Writing Assignment Tracker VIII

It’s all gone a bit freestyle since my last post, a couple of months ago.  Recap required.

I delivered my ‘First Draft Revisions’ on 16^th May.  There was then a short hiatus while the assembled and somewhat disparate ‘client’ read the draft, collated their notes, had a family wedding etc.  Then came quite a chunky notes document on 19^th June, fifteen pages of comments ranging from the top-level ‘have we captured the voice of our heroine yet?’ to line notes.  So, not green lit just yet.

We set up a call for the following week to go through them, but I responded via email in the interim, with something that turned into a bit of a ‘What are we trying to do here?’ Jerry Maguire mission statement.  Their document and my response collectively made the notes call a supremely productive one. 

It brought some of the broader notes into specific context, and specific solves were discussed.  We agreed that a prologue might be helpful to establish our heroine’s voice and back story, and show the ‘natural state’ that she effectively needs to recapture during the story that follows.

(Funnily enough, we had the same conversation at the same sort of stage in the development process with CHALET GIRL, although the prologue I wrote was a slightly more beautiful thing than what eventually appeared.  Sidebar – oh my god I can’t believe the first 46 minutes of CHALET GIRL is available free online and has been watched over a million times.  Don’t follow the link above, whatever you do!)

After this call I agreed to go away and write up this 8 page prologue, which I did in a few days (when it comes, it comes quickly).  Notes were turned around on that very speedily, too, and I then incorporated that into a revised draft of the whole of the first act.  That took another week.  Last week was about polishing the first act and pushing deep into the second act, all seeing how this new heroine’s voice / character / actions are impacting on the narrative flow.  I delivered that on Friday and am waiting for notes on that.

Thoughts on all this, then:

‘Voice’ is always a difficult term to get a handle on, but it’s so important that you all get on the same page with this.  I had a very different heroine in my head from the one in the collective clients’ head.  I was going broader, more Bridget Jones, a bit more hopeless.  They were looking for someone a bit more grown up, with real problems instead of banana skins.  Clearly, these two people are a long way from each other.  The person in my head spoke a different way and did different things (collectively, I suppose, ‘the voice’) to the person they were expecting.  Vital to get that aligned before we go any further, even if it means quite a big re-orientation now.

I’m now sharing my work with the clients as I go, which funnily enough I don’t mind at all.  For one thing, it gives me lots of little one week deadlines, which are easier to hit than big, scary eight week deadlines.  For another, we can do adjustments as we go, rather than going too far down the line and then having to backtrack and throw out lots of stuff.  Sometimes I’m frustrated that my set-ups don’t yet have their pay-offs, or that an act is being judged in isolation (it might be a more dramatic set-up act, with the comedy to come later on, for example).  But the team know the script so well by now that they know what is waiting around the corner.  It’s about being open and collaborative and respectful, and that isn’t a bad way to work at all.

That said, my agent did have to ask the question “Is this the second draft yet?”, because we rather slipped into it.  Another example of the realities of the writing process butting up against the terminology of a contract.  But for the moment at least everyone is still happy to employ common sense where required.

In amongst all of this, and shortly after my Jerry Maguire mission statement moment, I had a bit of a ‘let’s throw everything out and start again’ moment.  I felt like I had lost hold on what this story was, and felt like another, more interesting story ‘over there’ (still from the same source material) was beckoning me with crooked finger.  I shared these thoughts with the producer team, and now slightly wish I hadn’t.  It’s my job to keep looking forwards, to keep taking stock of where we are, what our options are, what the ramifications of our decisions are.  But for me to start looking back, to start second-guessing – that’s not helpful, that’s not what I’m paid for.  (If anyone’s going to do that, it’s usually the client!)

As Bill Nicholson once memorably described it, a screenwriter should be a gushing geyser of creativity.  Clients may then buy a Styrofoam cup (size dependant on fee) and dip it into the fountain (number of visits to the fountain dependant on contract).  The writer’s job is just to keep on gushing.

