A Glimpse of My “Progress”

I finally read my screenplay.  Oh my holy hell do I have my work cut out for me. My original opening scene– the one that flashed through my head when I first gave birth to this idea– was far better than the one I chose.  My son clued me in on this the first time he read my “improved” scene, but I didn’t listen to him.  My mistake.  I have to alter it now. I need to introduce the “bad guy” earlier in the movie.  Even though you hear his voice on the phone during the first few minutes, it’s not until around 20-25 minutes that he actually makes an appearance.  Not good.  The bad guy needs to be front and center because when it comes right down to it, he’s the one who drives the story.  Without the villain, life would be hunky-dory for my hero, which would make a very boring story. I have far too much detail and extraneous material in the scenes.  Cut, cut, cut without losing the purpose of the scene.  Problem solved. There are many scenes that I can combine and still provide the information the audience needs.  There are also scenes that I can delete because they don’t serve a purpose.  At the time I wrote the scenes I thought I needed them, but the story will continue just fine without them, which means delete. There’s more, but I’m afraid if I discuss all of the issues, I’ll give up.  So… That being said, I have a strong foundation and solid framework.  The audience will be able to relate to my characters, even the charming bad guy, who in my mind is played by the fantastic, charismatic Terence Stamp.  Hey, if you’re going to dream, dream big, right?  I also have some funny, excellent dialogue that actually serves a purpose (to show character or move the story forward). It’s going to be a long process, namely because my daughter won’t give me a moment of peace to do anything but what she wants to do.  I am exhausted.  Ugh.  Back to drowning myself in coffee while the child chatters nonstop.  Go to sleep, child!  Sleep!!