knight guy said in The Last Crusade, "You have chosen wisely."

I've finally seen some *good* movies lately. Marie Antoinette, Say Anything, and the Departed are all vastly different and very good movies. Watching Say Anything after Four Weddings and a Funeral, I noticed a very crucial element - I fell in love with John Cusack in Say Anything. I didn't feel very many warm and fuzzies for Hugh Grant - and he's beautiful and has a British accent. You think it would be automatic for a writer, to create not only a sympathetic character but one that the audience can love. But I didn't root for Grant like I rooted for Cusack. And that made all the difference.

I'm watching Supernanny. Funny the way it reminds me of au pairing, especially Jo with her British accent. I've decided that with my experiences with children, if I don't get a job in the industry when I go to LA, I sure as heck will be able to get a job in child care.

Have a great summer, everyone!

Stay up late and share secrets

Tonight was the most ridiculous night of work at my temp job. I've decided, finally, that there's gotta be a story in there somewhere. There has to be.

I've solved a dilemma that arose from watching the customers at my temp job. Children like hover around their parents at the register and when said parent is not looking, slip a brightly colored little item into the huge pile their parents are not watching. I can never really tell whether or not parents didn't see it or if they're just letting it slide, so I've started asking. I have yet to see a kid, though, whose eyes do not bulge when they come near the register, so I've started to figure out ways to not let my kids get that irritating that they are constantly pulling on my clothes to buy them something that will just make them even more energetic and disruptive. I think the clear solution is - never let them know what's inside those bright wrappers. Never eat candy in front of my kids, never give it to them straight from the package, keep it secret from them for until they can read the darn labels themselves. As long as they don't know what's in those little red and orange packages, they can't want them, right?

Wrote another thousand words today for Script Frenzy. I feel like I'm writing in circles, slowly building, but still rehashing the same themes, the same scenes. It's time to bump it up a notch. I'm going to give them a few more pages to let them play nice before I tear it all down. There needs to be more CONFLICT, gosh darn it.

I saw Four Weddings and a Funeral the other night. This movie is supposed to be like one of the classic Romantic Comedies, a gem in the genre.

I really didn't like it.

Billy Mernit criticizes Elizabethtown for the fact that in a romantic comedy, you should be able to see the attraction between the two people, why they should be together, and he never understood why Kirsten Dunst fell for and chased after Orlando Bloom. Um, hello, gorgeous, need I say more? But anyway, I felt this was the very same problem in Four Weddings, even more so. Andie and Hugh don't have a real conversation on screen until after they've slept together for the second time. What? And can we talk about what a commitment-phobe Andie was? I may spend time dancing the line, but you can believe that the next time I commit, you won't find me flirting with an old fling at his wedding ceremony after separating from my husband of less than a year. This just disturbs me. Sure, there were a few cute quotes, and the friendship dynamics in the story were interesting, but the main romantic plot? Not interested. Did not find that relationship engaging or, well, sympathetic, really, at all! Still have Say Anything to watch, by the same writer/director so criticized by the honorable and wise Mr. Mernit (whose book I looked for and failed to find today), another gem of the genre, and one I would be watching now if it wasn't already pretty late...

Oooh, We're Halfway There

Hit 10,000 words today. 'Nuff said.

Time in the Joint

"So what's a pretty girl like you doing in a joint like this?"

Now, I know my temp job sucks, but I didn't think it was all that bad. Some people who stop by are really friendly. I was stocking stuff the other day, and a man comes down the aisle and says, "I just wanted to say hi!" I say, "Well, hi!" and as he walks off, I mouth, Who the crap is that. Some of the friendliest people. And a really cool old Scottish guy who will up open like a sweetheart if you get him to talk.

Have I mentioned how much I love Mat Kearney? He's pretty much amazing.

I broke 8,000 words tonight on Whatever You Ask. I'm ahead of the game if I had the whole month, but there's the whole trying to finish before May 14th thing. I've managed to mentally plot more of Act II out, though, which is helpful. Act II isn't so much of a hassle to write if you do have a midpoint that you're trying to build the story too. Then it's not just about complications. It's about plot and development and all that sort of good stuff.