Another non-contract item that is looming is my wife giving birth to our third child in the next few weeks.  So a possible pause in the development process (everything seems to stop in August anyhow, so well timed wife) and a pause in the blogging (it’s pretty much on perma-pause anyway so you probably won’t notice).  Will pick up when there’s more to tell.

Updated grid, just for form’s sake:

Step	Name	Duration Sched / Actual	Delivery Date Sched / Actual	+/- Schedule
1.	First Draft Treatment	1 month	15/11/12
	Initial Step Outline	2 weeks	26/10/12
	Initial Step Outline client comments	4 days	30/10/12
	First Draft Treatment	2 weeks	16/11/12	-1 Day
2.	First Draft Treatment client comments	3 weeks	06/12/12
	Client comments	2.5 weeks	03/12/12	+3 Days
3.	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	16/12/12
	Writer response (not treatment)	2.5 weeks	20/12/12	-4 Days
	Client comments	3 weeks	06/01/13
	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	17/01/13	-1 Month
4.	Second Draft Treatment client comments	4 weeks	13/01/13
	Client comments		21/01/13	-1 Week
5.	First Draft Script	12 weeks	07/04/13
		9 weeks	22/03/13	+2 Weeks
6.	First Draft Script client comments	8 weeks	02/06/13
		3 weeks	11/04/13	+7 Weeks
7.	Revised First Draft Script	4 weeks	30/06/13
		5 weeks	16/05/13	+6 Weeks
8.	Revised First Draft Script client comments	2 weeks	14/07/13
		5 weeks	16/06/13	+4 Weeks
9.	Second Draft Script	4 weeks	11/08/13
	Second Draft first act	Ongoing	26/07/13
11.	Second Draft Script First Set	6 weeks	22/09/13
12.	Second Draft Script Second Set	6 weeks	03/11/13

 

 

Writing Assignment Tracker VII

First draft revisions delivered.  Last week in fact, but still took a week more than the contract stipulated (five not four).

Honestly, it was a tough pass at the script.  The notes were good – none of this 10% funnier nonsense, at least not stated explicitly.  Surely every pass at a romcom should aim for that?  But the areas that needed most work were clearly identified, solves agreed upon, the way ahead stretched before me like the M1.

And yet.  Unpicking a script that you’ve worked on for six months already, doing some fairly chunky structural re-engineering, retro-fitting a new character trait and a more apposite expression of ‘theme’: these can all be hard tasks to get your head around.  Particularly if you’re still feeling like the main work has already been done, and that this is all dusting and buffing.

Of course, it isn’t.  Some of the hard work has been done but most of it lies ahead.  Even now, after a painstaking first draft and a five week polish, I’d imagine we’re probably only 25% of the way there.  That was my experience on CHALET GIRL, certainly.  Who knows how this project will continue to develop, but one thing’s for sure: it will develop.  Director – changes.  Cast – changes.  Budget, schedule, locations – changes, changes, changes.

But for now, I can only concentrate on what’s in front of me.  Solving the problems we’re aware of.  Improving areas I know can be improved upon.  But being reasonably fatalistic about the process too, and understanding that this is just another step on the journey.

That approach helped me through these revisions when I found myself staring at the screen and thinking ‘is this the best I can do?’.  Well if you can’t come up with anything better right now, and if you’ve tried all your usual tricks and you’ve still been staring at the screen for half an hour, then technically this probably is the best you can do.  So put it in, or leave it in, and move on.  You’ll get other chances to make it better, other passes.  Chances are the solution isn’t going to be found in this scene, it’ll be found in the scene before it, or ten scenes before it, so you were probably looking in the wrong place anyway.  So it might need to wait for another draft, anyway.

So I made this pass as good as I could, within reason, within the notes and within the approximate time suggested.  And I feel like I’ve done my job.  One of the benefits of doing this Writing Assignment Tracker has been the ability to see the process as just that – a process, a journey, an evolution of a script.  You think Richard Curtis knocks out a filmable script at first draft?  Everyone needs a few runs at it, even the greats (canonically speaking).  Trust yourself, trust the process, and let it be.

