My Scripts

Not that I'm attempting to pimp them out from here. (That would be sad as hell.) But I think I should talk about them some, as I ultimately began this journey from literal step 1: How do you write a screenplay? It's been a couple years, and it's been a time of learning everything and anything on the topic I can. I've had the foresight to see that anyone who claims to have the ultimate secret to screenwriting but has yet to make a fortune selling their own scripts is so full of shit, they should legally change their name to Septic Tank. But I figure I should document my own journey to some degree.

Script number one was an attempt to turn the Second Punic War into a movie. It was always one of my favorite stories, and I was always disappointed that I couldn't SEE the elephants crossing the alps, or the battle of Lake Trasimene, or the rage on both Roman and Carthaginian as the other makes infuriating decisions. I tried and failed. But there was an end product. A godawful one, even after the editing runs. But it proved to me that I have what it takes to finish what I began. Not just to write a damn script, but to edit one too. I had stamina.

Script number two was a prequel to the Predator franchise. I had no illusions about selling it, but I constructed a story with depth, character, and a cool concept. Again, it was godawful, but I still want to see a Predator hunting conquistadors... It proved to me that I could write a story. Though I still had so much ground to cross. It was rather like crossing Nebraska on a coast-to-coast roadtrip: way too long, inspiring when it was behind me, but ultimately I was still nowhere.

Script number three was a further attempt to explore the genres that interest me. I was hunting for where I would plant my roots and grow. So I tried horror. I even entered this one into a screenplay contest (with feedback), to see if I wasting my time. And I credit this with my continued success. The story was godawful. I was wrestling with some demons at the time, so I put them on the page in physical form, and gave my main character the tools to kill my demons. Despite this, when I entered into the contest, they said that I was "good," but that my story was a "pass." And I fully agree, except the assessment that I was good. I still sucked. I have forgotten more since then than I ever knew.

Number four was another historical epic. I've just completed the rough draft of my own remake of it, because it too was godawful. Too short, too simple, and frankly not the level of quality that I would be comfortable putting my name on. But I am convinced the concept is gold. This one came with two lessons. 1) OUTLINES ARE ESSENTIAL. Before that, I was winging it with the story, and I got where winging it will send you. 2) You may pause while writing a script, but keep the pause short. I set it down for months at a time, and as a result, it's disjuncted. Like several writers picked it up and tried a handful of scenes. I could probably have saved it, but what was the point? I had other projects coming up.

Then I tried my hand at comedy, with a superhero comedy. I found that, while I enjoyed it, it was not my thing. I was halfway through the rough draft when I began to plan my next project, which constantly nipped this one on the heel. Far from writing this one like it deserved, I was ultimately eager for it to be behind me so I could jump into my next one. And seeing that comedy was far more difficult than I had assumed, I opted to forego editing. But I realized halfway through this one where my genre was.

Anabasis. It's the one where I developed my voice, and I know, factually, that it has movie potential. The action sequences were designed to be the best I could conceive. I hate Hollywood tactics with a passion. A stupid move doesn't become less stupid because the story demands it. But movies forgive stupid moves. This one does not. It was my first portfolio piece. I legitimately cried when I was done, because I knew that this one was PROOF that I had what it took. The long nights of reading scripts while watching movies, playing games of ancient tactics (For lack of anything else to do.), and reading books on classical warfare. My pitiful attempts at SCA combat. The years studying history and biology and geology. It was all in here. I felt the pride I imagined a mother dragon would feel, knowing that the cruelty, violence, and spite held in its pages would prove my ability.

My most recent completed project was a Game of Thrones-inspired piece. They manage to have plotlines running all over, and after dissecting each scene from each episode from each season, I had the pattern worked out. So I put it into a movies about the Gempei War. I was utilizing the pattern along with the assumption that people didn't go to see The Last Samurai for Captain Algren's drinking problem so much as to see samurai fighting, So I filled it to the brim with samurai fighting, war tactics, and the interesting characters who already fought in the first major samurai war. Again, my portfolio grew. I learned so damn much from this one. The big take-home message was that weeks of planning will cut months of editing. I am convinced that I would not have been able to finish this without patience. The final product was worth those months of my life, and even if it never sells, I'm thrilled to be able to picture the movie in my head whenever I want.

It's been a really strange trip from the first night in a basement in Laramie, Wyoming, when a friend ranted about screenwriting software to a man on the bottom of the world. And I'm convined this odyssey will be successful. I only need to remember one thing: The distance between Babylon and Athens is great. But finite.