Soooooo close to this draft being done. So fucking close.
Pardon the expletive 😛 I was hoping to have my polish read-through finished today, but it will have to suffice slightly short of that. I read through about the first half, and was able to get act breaks figured out for the rest. It’s now eight acts and a cold-open. Hallelujah. That’s a two-hour pilot, yo. It’s still about five to 10 pages shy, actually, and I have ideas on what scenes to add back in that I’d cut earlier…but I think I want to send this draft out as-is, actually, and see what people are asking for first. We’ll see how that goes.
See, this is all a learning experience. I’m not sure what my “process” is yet. All I know is that I struggle with outlining at the outset, but the more specific that can be, right down the lines of dialogue, the better the scenes comes out in final draft. I also know that getting an outline to the point where the scene is completely planned out beat-by-beat is my ticket to getting pages done in Final Draft. They pour out like water.
The revision process is somewhere murkier, since this is only the second round of sending it out for feedback. We’ll see what happens. I was nervous about it earlier today, but after reading through the bit I did, I feel less so. It’s certainly no shakespeare, but I am at least happy with where I’m at. It’s feels appropriate. I don’t feel like I’ve underperformed, if that makes sense, and I’m confident there’s enough on the page to get some good notes back.
Tomorrow is day 1 of the first time I’ll ever have written a script in 6 weeks. From outline to a read-able, give-note-able draft. It’s intimidating, but I read once and have heard a few times from TV writers I admire that it’s an extremely necessary skill. 6 weeks. Here we come. Wish me luck. Then, I try again on ANOTHER pilot script in ANOTHER 6 weeks…so two scripts in 12 weeks. My god, I will do it, and my god, I will be so freaking happy when I do. I can’t wait.
That’s all for tonight. I’m tired, and it’s work in the AM. Had a hugely long nap today, a lesson in why it’s never ever ever a good idea to have a debate on twitter, and talked to my mom for a bit while she was driving out to Fresno-area to visit Bear Clover for a couple days. A good day!