So, I was thinking about this whole "write a feature in a month," and it occurred to me that I'm already doing this. The point of writing something with that tight a deadline is because someone asked for something, and by the time they ask, they usually want it yesterday (or at least in a couple months). That couple months is a finished draft, which indicates a first draft in a month to give time for pondering and rewrites. The initial idea for this OMC was a script in any form, as long as it's finished.

I checked when I created the file I'm working on and it was on 8/11. The topic I'm writing on? Well, just go back to that request thread by Randy Robinson. It's that creature feature thing. He gave me an idea of the plot he wanted, the number of characters, and some locations along with some restrictions based on budget. It's a heck of a lot more than we would use on any kind of challenge, but this is real life.

So I volunteered because I wanted to write something, and I knew (based on prior experiences) that I could write something quickly, and it would be a fairly passable first draft. Granted, I have someone in the wings to bounce ideas off of and ready to read it as soon as I've got it done, but again, that's how it works sometimes.

So, I'll go ahead and prove to Jeff that this can be done by using a real life experience to do it. It's been 9 days so far, which leaves me about 21 days to finish the first draft (22, if you consider 31 days in August). I'm going to prove it because I pretty much have to.

Where am I on it at this point? Well, I filled out his plot and changed some stuff around to make it flow a little better. I'm currently working on the characters' back stories. Once I have that all together, it'll be ready to pace out the plot, and then write the thing. Because I'm taking such a methodical approach to it, the first draft will flow right out. I won't have to wonder about where the plot is going because I've already figure that out. I won't have to worry about who the characters are or whether they're acting right because I've already got them figured out too.

I figure I'll keep you updated as to where I am on this, so you can see how this sort of thing can grow. By 9/11, there will be a first draft, at least.

Fantastic, sounds exciting.

Good luck with it, I was wondering who took up that creature feature request.

Good luck with it George. I imagine we won't get to read it until the movie's done or...?

Quoted from George Willson (22, if you consider 31 days in August)

I guess it's the most practical thing to do since it really messes up the calendar if August all of a sudden only has 30 days :)

Quoted from sniper Good luck with it George. I imagine we won't get to read it until the movie's done or...?

I dunno. I can see if Randy has any issues sharing it or not when it's done (after I've re-read it, of course). I don't really post first drafts. I do re-read them at least once to clean up the stupid typos.

Quoted from George Willson By 9/11, there will be a first draft, at least.

Hmm...hope that isn't prophetic.  I might have picked a different day.

Good luck with it.  I am available if you want to bounce some ideas.

Write a feature in a month? Not really that challenging, don't ya think? I've written plenty of 90, 100, 110 paged script in only 3 days. But than again you would need the extra time to proof read and add some stuff, but all in all the script can be done with in a fraction of the time.

And some very successful films have been written in 3 days. Like... Rocky, Little Miss Sunshine, etc...

Good luck, George.

Go get 'em, tiger.

Andrew

Sounds good George.  I also wish you luck.

I talked with Randy as well and decided to pass on it because of the zero budget and the fact that he was not going to let me retain rights to the script (or pay for it).  I was interested though for sure and was pretty close to jumping on board.  In the end, I just thought that if something ever does come of it, I would be kicking myself for relinquishing rights and working for free.

The one thing I did really like about it was that it was going to be a very, very simple idea.  I pictured myself writing the entire thing in 6 weeks and that was goiing to include at least 5 edits and re-edits.  Don't take these comments the wrong way, cause they're not intended to mean anything other than what I'm saying.

You don't need to prove anything to me - I know you can do it.  I am available to edit or give it a look if you'd like at any time.

Let me know.

Thanks for the encouragement. I just figured I'd talk about it in this context since it sort of fit another topic that had been breached before. Thought it was interesting that it came up again about the time I was actually trying to do it for real. Sure, there's no money involved in this, but it's not always about the money, is it? As long as I have my credit, I'm good. Not doing any ghostwriting here. That don't come for free.

I think people  chasing the money should be in the banker, sorry, winker business, not films.

Wish you the best George. Good luck with it.

As I said, it was a matter of rights to the script, as well as the fact that there wasn't any money.

