Here's The Wind Up

It's been a week since I finished the rough draft of my screenplay, sent it out to readers, and realized I hadn't read it myself.

I have now.

The morning after I wrote that post about sending my screenplay out for other people to read it, I printed it out, bound it with brads, and took it to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a donut.

I brought along a pencil.

I wrote in the margins; feverishly scribbled, barely legible notations I would later struggle to decipher.

And I discovered that I like sitting in Starbucks alone, reading and people-watching. There is now a 'bucks within walking distance of my apartment, and I may have to take up spending my Saturday mornings there, reading and people-watching, people-watching and reading.

Had anyone asked what I was reading, I'd happily have pitched the story to them, doing what I could to get that all-important response: "Wow. I want to see that movie!"

Since 7:55 am on Saturday morning, the notes and comments have been dribbling in from my readers. The first came from a friend married to someone in the Industry, who called in tears and thanked me for making her cry on a Saturday morning. "Amazing," she said, "Wonderful!" It's become something of an inside joke that the "high concept" description of the screenplay is, "It's Crash, with love!" Her honest opinion was that it's better than Crash. She offered some tremendous insight, leading me to make a couple changes even before I printed the thing out for my trip to Starbucks.

On Sunday night, my parents called. I could tell from my dad's tone of voice that they were not looking forward to telling me what they thought. They didn't like it, and found some of it disturbing. There were parts they did like... The coffee shop was nice, and the dialogue was spot on... But they wouldn't go see it. They also offered some excellent observations, and I am still struggling with them. As difficult as their comments were to hear, they will undoubtedly help tighten the "weave" of the four plots.

On Tuesday, I heard from another reader, who called it "honest" and "profound".

Over the course of the week, I've gone back over it half a dozen times, and made quite a few minor changes. I've also made one or two major changes: added a scene that whimsically brings things full circle, and toned down the scene my parents thought was most troubling. I can feel the thing getting better, but it still needs work.

One of the most surprising things about the process is how low on the priority list this seems to be for people I'm counting on most for solid notes. A couple people I've sent it to haven't even acknowledged receipt.

Even as I work through the process of rewriting, I am shifting my focus to the other part of screenwriting: selling the script. I have three weeks to develop and refine my pitch. It isn't going to sell itself.

The pitch is the part that worries me. Albert Einstein failed his math exams twice. I could be sitting on a wonderfully written script with a brilliant story, and still blow the pitch.

I'll keep you posted.