Tag: #ProjectMomentum

A few years ago Orlindo and I handed in Skyscraper into a few competitions. We never got far but it was an interesting experience. It was about getting our work out there and we’re glad for the experience and the feedback we got.

This week we decided to compete in one of those competitions again. There’s only one problem. We don’t have a script yet.

Orlindo came up with a wonderful idea, I’m not going to spoil it and the idea is very much a fluid concept at the moment but we think that the idea is promising and worth exploring. For the competition we only need 10 screenplay pages and an outline. We think that’s doable. Orlindo had a rough outline and we worked on it and it seems like we have a diamond in the rough. There’s a lot to be done but it’s quite exciting.

We’re also thinking about doing a quick polish of Skyscraper and hand that one in as well, last time we handed in the German version so this time we’d try the original.

If we go through with this, we’re going to be really busy. Too bad that there’s also exam week but who needs sleep.

But let’s do the numbers:
One book/screenplay: School reading and I bought a new D&D book, Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
Two movies: I had trouble sleeping this week so I upped my movie watching. I’m going to post my letterbox diary look here for you to enjoy but I specifically want to mention La La Land and Pitch Perfect. I love movies and I love music and movies like that just press my buttons. La La Land was wonderful and I don’t get some of the backlash it is getting, I have to admit though that I prefer Sing Street.
Seven pages: Still working on The Eternal. I’m a bit short of seven new pages though…
Seven hours: …I’m having some issues with my outline. I think I have to scale my outline back and focus on the character and the absurdity of his situation. More Big Lebowski and John Wick, less Memento.

And now for something completely different: I started to do some of those silly memes. I had a discussion with some of my students about their media consumption, apparently they spend hours on their phones looking at memes. Big mouth that I am… well, let’s just say I could do that. I’m posting them on my Instagram feed. Please enjoy.

It’s the last week of work and to be honest, I’m a bit behind on my writing but I’m confident that I got through that little rough patch. After completing the current draft of “Die Klientin” my batteries were empty but I’m confident that they are about to recharge over the next couple of days. I finally had some creative ideas and I hope to put them to good use in the next couple of weeks.

But lets do the numbers, shall we:

One book/screenplay: That Hamilton book is really thick, especially if you have school reading as well. But I introduced my students to Watchmen this week, at least I have that going for me.
Two movies: “Rogue One” was decent and stupid me started rewatching “The O.C.” and “Friends”. I’m not a film critic so I’m not going to review “Rogue One”, let’s just say it’s the best of the prequels. I also don’t have to say how good “Friends” is, from the get go it’s just a good show and please don’t laugh, so is “The O.C.”, it gets really bad after a while and there are some stupid , very stupid storylines but the first 10 episodes have been great.
Seven pages: I started to rework “The Passion of the Geek”, not a page one rewrite but it’s going to be different, I have to streamline the whole thing and get rid of everything that’s not working and focus on the characters. I also startet working on another dialogue driven idea. I’d pitch it as “Before Sunrise meets Burried”. I’m writing that one in German and I wrote the first two pages. I don’t have a real title yet.
Seven hours: This week has has been a mix between developing and writing. Orlindo promised me some pages and I’m really looking forward to them.

Not in the movie.

The new idea just came to me. I started outlining a much bigger version of it, a complicated story about love, rejection and whatnot. But I soon realized that I’m only interested in one scene so I decided to skip all the boring parts on focus on that one scene. I have no idea whether it’s going to be a short or a feature length script. I know how I have to set the characters up and how to get them to where I want them and from there on I let them speak and hear what they have to say. I’m not ready to go into details let me just say that it’s cheaper than a therapist.

On a side note. I’m below 80 kilos and I never felt better. People (some) are noticing and it feels great. I just hope that Christmas isn’t going to be too bad but then again, who cares, you have to enjoy some things without thinking too much about how many calories they have.

See you next week for the last post of 2016.

I know I repeat myself but the break went on way longer than expected but it was necessary. I’m focusing on school and rewriting “Die Klientin” at the moment but I think I have finally decided on my next idea. I figured out a way to make “The Company” work. It’s going to be 500 Days of Summer meets Primer, sounds a bit strange but in my mind it makes sense.

I’m outlining and I hope to get started over Christmas. But let’s crunch the numbers.

One book/screenplay: I listened to “Hamilton” again and I finally decided to read the biography by Ron Chernow the musical is based on. He had quite the life.
Two movies: I watched a few movies but nothing worth mentioning.
Seven pages: Rewriting “Die Klientin”.
Seven hours: Outlining “The Company” and waiting for something from Orlindo.

There’s another idea I’m working on. A few years ago I wrote an opening scene about an immortal guy waking up after getting killed. It never amounted to much but a couple of weeks ago I rediscovered the file and I think there’s something there. I have moments and some plot-points but not a full story yet. But I’m optimistic that I can turn this idea into something worth my time.

As for the title of today’s post: Hamilton seems like an awesome musical, I have to see it but do I plan my next vacation before or after I get tickets?

I need to see this!

…almost 28 days…

That little break went on longer than expected. November is just a busy month with exams, concerts and meetings. But my break isn’t/wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think that my writing batteries are charged again and I’m looking forward to using the new found energy and get some stuff done.

Unfortunately I’m still looking for my next idea, but I hope that once I finished work on “Die Klientin” and did some feedbacking on Orlindo’s project, I should have formulated my new idea. I’m toying with the idea I shared a couple of month ago, “The Company”, but I haven’t cracked it yet.

But let’s turn to the numbers, they are depressing though:
One book/screenplay: The Martian for school and I’m prepping Watchmen.
Two movies:The Fantastic Beasts movie was surprisingly good and the Gilmore girls revival was fun as well, the musical sequence was a bit long though.
Seven pages: No new pages, but I’m on it.
Seven hours: Still nothing but I’m ready.

That’s it for today.

As predicted, I’m a bit late, but I’m not worried. There were and are good reasons for the delay and there are just 24 hours in a day. I’m back in the saddle and I hope that the momentum returns, I’m very confident though, the only thing I have to manage is my drinking, I drank way too much in the last two weeks. 🙂

The concert was a success but I’m glad that we have a break now (see drinking). November is also a busy time in school but as soon as I’m done with my schoolwork (later this month/ early December) I’m back at the keyboard.

It doesn’t really make sense to talk numbers today. I did absolutely nothing. I was busy remember, I hope to find some time next week to log some keyboard time. I’m still struggling to find a new idea. There are bits and pieces but nothing fully formed. I have some ideas though on how to get there, one of my next runs is going to be dedicated to coming up with one.

I guess this is it for today. Not much but it has to do for today.

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.