[Process] - The Writing Headspace

For the last two and a half years, I've kept notes about what I learned while writing the Limit. Now I'm creating posts that will cover each phase of my script-writing process. They'll be added to as I trawl through the blog (and linked to on the sidebar).

First up, creating the right headspace to write in.

I found this quote about how to beat procrastination that needs to be prominently displayed: I think I've found a way to overcome my first-day-back syndrome. It's a 5-step process: First I ask myself why I'm writing it, then what the absolute best case scenario for when I've finished it could be. After that I brainstorm a whole bunch of ideas, organise them and figure out what I have to do next.

Took less than an hour to do that and at the end I felt inspired to start work.

***

I should write about my bugbear – attempting to focus on completing one idea while I’m continually coming up with new (fresher) ideas …

***

- My standard first day slowness where I get my head round the fact that I’m in a new phase of the project continues.
- My ‘enjoy myself’ philosophy seems to be working. I’m very comfortable writing until my body tenses up or my brain gets logjammed – and then just doing something else, relaxing until this signal in my head tells me it’s time to go back to the keyboard.
- I really like working on this film. If we (Andrew and I) can pull it off before anyone else does, it could end up being one of the definitive vigilante thrillers. It’s that sense of mission that gives me most of the drive to work on it. And more and more, it’s getting to be not work but play.

***

So, back to my three days on after one day off. And yet again, I find that first day back goes a little slow. I thought it was only when I started a new phase of a project, but maybe it's after any type of break.

***

As for The Limit, I decided that if I was going to build this confrontation scene up in my head as something big, tough to conquer, then I was going to approach it with rock-climbing-like determination. So at the start of today (yes, after my sleep-in), I set the goal of finishing the scene no matter what ... and set up base-camps at certain sections of the scene that I would reach, rest and then move on from.

***

Just a note: after a day off, I am again finding it slow-going transcribing these notes for Outline E.

***

[from working on lovebites] - These episodes, these early versions of Episode 1 are funny. The question we kept asking ourselves during pre-production, the comment that kept getting thrown back to the writing team, boiled down to, "Is this funny enough?"

First, way to make you doubt yourself.

Second (and I only had the sense to ask myself this with two years hindsight), what does 'enough' mean? Using it without definition, such as, "This episode isn't good enough," is initially a great way to avoid arguments. Everyone can nod sagely, agree we haven't reached and breached some unspecified limit...and then wander off, promising to do better. I mean, we had set ourselves the goal for this show of dealing with humour and believable characterisation. This is not fertile ground for strictly defined operational parameters.

***

Finished The Limit’s rough outline.
Now I have a dilemma. I promised myself three days holiday after this - and by holiday I mean dabbling on some other writing projects - but I am keen to keep pushing on. So:

Do I keep my promise to myself or follow my current inclination?
Do I stick to the plan or stay in the moment?

[...] Yesterday's decision turned out to simple. I've already had a holiday in the lead-up to Xmas and I really want to write, so I'm going with the flow. Restarting things on Thursday.

***

I love finishing short, cool bits of writing. Achieving rocks!

***

This was going to be my last full day on Astral. In the last hour I've changed my mind - and The Limit is back to being my primary as of now. The reason's simple: I was feeling frustrated, angry and a little depressed. Probably due to my impatience at not making progress on the script.

So now, let's see if I can use that impatience to overcome my first-day-back syndrome.

***

While the pitch currently is good for the purpose of timing, I have to accept it doesn’t plausibly convey this sudden shift. So I have to re-write it so it does.... and that's made me stall out.

It’ll be hard work but probably not anywhere near as hard as I’m imagining. In fact, I’ll probably spend longer procrastinating than I will in re-writing it.

***

A couple of days ago my perfectionism nearly stopped me writing 100 words.

In this one early scene I kept re-finessing details. So I forced myself to keep moving - and in the process clarified what the two leads have in common. After a little more grunt-work, the pitch has finally started to convince me.

The key: relying on my performance (rather than emotive words) to convey the feeling. That means I have to know what emotion I want from the sequence. And if there’s a choice between describing plot details and a simple emotion, choose the emotion.

***

This morning:The pitch turns out to be 8 minutes long, I’m wading through a cut-down of Act 1 and my enthusiasm is waning.

Thought I'd try kicking my energy back up by pitching it again and again, letting the edits come naturally, through performance, not writing. At first my brain blocked me ... but when I finally did it, I broke through!

The pitch is now 8 min 50 sec, but I don’t care. Finally the emotions are almost all there. I was absorbed by the pitch the whole way through. That’s a damn good place for the pitcher to be.

***

Yesterday I wrote a terrible version of a crucial scene and I don't care. Writing a feature film on spec means having the time to make sure a scene works. In this case, making it easy for the audience to empathise with the grief and anger the main characters feel.

***

Trying to get to sleep last night, I came up with a neat scene for later on in the movie. A sure sign this project’s starting to occupy a larger part of my brain.

I’d forgotten how good it feels to just write – solving problems at a dialogue level, trying to figure out character and get the scenes to do their jobs. Also, I’m loving the pace. I have a deadline, but I also have enough time to reflect on how to fine-tune scenes. It all feels very contemplative.

***

Finally [started writing]. I was a little freaked out about starting to tackle it - but decided to break it down into a manageable bit.

***

Time pressure. Things need to be done quickly. Like, you may be asked to deliver a 44-page script within 48 hours (Joss Whedon & Tim Minear, Firefly). In TV there is always a deadline.

The very first thing Jo Randerson said when she joined our first intake of lovebites writers was, "What's the situation? Let me guess: there's not enough money and we're behind already." This is an accurate assessment of working in television.

***

I wasted a week by coming up with reasons not to write.

Recovering from the party. It’s Easter - I’ve eaten too much chocolate. It’s Easter - everyone else is on holiday. The rest of my flat’s sick – so I feel unmotivated too. But these aren’t reasons, they’re excuses. The reason was I wasn’t inspired by what I was writing.

Murder, disillusionment and my new tattoo.

I’ve been working on a tense conversation between murderer and vigilante about their personal history. I want subtext to turn this not-so-idle chitchat into a continuation of their conflict

With our recent changes this whole sequence has to be reconsidered. 50% of what’s there has to be scrapped. It has to be rebuilt at a motivational level, starting with what Peter and Forster want. Then moving between their heads, asking “What do I think he should do if I were him?”. The goal is to make each reaction something that boggles the other character.

And then I got disillusioned because this all felt like a sterile, mechanical exercise. So, a week of avoidance.

Then I started trying to vividly visualise the scene. I remember I tried this before, with Trace outside Forster’s farm. And so far it’s working. The scene is fun to work on again.

The same lessons, learned over and over again. Hopefully this diary’ll help me boil them down into a couple of pithy meaningful phrases that I can have tattooed on the back of my hands.

***

A. Disappointed because I've wasted a lot of time today.

B. Satisfied because I've kept asking myself what this scene is about until I realised it's about 'Peter facing the consequences of becoming a vigilante'. I think I'm ready to write and finish this thing.