I'm just thinking about a lot of stuff, really. And it's not really about writing, but it's coming out in my writing. That's sorta cool.

How to listen to U2 on a broken shuffle

My iPod wasn't working today. I have a shuffle, so it won't even tell me what's wrong. I ran errands and such today, walking of course, and my iPod stopped working after a while. So when I started walking back and, in frustration, did what I do to technology that's trying to revolt - I shook it. And that worked! Amazing.

Today was a positively beautiful day.

I didn't write again on Whatever You Ask yesterday after I posted. Because I'm lazy. Today I wrote 1200 words, though, so I made up for it, I think. Finished Act I. Act II will be difficult, getting those complications rolling, but hopefully once started it will go along, er, smoothly.

I caught an episode of On the Lot finally. I'd only heard things before tonight, mostly that it wasn't really very filmmaker realistic. Tonight they showcased 5 of 15 after they had five days to write, shoot, and edit their own shorts. They weren't too bad. Better than I could do in five days. My favourite one, for anyone who saw it, was the baker musical. But seriously, my first thought was, Oh my gosh Carrie Fisher looks so old!

I met her once, you know. Got to shake her hand. Stood in line three hours to do so, but I was star struck like I said I never would be.

I'm trying to get into Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola's writing community. You review others' scripts so that they'll review yours. I just don't know. From the batch they sent me, none of the loglines are that appealing, and the one I'm reading now is, well, not slow going, but not engaging either.

Finished watching Sideways. It didn't necessarily redeem itself after I picked it up again, but the story definitely improved. If it could have held that tone and style throughout the entire film, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

I got my paperwork for my camp job sent off today. It's not that I'm not doing things here, I'm working and writing and spending time with friends and family. I just have too much time. Things would be easier with a license. I really should work on that...

Did I mention that it was a gorgeous day?

985 area code? Who's that?

I didn't hit 5,000 words yesterday like I said I would. You know why? Because I'm lazy. Because writing is work, and last night I didn't feel like doing anymore. But I just hit 5,008 this morning, and I'll probably plug a couple more hundred away before the end of the day.

I saw Catch and Release the other day with my best friends. As a flick, it's decent. My friends would disagree because they found the romantic plot underdeveloped and, well, sorta wrong. And really, I would have to agree with them. Susannah Grant also wrote Erin Brockovich, which is a far superior movie, but I think her writing skills were once again validated by Catch and Release. Because when I thought about the romantic plot I had to agree with my two friends about its shortcomings, but that only happened when I seriously turned my attention to it. Maybe there was just enough going on in the movie (or too much, if there wasn't enough time to develop the romance), but I was engaged enough to not notice the fact that Jennifer Garner and "Fritz" (okay, better name than that please? What is this, the Von Trapp family?) rarely talked or had any reason for any romantic interest. Suspension of disbelief. I'm still not quite sure how Susannah Grant did it, but she got me to enjoy the story enough to let it slide that the romance was a little contrived, unrealistic, and pretty much superficial. Which is funny, because I'm not sure if my two non-film student friends would agree.

I'm in the semi-middle of watching Sideways, as I had to put it on hold about 2/3 of the way through yesterday. At least I hope I'm at least 2/3 of the way through. Optimistically I only have 10-15 minutes left. The thing is, I'm all for stories about men in mid-life crisi and conflicts with present and past marriages and yes, especially about writers, but I am so bored. I think what they did with the wine motif is amazing and intelligent. I really like that part. There just seems to be very little movement in the story, and honestly, one of the main characters is a real jerk. I know we're not supposed to like him, there's no way he could have been written like that and we're supposed to like him, but he's one of the main characters, come on. The two main guys get in the same argument over and over and over again, the one guy that we like is slowly descending into an awful pit of depression, and the other one's a complete jerk. Maybe the ending will redeem the movie, but right now I just feel disappointed. The wine motif was so great. Couldn't they have come up with an equally great movie?

