Author: Greg

Voice! Where are you?

A new week but unfortunately no real news. I’m still on track though, the rewrite is going well and I really think I have a decent TV movie there. I’m not saying it’s perfect and there is a lot of work to do but I feel that I’m definitely on track. Who knows, maybe I can report my first sell sooner than later…but maybe not.

Lets’s have a look at the numbers.

One book/screenplay: School reading.
Two movies: I’m still in “that” kind of mood s it’s still mostly silly action movies and cheesy romantic comedies. I saw “Playing it Cool” with Chris Evans and for some reason that movie hot way too close to home. It reminded me a bit about the “Passion of the Geek” obviously not that crazy but I’m pretty sure that the writers had to work though something. I also watched “New Year’s Eve”, what a messy dud of a movie.
Seven pages: Not new Pages but reworked pages, besides “Die Klientin” I also polished “The Passion of the Geek” but more on that later.
Seven hours: Orlindo is giving me great feedback and I hope that his new office makes him productive enough to return the favor. I’m also trying to come up with my next idea. I have some thoughts, but nothing conclusive yet, I wrote a bit for my immortal idea but that was just finger stretching, all I know is, that I want to write something with a female protagonist.

But let’s talk a bit about why I decided to polish, “The Passion of the Geek”. Every time someone talks about breaking into screenwriting, well writing in general, they talk about finding your voice, your unique voice, that thing that is special about you, the story only you can write. When I look at everything I’ve written, for me that’s the “The Passion of the Geek”. It’s my strangest but also most personal movie. I’m not saying that I loved through all of that but some of the moments, some of the emotions are 100% real, and that’s saying something for a strange movie like that.

Full disclosure, I’m not sure if “The Passion of the Geek”has a unique voice or if I even have one, but it’s definitely the thing I’ve written that comes close. It’s totally me on every page, I still love all the jokes and all the choices and there are countless moments in the script I’d do almost anything¹ to see them realized. That has to count for something, doesn’t it.

I decided to add the current version to the Blacklist site to get some feedback. I doubt that they’ll discover my voice but I might get some pointers on how to discover it and maybe I get some ideas on how to improve the script and get it to the next level.

Stay tuned.

Doesn’t look too complicated.

Howdy, friends. After two weeks on the road I’m back at the keyboard and eager to get writing again. I had planned to get sone work done while on the road, once more I had to realise that not everything is going according to plan.

I’m going to skip the numbers, there’s not too much to report. Maybe a quick word about my last post, everything is alright. Not alright, alright, but I’ll live. Writing my thoughts down actually helped me a lot. I felt a lot better afterwards and I continue to see things much clearer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I’ve come to a conclusion but I understand the problem. The options haven’t changed and I’m still not ready to make a decision but for the moment this “limbo state” seems like “as good as it gets” so I’ll guess I’ll have to take it. It’s not too bad for my writing so I don’t care too much. Obviously it’s not a long term solution but sometimes “not making a decision” doesn’t necessarily has to be a bad thing.

The two weeks away haven’t been that great to my weight-loss project but as of yesterday I’m back on track. It might take a few days to get back to where I was but it seems that I’m losing the pounds I gained while away fairly quickly. At least one thing is going according to plan.

Orlindo sent me some feedback on the current version of “Die Klientin” and I’m working through that, this is probably the rewrite that either turns this into something good or makes me quit it for something else. I hope (and I have a good feeling) it’s the former though. After the first 50 pages I’m having a good feeling. The characters are finally turning into real people and some feel needed cuts improved the flow of the story. I’ll keep you updated.

Oktober is also the time when TV season starts again and watching pilots is one of my favourite things. Some of them are quite promising others don’t excite me but that’s just the way it is. I’m really excited about “Westworld” though. The pilot was awesome and I hope they continue to deliver. On the other side of the spectrum, how many silly boring procedurals (or formulas for procedurals) are they going to try and shove down our throats? I get that many people like them but can’t we just agree that it’s not enough to get a lead character with a problem and bad social skills to solve crime in a ridiculous way.

That’s it for today. I have to get back to work.

I’m a few days early but who cares.

