Wednesday, May 9, 2012

We've Come a Long Way, Baby...

...but it's nowhere near close to done. My partnership with the writer/director is over (for a number of reasons) but during our time together the script made lots of very real progress. For one thing, the whole thing is now in the latest version of the Movie Magic Screenwriter tool (an industry standard). All hard-copy notes that had built up over the past 10+ years are now part of the electronic draft. The opening sequences were reworked and other fixes (outlined in pencil and pen) were finally completed. We are left with a product that is, I would say, 77% complete. The ending is outlined in draft form but still needs to be written. There are continuity errors that need fixing. In some cases, the order in which scenes occur needs to be changed. Some scenes are far too long and too dialog-heavy. That needs to be fixed. So... there are lots of options for getting this done. A new one on the table is a possible collaboration with a friend from childhood and fellow sci-fi fan who is also a published author (she's written plays, books, short stories, and even teaches classes on the same). In the fall, we may explore that potential partnership. Then there's also my good friend Amy of 20+ years out in CA - without revealing too much: she grew up around Hollywood legends, she is the daughter of a well-known actor and comedian (may be RIP), and she still has people who could take a look at the script and get us in some doors. She made the offer to help out on that front years ago and the offer still stands. But first it has to be finished. Then it has to actually be as good as it can be (cuz right now, it's just not). Only then will it be ready for prime-time. Aside from getting in peak physical condition, this is one of my longest incomplete life goals. For a while a few months ago (when DAY JOB duties once again interfered with progress on NTD), I almost gave up on it. What changed? I re-read the punched-up first few scenes again and said "WOW, THIS IS AWESOME!" and I got all jazzed about it again. So, as they say, "more to follow"... this 20+ year saga is still not over - not by a longshot!