Current Project

I spent the last few months of 2020 outlining and sketching out another novel. It's pretty well ready to be written.... but then I got an idea for a screenplay and decided to run with it. The story as I imagined it wasn't all that complicated. Basically, it's a road comedy about two friends who rent a car to drive to their other friend's wedding, none of whom have seen each other in over ten years. En route, as one might expect, hijinks ensue. I am imagining this as something that could be shot on a minimal budget. 

I chose to work on this project now, in part because the submission period for the big screenplay contests (Nicholl, Austin Film Festival, etc.) ends around the beginning of May. So if I want to submit a screenplay to any of these contests, I need to have a polished draft done by then. I also feel like this particular script has broad appeal, which might help it to land favorably with readers. 

Of course, as I probably should have known, as I get deeper into this script, the more complicated it is turning out to be. In my experience, if I don't make a detailed outline ahead of time, then I end up having to more or less start over once I do have one. That's kind of where I am now. The plot as I have coneived it is like a Rube Goldberg Device, where one thing causes the next, which causes the next, etc. As such, if I change even one plot point or character dynamic or whatever, then it's probably going to affect some of the other parts as well. As this story gets more complex, there become more moving pieces to consider with every decision. 

I still aim to have it done by the end of April, but we'll see how it goes. The most important thing is that it's good. That said, I tend to work better under the pressure of deadlines, even if they are self-imposed.