I have made small-but-tangible progress on one screenplay for four consecutive days – this has produced eight new pages of material and boosted me over the transition from the beginning into the body of the story. I even had one of those mini-breakthroughs I enjoy so much, where an annoying logical question for which I kept trying to produce contorted solutions proved to be the thread that, once tugged, unraveled a bad scene I had been clinging to and revealed the much better scene hiding behind it. That scene is not even going to happen for 20-ish pages, but I’m looking forward to writing it now.
That’s a decent result, but at least on this specific script it’s probably going to slow down for the moment – I’ve reached one of the major sequences of the movie and so I’m going to have to step back from the keyboard and spend a little time with the legal pad plotting and outlining what has to get done in the next 8-10 pages, and how to get it done in a way that feels entertaining and organic.
I also spent a little time in that highly-personal script on which I work sporadically. I read through the accumulated pages the other night and surprised myself, because I forgot I had written “GOD THIS SCENE IS BORING” on top of an exposition-heavy dialogue in a cafe that I really ought to just torch. I also caught myself trying to write a Meet Cute (Screenwriting Lingo Translation: A charming or funny moment contrived to introduce two characters to each other that are destined to bond with one another somehow. Most often used in romantic comedies.) I’m getting rid of it. This script is not the place for Meet Cutes.
Actually, all this screenwriting, and that short story I finished last week, is just me taking time off from the novel. I’m going to have to transition back into that so I can finish the next chapter and trigger that payment I’ve got coming – I’m also meeting with my collaborator/patron next week, so the more work I can show, the better.