The annual NALIP Conference is this weekend. NALIP is the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. It’s a group that has been a huge support in my development as a filmmaker. I attended their Writer’s Lab in 2008 and their Media Market where I was able to practice pitching my project in 2009. This is also the fourth conference I’ve attended. And yet, there was something not quite right while I was there today. I’m not sure what it is, but I have a bit of an idea.
Read more…
I failed completely in my first attempt at NaNoWriMo last November. I barely completed two chapters and maybe a few thousand words. Actually, let me see how sad my word count really was…still looking…saved them as separate documents…there it is…3024. I also wrote three chapters, not two. Still, a sad performance. But I loved the idea of trying to write an entire novel in only one month. After the poor first showing, I felt the need to redeem myself. What better way than to return to the familiar – screenwriting. Yes, it’s time for Script Frenzy!
Script Frenzy follows the same idea as NaNoWriMo, only the goal is to write an entire screenplay in one month instead of an entire novel. Difficult for some, easier for me. Okay, let’s be honest, a script rough draft is easier to spit out than a novel. There’s less pages in a script and the more white space on your page, the better. Does that really make it easier?
At first I thought it would. Then I remembered exactly what I enjoyed about branching out to fiction pieces the last few months. You can wander more and feel your way around a longer piece. Nobody flips to page thirty of a novella to see if there’s an act break. Writing a script requires some form of outlining and structure.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get into much outlining. I’m going to wing it. I focused more on my new writing playlist than I did on my plot points. A mistake? Only time will tell. I have two characters, a mood, and a few ideas. And a shade under two hours before April 1 to OUTLINE LIKE CRAZY. We’ll see what happens.