The end!
I wish I had something more grandiose or meaningful to write here to mark the occasion, but I the only thing that comes to mind is something mundane. And that thought is: I don’t know why I had it in my mind that we started this project in late November. Given the amount of weekly episodes, the math wouldn’t work out to be late November. I think I just wanted to believe that writing a screenplay this way would be much faster than if I had written it solo and without the pressure to have content for weekly shows. Nevertheless, six months still isn’t bad, and I think I’ve gotten more than a first draft out this project.
So, now that the hard part is over, it’s time to move to the hard part: editing. But first, let’s talk about the pages. As I wrote, I had a sense that the scenes were running longer than I wanted them to, but I’m hoping that when they’re translated from the page to screen, the scenes will capture the pace I envisioned. Let’s blame “too many characters” for the inflated pages.
One part I really liked and kind of fell in love with is the POV shot of Sarah reloading everyone’s guns. I think it helps present the action in a fresh way and adds unexpected tension. I think it also adds a little bit of comedy to break up the killing without undercutting the seriousness.
I did run into a small snag after Everett emerges from the secret passageway after witnessing Maggie and Tommy dying. I needed him immediately to get back on task and arrest Long, but the emotional swing was too abrupt. Maybe the actor would have found a way to transition, but I still needed to cue that somehow in the script. So, I inserted a nice break with embers floating past. I hope it plays well.
I’m not looking forward to compressing the script down by 16 pages.
Now, Let’s Write This Movie!
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