Write a screenplay in 21 days

Never Done: Write a screenplay in 21 days

I recently moved into a place with tons of bookshelves. In my last place, I had a small pile of books in the bedroom -- only room for the most current -- and the rest were in storage. About a week ago, Josh and I spent an entire day in the storage locker, going through it to see what we wanted in the new home, and I chose one box of books, labeled Writing, Writers, and Screenwriting. When I opened the box, this was on top: Viki King: How to Write a Movie in 21 Days. I've had this book for years, and have never used it -- never even read it.

But it was on the top of the box, so I took it out and read the first couple pages. Her approach is completely different from my usual approach. It's very loose and unstructured. She has a method called the Inner Movie Method, and she directs people to write a Random Draft. I am not a random screenwriter. My (super talented) writing partner Steve will back me up on this. I structure, structure, structure. So along comes this woman and tells me to write a random draft? Why, I've never done that before. Why, I should try it.

So I started writing a new screenplay. Actually, I started doing the exercises in King's book. She has 58 pages before she asks us to write page 1, and I got through page 30 in one one-hour session. So let's say I get through page 58 in two more sessions, and start writing my random draft on Saturday. I should have my screenplay by the day after Thanksgiving. (My screenplay is about someone from Massachusetts who moves to Maine, and her journey to be completely accepted there. I think it'll be a romantic comedy. Maybe just a comedy. Maybe more like a dramedy. It's called From Away.)

And just to hedge my bets, in case I want to write a celebratory post on the day after Thanksgiving, or in case I crash and burn and I don't get to claim that I wrote a screenplay in 21 days, here's another one:

Never done: Played ping pong at the Armory Y. Twice. First with Nikki -- super fun, and a great reminder how much a simple thing like hitting a ball back and forth can pull our attention away from our worries. Later with Josh -- who knew he was such a menace at table tennis? (As it turns out, his friends from summer camp. Apparently his reputation dates back to when he was 8 years old.) What was extra great about this is that the Y is so close that I got to work out, come home to a late dinner, visit with Nikki, get more work done, and THEN go back out to play ping pong at 10:30 PM. It's like having a giant rec room next door. Wanna come over and play?