my dream, your anxiety
Jun 03
Nothing new is happening right now. I’m waiting to get the play back from the writer so that I can make any changes needed. Next week is the table reading. That is not going to be fun, especially since I am the one that has to ‘read the action’. Not looking forward to it at all. Not big on reading out loud. I tend to make mistakes.
Other than that, I got nothing….
May 25
graphic novel, manga, play, projects, twitter, writing No Comments
There’s something about getting together with people on a project who all are on the same wavelength that get the juices get flowing, ideas bouncng off each other like superballs; it is such an incredible experience. It’s also refreshing because if you get stuck hanging off the side of a cliff, there’s someone there to pull you up.
For instance, after much debating on what our goals were for the manga (basically, which publisher we are aiming for), we decided on a page count. At the current count for the script I had written, we were going to need more to progress the story than we could actually use. So I tossed an idea out there, Sara* bounced one back, and Bry* just sat there, just staring at the table. He then came up with this brilliant idea that will help us hit our page target. Things like this, make me excited.
Things like the script adaptation do not. Earlier today I read over the script, version 6 apparently (or so the writer thinks), and again, things were put in that we agreed didn’t work. Parts that I had written were taken out. This destroys one’s fun. The excitement is gone for me from this project. I am really hoping that at this week’s production meeting the writer says he doesn’t like what I am going to put in so I can step down from this and move on. Nothing saps the creative feeling more than having hours of work disregarded when you’re the one they asked to edit in the first place.
On a side note, I’ve been so psyched about the manga thing that I finally sent my brother-in-law the descriptions for the characters for the graphic novel he wants to work on with me. The story is one I’ve been meaning to get down on paper, mostly in novel form, but for whatever reason just haven’t gotten around to it. Hopefully he won’t dally about too long with the sketches.
Also, I’m thinking of telling a story through twitter. This isn’t a new concept. I’m sure tons of people are doing it. @CharlieHuston has been doing it since February 2nd. I think the challenge of telling a story 140 characters at a time will be good for the creative process. Just like this blog is supposed to be. I have noticed an increase in my writing output since I started this. Coincidence??? Yep.
I just need to work out some details of what story I’m going to tell. Maybe I’ll dig out one of my short stories that came from the creative writing class I took in college. I think I may be able to do something with it.
I’ll post the twitter link when I start the story.
*names have been altered to protect me from possible lawsuits.
May 21
manga, play, projects, writing No Comments
Found out today that the deadline for the manga project is the first of June. What’s that, like eleven days? So that’s not going to happen. My partners and I decided that it would be better for the project if we skipped this anthology and took our time to produce something that we feel would be proud of. We don’t want to rush this out. We’re long-term thinkers.
Besides that, I spoke to the director of the play I’ve been working on and we both kinda’ decided that if the writer doesn’t give us more leeway on this, we’re both out. We don’t want our names on something that isn’t up to our standards. The writer doesn’t seem to want to listen to us so we’re both like ‘screw it’, why waste our time.
Sent out résumés to a couple of places hoping I get a bite. Fingers are crossed.
Now off to tackle the dishes….
May 17
play, projects, writing No Comments
So, there was a production meeting last Thursday at 10.00am. I sent out my version of the play to the director and writer Tuesday afternoon. At 8.00pm Wednesday night, I finally hear back from the writer, but not in the way I expected. What I received from him was an ‘updated’ version of what I had given him.
I didn’t have the time to read it Wednesday night, so my plan was to print it out and read it Thursday morning before the meeting. That didn’t happen. Turns out, my printer doesn’t like me.
You see, I got to page 35 (of 75) when the printer ran out of paper. Fine. Put some in and hit the ‘OK’ button. Except it wasn’t the ‘OK” button, it was the power button. I turn the thing back on, expecting to be able to print the rest of the pages. Not gonna happen. It starts printing from the first page again, even though I specify it to start at page 36. After some fancy setting adjustments, I get it to print up to page 41. And then it only prints page 41. Over and over and over. No matter how many times I stop and delete the print que, it always goes back to page 41. Turn off the printer, quit Preview, open the document again, try to print it again and it only prints page 41.
By now I’m pissed, and running out of time so I load up the printer full of paper and print the script from the first page again. This time, no problems at all. It prints all of the pages.
