blip blop bleep [focus] blip blop bleep

Took aderol today and got a lot done on the polish. Oh yea, i'm almost done polishing the script. Then give it to Brendon and Dave again for review. Hopefully not too many more things to fix.

I CAN SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

The missing piece

“A character's inner conflict is not just being in two minds about something, not just being torn between obvious incompatibles (“I want to be a priest, and yet I love her”) but is about being in a new situation where old attitudes and habits war with and hinder the need for change." (Mysteryman on film)

So this is what I've been struggling with over the last 2 years on freed men. This was what I had to try and crack with my character. And I finally realized that it relates back to the theme of control and power. Slavery ran on control and power. Twitchell wanted to help the slaves but still held onto his want to control them and be the one in power. Then he realizes he must give up this power to the slaves if he wants to succeed. This is represented by him voting for a black person to be the one in control in the culmination of the story.

That shit was hard to figure out, trust me. But I think I've finally got it. And that's what will make it sell.

"One part of ourselves may want to give those around us (children, spouses, friends) total freedom to pursue their happiness in their own ways, while another part fears losing control."

BAM

Women

Ahah! My first post via blackberry. Love 2010 technology. Assistant position interview next week. Let's hope I nail it. I'm beyond sick of working retail. Today pushed me to the brink in terms of my threshhold for how much I can take of my fake fucking manager. I'm so sick of women like this. Who do they think they are?? Case in point: I'm driving to work and this stuck up bitch in heels walks across the street in the middle of traffic NOT at a crosswalk. I rolled down my window and gave her an earful. Sorry bbut I just get sick of women who think theyr the shit while doing nothing useful for the world and think they can treat people however they want just cause they think they're hot.

Paul Schrader made me realize....

That metaphors come before the problem when you are adapting someone else's work or story into a script. Which applies to Freed Men. The metaphor of reconstruction came first, and I had to make a problem out of it. Which basically equals what happens in the story with twitchell in the middle of these two peoples warring with each other. LOVE paul schrader. man thinks exactly how i do when it comes to using your personal problems and issues you are dealing with in your own life and converting them into metaphors that you can use to write a script. GENUIS

Done

December 10th, 2009.

Freed Men is done. 129 pages.

I can breathe a new atmosphere. With a new earth beneath and a new sky above.

Rounding the bend

I'm rounding the final bend on Freed Men. 95 pages down on the third draft. Wooh! Last lap.
Me and the guys are than gonna prep it to go out to our initial connections (mostly there's). And hopefully I'll even score an agent in the process!
I've been patient for close to two years now, working on this baby, and honestly I'm pretty psyched about the possibilities.

Do You Have What it Takes?

Wavers, writing, particularly in entertainment, is like running a marathon. It is to push yourself further than you ever have before, to hit the wall and burn inside because you want to quit so badly. It’s punishing. And exhilarating. And it’s about stamina, determination and training. It’s about staying in the race.

Aspiring screenwriters line up at the starting line, the pistol is fired and off they go, joyous and optimistic. It’s a crowded race, fans cheer, the sun is bright and life is good. Anybody can write! It’s easy! Movies are fun!

But the writers thin out relatively quickly. The ones with no natural talent or willingness to develop writing skills go first. Splat. Next come the impatient and the unrealistic. Splat. Splat. Next come the writers who are ego-invested and neurotic. Splat. Splat. Splat. Next come the writers who have just grown too exhausted by the ups, downs and near-misses. Splat.

But a few writers remain. Writers with the patience of Job and an almost certifiable single-minded determination. Sure, they get tired. They want to quit. They look back at the other writers crawling off the track with a mixture of pity and envy. They begin to hallucinate. They want to lie down and breathe in the smell of sweet poppies. But they keep their eyes on that finish line no matter what. Those are the writers that make it.

It could take 10 years. Can you handle that? It could take 10 years, nine scripts, having a baby, needing a new car, hating your day job, and your friends and parents taking you aside sympathetically and telling you you’re crazy. Are you tough enough? It could take 15 crappy meetings, a flat tire, third place when you deserved first, 29 printer cartridges and 14 tons of coffee. Still in?

Gatorade up, everybody, and do your stretches. Are you in it for the long haul? Do you have what it takes? A support system, goals, feedback and drive? Are you taking classes, networking and writing every single day? We Rouge Wavers don’t mind if other writers stumble to the side and quit with dignity. They just made it easier for the next writer to succeed. And that writer will be a Rouge Waver who just didn’t stop trying.