The Rough Draft

Well, I finally submitted my second draft of my new manuscript to my Agent and the other members of the group. I didn’t expect rave reviews because I wasn’t very happy with what I’d come up with. For some reason, this particular story was kicking my ass. Our initial critique session was about two weeks after submission, we covered six scripts over a period of about five hours.

The general rule I use for critique is that if three people say it, you have to change it, if two people say it you consider changing it and if only one person said it, look how you wrote it and try to make it clearer. I had a lot of three people strikes against me. To be expected because as I’ve said, I wasn’t very happy with the draft to begin with. Still, the sessions were very helpful. I had new directions to go in and some pretty solid character and scene notes. The next draft was going to be a cakewalk.

Hah!

I spent the first week whacking my head off of my desk. Blocked, stymied, lost. I was screwed and I knew it. My focus was gone. It wasn’t until one of the other writers in the group called me that I realized the problem wasn’t with my script, it was with me. I’d become too details oriented and wasn’t open to the story anymore. I’d lost myself in the shuffle. This was reenforced with my agent in a one on one meeting I had a few days after the phonecall. His comment was that I was avoiding the story I was supposed to write. This might sound harsh but remember, this is the individual who ultimately will be peddling the story and as such has a pretty big job ahead of him. If I’m not hauling my water, he doesn’t have product to sell.

So all of this made me really sit back and….. Relax. I took a deep soul breath and let it out. I know what I have to write and I’ve got some great existing scenes to incorporate as well as some really fun new ones to write. The workload hasn’t diminished but the mental anguish sure has.

I guess my advice this week is take a deep breathe, relax, it’s a story, you’re not conducting brain surgery here. If you get it wrong you’ll know, and if you don’t somebody will tell you. They only tell you when they care.

Good luck and good writing.

Steve Abbott

Chip in your two bits on this issue.

Well the numbers are in fully 62% of the 200 aplications for funding through the CTF Licence Fee program have been denied. That represents 25 million dollars of funding that is simply gone.

It does strike me as strange that we have to toe the line in regards to CANCON but when we try to create indigenous projects, we’re left hanging for funding. Of course this is nothing new for the majority of Canadian film makers. We’ve long been left to suck the hind teat while our American cousins come up here and make their films using our programs to get tax breaks for productions that are only going to leave a financial imprint as long as they are shooting in country.

Now this might all sound like I’m down from the loss of funds but to be honest, I’m not sure yet. For years there has been a buzz amongst film makers about the need to create new avenues (foreign) of investment. I think though that to achieve that, we have to take a long hard look at the CANCON guidelines and how the CRTC is run.

Personally, the less government we have involved in the process of making film, the better. Give us the freedom to make fun and provocative stories. Give us the right ot offend or to make people think. Quit whining about how it used to be, there’s no point. Things are the way they are. Belts are tight all over. We’re not film makers because it’s an easy gig. We do this because we all feel we have something to say. With a country of just over thrity million how much help from government sources did we expect? At least now, certain Canadian shows will have to go on knowing that they will have to perform financially to keep going. That means they’ll have to be more agressive pursuing those foreign markets for sales. If anything this will force us to get the Canadian message out there. We’ll have to apeal to a wide audience, we’ll have to with our strengths not accentuate our weaknesses. We need to exploit a world opinion to our advantage. Perhaps our brothers to the south aren’t too happy with us right now but we know that we took a stand with the rest of the planet, right or wrong (and only history will be able to weigh in on that score). The US may find certain entertainment markets closed to it, Britain certainly has. We can move in there and fill that open niche because we’re close enough to both to maintain comfort levels. And let’s face it, the whole world has been waiting years for, “Beachcombers, the Next Generation”

Though I try to stay positive on this page about the art and craft of getting your ideas on the page. Every now and then the way certain things need to get done can bite you in the butt.

I’m involved in a writer’s group that is known loosely as The Feature Film Group. The group was started by our agent and has so far been a great success for all of us. You get valuable feedback from your peers in a safe environment. There are deadlines to be met and timetables to follow.

Which brings me to my dilemma. My current spec is outside of my usual type of story. Now I like a challenge as much as the next guy, and as a writer feel you need to push yourself to try new venues and types of story, settings, and characters. What I don’t like is handing in a script that is far from ready. It leads to heated critique. Which is not a bad thing, when you don’t see it coming but feels like a dentist’s drill when you do. Every time I’ve ever shown writing I wasn’t that happy with, I’ve had my head handed to me on a plate (some groups really are tougher than others). So, right now, the deadline for my second draft has passed. I handed in the work but wasn’t happy with the story and next meeting I’m going to have my head handed to me. I’m not pissed that it’s going to happen, I’m pissed at myself for putting myself in the position to let it happen.

Then again, not to worry, I’ll fix all the problems in the next draft and if all else fails, they can always fix it in post (grin).

Good Writing,

Steve Abbott