I got two tomatoes, one for the both of you!

So, I read the first (of what I asusme will be many) of the scripts off of the Blacklist, The Gunslinger by John Hlavin.  I heard described as a western meets Taken, which is pretty much what it it.  It's a revenge movie pretty straight up.  This script could have easily just been cliche, which it is in sections, but because it was so well written, it doesn't matter.  The script moves so well you don't want to stop and think about what you've read, you just have to know what happens next.  It just keeps racheting up the tension and stakes until the end where you're on the edge of your seat and you can't wait to see how it ends.  I defintely got a lot of out the action lines, which were short, but detailed.  You knew everything that was going to happen, which made seeing it in your head much easier.

Next, on to the Pomodoros:  As of 6:30 on 12/19, I am at 63 Pomodoros.  So, unless I am completely worthless, I will be able to hit my goal of 65 Pomodoros before I leave for TC on Monday.  Since I am going to be spending a lot of time sitting on planes on Monday, my goal is to have 72-75 Pomodoros when I land in TC.

Whoa, we're halfway there.....

So, I hit Pomodoro's 50-52 tonight.  A day or two behind scheudle, but who's counting (well, besides you gentle readers).  What seemed impossible only a few days ago, now just seems highly unlikely.  My screenplay is grinding along.  I realize that I hate starting writing, once I get going I rather enjoy it, but the prospect of sitting down and actually starting seems huge.  I think part of it is that I know the tremendous amount work it's going to take to rewrite my script the way it should be.  Oh well, I soldier on.  Since I'm unemployed, I'm basically paying myself to write and I should think of it more like that.  Hopefully that will be more inspiring.

Anyways.  So, I watched Inglorious Basterds and read the script yesterday.  The big thing I noticed (other than the scenes that were cut), was QT's setting something up with no pay off (in the script).  In the script after the massacre in the bar, the Jew Hunter finds a solider still alive who tells him what happened, instead of the way better finding the autograph.  You had this great set-up her signing an autograph and kissing it, and then completely forgetting it.  Thankfully he realized his mistake.  It reminds me of that screenwriting saying that's about if you see a gun in the first act, someone better use it (or something like that).  I feel like once I deleted that one character from my script I realized that I had set all this great crap up and I just needed to that character out of the way to see it.

Well, I continue path with blood in my wake.  I'll give the week end update as always on Saturday.

PS: I'm going to start working my way through this years Blacklist, so if you have any suggestions let me know.

Is it catsup or ketchup? All I know is that I am behind on my tomatoes!

Alright, so I got a total of 21 Pomodoro's this week bringing my grand total up to 33.  I should be more like 36, which isn't too far off the pace, but with Christmas (eve and day) and NYE coming up and me going back to TC for a week, I was hoping to be close to 80 by the time I went back.  Unfortunatley that would require me doing like 10 a day.  My new goal is be at 65 when I leave for TC.  It's doable.  It's like 4 a day.  With screenplay reading I should be able to accomplish that, especially if I keep reading the screenplay while I watch it on DVD, which takes longer (I'll only do that once a week).
Speaking of screenplay reading while watching the movie, I did that with The Dark Knight today.  The biggest thing I got out of it was how even though it's one way on the page, it will be different on the screen.  I know that's fairly obvious, but what I mean is that all of the elements were there, but a lot of times, sequences were edited different than they were written and in all of those times what appeared on the screen was better.  Most of the times it involved intercutting between scenes and not playing out one scene and then moving on to the next scene.  Pacing wise it kept the movie moving a lot better.  This is something I need to think about when I'm trying to build tension, but I still need to get a bunch of story out at the same time.  Can I use dialogue from one scene while I'm showing something else.  Stuff like that.

Oh well, here's hoping next week is better.

Sometimes you need a scalpal...and sometimes you need a chainsaw

First, the Pomodoro update.  I am currently at 13 Pomodoros for the month, so I am behind the pace, but I have every confidence that I'll be able to catch up.

Next, so I've been having some trouble with this script I've been writing.  I've got this character whom I love (he's sort of like a gay Micky Stone from Hustle), but he doesn't have a whole lot to do in the script until the end,  besides drop the occasional bon mot.  So, I was having trouble sleeping on Thursday night and I started thumbing through Script magazine and they were talking about editing and cutting stuff and it hit me - I had to cut that character.  I had debated cutting one of the other main charcters, but I couldn't make it work.  I changed the gender of a different main charcater, and she ended up working better, but something was still off.  The answer was always cutting this main character.
As soon as I made the decision to cut him, everything fell into place.  Now my two central characters, have actual arcs and themes.  The script (once the changes are made) will be a gijillion times better than it was going to be with the changes that I was planning as late as Wednesday of this week.  The whole script just makes more sense and will move so much better.
As a result, this will probably take the rest of the tomatoes this month to finish.

December is the "Month of 100 Tomatoes"

So, I was going to announce my next project on Thanksgiving, but as you know, that didn't happen.  It was going to be me watching all of the James Bond movies in order on a daily basis and then blogging about it.  I still may do it.  But for now, the project which will start tomorrow is something I call "The Month of 100 Tomatoes".  As the year closes and I still don't have a version of either of my screenplays that is ready for people to see, I have decided that my goal will be get  100 Pomodoros (or an average of 3+ a day) of writing done this month.  While an hour and fifteen minutes a day isn't that much, and I will be counting the time I spend the 2 screenplays I will be reading and blogging about a week, it should allow me to finish at least one more draft on my heist movie and possibly another polish on it or another draft on my dark thriller (or possibly a first draft of something completely new).

Wish me tomatoes!