"I think the first duty of all art, including fiction of any kind, is to entertain. That is to say, to hold interest. No matter how worthy the message of something, if it's dull, you're just not communicating." - Poul Anderson

On the to do list today? Fill out all my paperwork for my camp job - which I'm super excited about!

Ka-Pow!

When I was younger, I wanted to take karate lessons. You know how some little girls wanted to be poofy dresses and some girls wanted to wear overalls and play baseball with the boys? Basically, I wanted to be the butt-kicking princess. I forget why, but my parents didn't want me to take karate lessons. Maybe they knew how dangerous I could be... Well, I came back from a break at college, and the boys were taking karate lessons - with dad! Let me tell you, I've been ruminating on gender theories for a couple of weeks now, and there will be a post about it.

I really thought I was getting over some of my more clumsy attributes, but an orange juice and a white skirt would disagree.

I finished the divorce party short. It needs quite a lot of help, still, but the rough is done. My friends suggested a happy ending, and I thought about it, I really did, but with the themes of second thoughts and consequences just wouldn't work as well then. Sorry, girls. Two days of work on Whatever You Ask has brought me up to a word count of 4703, and I'm pretty determined to aim for 5000 before I go to sleep. Friends did just come on, but I think it's a rerun. Well, obviously it's a rerun...

Only a week and a half of my temp job left, yay! I've been seeing our shopping carts in all the weirdest places.

I'm about ready to finish Act I of Whatever You Ask, so those extra 300 words should roll easily. I was worried about falling into cliches in Act I, but I've managed to either reasonably disguise them when they appear. My dialog hasn't been as snappy as I had hoped, and I'm not nailing the playa character quite so well. Is that because I haven't met enough guys who actually can flirt well or because I'm not so good at playing the game myself anymore? I'd like to say it's the former, but I'm not sure I even care.

Number of times I've listened to Joshua Radin/Jack's Mannequin/Mat Kearney songs I've listened to over again? Who's bothering to keep track?

Floods, Pirates, and Screenplays

I didn't start Script Frenzy on June 1st. I'm a big procrastinator like that. I'll blame it on my hectic schedule yesterday. I had an eye doctor appointment for my contacts (which, PS, are the most frustrating things in the world when they won't stick in your bloody eye. I'm quite used to being able to do the things I want, and when something like a little piece of flexible plastic defies me, I am not a happy person. Yes, that is strange.), took my brothers see Pirates 3 for their birthdays (it was better than the second but not as good as the first. Still very enjoyable, and I almost cried like three times. I don't even know why), went out to eat with the family and did a little shopping before going over to one of my friends' houses for the night.

We were sitting in the movie theatre watching the previews when the trailer for Evan Almighty, a modern recontextualization of Noah, came on. My older younger brother and I were finding some of the references and jokes pretty funny, but when the trailer ended with clips of the flood and the credits, my younger younger brother said loudly, "That is so unrealistic." I tried to shush him, because, I don't know, he's not used to movie theatres and is purposely talking loudly to be heard. He goes on to say, ignoring me, "God said He would never again destroy the earth by a flood." At which point I think I forgot that I was in a movie theatre and died laughing. Isn't there some quote about comedy just being the truth said at the right moment?

I haven't finished the divorce party short yet, but today I *did* start Whatever You Ask, my Current Draft for Script Frenzy. Right now I'm at 1905 words, and I'm sure I'll get to 2000 by the end of the day because I'm a little OCD like that. If I keep that up, I can totally finish before the middle of the month. Which is the goal. The opening went a little better than I had hoped. I was afraid I was going to resort to using a cliche to set up the relationship between my main guy and his girlfriend, but I managed to twist the cliche I consciously used. So it's a compromise. I have to be careful to make sure I don't start adding purple prose to my stage directions and descriptions. I know quality is of secondary importance in these NaNo style events, but I want this Current Draft to be better than Making It. Though I doubt that will be hard. So progress is good. I really need to discipline myself to shut off the internet when I'm working though. Huge distraction, and I'm a professional procrastinator.

Thanks for everyone who gave me a boost of encouragement over the past couple of days. I really needed it. : )

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper."
-- Steve Martin

You know where I want to go? I want to go to that ice hotel in like Greenland or Norway or where ever. That would be pretty much awesome.

