they're lying around everywhere. you just have to know where to look.
"You can't believe how strong the homosexuals in Scotland are. It's just simply unbelievable. ...[Scotland] could go right back to the darkness very easily."
So I've been complaining to anyone who'll listen: I'm afraid I'll never have another idea for a script. I mentioned this to Terri and almost in the same breath mentioned that I'm working on a novel. She rather quickly reminded me that writing a novel is, in fact, writing, and I shouldn't worry.
That's easy for her to say: she writes about 3 scripts a year. And her husband...well, let's not even go there. Andrew is incredibly successful.
I continued on my merry way of complaint while chatting on the Well with a friend, who immediately came out with a suggestion for me, a quick one sentence logline that threw me.
The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. "Can I have this? Can I really? Honestly? You don't want this?" He said sure.
I've been thinking about it nonstop ever since. I told Darin the idea and he said, "My God, that's great!" I tried out the logline on the Writing Group and Wine Tasting Society last night, and they thought it was great too. (Of course, now I have to write it before any of them do.)
I have a new script on the way.
My only question now is: what do I owe Jaime for the idea? Provided everyone I show the script to thinks it's as wonderful an idea as I do and the script goes places, that is.
I know it's not half: a one sentence logline is not a story, is not an entire script. I'll be doing a tremendous quantity of work here. But if this is successful, I definitely owe him something. I'll have to ask experts.
I also have a new goal: to be able to come up with story ideas like that, tossing them off so effortlessly that other people can have them and that's okay.
I've found the first step to developing skills like that is desire to have skills like that.
Last night in Writing Group we discussed Gonzo's script and Aaron's new one. Gonzo, when he showed up, told us he'd had a nightmare about the group: he was standing in front of us, and we just kept saying, "No, no, no..."
"Are we that bad?" I asked. "I mean, the others. I know I'm that bad."
I'm causing nightmares.
Gonzo has (for me) a very interesting story idea/nugget at the heart of his script, but the execution so far has not exploited it fully. I hope he is able to dig deep enough into the main character to get the tough stuff out; his script would be unique if he can. As it is right now, it's kind of ordinary, and that's just death to the writer on the outside. You have to stun people with your material. You do the ordinary stuff once you're working in the system.
Aaron's script is definitely unique and I think he'll sell it easily. But this script has the same weakness as his last one: he hasn't fully worked out what the antagonist is doing and why. Keep it simple, we told him. He doesn't even have to spell it out for the audience--this is the kind of script where not having everything spelled out is a plus, not a minus. But he has to know what it is, and he doesn't as of yet.
Oh, and for the readers who read the last entry but don't know my sense of humor: Brent was kidding when he said the looting and rioting had begun. It's a joke, like. You know, a couple of minutes of blackout and civilization just falls down around our feet.
That's why you didn't see anything about it on the news.
Besides which, we don't riot in the Valley. Might ruin property values.
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Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com