***

Feeling stressed out at the thought of trying to finish all of Act 1 today. So I've set myself a couple of small goals. First, I'd like to quickly rough out the new introduction to the movie (over several passes) and bat that off to Andrew. Then I'll do all the macro restructuring of the rest of Act 1, after which I can start to fine-tuning.

***

In Which Lie Die I Tell, William Goldman talks about scenes in screenplays where – after you’ve read them – all the work is done. The audience has bought into the story and they’re just going to be taken along. In The Limit, I think that scene comes 3 pages from the end. And I just wrote it.

It’s a weird emotion: relief, triumph … and a little bit of fear. I’m disturbed at how little craft I applied to Act 3. Basically I burned through it today, wanting to write from the heart and follow my old outline rather than re-break the scenes by Stakes and Conflicts.

***

I was finding the mis-direction scene a bit difficult. Coupled with my now consuming desire to FINISH something, I spent Thursday through to Saturday morning writing a playtest draft of my new RPG, The Luck of the Joneses.

After that, I came back to the scene I’m been blocked on and finished it in a couple of hours.

***

“In my screenwriting class we set out to discover what would happen if you treated your screenplay-in-progress like someone you had recently fallen in love with. What if you courted your story, wooed it, gave it your very best, and loved it madly?

"The results were extremely promising. Our conclusion was that if we were willing to throw ourselves into falling in love with our work, risking heartache, holding nothing back, the inner muses responded in kind."

Cynthia Whitcomb
‘Writer’s Guide to Writing Your Screenplay’

***


One of the risks for me with writing is that I get sucked into the emotion I'm writing about.

***

Spent Wednesday procrastinating about writing the script. Spent yesterday finishing this draft of the script. The difference was that on Wednesday I felt like I had to do two things at once: come up with cool new stuff AND rigorously proof read the script.

I felt stressed out about it, so I had to take things back to basics. First I wrote Wednesday off and just used it to set up the new computer that Lee built me (Props, man! It's fantastic). Then I told myself to get a good night's sleep and try and settle back to my daily routine of exercise, writing and everything else. That took a lot of the pressure off and at some point I was able to just say to myself, "Don't proof read. Just write."

From there, finishing the script - which had seemed such a huge deal the day before - was over in a matter of three hours. My goal became to create something that was readable for others as opposed to getting it perfect right now. That took a lot of the pressure off and that meant I could do more constructive things than just stare at the screen and worry. So, the script's come in at 89 pages (dead on what I wanted). It's being read by four people at the moment - and while they are doing that, I'm going to talk to an actor and do send detective work on Trace's character, try and get more excited by her.

For the record, this was Draft 2B. A B-draft seems to be a quick hack-and-slash to tidy up any inconsistencies and make the story flow so you can get it out to other people. I'm now scheduled to finish on 24 July. 17 days left, 14 days in my safety buffer.

***

Re-working the climax - the section I thought I'd gotten right only two weeks ago - and there was much procrastination this morning. "IT'S TOO IMPORTANT!" screamed the editorial static in my head. "I'm scared of getting it wrong."

Eventually I plunged in (after working up bits and and pieces of ideas in layers over a couple of hours). Now I'm through 'the worst' and hopefully into the final stretch. Have a feeling that this is going to be like the argument scene in hopeless. Rewritten over and over. Good thing here is that there is a specific effect that needs to be accomplished - unlike the argument scene which could wander all over the place - and that should act like a map, helping me home in on an effective way of hitting all the emotions and beats I need to.

But, yeah, a very scary section this morning.

***

Taking a break between drafts means ideas are popping into my head all the time –scribble down images & snippets that’ll flesh out scenes. Guess I’m refuelling.

And now there’s a clearer vision of the script. Like how Trace’s impatience is a character trait. How ‘The Plan’ needs to be more convincing.

***

I’ve been procrastinating a little the last couple of days. Working on a dialogue scene, trying to find Taine's voice. But I may have just had a break-through with how the parents find out Taine's gone missing - I can visualise it very clearly, so that immediately puts it at the top of the list of all the ideas I've had.

***

2 things ...

I mentioned a 'breakthrough' a couple of days ago? Yesterday I realised the ramifications of it meant a HUGE rewrite of the script. First I was angry, then panicky ... then, slowly, I calmed down and am now gunna look through it methodically, seeing exactly what would need to be changed.

Also, my progress on problem-solving is slower than I'd hoped. Going slow & devising solutions that convince me is a good goal, but I think I'm starting to feel the lack of that obsessive quality, the need to get it finished by a certain goal. Maybe before I go house-sitting at Viv & Gino's in a month'd be an appropriate new goal.

***

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. In between checking in on the (now-wrapped-up) Forge thread about the Star Wars game and grooving on my new Sage extension for reading blogs in Firefox, I have been getting less than an hour of work done on The Limit every day.

So multi-dimensional's on hiatus until I finish solving the last of the readers' problems and make a decent start on the restructure. I may even just not use the internet at all - after all it is the timesuck of doom for me.

***

I’ve mapped out this rewrite on four A3 pages – and today I crossed over into the fourth and final page. Once again, I slowed down - kind of freaked out & scared – and began a massive blast of procrastination.

Then I remembered how angry I am at this script. How much I want to finish it so I can get it out of my life and do something new. That anger’s built through the day until now I am fully focused on bring this thing home.

***

Halfway through this brainstorming phase of the draft. Taking a day off to let my mind refill with creative goodness & get some distance from it.

I'm enjoying the writing. It's starting to go faster - and I'm expecting to keep up that pace until I hit the big re-writes in Act 3.

***

Day 1 of this dialogue draft: ½ an hour writing, 1 page done.
Day 2: 2 hours writing, 1 page done.

Day 3 (today): 3 hours writing, not even one page done - but I've made the decision to finish & have fun while writing it.

***

I’m approaching quarter of the way through the big restructure & today was That Day where I started to get enthused about the work again. I love That Day.

So, I got through about 5 scenes in quick succession. One was the tricky, pivotal conversation between the 2 dads that keeps tripping me up. I want it to be like a verbal fistfight, but in order to stay true to the characters it’s turned out a lot quieter. What’s neat about this scene is that one of the characters completely gives up on what he wants halfway through. I discovered that this morning; it’s a neat & nasty surprise.

Then wrote a quick new husband-and-wife argument scene. I love the wife now. That was never true in previous drafts. And this argument gives an insight into Peter’s fragile sense of masculinity.

***

Quite often when I'm starting a dialogue draft, I won't shave until the story has quickened and the dialogue is coming naturally and rapidly out of me. Yesterday (which was also my 33 1/3 birthday) I was able to shave the beard - which had grown very uncomfortable and was stopping me from sleeping well - and see Serenity (my estimation of that movie has gone way up on a second viewing).

So, I'm going to duck away now and keep writing ... hopefully reaching the 3/4 mark by this evening.

Edited to add: Two fun links that have a lot of applicability to the writing I'm doing. Here's John Rogers on action sequences, and Josh Friedman on sex scenes.

