Screenwriting, Filmmaking, Life

-------------

Thursday, April 22, 2010

One Short Evening for Woman, One giant leap for Screenwriter

It may not seem gigantic to non-screenwriters. In fact it may look totally ridiculous when held up as a shining accomplishment. To other writers who tackle short stories (I believe one of the most difficult written art forms there is) it may seem like nothing happened tonight at all, but to the screenwriter... this is big - golden - a coup!

I am talking about the logline - not to be confused with the pitch, although I always do. Yesterday I left you with a pitch and today it was scrapped thanks to input from a fellow screenwriter with a whole lot more pitching expertise than me.

You may at this point be anxious to read the logline, but not until I've gained advice from colleagues who know about such things.

And don't forget, 24 hours from now this logline may be scrapped too. Re-writes are a way of life, and this is the beginning of the re-write process. And I'm determined to begin here, even though I am now three (count 'em) lessons behind.

I am happy with the tone of this one. I have changed genres, you see. My LA project is going from a thriller to a Fargo-like dark comedy. It's a difficult change that will be a lot of work, but with the sparks created by discovering something new (thanks to colleagues, generous fellow writers) and writing it so it makes you giggle, it becomes imminently do-able. And for today, it feels like a giant leap for this screenwriter.

No comments:

Post a Comment