Yesterday I sat down and read the first draft without interruption. And I really enjoyed the script. There were several typos, there were a couple of spots that I thought I could go deeper, but all in all I'm really happy with it.
I still haven't heard what my managers think - but as I said, they probably won't read it until this weekend. Which gives me time to work on the novel and the side-project I'm producing.
I am also going to give this rough draft to my technical readers. As you know, if you've been following me from Day One that I am NOT writing about "what I know."
"Write what you know" has been screenwriting advice since the dawn of time. But I believe this is totally misunderstood. In a nutshell, I would advise to "write what you can feel."
I have to know my character's emotional reality. I don't have to know her world - at first. The script I've been blogging about is set in a world that I know absolutely zilch about. For the rough draft I simply worked on getting the characters through the story. When I hit a spot where they had to do something I don't have a clue how to describe accurately I just tried to make it sound as good as possible. I faked it.
Now that I think the story and the characters and the structure are on-line, it's time to start locking down the technical stuff. Let the research begin. I've found several people who are absolutely passionate about the world my script is set in. I'm asking them to give me notes with their red pens.
If they give me some story notes as well, then great. I'm just going to ask them to flag anything that they didn't believe and if they could explain to me how to get it right for people who know about this like they do.
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