SCREENWRITER'S UPDDATE - EIGHTY DAYS IN

Eighty days and posts in, time to give an update.

CONCEPT BEHIND THIS BLOG
If you're not familiar, the goal here was to write a finished script within sixty days. I have completed one screenplay and am almost finished with the second. I have also written a treatment for the third screenplay, which must be completed one-hundred days from now- no problem.

What's the big deal?

Eighty days ago I knew NOTHING about screenwriting, zilch, no training or experience, I didn't know "voiceover" from "offscreen". That's my--

GIMMICK
which is defined as:
"an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal."

In a logline, "A middle-aged man in a down economy discovers screenwriting as a medium to escape a rural town, hoping to return to the exciting city life he once lived."

Of course, I'm not relying on my gimmick alone, I better be a damn good screenwriter, what use is the interesting main character when there's no story, right?

So it's been nose to the grindstone, and thanks to all the fantastic screenwriters that post valuable information on the internet I've made quite an arc. My special thanks goes out to pro screenwriters--

TERRY ROSSIO
and
JOHN AUGUST

in no particular order, who unknowingly mentored me through this entire process.

BLOGOSPHERE
I also want to thank the many screenwriters and characters that post their own blogs, sometimes with tips, other times with humorous articles or observations about everyday life. I've laughed, learned some things, posted to your blogs, drawn visitors from your sites, it's been fun.

Thanks to

JULIE - screenwriter / script-notes specialist in LA
EMILY - screenwriter in LA
JUST ME - writer and refugee from New York
BIG PISSY - shares my southern "hell"

Sorry guys, but yes, women do write the funniest blogs, hands down.

But then, of course, there's UNK, the Unknown Screenwriter. There's a wealth of information on his site, he's up on the latest, a pro-reader, writer, and producer.

Checking my site's robot one day, I saw all these visitors coming in from Twitter, and I don't even tweet. Tracing the path led me to UNK, who had tweeted an article I had written on "CHARACTER TRAITS AND ARC" to over three-thousand of his followers. Wow.

I don't even "know" the guy through emails or what, and here he was, someone who pulls no punches in this profession, tweeting a piece I had written. It was like getting an A+++ on a test.

I wrote the post in maybe fifteen or so minutes, did not use one piece of reference material, no, it's not a copy or condensed version of someone else's work. It's my angle on the topic, how I feel about it in my head, in fact, as if I were talking to myself, trying to remember what I need to be aware of when I'm writing scripts.

Thanks, UNK, I'll be in line to see your films.

Also, a thanks to Screenwriting Basics, who was unsolicited in posting several links to my "How to Write a Screenplay" articles on the following page:

SCREENWRITING BASICS

giving me another A+, in my book.

IN THE FUTURE
As you can see, I've started a series on "HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT)", so that others may enjoy the same process I'm going through, if they dare take the dive.

I continue writing screenplays, of course, and next week I will be working on queries, tweaking synopsis and logline, researching production companies- the whole shift into the marketing side of the profession.

The goal is three screenplays entered into competition by spring of next year, one of which will, dare I say it, be in post-production by then. It's a high bar, but worth a shot--

if you don't play, you can't win.