Script Frenzy starts tomorrow

I'm screwed.

the Frenzy

Ever November for the past four years I've participated in National Novel Writing Month. It's just sort of a given now. I'm already entertaining ideas for this year's, whether I'll have fun with a ridiculous concept or try to write a serious novel this year. In June, the same people are sponsoring Script Frenzy, the same concept in script format. I already have an idea, some notes, and even a title (though I had to go with my second choice because my first one's already been used several times) - Whatever You Ask. I'm excited because my three main characters are all guys, and we all know the challenges in point of view and characterization that's going to present.

Someone posted a thread on the Script Frenzy forums called "Writers for Real." Now, that already is a ridiculously pretentious title because it's belittling to the rest of the community, I feel, but I went ahead and posted about my writerly plans. It's a little amusing because of the handful of people who've posted, most of us are just still *training* to be writers for real. But one person posted about how if you Google search Script Frenzy you'll find a lot of people knocking and degrading it. We have to deal with that in NaNo, too, but I went ahead and Googled Script Frenzy to see for myself what people were saying.

I only found one really negative collection of comments, but even then I was surprised by the vindictiveness with which these people attacked SF and the writers participating in it. All these accusations that it's a bad environment, that you'll turn out crap just to meet the deadline, that it's too chaotic and unplanned. One person even said that it harms the creative process. You know what the creative process is? It's sticking your butt in a chair and writing.

I would say that what these people don't realize is that the one month restraint is for your first draft only, not your prewriting or rewriting, so you have plenty of time to craft characters and structure and rewrite all your mistakes later. I would say that plenty of the participants in Script Frenzy already know script format or use the resources offered to learn it before it starts. I would say that plenty of successful movies had a first draft written in one month or less. I would say that some people don't need a lot of prewriting time. I would say that writing is a craft you learn by doing, so let people practice they way they want. I would say that for as many different writers there are, there are different ways of approaching "the creative process."

But I think that by the fact that people would attack the plot generator on the home page of Script Frenzy just shows that they have no sense of humor. They're taking themselves way too seriously. These are the kinds of pretentious writers that I complained about before - they drive me crazy! Writing is writing is writing. So leave others in peace when they do it.

"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." - Ray Bradbury

Insert Cute Title Here

Note to self (and all others listening): even in case of extreme and sweltering heat, beware opening a window sans screen to catch that cool summer breeze. Not only will the breeze come in, but all the other crap that's floating in around the air. I may wake up in a blanket of leaves.

I'm happy to see that the number of posts labeled "real life" exceeds the number labeled "song lyrics." Though I have yet to finish labeling.

My excessive need to organize things is so fickle. Where was this in the middle of the school year when I had two notebooks and four legal pads for five classes?

I've been spending some time on the Script Frenzy forums (let's just be honest. The past three weeks I have been spending waaaay too much time online), and someone started a thread about people who write more than just SF and NaNo. I am so far the only person who's responded. The thread is titled "Writers for Real." Aren't we presumptuous? And it gets better - both of us are only students. We're too cocky, too confident for our own good (more on this later). It may all end in tears.

Nah.

I've been dialogging with another Frenzier about plots. Remarkably, I've come up with a whole slew of ideas for character development/interaction from examples from my own life. I'm very excited about the potential for his script. I just hope now that mine doesn't turn into a dud.

Poor people who have only been coming to my blog for the past month or so. You must think that all I really ever talk about or think about is writing. If only it were so.

Tomorrow I am flying back to Old School Land for a wedding of my old roomie. This will be the first time I've been back on campus since I left a year ago to go to England and then the cold, strange land of Michigan. The last day I was there was a huge rush of activity, and then there was a few quiet moments in the Valley with my friend Jeremiah while we waited for my mom and aunt. And it was when he started chasing a squirrel that I finally started crying. I blame the beautiful day and the absurdity of the squirrel. I don't regret leaving Old School Land, but I miss it. I am super excited, practically bouncing. And yes, Ben Titter, you can quote me on that, like you have before.