***

I’ve said it before: I always take a long time to ramp up to full-writing-speed when I start a new draft. One of the causes (I’ve just discovered) is that it takes me a while to regain the confidence to make rapid decisions about the writing – as I start getting back into it, I’d prefer to fluff around paralysed by the choices I could be making rather than commit to something & lock it down.

***

I have a weird feeling, thinking about the script now. A feeling like, for the first time with the Limit, I'm not that sure what edits I'd like to make to it. I've had that feeling before - with other scripts - and it's usually indicated that further tinkering tips the story over the edge and starts to break it.

***

The draft is coming into the home stretch. Less than 20 pages to go. Decisions are easier to make now. Dialogue is coming to me like I’m overhearing the conversations from a distance.

***

I've thought a lot about whether I should post this, but given that I'm trying to keep a full record of my writing process I think I have to go through the last fortnight.

Two Fridays ago - DBS gave me feedback on the script. Much of it was good, some of it was really challenging. I enjoyed the session a lot.

Two Saturdays ago - I finally read through the script myself. My emotions went through two phases:

• 1) the actual reading, where I thought that the script was terrible. Unrealistic, badly motivated, lame writing. It totally didn't live up to the ideal in my head and I was pretty much devastated by the end;
• 2) drawing the whammo chart - my graph of how interested I was in the script. This revealed that many of my problems lay in the first act but that the middle of the script still wasn't as strong as I hoped. Two reasons for that were that it was unclear what Peter wanted to achieve in his first intense conversation with Forster, and that Tracy's midpoint is misplaced. So, I was slightly lifted by that. Slightly.

Two Sundays ago - acted in the Wasps. My character was supposed to receive utterly devastating news to his ego. I drew on the memory of just having read the script.

I took a week off, where I couldn't face reading or thinking about the thing. I drew some solace from a book on script-editing where another writer was described as adopting the fetal position for two days, curled up in bed with a hot water bottle. I was not that bad.

Last Saturday - Morgue and Pearce described how Clive Barker reads his books aloud when he finishes writing them. I resolved to do that with this script.

Last Sunday and Monday - I forced myself to read through the script, taking notes. While most of them were pretty specific, what I was really trying to do was get an understanding of the big picture.

Today - just read it aloud, and it really gave me a clear idea of why certain scenes (like Peter deciding to take revenge) weren't working. I'm feeling better about the script.

So the big picture changes are:
Act 1 - tighten up the family stuff
Act 2i - clarify Peter's motivations and restructure the mid-points.
Act 2ii - make sure the action scenes relate to characters. Possibly put Tracy into a much darker place, emotionally.
Act 3 - focus on the three main characters, plus handle the exposition 2000% better.

Now to look at everyone else's feedback and see where they and I agree.

***

David emailed me, hoping that the Limit was going better.

Yeah it is. My last big post about it was just a demonstration of a writer getting emotional about what he wrote. That's cool; I expect ups-and-downs now.

At the moment, I actually feel pretty confident about the script. Everyone's feedback works together & ... more importantly to me ... I feel like the script is now 'telling' me what it wants to be. Adjusting scenes feels like a natural process now, one that doesn't require that much thinking about it. It's like there's an ideal version of this draft that I'm chiselling the unnecessary material away from.

***

The writing's been going smoothly but right now I think I'm facing a psychological block - I need to make a change that has big ramifications for the rest of the film. It's a simple change, but I think its implications are stopping me from going ahead with making it. Instead I'm analysing. And working on this much-delayed post.

***

Work on The Limit was brutal today.

I've been trying to get back into this re-edit. I have, in fact, set myself a two week deadline to finish this part of the writing - so that's 25 June. But I was stuck on this 2 page section where Peter talks to his stepson. What has happened during this rewrite is that I've figured out how important this scene is to the movie - and it's helped clarify how I should be characterising Taine.

Unlike working on the 48-hour competition, there is no immediate pressure on me to make a decision about a line of dialogue or an approach to the scene. This leads to perfectionism - which is my curse & the reason I've been working on this goddamn project for what seems like most of the decade - and this two-page scene for the last four days.

The big picture upshot: next film I write, I'm getting myself a year to complete it. One year, and then I'm getting out no matter what state it's in. Hopefully that'll give me some motivation not to waste all the work I've put in.

Medium picture upshot: working on this has been long, secretive & driven by the need for perfection/the desire for greatness. Next project, I'd like to do something shorter form (TV, short film, short TV - the link goes to a Wired article about fan TV shows in the Whedonverse), with a development process that is completely out in the open, and it's driven by attitude and immediacy.

Right now: I had to take a walk in the bitter cold to clear my head. And my conclusions were a) I need to relax and have fun while I'm writing, and b) the scene didn't need to be perfect - I'm going to go back, read the script aloud when I've finished this re-edit, and make adjustments.

Scenes finished now, and I got through another four pages to boot.

***

Last weekend, I hit the big rewrite at the end of Act 2 and the wall of "What the hell do I do next?" I thought I'd take some time out - and in the meantime, brainstorm some possible solutions, try to understand the basic problem, and work on some stuff that I've needed to catch up on (including the next draft of The Lucky Joneses RPG).

However, over the last three days, this is what's happened:

1. A lunch-time conversation with Sean where I realised that the scene I was blocked on has to reflect the father-child dynamic that the whole movie's about;

2. A realisation that I'm trying to make this perfect, which leads to procrastination. I should make rough, necessary changes, and complete this draft; and

3. Another realisation, that I've lost track of the big picture - and finishing this script is more important than working on the game.

4. ... Maybe there's some fear of finishing in there, too.

So, I'll be trying to go back into it tonight & definitely be working on it for the remainder of the week.

***

Whoa.

The Assembly Draft is done

It took four hours from the start of Act Three to the end. And the rewriting got faster and faster as I went through. That's always the way with this script, I find; the ending is tough to conceptualise, and a breeze to write through. Hopefully that doesn't mean that I'm ignoring some fundamental problem (cf. The Midpoint).

***

Today, I looked through everything I had to do from the start of Act 3 to the end, solving problems as I read through the script, and by the time I reached the end of my reading I realised I'd found a way through.

And it is good.

Then I started to procrastinate / freak out about finishing, again. So after letting that happen for a few minutes, I bit off the smallest part of the very next problem I had to solve and tackled it. Which worked pretty well.

The point: I can finish this pass on the script now.

***

Man, this frickin' script. I had a great start to the rewrite (5 pages in one day, which is fantastic for my first day). Then I hit this big father-son scene at page 14 and get bogged down in it for 2 and a half weeks until I figure out what it's really about (clue: it's personal).

Anyway, once I figured out the heart of the scene, it flowed easily & the script has kept going at a nice rate. I still hope to have it all finished for sending out to producers by New Year, but I also hoped to have the fine-tuning draft finished by tomorrow ... and with 60 pages to go, that's a little on the unlikely side.

***

I just got to a section of the script I've been dreading - and it seems to be going fast, painless and good. I have much relief at this.

Also, a tip (perhaps applicable only to me): I find that if I'm blocked on a script, I actually get a lot of work done if I take a train up to the Kapiti Coast. The secret is to not bring anything else to read or do . There's something about boredom that really forces me to write.

