Close of a bad year.

I'm thankful for very little this year. The only truly good thing that happened, at least as far as I can see now (because who knows, things may change down the road) has been that I kept writing. I got fired, moved back with the folks, had my best scripts torn to shreds, was single the whole year, got a job I dislike with a horrible woman who can only be described as villain-fodder, and and had my car, computer, and two xboxen crap out on me. Hell, my online dating profile is even disappointing. So, see ya later, 2015. You were a thing.

This year looks better though. I found my consistent writing weakness and I'm hitting these next two with renewed vigor, specifically aiming to patch up my weak spots, like Smaug slipping armor over his missing scale. Meaning that, once these are done, people should be able to see these and think "This guy is a motherfucking dragon. Let's give him a mound of gold to sleep in!" But in all honesty, dragons are cliche, and 2016 feels good. At least the whiffs I get on the wind are promising.

I'm working on a pair of promising scripts that more-or-less fall in with what the readers told me they wanted. I have new people I can hang out with, and am considering moving to a nearby city. I have a new fighting helmet that should be coming any day now. And it looks like I'll be done with this script's rough draft tonight yet. There's booze in the garage and I just made a new Skyrim character based on my cat.

Strangely, I have this little reassuring voice too, telling me "It's all going to work, just keep going. Keep going until it's done. Trust me, this thing'll happen. I wouldn't lie to you." So either my subconscious has a budding alter-ego that's super positive, it's the thing (I'm hesitant to say deity, because I have no idea what it is.) that told me to do this initially, or I'm programmed to self-motivate. Who fucking knows.

Long-Ass Update

Okay, some things that I'll try to keep brief.

I did the Blacklist with my other scripts, but ultimately what I found out is that my pacing and action are on-point, but I need to tone down the set pieces, as everyone says they'd be absurdly expensive. Also, they say my characters are flimsy. That can be fixed, and I'm in the process of making the characters for my next two babies beautiful. That aside though, I got a 7 and 5 on Shogun and a 6 and 4 on Anabasis. (Though I think the 4 is undeserved, as he said it was comparable to Troy and 300, which each grossed half a billion dollars.)

The whole thing was a bit of a dick-kick, and I got a bit mopey for a week. Then I remembered that I came as far as I did in only two years, and I NEED actor-bait to get these bitches sold. So my goal for the next year is to master characters. So far, I think my current projects are better. Voice seems to come naturally for them, and they're a bit more...idiosyncratic. Certainly more memorable.

I'm also experimenting with rough-draft pacing. At one point I'd do one scene a day, which was insanely slow. Then I did two a day, and it worked, but was still slow. Now I write the whole thing out on Office, print it, and convert a page a day, so at 20 pages, I'm done with the rough draft in just under three weeks.

Also, the reason I was gone for so long was because my prior laptop gave up the ghost and my fans stopped working. It'd get overheated and straight die. So I got a new one and I'm loving it. It's an Envy. The only thing I dislike is the lack of disk drive and Microsoft Office. That's like selling a car with all the bells and whistles, but no stereo or wheels. Greedy fucks.

Also, I did the online dating thing and I have a date tomorrow with a lovely lady that I hung out with last week. Part of my is all "NO, you don't want to settle down," and another part of me is all "It's dinner, not a wedding ring." So, who fucking knows.

Well, that wasn't long at all. Hardly a disappointing thing though.

Marketing Report

Still waiting to hear back from the reader for Anabasis, and it's been 10 days. They said they'd get it back to me after 7, so I'm getting concerned. Maybe they're showing it to someone who might be interested. Maybe they're overworked and forgot. It could be either, or anything in between. I am not a patient man.

Also, Shogun's been getting some attention The reader said it was "wonderfully violent" and that Hollywood readers would love it. That it read well, and that the plot and characters were well done. So that's a thing. And at midnight an "industry professional" downloaded it. I have high hopes for it, as I think it's a worthy script, and has potential. Not the best ever, but with the right director, actors, and music, I think it has the potential to give a wonderful gift to our children. A gift of a Ferrari. I don't pretend to be the best, but I put months into that one, and the plot was carefully crafted.

Either way, at this point, it seems like both of my good ones MIGHT be getting attention. I have just enough information to hope for the best.

Captain's Log. Stardate: no clue.

They're up on the Black List. Already got the reads on the two I ordered going. No response yet. Fingers crossed and everything. They're my best two, in my opinion Turncloak is pretty good, and I set it up for a trilogy, so if it's a hit, it'll hits solid money. I didn't try to make it seem like one. It's a solid standalone, if it's not too big. Personally, I just feel like act 2 could use...different events. I can't think of them, but I definitely feel like a couple of the sequences could be diced up and split among the others. That would leave openings for other sequences. Maybe knowing there'll be wiggle room for alterations is a positive thing. I could do it. Make it better.

