One Down...
As of this morning I've finished writing the second draft (almost a year after the first) of one of two scripts I wanted to get done by the end of this coming weekend. It's basically about a man in a waiting room who reluctantly enters into a conversation with the only other person in the room after their constant pestering. It's a rather dry film, much of the first half takes a snappy, light-hearted approach (I would say "humourous approach" but as yet I don't know if anyone will find it funny enough to justify such a description) which then leads to a "heavier" conclusion.
Basically, the original draft had the man coming to some sort of (pretentious) "realisation" that would change his way of thinking following an inescapable bombardment of both the other person's speaking and the events in the film's conclusion. If you think Crash wasn't subtle, this first draft was like printing the film's message on-screen for 10 minutes. And worse yet I didn't really have a grasp of what that message was trying to be beyond something very basic.
Well, I've learnt a lot in this past year about filmmaking and about life in general so I had more to take to the table this time around, and added to that if there's one thing in this world where your mistakes are perhaps your biggest help in getting better it's writing. I've improved ten-fold in the past year, and often wonder looking back on some of my older scripts how I ever thought they were even remotely near passable. There are things in the folders in my computer that I considered filming less than a year ago that today I'd consider trashing if it wasn't for the fact that they remind me of how far I've come.
In fact, the first draft of this script was very much one of those things until it was thrown a lifeline by another budding filmmaker who, having remembered reading it months and months ago, saw more potential in it than I had. Now it's at a point where, while it's hardly going to be my best work given the small timeframe I've had to work with, it's actually somewhere near (I feel) where it needs to be. I haven't really changed much at all, the story still unfolds as it did before, only the ideas presented by the "other character" are not simply presented as "this is the reality of things" but rather they are expressed by a questioning mind who is unsure rather than certain, and whose ideas are challenged rather than realised by the protagonist.
Why? Other than the fact that before it was essentially preaching something, now I can see the faults in the second character's ideological way of thinking that I couldn't see before when I was unable to objectively distance myself from the script. The lead character does not suddenly change his entire way of thinking as a result of this meeting in a waiting room, instead he now offers the ideas some consideration before ultimately leaving the place very much the same person as when he came in. The change I guess is that he ends up with a slightly better grasp on his perspective on life, rather than having had that perspective drastically altered (as in the first draft). Or at least that's what I intended the script to do; whether it actually achieves this or not is another question.
By working within a restricted timeframe, I think that I've learned to be a little more disciplined in my writing than I was before. As it is, I spend way too much time thinking about ideas and far too little sitting down and fleshing them out, perhaps afraid that they won't seem as good on paper when I have to face the reality of what I really have a hold on in my head. Despite my criticism of overly-romantic idelogies as part of my personal point-of-view on life and the nature of the world in general, I admit I often finding myself dreaming of what could happen in terms of the opportunities I have as a hopeful filmmaker if some of my ideas are executed as well as I think they could be, without actually facing the reality of the situation and making an effort towards actually going ahead and executing an idea by writing a script of it and shooting said-script. It seems much safer to dream and live in hope than to go out and risk losing these dreams, even though these dreams inevitably slip by if they are not acted upon.
Anyways, I'm glad this script is being put to good use, I think it makes writing a lot easier when you have the realisation that it's actually being produced to motivate you. I should be able to send out a copy of my next script (the people-waiting-for-people one) just after this coming weekend to those who are involved, just so you know that I'm certainly pressing forward with it. Looking forward to it the production of it too, I must say.
Have a good morning, afternoon or evening depending on when you are reading this, and if you made it this far: my apologies for boring you with uninteresting rambling but I honestly feel better just for writing this and getting some stuff I've been thinking about and/or working on privately out in the open. I guess that's what a blog's for afterall.
Basically, the original draft had the man coming to some sort of (pretentious) "realisation" that would change his way of thinking following an inescapable bombardment of both the other person's speaking and the events in the film's conclusion. If you think Crash wasn't subtle, this first draft was like printing the film's message on-screen for 10 minutes. And worse yet I didn't really have a grasp of what that message was trying to be beyond something very basic.
Well, I've learnt a lot in this past year about filmmaking and about life in general so I had more to take to the table this time around, and added to that if there's one thing in this world where your mistakes are perhaps your biggest help in getting better it's writing. I've improved ten-fold in the past year, and often wonder looking back on some of my older scripts how I ever thought they were even remotely near passable. There are things in the folders in my computer that I considered filming less than a year ago that today I'd consider trashing if it wasn't for the fact that they remind me of how far I've come.
In fact, the first draft of this script was very much one of those things until it was thrown a lifeline by another budding filmmaker who, having remembered reading it months and months ago, saw more potential in it than I had. Now it's at a point where, while it's hardly going to be my best work given the small timeframe I've had to work with, it's actually somewhere near (I feel) where it needs to be. I haven't really changed much at all, the story still unfolds as it did before, only the ideas presented by the "other character" are not simply presented as "this is the reality of things" but rather they are expressed by a questioning mind who is unsure rather than certain, and whose ideas are challenged rather than realised by the protagonist.
Why? Other than the fact that before it was essentially preaching something, now I can see the faults in the second character's ideological way of thinking that I couldn't see before when I was unable to objectively distance myself from the script. The lead character does not suddenly change his entire way of thinking as a result of this meeting in a waiting room, instead he now offers the ideas some consideration before ultimately leaving the place very much the same person as when he came in. The change I guess is that he ends up with a slightly better grasp on his perspective on life, rather than having had that perspective drastically altered (as in the first draft). Or at least that's what I intended the script to do; whether it actually achieves this or not is another question.
By working within a restricted timeframe, I think that I've learned to be a little more disciplined in my writing than I was before. As it is, I spend way too much time thinking about ideas and far too little sitting down and fleshing them out, perhaps afraid that they won't seem as good on paper when I have to face the reality of what I really have a hold on in my head. Despite my criticism of overly-romantic idelogies as part of my personal point-of-view on life and the nature of the world in general, I admit I often finding myself dreaming of what could happen in terms of the opportunities I have as a hopeful filmmaker if some of my ideas are executed as well as I think they could be, without actually facing the reality of the situation and making an effort towards actually going ahead and executing an idea by writing a script of it and shooting said-script. It seems much safer to dream and live in hope than to go out and risk losing these dreams, even though these dreams inevitably slip by if they are not acted upon.
Anyways, I'm glad this script is being put to good use, I think it makes writing a lot easier when you have the realisation that it's actually being produced to motivate you. I should be able to send out a copy of my next script (the people-waiting-for-people one) just after this coming weekend to those who are involved, just so you know that I'm certainly pressing forward with it. Looking forward to it the production of it too, I must say.
Have a good morning, afternoon or evening depending on when you are reading this, and if you made it this far: my apologies for boring you with uninteresting rambling but I honestly feel better just for writing this and getting some stuff I've been thinking about and/or working on privately out in the open. I guess that's what a blog's for afterall.
posted by Steve @ 1:17 PM
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