It's one thing to write a script that you come up with and think will be a god idea.  It's another thing for someone to tell you what to write, retain rights to "your" script, and not pay anything.

Personal decision, I guess.

You should have challenged others to do it with you and in that one month see who would have a finished script and let the reviews decide who wins but at the end of the day everybody would win. Reviews help with future rewrites and so on.

Well, if it were a full on deal, that would have worked, but as it is, it only occurred to me that I was actually doing the parameters of this OMC thing after I started. And when it comes to script rights, when you write for a studio, they buy the script, right and all, anyway to make the movie. They want to own every piece of the process. I figure I wouldn't fight with Warner Bros. over the rights to something. No reason to fight with this guy over the rights (unless he doesn't make the film, and then we'll talk).

My progress is still in the characters. I'm working out the details of the fourth character who is minor compared to the other three, but he's a person all the same like the others are and gets a lot of screen time. I've also found in working his story out that I need to tweak the plot a bit since his character wouldn't bend over backwards to do what the plot is currently prescribing him to do (that involves his unfortunate, painful, and quite bloody demise).

Quoted from George Willson I'm going to prove it because I pretty much have to. Where am I on it at this point? Well, I filled out his plot and changed some stuff around to make it flow a little better. I'm currently working on the characters' back stories. Once I have that all together, it'll be ready to pace out the plot, and then write the thing. Because I'm taking such a methodical approach to it, the first draft will flow right out. I won't have to wonder about where the plot is going because I've already figure that out. I won't have to worry about who the characters are or whether they're acting right because I've already got them figured out too. I figure I'll keep you updated as to where I am on this, so you can see how this sort of thing can grow. By 9/11, there will be a first draft, at least.

Thanks George. This will be very interesting to keep watch on as you work. Reality Internet at its finest I think.

Keep us posted.

Sandra

So, in keeping with the reality internet, I thought I'd update my status on this. There are four primary characters and I've worked out the basic life stories of each of them. The one that Randy only called "The Stranger" in the idea he sent to me originally was probably the hardest since he was in all of two sentences: the one where he showed up and the one where he died. So I had to create a full back story for this character who is actually in at least half the script.

Characters are done, so now I'm filling out the basic plot I had done at the beginning to being a full treatment to send to Randy to make sure I haven't come up with anything he can't (or won't) shoot. Don't know how long this treatment will be. I haven't set myself a page limit and Randy won't care, I'm sure. Its purpose is both to make my job easy when I write the actual script, since all I'll need to do at that point is come up with dialogue and pad out the actual actions along with making it look like a screenplay and so that the filmmaker has a pre-first draft to critique before it gets more complicated to make changes.

At the treatment stage, it'll be easy to move scenes around, add or remove extras, and that sort of things where after it's written, those things would be more complicated since those "minor changes" could affect multiple scenes.

So that's where I am. I'm about halfway through the treatment, which I plan to finish before the week's out to send over to Randy to look at. He's kind of excited so I doubt it will take him long to look at it. So unless he has any major requests, I'll probably start the actual script phase next week which gives me a solid two weeks to  write the 90 pages (or whatever it comes out to) and probably even check it for typos.

Sounds good, George.  Keep us posted.  Are you cool with writing teh entire script from start to finish in 2 weeks?  I think it will be tough.  I was hoping to have a full 4 weeks when I wrote the first page.

Best of luck, adn keep us in the know.

Probably the hardest part of writing with a day job is finding the time to do it. Hence, I finished the treatment a lot later than I wanted to. This isn't because of any writer's block, but just because I am struggling to find the time to work on it. Anyway, I sent the treatment to Randy just now to see what he thinks. There are still a couple of development holes that I just need to find places to plug when I'm writing. Plot's fine at this point (so I think anyway).

Once Randy gives his feedback on the plot, I should be able to burn through the scripting part. I have 8 days left at the moment, so I hope he comes back quick with the feedback. 10-20 pages per day is totally doable. It'll need a rewrite, of course, but the parameters I started with (for the OMC idea) did not specify a final draft, but a completed one that's ready to be ripped into and revised.