Also, watching Exodus. I like the ideas, not the execution. Christian Bale is good as Moses. Unfortunately, he's the only character. I mean, sure he has a wife and son, for a total of 3 scenes, and he has a mother for like, two half-scenes. But Ramses isn't a character so much as a plot device. Everything's cool until he decides to chop off some random woman's arm. "You're my buddy's mom? IMMA LOP OFF YER HAND, RAWR!" The beginning of this movie is fucking confusing.

But more grievous is Ramses' mother, who exists for like two scenes. And Aaron and no-pain-guy and old-guy, who all kind of act as random Hebrews. Just poor characterization. The events were epic as hell. They really brought the wrath of CGI god down on everyone. But the viceroy was just a corrupt guy who wasn't fond of Hebrews. Probably because he hated his job, and his job was to make Hebrews do things. I mean, not a good person, but not far enough over to through him over the moral event horizon. Ramses just seems to do whatever the story needs him to do, with not a lot brought to the character, other than their relatedness, and a kid who dies. They made him sympathetic, which I liked. They don't always need to be monsters, but there was no definitive "bad" guy in this story. Maybe God. Not a good moral for a religious flick.

In any case, I keep telling myself that this movie sold. And I really swung for the fences on these. I won't even show the first five scripts I wrote. They're not good enough to be shown. Even though the coverage I got for Space Zombies said it was going to be good with more work, I'm not terribly into it. Maybe later, if I get a career going.

They're up!

I got my portfolio posted on the Blacklist. I've had them up for a few days, but it seems that I'm having difficulty getting noticed. This is a setback. I've signed Anabasis and Shogun (the best two IMHO) up for coverage, and I'm excited to see what they have to say. But the lack of views is discouraging as hell. It took a bit of work, but I've convinced myself to just have faith that this will work while I get it going.

I mean, Exodus is a movie, and it only had two characters with story arcs. Hell, one of the arcs WAS about having faith. I mean, respect to the movie-makers, as the visuals were stunning, and the story was done in a refreshing way. But the writing was disappointing. So here I am, offering my services to fix that problem, and hopefully make a mark on the genre.

Still though, it might be a good thing that it's like this. If they're poking and prodding in the dusty recesses of the website, then the good shit must not be too good. In any case, it seems I may yet have to sign up for some contests. *shrug* Forging a new path will always mean setbacks. I just wish they were faster.

Got my flow on today, and I'm spent.

I've been working on my most recent project, just trying to ensure that each scene is as good as it can be. I don't believe in filler scenes. I mean, there are scenes that aren't as powerful or moving as others, but if the characters are good, the subject matter is significant, the setting is intriguing, and/or the action is diverse and strong, there should never be a problem with a scene being boring.

And this morning at work, I had so damn much documentation to do, it was pretty much all I'd do. So, when it became too much for me, I'd take time off and work on an action sequence. The one I'm planning has all kinds of ingredients, and I really like the direction it's going, but act two was definitely fucked. So I worked through the sequences individually, and they actually fell into an order on their own. I found some that I didn't need, and I scrapped them. Too similar to each other. I mean, I could turn this into a constant action movie, but there would be ZERO valleys, and the valleys make the peaks stronger. I mean, a roller coaster that never dives is just a train on stilts.

And I worked out some stronger bits for the valleys. They make more sense, they do the characters more justice, and they're just fucking cool. So I'm hoping to get that outline in order by the time my current project is ready for down-time. I need each one to rest for a week after the rough draft, so I can work out what I think are the weakest bits, and start on the rewrite draft fresh. But I've never juggled projects before, so it's a new thing for me.

And at this point, I must say, my brain is FRIED. Like, if my brain were a fried egg because I were on drugs, at least it would be edible. But now it's so fried, a zombie would think it too crispy. Needless to say, I'll sleep like the dead tonight.

This one feels good.

So far I'm on page 7 and this one feels great. It had a rocky start during the planning stage, but the first 7 pages are just dynamite. And this is the rough draft. I know it's normal for me to think that my projects are pretty good. Bad projects never get out of the planning stage. In all honesty, Turncloak is GOOD, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't feel like it's the same caliber as my previous two works had been. I think this one has far more potential.

It was kind of a rope bridge over lava, as both groups are still alive, and either could be terribly offended if I portrayed them like I did in the previous couple movies. I had to get back to my Anabasis-style villainy, which I genuinely liked. Good people on both sides, and no one is really safe. And this one took a page out of Turncloak, in that a lot of characters are maimed. Done right, a maiming can be a good plot element. And people fear for their favorites, provided they're done even remotely well. I'm really trying with these characters.

Overall, outlook is distinctly hopeful.

EDIT: I got my scenes done for the day, and it's still pretty damn good. Like, if my other projects were half as cooperative, I wouldn't have had such a struggle writing them. I hit my ten page mark exactly like I wanted to, and everything before that is magnificent. I have zero doubt in my mind that this one will sell. If nothing else does, this one fucking will. I am absolutely certain about it.

Call it cocky if you want. But it will be a GREAT script.