Commuting. Environmentally friendly and creative.

***

[The Limit] The final rewrite has begun!

At about 4pm.

Basically, I got sick of taking notes and preparing to do it - so I've just launched straight in [to the final rewrite]. Posting may resume its recent quietness, or it may keep on being done every couple of days. I'm not sure. I've got a holiday coming up, which will probably be devoted to the script but it'll also give me some free time to jot some stuff down.

***

The more important I think a scene is, the longer it seems to take me to write. Thinking of something as "important" makes me freak out, because I need to get it "right".

But at this stage of the script, every scene should be important. Every scene needs to contribute. Every moment, too.

That means I'm going to have to develop some way off de-freaking-out. Being a full-time writer would be good too (more dedicated time to solve problems and get into a groove). Unfortunately, I may have to let that ambition go for a while, and content myself writing on the bus.

(Example: It's taken me five days to work on a single line of the script. It's an important line -- it has to let us know what Peter's worst fear is, and hint at some of the oddness that is to come.)

***

I think it's worth noting that when I finished making changes to The Limit last night, the sense of quiet satisfaction I felt seemed exactly the same as what I feel when I finish any project - of whatever magnitude. To be specific, finishing the script after seven years gave me the same amount of satisfaction as working on a 48-hour film, writing a role-playing game, or locking down a well-constructed sketch.

I wasn't expecting a flood of adrenalin or a massive epiphany; it's just that what I did feel surprised me.

Unbundling this further:

• the script isn't yet finished finished as there's still proofing to go
• I found the writing process itself to be rewarding - challenging, sure, but satisfying and worthwhile
• from working on hopeless, I'm aware that there are many moments that you celebrate during the life of a script (including realising you're filming a scene that matches up to your imagination; seeing a cut of the film that finally works; and the Premiere)
• there are also future rewards, specific to this script.

Those possible future rewards include stuff like:

• reading the script with fresh eyes in, say, a year & enjoying it
• selling the script
• getting positive feedback from people I respect
• having a script that I think is special enough that it could generate royalties for me
• having a sample script that could open doors to new jobs for me.

The point is that there wasn't some big Hollywood rush of triumph. It was a quiet moment. If anything, I would call it contentment.

***

[The Limit] -

I had an epiphany about The Limit last night.

Back in 2004, about six months before I started this blog, Andrew and I had a story meeting. We decided to trade off the simplicity of our existing structure in order to create a third act whose scenes had more dramatic potential. Last night I asked myself how you could get both the simplicity and the drama into the script. And then I got the answer.

Edited to add: This story can have a simple-to-understand presentation, have drama at the third act, or have a final revelation. And it can only have 2 of those 3 things.

As a result, I'm going to be going back and reworking the last 30 pages, chopping out probably about 10 pages in the process. I'll break a guiding principle of storytelling, and provide the answer to the main question way too early. I'm actually unsure if this will work ... but when I visualise the shape of the story in my head, all of a sudden it's cleaner, more direct and understandable, and turns it from something that the audience might feel betrayed by into a tragedy.

... assuming I can make it work.

But the thing with ideas like this is that unless the film is locked off and released, I feel an obligation to try and improve the story. Hell, with hopeless I deleted a two-minute musical number from the film the day before we locked the movie off.

And this is why I find myself torn between the joys of writing for television and movies. With TV, you get to explore characters and the situation in many different permutations (but with strict, sometimes impossible deadlines). With film, you get the chance to get things right.

-- -- --

I'm also realising the difference between The Limit and the new movie.

The Limit is an illustration of Syd Field's principle that screenplays are structure. Both character and plot serve the structural ideas in this film.

The new movie is still being outlined, but we're adapting an idea from roleplaying's Big Model theory: that when you take characters and a setting, you create a situation. How the characters react to that situation creates the plot. Breaking the story this way, with no preconceived idea of what the plot should be, has been really enjoyable.

Scriptwriting Process - Overview

Finally, I have space in my life to start drawing together all of the lessons I learnt from writing The Limit. This is a big project for me, and one I find pretty intimidating - but I'll take it piece by piece and work out how it all fits together as I go along.

To start with, some links:

The Limit diary (part 1).

The Limit diary (part 2).

My del.icio.us links about scripts.

My del.icio.us links about The Limit.

The new blogger's 'script' tags.

The new blogger's 'limit' tags.

Links - Future of TV

OK, something a little new here. I'll post a whole bunch of related links, and then analyse them in the comments as I get time. Join in the conversation there, and if anything insightful pops up, that'll get a post of its own.

First up, the future of television / 4th generation media (4GM) ...

NBC fails (spectacularly) to bully Apple into raising its download prices.

Theatrical release isn't where studios make their money from movies.

Didn't I predict the death of the mainstream in one of my first posts? Well, it's happening. And, by the way, how many people do you know who regularly watch television anymore?

Guerilla drive-ins - organising movie screenings in unused public spaces, via flash-mobs.

What the hell. Boogie Nights / Star Wars (link to YouTube).

A TV professional speculates about future trends.

A link to a link about making internet content watchable - and move the audience from TV to the net.

And another link-link to a business model for internet content.

Enough for now.

Titles - a new theory

Decided that The Lucky Joneses needs a new title. It's simply not descriptive enough (on first exposure) for people to know what it's about, or be interested in learning more.

That lead me to think about titles I've come up with that I think work. I think what they do is give a clue about what I think the hook is, and they use a pop-cultural phrase. Examples - The Zombie Plan (is a game about surviving a zombie attack). Left Coast (is a game about slightly crazy sci-fi writers in California).

Initially, I'd been brainstorming ideas related to 'family'. I considered 'family to be the centre of The Lucky Joneses. Obviously a new title would have to key off that somehow. But that didn't come up with anything that inspired me (except 'Family Crisis'. I kinda like that).

So, I mind-mapped all the hooks I could think of for this game, the things I was excited about, and ran them through The Prioritizer. Here's what I got:

1. Comedy (88.1%)
2. Screwing each other over (83.3%)
3. Wild and crazy scenarios (71.4%)
4. Best case / Worst case (59.5%)
5. Sitcom (54.8%)

Tied for 6. Take turns being the star // Family //Simple (17.9%)

I found that interesting. Family is at the bottom of the list. 'Comedy' and 'Screwing each other over', followed by 'Wild and crazy scenarios' are at the heart of what I'm really into with this game.

Perhaps a subtitle: "A game about families" is in order.

[Boost] The new script

Yep, there's a new script a-simmering. I'm working on it with Sean, and 'Boost' be its working title.

More later, but here's a couple of reference articles for it:

The Promise of noopolitick

As the information age deepens, a globe–circling realm of the mind is being created — the “noosphere” that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin identified 80 years ago.

And David Brin's summary of the above paper, which describes the 'adversary' to the developing noosphere.

Starry Nights

This youtube video about creating a world in Second Life is beautiful.