Finally, the updated grid.  I got my first call on this project during the Olympics, so it’s been something close to ten months on this project already.  Time flies, and we’re still ahead of schedule.  But the big question is what next?  Is this draft ready to send to a director?  Or does it need another pass?  And does that automatically make it the Second Draft?  Or are we getting into cheeky-unpaid-revisions-that-you-won’t-find-anywhere-in-the-contract territory?  This team has been more than fair with me so far, so I doubt it.  But I get a sense we’re nearing the End of the Beginning on this project.  Who knows what’s around the corner?

Step	Name	Duration Sched / Actual	Delivery Date Sched / Actual	+/- Schedule
1.	First Draft Treatment	1 month	15/11/12
	Initial Step Outline	2 weeks	26/10/12
	Initial Step Outline client comments	4 days	30/10/12
	First Draft Treatment	2 weeks	16/11/12	-1 Day
2.	First Draft Treatment client comments	3 weeks	06/12/12
	Client comments	2.5 weeks	03/12/12	+3 Days
3.	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	16/12/12
	Writer response (not treatment)	2.5 weeks	20/12/12	-4 Days
	Client comments	3 weeks	06/01/13
	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	17/01/13	-1 Month
4.	Second Draft Treatment client comments	4 weeks	13/01/13
	Client comments		21/01/13	-1 Week
5.	First Draft	12 weeks	07/04/13
		9 weeks	22/03/13	+2 Weeks
6.	First Draft client comments	8 weeks	02/06/13
		3 weeks	11/04/13	+7 Weeks
7.	Revised First Draft	4 weeks	30/06/13
		5 weeks	16/05/13	+6 Weeks
8.	Revised First Draft client comments	2 weeks	14/07/13
9.	Second Draft	4 weeks	11/08/13
11.	Second Draft First Set	6 weeks	22/09/13
12.	Second Draft Second Set	6 weeks	03/11/13

 

The life cycle of an idea

I interrupt the writing assignment tracker to demonstrate how the seed of a movie idea can be planted, germinate, sprout with excitement and then be cut off at the roots during the course of a regular Monday afternoon.  This Monday afternoon.

The time line was as follows:

1.10pm – during my post-lunch coffee and Facebook browsing I came across this link that someone had shared - http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/20/played-tag-23-years-experience

1.11pm – holy shit, that’s hilarious

1.12pm – holy shit, that’s totally a movie

1.15pm – a bit more digging brings up this article, written on 31^st January - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270444/23-year-long-game-tag-Friends-flew-world-avoid-it.html

1.16pm – a bit more digging and we find the source, written on 28^th January - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323375204578269991660836834.html

1.17pm – this is one of the funniest ideas I’ve ever heard - http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/563374/tagagreement01302013.pdf

1.22pm – I email a friendly producer and to my agent, sounding them out – I’m now totally over-excited about this

1.30pm – I track down an email address for Mr Tombari and send him the following email:

Dear Mr Tombari

I recently read the very funny story about you and your friends playing a thirty-year game of tag / ‘it’ in the Daily Mail and Guardian.

I’m a British screenwriter – see my website and blog below for more details about my credits – and I immediately thought this sounded like a fun movie.  Think Wedding Crashers or The Hangover – Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Bradley Cooper, the long-suffering wives, the confused kids etc etc.  ‘Bromance’ is big these days and this is right in that bullseye.

I imagine I’m late to the party, but have you had any approaches from film companies yet? 

If not, then I’d love to talk to you further, perhaps put a pitch together and see if I can set it up somewhere.  We would need to sort out some kind of legal understanding to remunerate you and your friends if the film ever got made, but that’s for further on down the line.

Please do get back to me, if only to tell me that you’re not interested.

Sincerely

Tom Williams

1.30pm – 5.30pm – I can’t get the idea out of my head.  I spend the afternoon loosely sketching out plot beats, act breaks, my BAFTA acceptance speech etc.