I will have to say, the personal deadline has lent a sense of urgency to it that did not really exist before. Kind of nice having a deadline.

Quoted from George Willson I will have to say, the personal deadline has lent a sense of urgency to it that did not really exist before. Kind of nice having a deadline.

I think the thing about a deadline is that it forces you to do it.

The quality, is going to depend upon the individual of course, but you don't know until you try.

Thanks for the update and wow, George. That's impressive!

Sandra

Well, I was lazy this weekend. Rodney did get back to me with some changes he wants, so I got those back to him this morning, and I started writing on stuff he didn't want changed, and I'm 11 pages deep at this point. Not sure that I'll make the Friday deadline, but I should be darn close.

C'mon, George!  You can and will meet the deadline!  80 pages to go.  No problem.  I'm cheering you on.

KEEP GOING!  DON'T GIVE UP!  NO MORE SLEEP UNTIL YOU'RE ALL DONE!!!!!

Well, I'm currently at the top of page 34 on the script and the bottom of page 6 of 18 on my treatment. At this rate, it might work out to just over 90 pages. But that makes me well on my way to finishing on time if I keep up this pace. It's not that hard since I've really already written out the entire plot and most of the basic dialogue. It's just a matter of converting those 18 pages (or remaining 12) of block paragraphs into a screenplay.

But I'm a third of the way there...

And it's due when?  This weekend?

How many hours per day are you putting into it?

My personal due date is Friday. And the hours I put in are as many as I can fit in to doing it. I have a goal of hitting at least 30 pages per day, though. I made it yesterday, and I'm up to 43 at this point for today, so in another 15 pages or so, I can relax a little. However, based on my computation for how the treatment is translating to script, it might come out to just over 100 pages. We'll see. Like I said, though, it's writing itself at the moment since I'm just following the treatment I wrote out.

My goals are to have it written out by Thursday and read back through it on Friday to look for typos and other goofs that you're supposed to catch on a re-read before I let Randy have a look while I take a break from it and write the Fempiror 2 novel.

You're a machine, GEorge!  Nice work.  Keep at it...you're almost there.

Make sure you remember to A). Breathe, B). Go to the bathroom occasionally.

Anything else is optional.

Here at the top of writing day 3, I'm at the top of page 72 and the bottom of page 13 of 18 of the treatment. As page 18 isn't a full page, I've got to trudge through about 4 page worth of treatment to fill at least another 18 pages. I don't see that as a problem since the other treatment pages translated pretty consistently to 5-6 pages each. Add to that in the case of these pages, there is a lot of action that will be 100% based on whatever they can do with the location, so that part of the script will have the "they fight" syndrome where it's left totally up to the director as to how that will play out. I'm giving some story beats to get through it, but since I don't really know the location and how much freedom they'll have with it, I kind of have to leave it up to them.

However, I'm well on track to meet my goal to finish the script today and proof it tomorrow before giving Randy a weekend read.

Good work, George.  Sounds like you will be successful.  I wasn't so sure you were going to make it last weekend, but you really kicked things into overdrive!

Deadlines help do that. I wasn't so sure last weekend either...

And done. Finished it yesterday afternoon, actually. The final pages translated into fewer pages than the earlier ones, and it worked out to 89 pages total, although there is a paragraph in there that would actually work out to possibly quite a few pages if I knew the location's complete floorplan and just how badly I could tear it up. As it is, it says, "I defer to you to let the creatures chase them through the house for awhile." Ok, so a tad longer than that, but I actually made several notes to the director specifically when I wasn't sure what they would physically have available. For instance, when it comes to weapons, I mention blunt objects, instead of being specific. I'd never get away with it in a real spec, but since this was his idea to begin with and let's face it, he only wants a framework around which to shoot those fun scenes anyway, I can get away with it.

I'm going to read it through today to catch typos and some basic inconsistencies that come out of a first draft, and then let him have a look. Bottom line is I did it.

Challenge met.

Good work, George!  I'm impressed.  You made your deadline...with time to spare.

Now let's hope that Randy loves it!  I'm sure he will.

Quoted from Dreamscale Good work, George!  I'm impressed.  You made your deadline...with time to spare. Now let's hope that Randy loves it!  I'm sure he will.

