The Screenwriter's Journey, 2.0

Progress, progress, progress! Seriously, God bless David Trottier. If any of you ever seriously think about writing, go out and buy The Screenwriter's Bible post-haste. I'm trying to follow everything to a T, and shake off my shortcut tendencies to ensure I give this my best effort.

I've become really attached to the story, it's characters and situations. I even have in mind who I would like for the two leads. The scary part is the actual writing of the thing. I have pages upon pages of prep work, and a 30-page first draft, now I'm gearing down to stepping out the scenes and onto writing a complete first draft. I still need to do a bit more research of the location and era, but as early as Monday, I will begin to write. I can hardly wait.

So, to give you a bit more info on what the story is actually about... it's a drama, mainly set in early 90s Pittsburgh, and is bookended in Philadelphia 1964 and Pittsburgh 200_. I will refrain from posting any plot description until I register my script with the WGA. You know, for safety reasons.

The idea has truly grown and been re-shaped since I first thought of it last year. Some of you who heard about the story when I first talked about it, may not even recognise some of it if I was to show you what it's become. The gist of it is still the same, but some of the details have developed into something more.

I've narrowed down my list of screenplay competition prospects from five to three. So my focus is now on: Nicholl, PAGE and Scriptapalooza. The deadline for two of them is April 15th and for the other is May 1st. With the material and prep work I have, I plan to do some revision on my completed first draft, right up to submission. Of course, the work won't stop there, as I plan to revise until perfect, and then start working on a marketing plan.

The story I have is nothing short of affecting. I just have to gather all my scruples together and write a fantastic script!