The September Sports Comedy Part 3

(The second best sports movie ever made, "SLAP SHOT." The first, of course, is "BULL DURHAM.")

I'm on p.79 - four pages ahead of schedule. Fantastic. As I suspected, this will turn out to be about a 100 page script. I should have this (very) rough, first-words-on paper draft completed by the end of the day on October 1st.

I don't know if I've addressed this in an older post. (I don't feel like going back and looking it up. I'll pretend I haven't.) This process is very freeing. Since I've only given myself a month to bang out a (very) rough first draft, I'm not trying to come up with the best line, scene or sequence before moving onto the next. Instead, if the line is good/funny enough, and if the scene carries us enough to the next scene, I move on.

I'm only able to do this because:

1. I already had a general idea of the shape of the story before I started. I knew the form it was going to take. Like an architect sketching out a house before drawing the actual blueprint.

2. I knew the genre I wanted to play in and the overall tone of the screenplay, which was a mix of Ron Shelton and broader sports comedies, like "MAJOR LEAGUE." (The original "THE BAD NEWS BEARS" also figures into the mix.)

Normally, I outline, outline, outline, until I have the equivalent of a coloring book picture that only needs to colored in - i.e., the writing of the screenplay. That's because I'm either starting entirely from scratch, or only have a seed of an idea, or a scrap of inspiration, that needs to be wholly expanded and developed. In this case, I have about 4 outlines of scripts that I never got around to writing; each for 100-110 page screenplays, and the writing days until December 31st to get out about 400 pages - or, 4 (very) rough drafts of 100-or-so page screenplays. Timing-wise, this works out.

Tibor Takacs and "ENDGAME"

Director Tibor Takacs has agreed to re-read my femme spy script, "ENDGAME." Awesome. Mr. Takacs is not only the director of the 80's horror/comedy ("horredy"?) classic, "THE GATE," he also directed one of the best direct-to-DVD flicks ever made - the Mark Dacascos espionage actioner, "SANCTUARY."

"Re-read?" You ask. (Or, I asked for you.) Mr. Takacs read, and liked, "ENDGAME" last year. As this business goes, I'm sure it was lost in the shuffle of life. Over the past few years, he's been SyFy's go-to guy for their "SyFy Originals" monster movies. (Generally, I like the SyFy monster flicks. They're like 50's sci-fi flicks only with better special effects.)

Hopefully, the timing is right: Mr. Takacs is (hopefully) ready to do another spy flick and "ENDGAME" will fill The Order. (a reference to "SANCTUARY." If it's not in the movie, it should be.)

The September Sports Comedy Continued And The New NBC Thursday

I'm on page 44 of my Ron Shelton/Will Ferrell hybrid sports comedy. My goal was to write 24-rough draft pages a week until the end of the month, equalling about 100 pages. I'm more or less on course, which of course is great. (Don't you love how I doubly used "course" in the space of two words. I'm impressed, too.)

This script is an interesting experience. It "seems" like it's going to be funny. The jokes work; I'm just not laughing right now. I'll do that when I go back and do the rewrite/polish. Right now, I'm only trying to get the draft down on paper...well, Final Draft.

What's also great is the premiere of NBC's new Thursday night line up. I'm already a viewer of "The Office" and "Parks And Recreation." (I find "30 Rock" bland and strangely overrated.) "Community" looks fantastic. Hopefully, my Thursday night TV viewing, with college football on ESPN, is now full.

The September Sports Comedy Project

No one writes sports comedy like Ron Shelton. He loves examining sports from the inside out - the players playing the sport, not from the outside in - the sport as played by the players. The best comedy comes from observing human nature and behavior. Shelton is a master at this. He's also terrific at making the male friendships in his film as deep and platonically romantic as his male-female relationships.

I'm trying my hand at a Ron Shelton sports comedy, but for one of the more unlikelier of sports. The idea itself lends itself more to a broader Will Ferrell-type of sports comedy. So, I'm going to try to marry the two.

The Plan

(How great is "PLAN 9 FROM OUTERSPACE?" Seriously. It's funnier than some "intended" comedies.)

There are 16 weeks between this week and the end of the year. Since I write on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week (because of my work schedule and allowing for a Sabbath day of rest), that means I have 48 days of writing left in 2009.

3 writing days per week multiplied by 8 pages per writing day is 24 pages per week. There are about 4 writing weeks in each month, meaning roughly 100 pages at the end of each month - i.e. a completed screenplay.

I have several screenplays either outlined or enough of the idea to start. My goal is to complete rough drafts of scripts by the end of September, October, November and December. In no way will these be completed scripts. Just building the house, moving onto the next, worrying about the shingling and painting later.

Kim Richey & The Small Town Dramedy

After a brief absence (due to random life stuff), I've returned. Yesterday, I finished my small town dramatic comedy. I'm very pleased with the final result. To some it might be too slight, too much of an inconsequential slice-of-life. Personally, as a moviegoer, I'd love to spend two hours with these characters. My aim was a light confection of amiable characters and breezy humor. I think I hit the mark.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Shawn Colvin had become the soundtrack to this script. (Who I listened to while writing.) While perusing Rhapsody, I came across Kim Richey. I thought I had uncovered an unknown gem. It turned out she has been around for years and, most recently, a collaborator with Ryan Adams. Oh well.

I threw her CD's onto my Rhapsody playlist, along with Colvin. Their brand of country-folk-pop fit the screenplay perfectly. Kim Richey's Glimmer CD is especially good. It will be a purhcase.

All in all, I really like this script. Now, let's hope others will, too.