I quickly skim through the script and notice that the writer added a scene that the director, producer, and I said wasn’t needed because it didn’t do anything to add to the story. That, as I found out in the meeting later, wasn’t the only thing that changed; the writer removed all of the comedic scenes I wrote. (Before the meeting, the director and I were bullshitting and he said that he really enjoyed what I had added. That he actually laughed at it; not just finding it amusing.)
Also, the writer said that he didn’t know where to add a scene that I had actually added to the script. He just didn’t ‘get it’.
When I finally had a chance to explain to the writer why I had added what I did (because he written that a character was supposed to ‘come by the office’ but never had him show up on stage or mentioned him again) he, the writer, seemed to finally ‘get it’. But, he said he was going to take that character and change him to one of the characters from the scene I mentioned earlier, the one he added back in.
He thinks that scene adds some comedy to the show when all it really does is repeat things already said so that it becomes annoyingly repetitive.
To make matters worse, when the producer told him that at some point he would have to let go of the story and let me and the director take over, he replied that he doesn’t think he’s gonna do that.
That, right there, is why I never should have taken the project on in the first place. I knew that he was going to do what he wanted and that anything that I may have written would not be good enough for it. No, not that it wasn’t good enough, that it wasn’t written by him. The story he has in his mind is the one he wants and nothing else matters.
And this is why this thing is going to flop.
May 11
play, projects, writing No Comments
When I was first told about this project, I was under the impression that when I was finished formatting the screenplay to a stage play, I was done. That’s all I was needed for.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
For the past week and a half, my job has been to add about thirty pages to this script to give it a ninety minute run time. I took notes at the last meeting and was fully prepared to be able to add the scenes that they wanted, the dialogue, the conflict, and have those thirty pages done.
So I added the scenes that they wanted, and the dialogue, and the conflict. And the new tally of pages showed that I added a total of nine more. Nine. Less than one-third the pages I’m supposed to have. Whoops.
And though I know that I am ultimately the one responsible, there are outstanding factors.
For instance, it is hard enough to add scenes, dialogue, etc., to someone’s work, but when the piece is that writer’s life (or should I say based on that writer’s life), it opens a whole new can of bad apples. Doubly so when said writer is still involved in the writing/production of the play.
See, when you change things around, the person whose story it is being told may not like it. These changes could be as simple as tying up a few loose ends. Or as daring as rewriting the ending to tie up those loose ends. Needless to say, the more you change things, the better the chance that your changes will have to be undone.
Another problem is wanting to try things with the characters that may not be in a way that is consistent with the real person the character is based on.
Now, normally, in a work of fiction, that doesn’t matter because the characters aren’t real, no matter how much they are based on real-life people. But again, when the writer is involved, he or she feels very much attached to the real people and forgets that the characters aren’t real.
Which brings us back to the problem at hand, how does one add thirty pages to a piece of work without changing the story or characters in such a way that the author doesn’t feel like his or her piece is being torn apart? You add the scenes, dialogue, and conflict they want, and if it only adds nine more pages, then it only adds up to nine more pages and you wait until the next production meeting to find out what more can be done.
May 08
play, projects, writing No Comments
I’m at a dead end. I have no idea what to do about the play and it’s killing me. I keep putting it off but I can’t do that forever cause I have to send it out by Monday so that the writer and director know what’s going on for the meeting on Thursday.
Adding some stuff isn’t so bad. If I can add 15 to 30 pages, that should be fine. The real problem is taking the notes from the last meeting and incorporating them into the play. Lose this person, take this character out of the scene, put back the original ending…not going to be easy.
You would figure with something this important to be done that I wouldn’t be updating the blog right now.
But you would be wrong.
May 07
play, projects, writing No Comments
So, I thought that after I finished formatting the screenplay I was adapting to a stage play, that I would be done. That the writer would take the reins and I could go on my merry way.
No such luck.
I am now stuck helping to add 30 pages, more or less, to give the play about an hour and a half run time. I have yet to hear from the author, who was supposed to e-mail me some of his pages because he has ideas as to how he wants the story to go. So unless I hear from him later today, I am pretty much on my own.
Other than that, still job hunting. A full-time job would be really nice, especially since I haven’t worked for a year, not counting the few contract jobs I’ve done for the theater at the university. Actually, it has been 51 weeks since I got my degree and I have nothing to show for it.
Except for this non-paying screenplay adaptation gig.
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