Eric Brighteyes

by H. Rider Haggard

A 19th century action-adventure novel about vikings in 10th century Iceland. I've not fallen in love with a story this hard for many years. It's a saga, a tragedy, a bleak comedy about fate, and a kick-arse action fantasy.

All the while I was reading it, I couldn't help feeling that it'd make an excellent series bible for an HBO show (ala Deadwood).

The Limit - email titles

How to entitle script inquiry e-mails is something I haven't seen written about in any scriptwriting book or blog. So, naturally, after working on a submission letter for the last week this has had me puzzling for about the last hour.

The challenge is to get a person you don't know to open an e-mail about something they've never heard about before.

After thinking it through, here are some of the qualities that were important to me:

- Short (seven words or less - so they can read the entire title before opening the email)
- Not a question the producer can say ‘No’ to at the just-reading-the-subject-line stage (for instance, "Can I submit a feature film script to you?")
- If it's a choice between mentioning genre or the title, I'll go with the genre
- I prefer a functional subject line over a humourous one

I came up with about 15 options, and after running them through The Prioritizer (which gave me a few more ideas), this is what I had (in order from favourite to least):

• Script inquiry about a vigilante thriller (the winning title)
• Script submission inquiry
• Inquiry about feature film submission
• Script submission inquiry for a vigilante thriller
• Thriller script seeks producer
• Thriller script, seeking producer
• Finished script seeks producer
• I'd like to submit a feature film script to you
• Can I submit a feature film script to you
• Are you accepting script submissions?
• Have script, need producer
• I have a script I'd like you to read
• The Limit - a completed script for your perusal
• Would you like to read a script?

Other, unranked ideas:

• Submission inquiry for a vigilante thriller
• Inquiry about submitting scripts
• Submitting a feature script to you
• Inquiry about your script policy
• Gauging interest in a feature film
• I’d like to submit a script to you

48 - Yessss!!!!!!!!!

Our film, Destination Earth, got runner-up for the Audience Favourite award. That was pretty much our team's goal this year, and it gives us (I think) a good shot of making the DVD.

Time to celebrate!

Scripts - a new technique for reading

While giving feedback on a script idea this week, I drew up the relationship map (all the characters, with lines connecting them to show their kinship, sexual, and employment ties). It made reading and interpreting the story a lot easier.

The Limit - proofing

I've been:

1. making sure there's the same number of spaces after each full-stop
2. making all the '...' in the script consistently spaced
3. spell-checking stuff. Turns out that adding words to the dictionary makes the process go faster
4. formatting all the remaining dialogue. I used Page Preview for this. Next time, I really need to set up a script template with macros.

Gripping stuff, I know. But getting the presentation right is important at a "It's a good read" level.

As usual, I stalled on doing this, then found it was much quicker than I anticipated. (All hail the Auto-replace function.)

Next up, I'll be:

5. putting the (CONT.) into the script
6. making sure the scene headings are formatted consistently (in style and names of locations).

Then to print it out, and reverse-proof it - starting from the end of the script and going back a sentence at a time.

After that's all done, I've got to:

- enter the final changes
- paginate it all
- turn it into a PDF (which may be unnecessary)
- register it with the NZWG
- send it off to a producer.

Script - What finishing feels like

I think it's worth noting that when I finished making changes to The Limit last night, the sense of quiet satisfaction I felt seemed exactly the same as what I feel when I finish any project - of whatever magnitude. To be specific, finishing the script after seven years gave me the same amount of satisfaction as working on a 48-hour film, writing a role-playing game, or locking down a well-constructed sketch.

I wasn't expecting a flood of adrenalin or a massive epiphany; it's just that what I did feel surprised me.

Unbundling this further:

• the script isn't yet finished finished as there's still proofing to go
• I found the writing process itself to be rewarding - challenging, sure, but satisfying and worthwhile
• from working on hopeless, I'm aware that there are many moments that you celebrate during the life of a script (including realising you're filming a scene that matches up to your imagination; seeing a cut of the film that finally works; and the Premiere)
• there are also future rewards, specific to this script.

Those possible future rewards include stuff like:

• reading the script with fresh eyes in, say, a year & enjoying it
• selling the script
• getting positive feedback from people I respect
• having a script that I think is special enough that it could generate royalties for me
• having a sample script that could open doors to new jobs for me.

The point is that there wasn't some big Hollywood rush of triumph. It was a quiet moment. If anything, I would call it contentment.

The Limit

It's done.

Proofing will commence sometime in the next couple of days, but for now time for a glass of wine, and a sense of reflective satisfaction.

Questions?

The Limit - Good progress

I'm about 80% through typing in the changes I've made. This stage always goes faster than I anticipate. And, as a bonus, I'm happy with all the ideas that I've come up with over the last couple of months.

Now entering the third act, where there's a lot of new material.

Hopefully finished by Wednesday, and then the proofing begins.

[The Limit] The end of marking up the script

Friday night, I finished revising the exposition scene in the middle of the script. That's the last big change I had to make, and it involved quite a bit of research.

So, that's the end of the big creative-thinking part of the script. Now to type in the changes, with hopefully only a few areas where I have to come up with new ideas. I expect that phase will have a lot of tightening of dialogue in it.

A couple of months back, Morgue described writing a second draft as

... like being inside a giant and massively complex sudoku puzzle, erasing and checking and erasing again as you try and get the damn thing to have the right balance of numbers. Equal parts fascinating and frustrating, but always compelling.

I'd add to that, that there's a constant deepening of your understanding of the characters. Every scene that's been problematic in this rewrite, I've had to say why is it in the script? That question has led to me amping up its structural importance (the sudoku aspect, above), but I've also had to 'get' previously minor characters. That deeper understanding feeds back into the start of the script and affects how other characters react to each other.

Anyway, like I said, typing, proofing, and sending out are next. I expect the secondary project I'll focus on now is to collect all of these script writing posts and start to refine and publish my process.

Game Chef games I'm keeping an eye on

Game Chef is an annual competition to design a game using a designated number of ingredients. There's one more week before the final drafts have to be submitted. Here are the games I'm most interested in, in the order I read about them. (I'm particularly fascinated by about how Fabled and Book of Threads will work):

Courtroom Clash, by Kaloth

OBJECTION!

Enter the world of Criminal Justice. As an elite lawyer, you must uncover the truth behind heinous crimes and enforce the law in the Court. Follow the threads of evidence while investigating the crime and use them to win your case against the opposing lawyer in a contest of skill and luck.

But what if the truth is against you?

Last in a Long Line, by Mike Sugarbaker

You are the last of the Rosicrucians, the sole survivor of a shadowy conspiracy's relentless quest to eliminate the sacred thread of your bloodline. If you are to die, you must produce an heir first - which means hitting the speed dating scene. Yet your enemies lurk everywhere, even amongst the ladies seeking mature, successful life partners!

Tabitha's Children, by Roger

You are brought back from the dead to exact revenge upon those who wronged you.

FABLED, by Mathias Jack

"You just woke up remembering nothing. Now you've got to go hunt your memories, which have become physical in a topsy-turvy Wonderland. As you adventure, you discover who you are, and just might find a way home."

