dream anxiety

but bobby wouldn’t really do that.

May 11

vinnplay, 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.

tick tock

May 08

vinnplay, 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.

adapting we will go….

May 07

vinnplay, 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.