I’m currently still in
the midst of catching up on writing before I start experimenting with filming.
It would be perfectly reasonable to ask if it is even possible to be caught up
on writing, and the answer is a qualified yes.
Part of it is a mix of
superstition and practicality. The Writer’s Conference is coming up in August,
and in addition to lectures and workshops, there are opportunities to pitch
oneself.
Last time I pitched
various scripts to producers, and one did express interest, but never followed
up, including to my follow up. It is really difficult to find the right
combination of someone who not only likes your idea and your abilities, but
thinks they can make money on it, and has money to develop it. However, you can
also pitch to agents, and although still difficult, it should be somewhat
easier to find someone well-connected and aggressive who believes that they can
get you enough money that ten percent will be worthwhile. This time, I am going
to focus on trying to find an agent. Cold calling was not helpful, back when I
was trying that.
What I have read is
that the average screenwriter has completed nine screenplays before selling
one, so my idea is that I want to have written nine by then. Currently I have
six screenplays of my own, the collaborative adaptation that is a mess, one
one-hour pilot, and that’s pretty much it. You could count that as eight, but I
want three additional screenplays that are just mine.
The problem with this,
besides the fact that I have only written a screenplay in a month once, and
doing it three times in a row doesn’t seem likely, is that there are all these
other things I want to do. I want to write those episodes to try and get at
least considered by a series, and I want to develop the pilot and reading
material (character bios, arc, etc.) for Foresight, and I should do updating on
the existing screenplays. Also, I feel like I really want to go over the novel
again, and give the author the option of three possible ways of going
(basically three treatments), and at least put that out there. Plus, I should
really start marketing the children’s book.
Add to that, that I am
still catching up on blogging, and I have the graphic novel going on, and I
don’t think I can actually work on anything else until I have finished that,
because it’s got a hold of me, and good things are coming from working on it,
even if it will not be monetary at all.
Also, for all the
various ideas I have, I can’t decide which would be the next screenplay to work
on, possibly because I have too much other stuff in my head. Actually, scratch
that—I have this one scene in mind that fits in to enough current thoughts that
it’s probably the anointed one. I don’t need to know the next three already.
So all I can do is try
and be consistent, which is good, and I have been better at it lately. This
will probably be posted Tuesday, but I am writing it on Saturday, and if all
goes well, I will write out Wednesday’s and Thursday’s posts today too. I think
Sunday will be letter writing, and then during the week just focus really hard
on finishing the graphic novel. (The Rolling Stone and Moog posts changed that,
but basically still on target, and just wrote a really long section of the
graphic novel featuring mayhem and heartbreak.)
There are times when I feel
very impatient to work with lighting and editing and all of those things, but
right now this is the key, and even now I am seeing opportunities all around,
like contests and things, where, yes, I am not capitalizing on the current
crop, but they happen, and there should be more when I am ready. I’m not saying
that I’m stress-free, but I am producing work now, which I love, and hey,
despite being a time-killer, at least I have a day job.
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