Nothing Sacred, by Secret

you take on the role of a god! you got the looks, the powers, the life...but no worshippers. that was over hundreds of years ago. you live on the streets of gotham in the punk, end-of-the-world, goth god scene. immortal life goes on, eh?

but for some it doesn't. one of your peers has been killed, no mean feat considering that gods are immortal! and everyone thinks you did it. be the first one to pin it on another character before it's too late! play a cutthroat game of youdunnit as a god of the Egyptian, Celtic, Norse or Greek pantheons. bid out the scene of the crime, place macguffins, red herrings and incriminating evidence wherever you like. (but it'll cost ya!) it's like a typical roleplaying game with sacred, divine intervention, you actually play around with each other's fate. connect the thread between the murder and the killer avoiding inconsistencies before anyone else does and you win!

GROVER CLEVELAND, by Jason Morningstar

It's 1886, you and your two friends are Secret Service agents charged with protecting the dignity and grandeur of the Presidency. The thing is, Old Grover's a very bad man with some nasty secrets - and his sister Rose, the bachelor President's First Lady, is out to find them all. If she does, you're out of the best job you've ever had. What's the plan, sport

The Book of Threads, by Jeffr

There is a web-site that contains every true thing on Earth. What would you do for edit access?

The Book of Threads is a game of Occult Conspiracy, Modern Fantasy, and Plastic Reality. You play a new initiate to the most secret occult group in the world. Imagine Wikipedia, except that every time somebody changes a page, the world changes around it to make that true. And then imagine the stakes of the edit-wars...

Fade, by Mike Sands

The Palace fleet approaches a new star, something that hasn't happened in hundreds of years, the fragile alliances and agreements between the Palaces are increasingly coming under strain.

Conflicts between Palaces are fought by their elite secret agents, the spooks, trained to destroy and create memories.

In this society without violence, power comes from the ability to change your enemy's mind.

Go Mike!

Veronica Mars - current status

This is the most up-to-date summary about Veronica Mars' status that I know.

It looks like an official decision about whether to renew the show will be made on May 17.

The likely options are:
(1) spinning off into a new format (possibly four years in the future, when Veronica is a full-fledged FBI agent)
(2) continuing the story of Veronica at Hearst College
(3) axing the show.

At the moment, (1) and (3) appear equally likely.

Links - the future of media

Advertising

Pop-ups in TV shows are being considered as a possible near-future form of advertising. For instance, viewers might see a commercial playing in a TV in the living room of the set. Then the commercial would pop full-screen.

Netvibes is a stie that gives its users to build a web page that gathers their favorite sites, blogs, etc, together. It does not accept paid advertisements. Instead, it makes advertisers create a Netvibes that provides a useful service to its community.


Online businesses

Over at GigaOm, there's an article about how the toughest part of a new venture is to get your users to pay you anything at all.

"The biggest gap in any venture is that between a service that is free and one that costs a penny."

As Anne Zelenka says,

"the reason there’s a huge gap between people paying you nothing and people paying you something is because that’s where you go from hobby to business. Between zero revenue and positive revenue lies your business model. Going from zero pay to a penny is where you’ve discovered how to make money–and that’s what businesses are about. The penny gap separates the winners from the losers, economically speaking.

Downloads, Music, & DRM

If every music listener in the world paid $50, they could have access to every song ever recorded while maintaining or increasing music sales. That's according to Cambridge-educated economist turned music-manager (Pink Floyd, The Clash, Ian Dury And The Blockheads, Billy Bragg) Peter Jenner.

Here's the story of how one man's terrible DRM experience trying to legally download a single piece of music has led to him giving up on online music altogether. Over-reaction or flawed business model? You can decide.

CD sales keep declining. The artificial demand for replacing all your old music with CDs has been over for a while. Now, sales in the first quarter of 2007 a 20% lower than the same quarter last year.

Links - games and virtual worlds

Free games

Wogger: It's either irritating or fun - I haven't figured it out yet, so I say 'irritating'.
The Marriage: The designer calls it a game that's supposed to be a work of art. I haven't played it yet, but present it for your perusal. Raph Koster talks about the seminar it was presented at, here, and there's a few more cool game ideas in that link, too.
Understanding Games: Holy crap. A series on understanding computer games in the form of a series of computer games?

MMO News

“What policies should real world governments have with regards to synthetic worlds?” Ludium II is a game conference to answer that, but it's structured like a live-action game where conference attendees adopt the role of delegates to a political party convention whose objective is to hammer out a common platform. By the end of it, the group comes up with 10 policy recommendations believed by most participants to be important, sensible, and feasible. (Hat tip: Raph)

A Star Trek MMO? Seems filled with more potential for conflicts and interesting situations that The Verse.

And NASA is calling for proposals to develop an MMO to let people? Americans? share in the experience of NASA science and exploration virtually.

This article in The Escapist argues that massively multiplayer gaming will have to attract
casual, not hardcore, players. People who aren't willing to devote hours of their day on a regular basis to the game. Sounds like one of the aims of some of the indie RPG movement - except in the case of tabletop RPGs, the designers aim to give players value for time by frontloading conflict and story potential into the game rather than let it develop over multiple weekly sessions. Some choice quotes:

In his opinion, "the fierce competition in MMOG development has created a plethora of niche themes, but far less differentiation in the experience itself."

Goslin thinks "the big difference between casual and hardcore gamers is the amount of time they are willing to invest. To attract the former, you have to get them engaged faster, because their time is limited. Once they're playing, however, the game needs to be challenging, deep and fun, if you want them to continue. If you succeed in creating a game that's challenging, deep and fun for a casual player, it will likely also be fun for a hardcore gamer."

A little op-ed piece in Wired about the obsession over race in MMORPGs, and Bruce Damer's doing a timeline of virtual worlds over at Terra Nova.


Game Designers Talk

The developer of Buzz: The Music Quiz, talks about the process of designing the game. His characteristics for games that appeal to the mass market? Familiarity, simplicity and approachability.

Will Wright, creator of the Sims, gives the keynote speech at South by Southwest Interactive. There's so much good stuff here, I present it in an undifferentiated mass of quotes:

Games inherently are this branching tree. Linear sequence is the basis of story. There’s a topology difference,

Stories are really based on lot of properties. Language, imagination, but most important for me is empathy, the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of someone else on screen. Actors are emotional avatars. We can inhabit that person and feel what they’re feeling. Film deals with this rich emotional palate because they have actors. Games tend to appeal more to the reptilian brain, the basic instincts of fear and aggression.

But games have a different emotional palate, not that they don’t have an emotional palate. Pride and accomplishment, guilt, these things are felt in games, but are not felt in watching a movie. I once beat the hell out of my creatures in Black & White, I felt terribly guilty. I’ve never felt guilty watching film

Memento, at some point each future point in chain caused you reevaluate what you’d seen before, you had to go back and rebuild large regions of the causal chain in your head. Like a puzzle game.

