Almost finished

Wow, almost twenty days later and I'm still not finished. Almost, though.

This book is thick, but I think it's the fact that I'm really dedicating myself to the exercises and incorporating them into my next Screenplay. Like I said before, the book is classic information, but presented in a very digestible, practical, and usable way. Another benefit I forgot to mention in the last post was Truby's take on setting, or Story World, as he calls it.

My biggest Gripe is that he doesn't go into Genres in the book. So I'll have to buy the $99 CD or wait for an separate book. Or, I could get the expensive Truby's Blockbuster and then buy the $99 addons. So it goes.

I should probably go through the book a few more times, an easy task were it not for my discovery of the Half Life universe.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

P.S.

I love you, Alyx Vance.

The Anatomy of Re-Learning.

So I'm reading The Anatomy of Story. It's a good book, lots of helpful advice. The only problem is that much of the advice, although stated in better, can also be found in The Screenwriter's Bible. I'm not even half-way through it because I'm using the exercises to help me through my next script; but so far it's a lot of stuff that I've forgotten.

One of the major benefits of the book, however, is the way characters are created out of theme. I'm not near the section on plot, but already I can see my story. I'm almost glad I didn't enter the Nicholls, because there was always something missing from my last story (the one I loved but was endlessly re-writing) but I really want to tackle it again after my first draft of my current script.

But still, I feel silly for forgetting so much. I was so hungry for the "perfect" way to structure, that I lost sight of the characters. Never again.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

My last draft... for now.

I just finished up another draft. I still see the need to fix it by setting up a few things. But after sharing my problem with a messageboard, I decided to take a full month off.

In the meantime, I'll be working on another small comedic story. I mean, in this economy, cheaper has to be better, right? This one should be easier because I have a lot of it in my head.

I also bought John Truby's The Anatomy of Story. Like Save The Cat, it seems to be one of those hate it or love it books. People are calling it dense and complicated, but I heard the same about Writing a Great Movie. It's been said to be able to help you write screenplays, novels, or even short stories, but I won't hold my breath. I will be using it to write my next screenplay as I do every time I get a new book on screenwriting, so that should be interesting.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

P.S.

Amazon needs to throw a few bucks my way for all the advertising.

Sister, Sister

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

P.S.

The writer is also an African American woman. So support it... Unless you don't like African American women. Is that how you feel? Is that the kind of person you want to be?

EDIT: The Director is an African American woman, the writer an African American male. But this only means that you hate the entire race if you don't pick up this movie. It's true.

No to Nicholls (seriously this time)

Okay, look at my face. Okay, you can't do that, but imagine I'm extremely serious. I would love... LOVE... to enter The Don and Gee Nicholls Fellowship competition, but I don't think it's possible. Doing so would rush important work I need to do on this script. I will, however, enter the Final Draft Big Break competition. I guess I can enter The Fellowship competition next year, but I'm not planning to be eligible.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

To The Wire

I'm getting really close to the wire now. I just started another pass, mostly a polish, and it's getting ever closer to May 1st. For today at least, I'm in high spirits and feeling "the flow". My biggest obstacle is making sure ALL characters have a different voice. I won't be thinking about the deadline while writing, because I tend to rush when I do that and rushing makes most of the characters talk just like me.

I also want to be more poetic with the description. Again, something I'm good at when I'm not rushing.

Well, I should be doing less blogging and more screenwriting.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan

Inbetweener

I'm starting the outline of a new script in between passes of the one I'm currently working on. It's another Character driven script, as I've seem to have been drawn to that kind of storytelling, but I'm not sure how much I should invest in it. Like my current script, it's a comedy, low concept, and can probably be shot for around 5 mil (actually, I'm not sure if my current script delivers on this point). It could probably introduce a new or climbing talent as the star.

But it's the less subtle stuff that's getting made these days. I'm not sure if the recession hurts or helps it's chances; yeah, it'll cost less, but it'll also pack in less seats.

In any case, it's something I've found I'm not too bad at writing so I might as well continue.

Brooding of you,
Mr. Jordan