Screenplay Doomsday
A few months ago I had an idea, maybe it was a dream, but it was a plot arch that played out very clearly in my head. I told a friend and she was intrigued by the idea and adamantly insisted that I write the idea. I didn't know if it should be a novel, or a screenplay, and I talked about it and talked about it, and one day she texted me a link for a screenwriting competition with a deadline coming up in the next few months. Which brings us to tonight…
Tonight was the night I should have been finishing up final edits and submitting my screenplay to the Sun Valley Film Festival High Scribe competition. The premise of the story is an age old tale with an unexpected modern twist, but the writing right now is awful. I’m definitely a little disappointed in myself for not taking the time to get it done seeing that I’ve know about the final deadline for months now. So the bad news is that I did not make the deadline for the SVFF High Scribe Competition. There were two reasons why I was particularly interested in the High Scribe competition: 1) The indie aspect of it. It seems like a festival truly geared towards independent film makers. However, I don’t know too much about the industry, so this delay will give me more time to learn more. 2) Because of Mark Duplass. Not only do we share a hometown of New Orleans, but I really like his work. The League, Safety Not Guaranteed, My Sister’s Sister, The One I Love, Creep, The Mindy Project.
More good news is that I was able to churn out about 60 pages of a script. The bad news is that all of those pages were cranked out over the space of about 4 or 5 days. The good news is that I researched more screenwriting competitions coming up in the near future. There are three I’m looking to submit to, and not only will the extra time give me more opportunity to edit, refine, and research more about formatting, tags, and camera angles, but I’ll also actually be able to get some more feedback on what I’ve written.
Through this process I learned that I really can do the things that I set my mind, time, and attention to. It inspired a confidence that I've been looking for awhile now, and I also realized that chasing outlandish dreams requires a good bit of sacrifice. The one weekend I think I’ve stayed home to do nothing I got a constant barrage of texts and calls asking where I was and when I was coming out. I was hard to say no. A part of me really, really wanted to go out and grab drinks and enjoy time with my friends, but time was slipping away. Ultimately it escaped my grasp, but more good news, because I have a little more time, I’ll have to pay less in submission fees because I’ll be on early submission on a few of them.