Groundhog Day is one of my all time favorites. Interesting, felt most like a game. Linear sequence, but all of a sudden it’s 6:00am again, he does it again, then again, again. What’s interesting about Groundhog Day, it was a game, he had to restart. This is a really interesting example of where the audience knew the past, so every day the director could skip more and more of the sequence. In our imaginations we cover almost an eternity of experience in this succinct way.

There’s this concept from games called magic circle, when people play a game together they’re sitting down and respect rules of game. People outside are not expected to respect the rules: we don’t cheat, or talk with partner during bridge game. I think story has a lot of the same thing, shared experience, story circles are like campfires 10s of 1,000s of years ago, which then evolved more structure. At the same time, our idea of story has evolved more structure, and we now have large formal things, things like the three-act structure, then it’s been shrinking back again, television, shorter shows in living room all way down to video iPods.

There are lot of opportunities, it’s almost fractal, we now have 3 minute things pulled off YouTube, so in some sense the story circle has been diversifying in time and space, we don’t have to go to movie theater or living room. Games are doing same thing, diversifying in time and space, you can have epic 40 hour game experience, or 2 minutes on cell phone.

If you look at how much time the average person spends consuming linear entertainment, it’s fairly flat. Interactive entertainment is still riding a generational wave. Younger people spend more time with interactive entertainment than with linear entertainment. There’s this cultural overtake process, where there’s an uncomfortable mixture of people who have spent a lot more time with linear, but a whole generation coming up where interactive is more compelling. So what this is driving, rather than games being about sports, they’re more about hobby. They’re a tool of self-expression much like a hobbyist builds elaborate train sets.

The Limit - Let's roll

All right. Let's finish this thing.

Hot Fuzz - a review from the pub

The first third was so-so, tending towards the fairly entertaining. Bartender, another pint please!

Second third. Well, that was rather good, actually. No, scratch that. It was very good. Bartender, a round for the table please.

Third third: fewking hell! That's bloody marvellous, that is. Is it the best finale to a film ever? ... Ah, ... no, not quite. But it's still bloody excellent. Bartender, two pubs of your finests why's that floor moving towards my face?

Ow! Pain is funny.

Links - Learning & Project Management Tip

I haven't gone through either of these articles thoroughly yet, but it seems like there could be some useful nuggets here:

77 Tips for learning.

101 Tips for project management.

The Limit - What's Important

The more important I think a scene is, the longer it seems to take me to write. Thinking of something as "important" makes me freak out, because I need to get it "right".

But at this stage of the script, every scene should be important. Every scene needs to contribute. Every moment, too.

That means I'm going to have to develop some way off de-freaking-out. Being a full-time writer would be good too (more dedicated time to solve problems and get into a groove). Unfortunately, I may have to let that ambition go for a while, and content myself writing on the bus.

(Example: It's taken me five days to work on a single line of the script. It's an important line -- it has to let us know what Peter's worst fear is, and hint at some of the oddness that is to come.)

More linkage

In lieu of original content, I give you:

A pretty cool SF story about a wiki-driven democracy.

20 tips for achieving goals. One that I particularly like is, "Make it a rule to never skip 2 days in a row." And in related news, Lifehacker presents the idea of beta-testing your goals.

Got questions about biology? Ask a biologist.

Holy crap! 5 steps to building your own backyard hydrogen-fuel cell generator. You'll need solar panels, electrolyzers, steel piping, a gas tank, an inverter, and a few other cool bits and bobs, including a hydrogen sniffer. Which makes sense.

I'm off to play my first game of poker in 15 years tonight. The useful soyouwanna.com has a nice rundown on the rules of poker (warning: contains a lame and outdated Ross Perot joke).

This weekend, The Limit. I'm 28 pages from the end of my rewrite. Then the typing in and proofing commences. Hopefully it'll all be done by 17 March, when this year's Iron Game Chef competition begins.

RPG - Hardcore playtesting

This post is essential game designer reading. It links to a Q&A with Reiner Knizia, designer of Tigris & Euphrates, Ra, Blue Moon, and the Lord of the Rings cooperative boardgame.

But check out the effort a full-time, award-winning game designer puts in:

- He has playtest groups running every single night.
- Knizia says he knows a game is ready when the rules stop changing in between playtests. For him, that's generally nine months of full-time work.

Linkage

Stephen King talks about the possibility of rewriting the Dark Tower series, and how JJ Abrams optioned the movie rights (for $19!).

A rundown of some very cool-sounding indie video games. I love the idea of a martial arts game that plays like chess (about 4 down).

Jeremy blogs on diet. And again.

And after the last post, I resolve to not be so lazy. That paragraph was a quote. I shall link to my sources in future.

Diet #1

Fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol—should make up the bulk of the calories you consume. The rest should come from low-fat dairy products, lean meat and poultry, and fish.

Tech - Google Reader, 1 problem sorted

Marking all posts as read (see yesterday) is extremely easy, it turns out. Simply press Shift-a.

Make sure you're in Only List Updated view.
Press g + a. That gets you to view all the new stuff in a list.

I view everything in List view.

Navigate your way round the list using the n and p keys. Use o to open up the full item, and press o again to close the item back down (and keep your place in the list view).

Finally, to mark everything as read, press Shift-a.

From what I can tell, navigating this way means that when I look at Google Trends (which tells me what I'm reading and what percentage of it I'm paying attention to), I'll get some meaningful information.

Script - Useful gadgets for writers

Wired posted a list of their Top Gadgets for writers. Here are the ones relevant to me:

Digital Recorder

Don't waste time fiddling with your music player or laptop: the specialized controls and user interface of a good digital recorder are indispensable, and much better than those on devices whose focus lies elsewhere. Some DAPs are better than others—the iPod is capable enough—but you'll miss the simple, one-click operation of a smaller device with an integrated mic.

Any of the name brands will do, but make sure it offers a USB port, plug 'n' play hookup to your computer (It should appear as a portable drive when plugged in) and that the recordings are saved in a sensible format (such as WAV, WMA or MP3).

Great for capturing brainstorming sessions, Actual Plays, and those moments when the perfect lines for the scene leap out at me. I'm investigating this.

A decent pen

It's not just those of us less enamored of technology who need a decent scribbler: we all write the old-fashioned way, all the time, regardless of our affinity for the latest half-cooked tech toys. The constant scribe might want to try the ergonomic Yoropen, especially if cramp and repetitive strain are issues. And there's always the Fisher Space Pen for writers who write upside-down.

The rest of us have the Parker Jotter, which, when used with a gel-ink refill, is unbeatable. As much as I love classic fountains like my Parker 51, for everyday use, the workaday jotter topples any legend.

Okay, have to admit I haven't explored the world of pen-geekdom, but the Yoropen and the Parker Jotter sound cool.

Better writing software

The twin gorillas of word processing, Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer, impose a writing experience often counter to the needs of people who actually write, as opposed to people who generate business correspondence. There are many alternatives targeted at prose-crafters, most of them dreadful (more on those in a moment) but the two standouts are Scrivener for Mac OS X and RoughDraft for Windows, simple, straightforward, laser-guided writing software.

Scrivener has more features and eye candy, and carries a $35 price tag. RoughDraft is simpler and free of charge.

