This is a phase of this production that I dread...taking my "shootable, just about good enough script", and trying to make it into something special.
I'm in the middle of, what, my fifth rewrite on this thing, and it's only a short! But this is the point where I'm trying to tighten it up, work out the pacing, inject some originality, and generally improve upon it. After rereading it for the millionth time though, I'm getting a bit sick of it.
And just think...after the shoot, I get to EDIT the fucker! Which means I get to WATCH it a million times!
How do Hollywood people do this over and over? I'm starting to understand why screenwriters shoot themselves...it's because THEY'RE SICK OF READING THEIR SHIT OVER AND OVER! Christ, the NCAA tournement is on, and I'm here looking at my stupid computer screen!
But what's driving me to keep at it is the thought that maybe, with a little more effort, I'll manage to capture the feeling that I'm trying to bring to the screen. It's something that I have trouble expressing, because every time I try to put it into words, the signal gets lost in the noise and I end up with something "not quite" what I meant.
Which, upon reflection, is pretty much the story of my life. Sadly.
So, I'll keep at it. We have auditions coming up soon, and then the shoot. For all this hassle, it's starting to get fun!
2 comments:
Then you get to put it out there and have people who obviously only pay half attention and see no more than a quarter of it pass judgment with contempt for everything but their own opinon.
Welcome to the business!
The bottom line - the only person you can worry about making happy is yourself.
Hi Jane. So you're saying that I get to sweat, worry, struggle, and push to get my vision out there for people to see, and then they get to tear it to pieces. Wow, I can't wait!
Ultimately Jane, like you said, I'm going to do what makes me happy. If some people like it, that's nice too.
I hope my natural cynicism will carry me through the inevitable negative feedback I'll be exposed to; and if I can't handle that, well...there's always single malt scotch!
Lots of it.
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