Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 9
Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 9.
January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning.
January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End.
31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever.
Goal: Rewrite an existing draft.
I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited to join me on your own script.
NOTE: If you want to use the month to prep a story or write a zero draft, that’s fine. The point is for you (and me) to use Re-Write-O-Rama to kick off 2016 with a bang and make progress on a script!
To learn everything you need to know about the Re-Write-O-Rama: Winter 2016 Challenge, go here.
Hashtag: #RW31SCRIPT
You may download a calendar here or here to track your progress.
Join the conversation in Comments here, Twitter, and the Zero Draft Facebook Group (over 500 members) for a chance to win a daily prize: The Hecht Award!
Today’s Writing Quote
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it!
— Roald Dahl
Today’s Inspirational Video
I’m a New York Mets baseball fan, so it was exciting to learn the other day that Mike Piazza, Mets catcher for 8 years, was elected to the Hall of Fame. His biggest moment as a Met has to be this. On September 21, 2001, ten days after the shocking events of 9/11, the Mets were playing the Atlanta Braves in Shea Stadium, the first sporting event in NYC since the tragedy. The Mets were losing 2–1 to their arch rivals. Man on base. 8th inning. Piazza stepped up to the plate and…
An absolute cathartic moment in the city’s life. I was watching it in my home in Los Angeles and bounced around the living room, yelling and screaming. Cathartic for me as well. A testament to the heartiness of the human spirit. And a true inspirational moment.
If you have a writing quote appropriate for the Re-Write-O-Rama challenge, post to Comments here, Twitter (#RW31SCRIPT), or in the Zero Draft Facebook Group.
If you have a video to inspire or perhaps give us a laugh, same thing.
But here’s the biggie: Let’s support each other!
How many pages did you rewrite in the last 24 hours? How are you feeling about your story? Are you loving or hating your rewriting process? Did you have a good day or a bad day? Do you have any questions about your writing process? Ready to give a virtual hug… or maybe you need one.
Use Go Into The Story, Twitter, or Facebook to bolster your creative efforts. And remember: Every day I’ll be handing out the coveted Hecht Award to the best Comment, Tweet, or Facebook post.
Hopefully we’ll get a lot of great photoshops like we did with the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge.
Finally each day in January, I’ll be dishing out a special batch of Re-Write-O-Rama flavored creative juju for everyone who posts.
Nothing else to say. Just. Rewrite.
Onward!
UPDATE: I recently posted something in the Facebook group asking people their favorite writing / inspirational quotes. Pj Woodside uploaded this quote from screenwriter Robert Towne:
“A movie, I think, is really only four or five moments between two people; the rest of it exists to give those moments their impact and resonance. The script exists for that. Everything does.”
This reminds me of anecdote I read somewhere about Hollywood’s first great producer Irving Thalberg. He is reported to have told writers, “Just give me five memorable scenes… and I can sell that movie.”
It also reminds me of this quote from author Anne Beattie: “People forget years and remember moments.”
So I think Towne is right. Some movies may have more of those moments. Some less. But it’s those intersections of characters where something meaningful happens between them which provide the audience access points to their own emotions. And those points of connection shrink the distance between our world and the cinematic world of the story. That’s one of the main reasons we remember those moments because we see the events… we hear the dialogue… and we feel the emotions, that last element driving home the experience.
Of course, what is key here is the characters. It’s “four or five moments” between two characters. Looked at this way, “everything” — as Towne suggests — in a movie supports those moments and the meaning of what’s transpiring with, to, and between those characters.
So I’m all in with this quote. And for surfacing this one, Pj Woodside is today’s recipient of the treasured Hecht Award!
Congratulations, Pj! Now let’s go find those special moments in the movies we’re writing!