I shall check out RoughDraft immediately.

Unlimited public transport access

Exploration is about the most useful activity a writer can indulge in.

Didn't I already post about this? Public transport rocks for getting the writing down on paper, but this article also points out that a trip can also provide you with new sights and new material.

TV - Inside and Backstage

So, this post by Denis McGrath over at Dead Things on Sticks is filled with optimism about what it's like to be working on a TV series. Some choice quotes:

Somebody once said that when you're doing TV, six is a mint; thirteen is a stretch; twenty-two is a war.

Somebody - it may have been my father - said years ago that one of the best ways to gauge the quality of a work experience is: Am I still learning? And the answer here is definitely, absolutely, yes.

... when you have professional actors, who really read the script, try to work their way through it and are trying to work with you to make it better, here is the single greatest thing they do:

They never let you get away with anything.

There's a whole lot more, including a section on the interplay between writers and directors which introduces the concept of "The Trade."

The Trade is where you look at the scene as it was shot and you suss out what was gained and what was lost. If you're lucky, you can make peace with what the director added and paper over or accept what was lost.

There is much wisdom here.

The Limit - working in longhand

The final polish is going smoothly but slowly. I'm making longhand notes, and I'm up to page 70 (out of 98). Then typing in the corrections, making final editorial decisions, and the proof and spell.

I've made an odd structural discovery that's going to necessitate a major costume change for one character in this last part of the script. Also, looking forward to the big & completely father-son scene that I'm going to have to create.

Jodi, thanks for the thought in the previous post.

Google - not just a verb, it's a monolith

Have I saved myself from wasting an hour a day online?

In the last 24 hours, I've created a gmail account, set up a Google Reader page, and swapped the blog over to the new googlised version.

I'm fairly happy with Reader. I've tried rss aggregators before, but the fact I'm on dial-up has meant they haven't been worth the time (I follow a lot of blogs, and that makes the search time very slow). Reader seems to have a few issues with creating folders (it's not intuitive or all that easy) and with marking everything as read (as far as I can tell, you can't do it). However, I'll keep exploring it.

[Edit: Ah-hah! Marking something as read is as easy as pressing the spacebar a couple of times.]

Also, thanks to Lee for fixing my PC. I'm now using the internet at normal speed again.

[The Limit] The final rewrite has begun!

At about 4pm.

Basically, I got sick of taking notes and preparing to do it - so I've just launched straight in. Posting may resume its recent quietness, or it may keep on being done every couple of days. I'm not sure. I've got a holiday coming up, which will probably be devoted to the script but it'll also give me some free time to jot some stuff down.

Also, this be Post 650.

What does a script-writer do?

In "Writing screenplays that sell", Robert Hauge describes the script-writer's primary job as "eliciting emotion from the person reading the screenplay."

My take on the script-writer's primary job: to construct a question that's interesting enough that the audience will keep watching to find out the answer.

How to apply that structurally is to introduce the question as early as possible, and answer it as late as possible.

The Limit - The polishing begins

Yesterday.

9.25 am: I'm about to read The Limit. I'm nervous. Fair enough; this draft is supposed to be the last one, and this read will determine whether I'm finished.

So, I want it to be good. But I know it can't match the ideal in my head, and it isn't perfect.

10.51 am: Finished the read.

Well, it's good. Not great. But I do think this is the final polish of the script.

Acts One and Two move pretty damn well (after a couple of year of rewriting). Act Three is puffy, and now it needs to be lifted. It's got a repetitive start; the logic behind what's happened to Peter isn't clear; the climax isn't sharp or moving enough.

Now to do up my notes, and hear back from Andrew.

Filed in: script limit

Now we get to see if the 'verse has any on-going potential

Firefly, the online roleplaying game!

Filed in: vw sf

Characterisation - A starting point

Knowing a character's background helps you figure out their voice.

That's because the way a person speaks reflects their interests. The metaphors they use, the subjects they talk about, and the grammatical structure of how they talk about them.

Examples ... A journalist who asks incisive questions, likes finding out facts, and enjoys talking about current events. A computer programmer whose sentences are logical and precise. In real-life, I've recently noticed how much I use television shows and script-writing techniques in conversation. I compared a job situation to working on a 'West Wing' election campaign; if I want to know about someone's past, I ask "What's their backstory?" Frankly, it's begun to irritate me.

Conclusion: if a person's focused (or obsessive) about what they're interested in, their speech becomes more one-dimensional. Which is great, because it makes them easier to characterise, ... and not so good if you're a real person.

What else affects speech patterns? Class, education, temperament, ethnicity, friends. There's a whole bunch of continuums that are useful to think about - does this person have high or low self-esteem? How certain or ambivalent are they? Where do they fit on continuums like:

- caring/selfish
- honest/deceitful
- ambitious/contented
- direct/passive-aggressive
- clear thinking/fuzzy thinking
- practical/dreamer?

When two people meet, they also talk about the things they have in common - which can be their social group or it can be shared interests. And what they talk about can be the thing they care most about at that moment. That's possibly not so useful for creating conflict in a scene, but it gives me two good questions for figuring out a scene's starting point, to create a sense of reality.

What do these people have in common?
What do they care about most, right now?

Filed in: script

The Limit - "... slide"

I just got to a section of the script I've been dreading - and it seems to be going fast, painless and good. I have much relief at this.

Also, a tip (perhaps applicable only to me): I find that if I'm blocked on a script, I actually get a lot of work done if I take a train up to the Kapiti Coast. The secret is to not bring anything else to read or do . There's something about boredom that really forces me to write.

Commuting. Environmentally friendly and creative.

Filed in: Limit script

Time to celebrate

The good news is my hands are now pain-free most of the time. There is no bad news.

This is just the end of the first stage. Now I know that if there's pain, it'll go away if I manage it right. I don't freak out about it. The next stage is to focus on diet and exercise, to get healthy and take care of myself.

It's been a tough three years. I want to thank:

- Sean, for helping me get a great job where I could start to pushing myself.
- My physio at the Te Aro Hand clinic who taught me that while all pain is just in your head, some pain is more in your head than others.
- Cathy, for connecting me with someone who'd been through it too.
- And all my friends and family, who put up with me.

Filed in: oos personal

The Limit - Easy, Hard, Easy

Man, this frickin' script. I had a great start to the rewrite (5 pages in one day, which is fantastic for my first day). Then I hit this big father-son scene at page 14 and get bogged down in it for 2 and a half weeks until I figure out what it's really about (clue: it's personal).

Anyway, once I figured out the heart of the scene, it flowed easily & the script has kept going at a nice rate. I still hope to have it all finished for sending out to producers by New Year, but I also hoped to have the fine-tuning draft finished by tomorrow ... and with 60 pages to go, that's a little on the unlikely side.

Now I'm making some decisions about whether the mid-point for the cops' subplot needs to be as BIG as I have thought for the last couple of years. I'm beginning to think it doesn't - the script now has an intensity and flow to it that mean big on-the-nose plot points start to get in the way of the reader finding out what happens next.

Developing.

Filed in: limit script