TNMC

Last week I finally finished a script.  This particular one had been slogging along since the day Spider-Man 2 opened.  I know this because I had the idea for the script while driving to the theater and then wrote several pages in my notebook while waiting in line for the movie.  Like most of my script ideas, it starts as a situation, which I can produce several pages about right off the bat.  Then it tends to stall as the problem of an actual story rears its ugly head.  Sometimes the story never arrives and it just stays an idea briefly jotted down for many years.

The prime example of this is the first idea I had that was strong enough to make me want to write a script.  I had that idea in the summer of 2000 and it hasn't advanced much at all since then.  The best experience was an idea that turned into a finished first draft in a mere two months.  Interestingly that was the idea that least formed when it hit me.  That might mean something.

So for those keeping track I now have three completed original feature length scripts.  The previous two have had second drafts done and just need some polishing.  This third one, which I call She Hates the Idea, definitely needs a second draft before I let anyone look at it.  There's so much going on under the surface of this one that it feels like it's all over the place right now and I worry that that will really make it hard to penetrate for my regular script readers.  But for now I need to put it away and not look at it for a few weeks.  When I have some distance I can see it again with fresh eyes and see what needs work.