I’ve spent a few days with my first draft and I received some great feedback, not feedback that my first draft is great but feedback that will help me get there. The script has many problems right now, some are fixable others are part of the story, I just hope that they are not too big for the people in charge.

One big change I made though is the ending. I completely changed the ending. I tried to do something different at first but I was told in no uncertain terms that the ending sucks. It did, in part intentionally but I have to admit that id did not work with the rest.

I’m currently waiting for some more notes and then I’ll tackle those issues. I have some ideas on how to dress some problems. The supporting characters need some more space to breathe, something to do and I think I have an idea to accomplish that. The script is still a couple of pages short so that should work out nicely.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite happy with what I wrote but if I really want someone to buy it, it needs to be better, a lot better. In preparation I watched some German TV, and while I think that my story is better than what I saw, my execution is still a bit lacking. I think I have my work cut out for me.

Let’s get down to the numbers.

One book/screenplay: Does my own screenplay count?
Two movies: Writing is going really well but other aspects of my life are seriously lacking, so I do what I always do when I’m in “that” kind of mood: Silly action movies and cheesy romantic comedies. No, I’m not going into details about “that” kind of mood, I’m way too obsessed without involving you.
Seven pages: I think we established in the last few weeks, that seven pages isn’t the issue anymore. Seven good pages, that’s harder.
Seven hours: Orlindo is hard at work and I’m already thinking about my next, probably also german, project.

I’m currently filling a piece of paper with some random ideas. I don’t know which one is going to make it, they all seem equally bad but If I’m totally honest, now that I’m looking at the piece of paper, I think I have a favorite. I’ll probably have to sleep over it but I think I know what my next thing is going to be. I know that I should probably return to “Down Under” but I don’t have an idea on how to include a villain yet, maybe after this one. Who knows maybe I have a great idea tonight.

Coming up with ideas is probably one of my favorite parts of writing. That feeling you have when you think of that crucial part of the story, priceless. Unfortunately it’s hard work after that and for my next Project I’m starting with the characters and not with the plot. I have a setting but then it’s about the characters, what they need and what the want and then I’ll try to figure out a story that helps them achieve that.

It’s going to be a different process for me but I’m optimistic that it will improve the finished product.

Progress Report 20, #ProjectMomentum is not a teenager anymore and I feel confident enough to call it a success. I’m especially happy with the last couple of weeks. If you read my last few progress reports, you know that my writing has been quite steady and that #ProjectMomentum bled out into other areas of my life. Overall I feel great about how much I improved (writing wise and personally) over the last couple of weeks and I hope to keep going at this pace. I’d be a shame to fall behind again.

There’s one thing I have to admit though. 20 weeks doesn’t equal 140 pages, far from it. I’m a lot better than Orlindo but that’s not saying much (…sorry…but it’s the truth…). My Australia script amassed a decent page count but ultimately that project is doomed in its current form. I still have a great feeling about “Die Klientin”and the plan is to be done around October. I’m away the for two weeks (end of September beginning of October) and I hope to use at least one of those weeks for finishing touches on the first draft.

But let’s look at the numbers:

One book/screenplay: I’m reading along with Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass and I started with another Graphic Novel “Black Hole” by Charles Burnes, good and inspiring stuff.
Two movies: I caught up on some movies and queued a few for inspiration and research. “Sing Street” still stands out as one of my favorites this year but “500 Days of Summer”, “The Assassination of a High School President”, “Billy Elliot” and “The Man Who Knew Infinity” were all really enjoyable.
Seven pages: They keep coming. I had to adjust a few things and I’m probably have to add a few things in the beginning but so far I feel really confident with my 43 pages. I went through it and I really liked the fact, that there is almost no “fat”, every scene leads somewhere or introduces something new. I know that’s supposed to be the car ein all screenplays but it never came together so easily for me.
Seven hours: Still waiting on stuff from Orlindo. I cobbled together the idea/premise for “The Company” but that doesn’t really count. Through the Masterclass course I met a german writer and we exchanged feedback on our projects.

That’s it for today. I’m quite busy and can’t think of anything interesting right now.