In-World War

Ich bin nicht ein Berliner.

I didn't get into the Berlin Talent Campus 2008.

Damn it I hate these beauty show competitions.

But it's probably for the best -- I don't have the time to travel there anyway in Feb. Plus, I was clear about my goals for the BTC: wanting to learn more about financing films plus connecting with stars (which is the single most important factor needed to get distribution). And I felt they were thin on both topics -- and they probably knew it.

And, of course, there isn't exactly a shortage of white American guys trying to make movies. There are plenty of people who are more deserving than I in less fortunate situations with fewer filmmaking resources. I'm cool with that. I don't need BTC the way others might.

But still, I hate losing. It feels so demeaning.

I just need to focus on making IWW. That's it. Everything else (competitions, "industry" bullshit) is noise.

Rewriting

I'm deep in rewriting now. Making great progress based on all the feedback.

The script isn't getting any less complex -- more complex in some ways. Or, at least, the world is getting deeper and more intricate.

Mary's getting clearer and more real. Still, I'm counting on the actor bringing so much more humanity to his character and building on what I'm putting in the script.

Funny thing is that I haven't touched the actual script yet. I've been working from the four page treatment (see the related post on my DIY Filmmaking Sucks blog for instructions on how to make a four page treatment). It's not four pages anymore, but that's what I started with and added/modified as I went through the feedback.

This will be my map for rewriting the dialog and action in the script. From the (increasingly inaccurately-named) "four page" treatment I will have a scene-by-scene list of changes that I'll need to incorporate.

I'm excited about this approach, since it's a clear process. They say that screenwriting is rewriting, but absent a clear process for this I've been a bit horrified by the prospect of just diving in to the screenplay itself based on the feedback. That seems a bit like working on the car's engine while traveling at 65MPH.

I'm much more comfortable within a structured framework for rewriting like this.

The ending

I've decided to make the ending less ambigious.

Last night, I gave a verbal summary of the story to Gordon, with whom I have a weekly screenwriting session to help us both write and write better.

He immediately focused on the ending and wanting to know what happens to Mary. He felt let down by the lack of resolution. Gordon didn't like that. Ben didn't either, when he read the script. This was one of his strongest complaints.

I had deliberately -- militantly -- placed an open-ended finish at the fade out. I wanted it like real life -- where you never know what happens tomorrow.

But that's not why people go to the movies. Real life is free. Why would someone pay to see that?

I already knew what happened "after" the film -- I knew what the audience didn't. Why save it?

Gordon and Ben are right.

There's a strong anti-narrative streak in me. My years as a media studies student prepped me to be suspicious of narrative clarity. But that's just not fun. I need to give a little narrative pleasure to the audience, or they'll feel fully let down.

So now I have a stronger ending. Still ambiguous around the edges -- even poetic...definitely dark (no picture-perfect happy ending, don't worry). But this way, it's open to intrepretation, as opposed to open-ended. It feels right.

And so the rewriting continues.