21 days down... screenplay not done.

Well, a lot has happened over the past couple weeks to veer me off my course.  Some of it good some of it not so much… Some of it my fault, some of it less so.

My good friend passed away last month.  I was his only family here.  In short, this month I had to go to the mainland to take care of stuff.  I’m not really ready or willing to talk about it all here.  I will say that it was difficult to take care of everything I needed to take care of before heading out and difficult to sit down at the computer while I was gone… well, and I am only now getting back into the swing of things. 

I could say a lot more but what I need to do is get the fire burning.  I passed my initial deadline.  But I still have 80 plus pages already done and I’m close.  Somewhere between 20 and 40 pages is the end of this screenplay.  It has to be because it can’t be more than 120 pages and still be a two-hour movie.  Remember, one-page equals one minute.

The one positive thing I can say is that in that time I was away from home I found a lot more of myself, my old self, the guy I need to finish this thing.

So, lets kick some tires and light some fires…

Phil's Top 10 Reasons to go to the Movies.

                                                                                                                                  November 3, 2010

1.) For a brief moment in time you could forget about your bills, the rent, your quarrelsome girlfriend, your shyster boss, or the fact that you could stand to lose ten pounds or any other psychological issue you might have (action movies are great distraction for these very reasons).

2.) You might learn something about a person, place, or culture you didn’t know much about before you saw that particular movie (i.e. documentaries or even fiction depicting a different place or culture is a good example of this).

3.) You get to sit in a comfortable seat with nice cool air condition, while it might be 90 plus degrees outside or raining for that matter.  I myself never owned an umbrella in my life.

4.) If you get into an argument with your girlfriend coming home with a ticket stub from the movies is generally better than coming home drunk with a stamp on your hand from the nightclub where you were trying to hook up with the village skank!  Just don’t see a movie you’re girl’s dying to see.  It’ll just be more trouble.

5.) Isn’t it just so cool being able to disappear from the world for a couple hours? Who’s likely to find you sitting there in the dark like a loner?  Not your boss that’s for sure.  Take an extra hour or so for a matinee lunch and a hot dog.  Lord knows the work will be waiting for you when you get back.

6.) If you’re on a date isn’t a scary movie the perfect icebreaker? Don’t you just want her to reach out and grab you in the dark for comfort?  Ice… broken.

7.) Everyone is talking about the latest movie.  What kind of jackass are you for not knowing what they’re talking about?  Much less a movie from a month ago? Maybe you’re getting old. 

8.) Movies are still cheap entertainment.  Look at how much you spend on a dinner for two at decent restaurant?  Or how about going out club hopping for two?  Unless you’re a sandbagger, you’re going to thrown down some serious scripts.  Unless you’d rather take her to the zoo, Rocko. 

9.) If you’re like my brother, who hates reading books or just reading in general, you can see the movie adaptation of the book that everyone was talking about it.  Okay, it’s not the same as the book.  That’s a given but what the hell do you care?  You don’t read much anyway.

10.) If you’re an aspiring screenwriter like I am, then you’ve simply got to go to the movies to see what a good movie is all about.  It’s how you study your craft.  Well that, and reading screenplays and actually writing.  You can’t spend all your time in the theater you lazy bum.

Making a movie. Getting started?

21DayScreenplay

Have you ever spent your hard-earned recession money on a movie only to walk out of there thinking – “I could’ve wrote a better damn movie!” but then you didn’t really know what the hell you were talking about?  Duh, what do you know about writing movies? Well, Viki King’s book “How to write a screenplay in 21 days” just might be the answer. 

At least, I’m banking it is.  I paid 12.99 (used) for the book.  So my friends, for those of us who wonder if you can package and sell that great idea for a movie into a full-fledged screenplay and maybe even do it in 21 days, I’m here just to do that… Write a screenplay in 21 days.  I’m going to put my money where my mouth is… all 12.99 of it.

But hey, this is going to take some planning isn’t it?  What the hell do I know about planning?  Okay, I did somehow earn a few college degrees along life’s highway, but that’s only because I needed to stay in school to keep getting those student loans, getting those student loans, getting those student loans… Now, they call me doctor.

Anyway, this thing… It’s a freaking big commitment of sorts… It’s going to take managing what time I have and the big “C” word.  Two things I’m not really known for (friends and ex-girlfriends don’t bother commenting on that one).  Okay, but I’ve been wanting to finish one of my half-finished screenplays for years… I’m tired of d!@&ng around with it!  Enough talking about it!  Time to make it happen jack!

Lord, help me, if I don’t finish one of these babies I don’t deserve to live! Seriously, seriously... Okay, I take that back Jesus.  But I just have to do this.  Don’t I?  It’s in me.  Really it is.  If anyone else out there has ever felt similarly then please pray for me.  I’m kind of apprehensive.  Putting myself out there before you folks like this... Sheesh.  What if I fail? 

Anyway, I’m hoping the pressure of putting myself before you good people might just be what it takes to motivate me to finally finish this thing!  Please, God.

And I cordially invite you along on my journey, to witness the trials and tribulations of the process, the laughter the tears (just don’t judge me, please.  I’m thinking of videoing this)… but most of all I hope to inspire you to complete your very own screenplay.  Well, second of all anyway.  I’d like to be able to finish my own freaking screenplay first, if you don’t mind.

I just need to figure out when I want to start this thing… Maybe next weekend… No not this weekend I was going to go out with friends… next weekend.  But then, I think there’s a concert coming into town… who the hell was it?  I have to check… Anyway, maybe in two weeks… when’s Halloween?  I don’t know yet what the hell I want to be for Halloween.  Damn.  After I figure out what I’m going to be for Halloween then I can really move on this thing.  Seriously.  I’ll get back to you guys on a bonafide start date. 

Bonafide I tell you! Uhh… uhh…

Bio

My name is Phillip and I am a wannabe screenwriter.  I have a day job.  I love my work (don’t ask) and it pays the bills.  The only thing I love more than what I do now is writing.  Ever since I was a kid I loved telling stories.  When I got a little older I loved writing them.  Right now, so help me…  my goal is to finish a screenplay in 21 days.  Hopefully, the thing I love more will someday pay me better.