Four More Weeks...?

I turned in that final polish and then went into hibernation for a couple of days. Shoulder surgery combined with final draft combined with pain killers equals fuzziness for sure. At any rate, my work is pretty much done on the script until we go to film, the tentative shooting schedule is May 26-June 14. One week in Vancouver, then two weeks in Lytton, which is a small BC town.

I've been invited to be on set for the shoot, which is nice. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole process once it gets going. Can't wait! Hopefully I'll have time to work on another spec sometime soon.

A wall hits...

I feel like I've been run over by a wall. I don't like to delve into too many personal things in this blog (mainly because they're just not interesting), but I had shoulder surgery on Monday to clean out some debris from my old high school baseball days. On top of that, I just got notes on Friday for a polish for Ashcroft. I enjoy zonking out on pain meds as much as the next person, but wanting to have a clear head to write as well to to be able to use my arm for everyday things again has put me in a little bit of a bad mood. 

I did get a chance to watch Teen Wolf last night with Jessica and that helped. 

Anyway, the polish so far has been a struggle. I'm at page 50, but the biggest changes are ahead. 

Progress...

I turned in the official second draft for the feature script now formally known as Cole. The new working title is Ashcroft which is a small BC town in the interior that they are planning to film in. 

The coolest thing about this draft was that I knew what the characters met and spoke like since I got to meet most of the actors at the table read. I struggled with that a little bit at first--there definitely was an intimidation factor involved--but in the end, it turned out to be a big help and an even bigger motivator (I felt like I owed these people great dialogue, if that makes any sense at all). 

I do hope we can go back to the original title for the film, which was This Is What We Call Home. Doesn't Ashcroft first and foremost bring John Ashcroft to mind? Anyway, for the small amount of readers that this blog gets, I'd love to hear your thoughts on title thoughts and suggestions. 

As a refresher, here is the official synopsis for the film:  

When a talented high school graduate get the chance to escape from his small hometown, he must choose between helping his dysfunctional family and the promising future that lies for him beyond.

A winner...

Hey! My story Raising Awareness just won the nycmidnight short story challenge. Pretty cool, eh? You can view the results here: http://www.nycmidnight.com/2008/SSC/challenge.htm

I'm now a week into my rewrite for Cole which is now tentatively titled Ashcroft which will most likely change 8 or 9 times in the coming months. They are going to film in Ashcroft, BC--which is a nifty little town in the interior (as Canadians say). I hit page 65 on the rewrite last night and things are moving along pretty smoothly. Hopefully I'll have it ready to turn in sometime next week. The notes were informative, so no complaints there. The hardest thing to do is to make sure there are not too many speaking roles because of our miniscule budget... pay for actors goes up when they have more than three lines.