I have a confession to make. I haven’t finished the note
cards for the script. I’m only just finishing the cards for the first act.
Lame. It seems like I should be further along than that. But life is busy.
Birthdays, side projects, and a 1-year-old kid will take up all your time. Just
the 1-year-old kid is
enough. With that being the case I’m going for a super fast post today. Here
are a few quick updates about the script, because I have made some progress.
What happens in Act 1? I forget.
Okay, we’ve talked about Act
1 and what has to happen. We have to introduce the main character, what
they want, and set up the problem. Laying out the first act scene by scene
hasn’t been as simple as repeating the descriptions from the beat
sheet. The beat sheet just tells us the main points we have to hit. Going
scene by scene you have to consider how each thing leads to the next and what
new information you’re revealing. There are scenes we covered in the beat sheet
such as the scene with the metal monster in the hardware shop or the scene with
his wife at dinner.
These scenes tell us about Harlan’s imaginary world and how it works and his
relationship with his family respectively. Both are crucial bits of
information. But I’ve also need to come up with scenes that weren’t in the beat
sheet. These scenes will develop the character more fully in the first act and
happen between the major beats of the plot. I’m coming up with these scenes as
I write the cards rather than adding them to the beat sheet.
What’s next…
I started with the scene with the metal monster in the
hardware store. I thought that was a great scene to start us off. It’s big and
bombastic and tells the audience exactly what kind of movie they’re going to be
watching. It also gives us a chance to meet Harlan in the best light. In that
scene he’s heroic and pro active. In real life he’s sad, lonely, and barely
reactive. The next scene is his real life at work where he’s low man on the
totem pole in a job he doesn’t like and isn’t cut out for. Then we meet his
family and see his messy home life. Things progressed pretty much as written in
the beat sheet until I realized that each scene just made Harlan seem more sad,
down trodden, and ultimately uninteresting. That’s when I realized that the
first scene shows us how he imagines himself. Then
we see some scenes of how he is. I decided we needed some scenes to show us who
he could be. These scenes should remind the audience that he’s someone worth
spending time with. I added a scene where he unintentionally flirts with a
woman. He’s charming and witty in that casual way a confident person can be
without ever realizing he’s flirting. We get to see who he could be. I also
added a new scene with his wife and son. They get in a 3-way argument that ends
with the son storming out and his wife obviously needing his help. Harlan just
walks away. We get a good reminder of his family dysfunctions.
How to get there
Like I mentioned before, each scene needs to reveal new
information. This information should further the plot or develop the character,
preferably both at the same time. Every time I hit a point where I knew I
needed a new scene I would consider what I could reveal about Harlan in that
scene. For example I needed the scene with Harlan and his friends playing a roleplaying game. I knew
that would be happening but what did that reveal about Harlan? Well it’s a
great chance to show how his friends see him and react to him. In that scene we
also get to see how Nathan sees Harlan and why he would want to take him on
this road trip. Is the plot advanced? Check. Do we learn something about the
character? Yep. Next scene please.
Quit while you’re ahead
It’s difficult to make progress on a project especially when
life is busy and you have to fit it in between diaper changes, work, and all
those other obligations. Even without the obligations you have to stop to eat
and sleep. One of the best tricks I’ve learned for keeping up momentum is to
quit while I’m ahead. When I’m working and things are flowing it’s really hard
to stop. I like to power through until I hit that “what the heckfire happens
next?” roadblock. It’s such an easy place to stop. I don’t know what will
happen next so I should walk away and let it percolate right? NO! Don’t stop
there! Seriously. Stop one scene before that roadblock. You can see it coming
while you’re writing so stop when you know what happens next. You should
probably stop right before you write that really exciting scene you’ve got
planned. When you do that it’s easier to get back into it when you return. If
it’s a scene you’re looking forward to writing it’s even better because you’re
excited to get back to it. Always quit when you know what happens next. Right
in the middle of a scene or sentence if you have to. It will be far easier to
get back into the “zone” if you stop in the middle of the zone than at the end.
Let that momentum carry through to your next writing session.
Get it on paper
Yeah, I really am still writing those note cards. I’ve
noticed I’m not following my own advice and I have to remind myself to just get
it on paper. As I start to consider what scene to jot down next I often think,
“that scene is lame” or “that scene is so average”. I found myself thinking the
scene where Harlan gets berated by his boss is boring and over used. How can I
make that more interesting? But I have to remind myself that it’s just a note.
I can find a more interesting way to do that later. Remember to write the bad
version first and move on. You’ll write the good version later.
Thanks for joining me for another post in this crazy experiment. Hope you’re enjoying
it.
Next time we’ll see how far I’ve gotten in those note cards
and what other thing I can ramble about.
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