I'm together with my dear friend, Jeff. You have accomplished something that we all dream of. You've met a deadline and you've done it with passion.

I feel so proud of you!!!!!

Sandra El.

AS it turns out, he did actually like it. I ended up not reading it once over before I sent it, but I figured since he had requested it, he'd forgive my typos. He had some comments, of course, but on the whole, he was impressed that it was only a first draft.

Now, onto the rewrites...

Fantasic, GW. You've done so well getting it done in time.

I applaud you, sir.

That's friggin' awesome, George. Way to go.

Congratulations, George.

A book published and available on Amazon.com, and now a feature in a month. Really good work.

Will we now see a OMC?

Andrew

So, George, what's the latest with this project?  Did you make any major changes?  Is the shoot on schedule?  What's going on?

I shot him an email a few days ago to find out how it's going. No reply as of yet. I'm not too concerned. If he follows through, he follows through. If he doesn't, then it'll be no different from most everything else I've written. When I find something out, I'll post on it.

Any updates, George?

I emailed him again a couple days ago. Nothing. It wouldn't be the first time someone's wanted a script and then disappeared as soon as I delivered. I just keep them to make myself, though I can't really do that with this one since he wrote the initial synopsis.

His plan was to shoot it this month, and I kind of hoped he'd keep in touch. I deliberately wrote a character reading a book into the script so I could try to pimp my book in the movie. A little shameless self-promotion. Haven't heard back. Guess that won't happen. Oh well.

Here's hoping he not only shoots it, but keeps my name on the script.

Sorry, George.  That sucks.  When I talked with him awhile back, he said he would be filming in Fall/Winter, so I'd say if he hasn't started yet, he's missed Fall.

Hopefully, things get moving.  Did you sign away your rights to the script?

Good luck!

Strictly speaking, I've signed nothing. I suppose I could zing him pretty good and register it before he shoots it. Not sure if he did this, but I'd lean towards the probably not.

I'm not overly concerned however. Even if he does shoot it and leave me completely off, it's his conscience that will worry him at night. Especially since I'm an active filmmaker as well. He'll always wonder whether I'll try to come around and bite him back.

At the same time, no word doesn't mean he isn't working on it. He might be actively making it, and just hasn't replied to my emails. I can't say one way or the other. I'm not going to assume the worst, however. I'll just be patient and see where this goes. It's how I roll.

And one more edit to this post: I looked Randy Robinson up on IMDB and made the connection that Heretic wrote a script for him. Hence, I PM'd Heretic to see if this was just Randy's style to go incommunicado while shooting.

I finally heard back from Randy, and he had some minor hangups, but expects to start principal photography on the 15th. So that's something. I'll keep you all posted as this progresses.

That's cool!  Good job.

Haven't heard from Randy in awhile. I know he's out there. He has posted on Facebook, but nothing movie related. I did submit the script to the site here for you fine people to degrade it. Someday in the future it'll be out there. Of course, it's the same copy I sent him, so it has scene numbers and several title suggestions as well as a complete copout of "you make it happen" in the climax, but there you go.

Where's it posted, George, and what's the title?

Randy Robinson?  I remember working with him for a while.  Nothing came of it.


Phil

The title is a generic "Creature Feature" since that's what we were working under. I have the script uploaded to my own site, but I passed the link to Don to post as a thread and all here. If you want a sneak peek, it's at http://www.fempiror.com/otherscripts/CreatureScriptDraft2.pdf. I noticed in the other pdf I considered submitting that Final Draft had screwed up my action paragraphs (again), so I just converted my original Word doc to pdf. No scene numbers, and at least I don't have to spend an hour looking for where Final Draft decided a stray action line was dialogue.

And I can't say nothing came of it. I do have a feature length, low budget creature script. The most expensive thing here would be make up effects...and possibly destruction of a house, but I never wrote that part. I left it up to him on how he was going to destroy or navigate his location.

At this point, if he's given up (again, it appears), I may look into making this one myself.

Randy Robinson!  Classic.  That guy's not so good with finishing projects...or really starting them...