5.30pm – Mr Tombari replies with this very kind email:

Tom,
Thank you very much for your interest.  We were bombarded in February and had to choose back then.
http://screenrant.com/will-ferrell-jack-black-tag-brothers/
I think that link will get you caught up.
Thanks again for your interest.
Joe Tombari

5.31pm – New Line Cinema, Will Ferrell, Jack Black.  Shitballs.

5.32pm – Shit shit shit.

5.33pm – Right, what was I supposed to be doing this afternoon?

5.34pm – I knew it was a movie...

(6.00pm – hey, at least you can blog about it)

Writing Assignment Tracker VI

In the contract, the client gave themselves eight weeks to come back with comments on my First Draft.  They only took three, in the end.  Here’s the updated grid. 

Step	Name	Duration Sched / Actual	Delivery Date Sched / Actual	+/- Schedule
1.	First Draft Treatment	1 month	15/11/12
	Initial Step Outline	2 weeks	26/10/12
	Initial Step Outline client comments	4 days	30/10/12
	First Draft Treatment	2 weeks	16/11/12	-1 Day
2.	First Draft Treatment client comments	3 weeks	06/12/12
	Client comments	2.5 weeks	03/12/12	+3 Days
3.	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	16/12/12
	Writer response (not treatment)	2.5 weeks	20/12/12	-4 Days
	Client comments	3 weeks	06/01/13
	Second Draft Treatment	10 days	17/01/13	-1 Month
4.	Second Draft Treatment client comments	4 weeks	13/01/13
	Client comments		21/01/13	-1 Week
5.	First Draft	12 weeks	07/04/13
		9 weeks	22/03/13	+2 Weeks
6.	First Draft client comments	8 weeks	02/06/13
		3 weeks	11/04/13	+7 Weeks
7.	Revised First Draft	4 weeks	30/06/13
8.	Revised First Draft client comments	2 weeks	14/07/13
9.	Second Draft	4 weeks	11/08/13
11.	Second Draft First Set	6 weeks	22/09/13
12.	Second Draft Second Set	6 weeks	03/11/13

We’re now so far ahead of schedule it’s like Chris Hoy leading out the keirin.  But we will doubtless be clawed back into the chasing pack. 

The notes feedback process went as follows:

-          An email at the beginning of last week saying generally thumbs up, but we want to take a closer look at the beats of the protagonist’s character journey.  Reasonably encouraging.

-          Then we had a phone call last Thursday, where this subject and a few other bits and pieces were tossed about.  It basically involved me presenting a detailed telling of how I saw the heroine’s back story, and a discussion how much of that still needed to be brought to bear in the present action of the film.

-          Then I wrote up some notes (I quite like the idea of the writer giving notes to himself) which proposed some practical answers to these questions, and also introduced a slightly bigger structural shift, which would help to clear out the first act and concentrate matters on our heroine’s emotional stakes more clearly up front.

-          These notes were generally well received.  There has been some email back and forth this week, we have another conversation scheduled for this afternoon and then, all being well, I’ll start work on the polish next week.  All fairly painless.

The one other area to talk about is what this step is called.  Technically, it’s a first draft polish, not a second draft or even a rewrite.  I wonder if that limits, or should limit, then amount or the level of work that is expected out of this latest opening up of the script.  I don’t think it should, and if I see something that isn’t working then of course I’ll rewrite until it’s as good as it can be.  But in that case, why call one step a draft, one a rewrite, one a polish?  And why have different time frames and fee levels for the various steps?

Just another of the puzzling contractual oddities that this business throws up.  I still think it’s more honest to say ‘Pay me X and you own my writerly ass until Y’ and off we go.  Then no need for charts like this, or hard-to-fathom step payments.  But, then again, maybe ‘honest’ isn’t a word with a whole lot of mileage when it comes to business contracts.

I’m not complaining, of course.  Just looking forward to getting going on this new draft.  Or rewrite.  Or polish.  Or whatever.

Final final point – now that the first draft is complete, I do find my head entering a different space with regards to the script.  It’s a bit like a new relationship.  We’ve, you know, done it, and it was fun and everything.  But now the real work begins.  (And, tart that I am, I now start looking for my next bedfellow...)