Midweek Grind
If slow and steady wins the race, then I’m goddamn champion.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Last night while I was working on my pilot I fell asleep on my computer’s keyboard. My eyes got REALLY heavy and WHAM! my head hit the computer. Out cold.
I think I passed out because I’m staying up late working my pilot every night AND my kids wake up 4-5 hours after I pass out from exhaustion. And anyone with two boys under 7 years old knows how much energy a kid has at 6:00 am.
Look, I know the pilot isn’t where I want it to be. And I know there’s a lot of crap I’m sifting through to actually get to a kick ass story, but I know the hard work will pay off. Maybe not next week or next month. But hard work always pays off in the end.
Pilot Update
I’m getting closer toward working on an outline for my new pilot, tentatively called KNUCKLEHEAD. These last few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time writing a show bible and thinking about the main characters.
I also sent my bible to my writer’s group for feedback and got some great suggestions. Always helpful to get suggestions and clear up any confusing bits of story while you’re in the concept development phase of a project. I’ve mentioned it before, but I find that most of the problems I make in the script could’ve been corrected if I spent more time developing the concept, characters, and story first.
One issue I have with previous scripts is that I don’t have a super clear objective for my main character. Well, let’s just say I think there’s a clear objective, but the readers don’t see it.
For this pilot I sat down with 1 character and brainstormed 50-60 objectives that could be used for the pilot script. The objectives range from plot-oriented to internal character stuff - Character X wants to buy a can of coke to Character X wants to feel appreciated by his parents. Nothing gets omitted; just 50-60 objectives listed on two pages.
Once I’ve got the list of 50-60 objectives I close my notebook and walk away. I don’t even look at the list until a few days have passed. Then, I open up the list and review each one and select the objectives that make sense with the character work I’ve already done - flaws, strengths, wounds, super objective, etc.
After I’ve done this exercise for each character, I go back to each character’s list of objectives I like and see what fits with what. I try to look for conflict and change, something that’s both plot-oriented and character-driven, meaning something that balances external action with internal rewards. The goal here is to try and tease an hourlong story from just the perspective and interactions of the main characters. Sure, I don’t have a true pilot logline or synopsis yet, but what I do have are some clear objectives that are grounded in the characters’ needs and wants.
My next step is to take these objectives and try to hammer out ideas/loglines for each act in a 5 act pilot. Again, nothing in stone yet, but definitely crafting a story from each character’s perspective.
Website Update
I’ve mentioned before how I’m doing some behind the scenes updates to this website. I can safely say those changes are coming along nicely and should be live in a few weeks.
The first change that I’m making is a HOME PAGE that visitors to this site will see first. The HOME PAGE briefly describes the four major sections/webpages of the website:
FRANK’S BLOG - nothing’s changing about the blog, but it gets it’s own section.
FRANK’S SHORT FICTION and PERSONAL ESSAYS - a section for my short stories and personal essays.
FRANK’S SCREENPLAYS - descriptions of my original pilots and links to my spec scripts of existing shows.
FRANK’S WORKSHOP - this is me as learner where I share all the stuff I’m learning and reading about screenwriting, fiction writing, and books.
Each one of the above sections has its own sub-pages with different focus areas. The short fiction/personal essays and screenplays sections are self-explanatory, but the workshop section is quite large. And, it’s what I’ve been working on a lot lately.
The purpose of FRANK’S WORKSHOP page is to document and/or catalog my learning about the craft of writing. The section contains:
INSPIRATION - quotes, images, videos on the craft and business of writing and creativity.
WHAT MAKES THIS SHORT STORY GREAT? - short articles exploring a variety of short stories and what I think makes them great to read and study, especially for aspiring writers.
SCRIPT ANALYSIS - in-depth analysis of pilot scripts.
WRITING PROMPTS - prompts I use as well as prompts I find online and in my reference books.
SCENE STUDY - original short scenes I wrote.
MONOLOGUES - similar to the monologues that are already posted on this website, but I have more that I’m working on.
BOOK JOURNAL - as I read books (fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting, etc.) I’ll document passages and quotes from the books that I like.
I still have a lot to do before I officially re-launch the website, but so far everything’s coming along nicely.
Goals/Tasks to Complete
Finish Goal, Motivation, Conflict charts for the main characters in my pilot.
Review pitch deck for my writer’s group.
Read a script for a writer I met at a Script Anatomy workshop.
Continue to work on my ISA craft course.
Story Worthy Moment
I’m currently in a transition phase between ending one job and beginning the next. I’m kinda unemployed but also employed. It’s a weird position to be in, speaking from a parent’s perspective.
From a storytelling perspective the in-between jobs situation might not offer much in terms of action, but I think it offers a lot of opportunity for character development. Besides, we always see parents in TV and movies who either love their job, hate their job, or don’t have a job. What about a situation where a parent in-between jobs and something really fucked up happens that jeopardizes the new job?
