Wrangling Three Octopi – And A Horse

Tackling an adaptation is a daunting task. You need to find the most interesting scenes, the ones that will translate well to the silverscreen and then make the plot your own.

Tackling a rewrite of an adaptation is not for whimps. Marla and I have both done a lot of rewriting in our time and I have also rewritten scripts for clients. It’s tough but somehow this one has proven to be much harder.

Part of that challenge has been the fact that we received feedback from a trusted consultant who recommended we dispose of the entire first act. That meant changing all the dramatic introductions that we’d worked so hard at, and since we were changing the location we had to start from the gate.

First step? Outline, of course. Which we did, until we had a solid plan for the new beginning. I was concerned that the new first act was going to come in short in terms of the page count. In a one hundred page script, the first act should be about 25 pages, the second act 50 pages and the third, 25. Those are rough estimates but you certainly want the act “breaks” to fall at about that page, give or take 2 or 3 pages.

So I transferred the outline into our screenwriting software and proceeded to flesh it out, BUT, since I knew Marla was going to be busy I decided to surprise her. Big mistake!

Did I mention that Marla and I are usually on the same wavelength? LOL We must have been that day, because she decided to surprise me! And did she ever!

I was barely halfway through my “fleshing” when I received a call from her. Apparently, Marla had had a fabulous idea for a new first act. It just jumped up and grabbed her unbidden and out of nowhere. That’s how inspiration works sometimes --and she couldn’t rest until she had it all written down. She nearly had to cancel her plans that day, but found the idea so strong it stayed with her all during the movie she went to see! Now that’s one very unforgettable idea!

And I loved it!

But then the octopi attacked. I should explain, that a rewrite is like tackling an octopus. I had already added a second octopus to the fray when I started fleshing out our outline and now Marla’s brainstorm was added to the frenzy. Three octopi, 24 tentacles, and suction cups galore.

A beastly sticky situation if ever there was such a beast.

It was a tough job, but I managed to assemble it into a semi-coherent mess. It’s in chronological order now, and that’s at least something we can work with! And we now have more conflict in the story, more hooks and intrigue.

No pain, no gain. Improvement has its ruts along the way. We’re getting there.

Now we “just” have to rewrite 30 pages in act 2. And change the mess into a masterpiece.

Oh, and the horse? Since we picked the actor we really want for the protagonist, and I saw him on a horse, I’ve been kind of obsessed with our protagonist riding a horse at some point in the story. Marla has been laughing at me for weeks, but her new intro…?  Have I got her on my wavelength at last?

Neigh! LOL
Angela

The First Review Is In!

The verdict from our consultation has finally arrived! We have some rewriting to do. Go figure!

The feedback covered many points that we’d done well and some areas that are still weak. It’s great to know where we’re on the right track.

We've decided to rewrite based on the notes we received. The notes indicated that we were getting into the story too late -- and looking at it objectively, we completely agree. We had tried to stay in the 'present' part of the story too long. Our previous midpoint will move to the end of Act One.

A new outline will be our next step in the restructuring process.

The consultant pointed out two areas of concern, so we’re going to eliminate those to remove any confusion.

We’re not totally starting over, just beginning the script again! :)

This is why it’s crucial to get professional feedback! Even script consultants use a script consultant.

We’ll be kneading our brains for the next while, but we’ve received questions and will be answering those in the meantime.

So stay tuned~~
Angela and Marla

No Man's Land

We’re in the throes of rewriting and it’s proving to be a test of our ability to get along. It’s not that we argue, we just have differences of opinion and we’re both stubborn! LOL Maybe there’s a benefit to being in different cities!

We’ve received feedback from two trusted sources and some changes (substantial deviations from the outline) have been made. Perhaps it’s a blessing at this point that the author is deceased, though she may be turning in her grave at some of the changes we’re making to her “baby”. Most of the changes have been in the “present” part of our story. It’simpossible to reveal the changes without creating spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at that. We still have some scenes that may be entirely reworked.

After that, we’ll each go through the script making a note of any line that needs work by changing its color. We’ll then discuss each questionable line over the phone until one of us is "thrilled" with it. It may seem like a tedious way to go about it, but we think the result wlll be worth it.

So on we slog, through the muddy confusion of rewriting, before the marketing battle begins...

Stay tuned as the word bullets fly!

Angela

The End of The Beginning

A lot of people have asked us how we are going to write our adaptation when we don’t even live in the same city. Distance isn't the only impediment; we don’t even write the same way! Marla writes it all in longhand and types it in later, while I just work on screen. But, though our processes are very different, our writing styles are not that dissimilar.

After a bit of discussion and false starts we just split the script in half. The worst part of this process is that we talk often and it’s really hard not to discuss what you’re doing and whatever changes you make “on the fly.” You still want to leave a few surprises for the other person. And all you can do is hope they’re well accepted. Since Marla and I started out as collaborators and then I reworked several of her scripts, we know and trust each other’s talent.

I am happy to report that our division of labor worked out spectacularly! We each finished our half of GREEN DARKNESS a.k.a. NOT THIS TIME a couple of days ago!

Now this is where it gets REALLY exciting!! I read Marla’s half and she in turn read mine. We made changes to each other’s work and then sent it back.

Our styles mesh really well! I would venture to say that it would be impossible to guess which of us wrote which part~~

We did so much work on the halves that we were able to glue the halves together into a whole. But wait! No laurels growing under these screenwriters’ feet. We went at the entire script AGAIN and made MORE changes!

Where did that get us—to the end of Draft 2—a month ahead of schedule!

What next? We’re sending it to a trusted screenwriting friend who is also a fan of the book. We’re asking her to give us feedback on whether we stayed true enough to the book to satisfy the fans.

Stay tuned~~
Angela

The "Dragon of Dither" Roars

Anyone who has ever written, be it a novel, screenplay or even a shorter form of either of those, knows that moment of insecurity and wondering if you have what it takes. As writers, we can come up with all manner of tangents to feed the Dreaded Dragon of Dithering. Therefore, in our sincere effort to share the entire adaptation process, here come the warts:

           

Is a four-page, beat-form outline enough to start writing... anything...let alone a screenplay or a treatment? Or, do we keep tweaking, back and forthing, like a two-person Segway, spinning our wheels?

           

With that spinning comes the constant doubting of one’s ideas. The second-guessing of decisions we thought we’d already made about the adaptation. (Give in to this. It’s never-ending.)

           

I vote that the spinning stops. Let’s just dive into the writing pool. (First shot at the Dragon of D--a bull’s-eye.)

           

We’ve already got the logline whipped, snapped and pretzeled into a HIGH CONCEPT:

Newlyweds are thrust into a Karmic battle – either redeem their forbidden love from a past life or watch the tragedy unfold again.

Once the film is made, imdb.com will list it as:  NOT THIS TIME --an adaptation of GREEN DARKNESS-- drama/thriller/romance/historical. (Step one accomplished. D of D is bleeding!)

           

Can we maintain that level of quality with a paragraph length synopsis? Something we would use in, say, a query letter to a production company, possibly on VPF (Virtual Pitch Fest).

But to be prepared for requests from production companies, at the minimum, we should have the treatment written. (Damn! D of D has opened an eye!)

A treatment can be anywhere from 3-10 pages depending on who you listen to. When we talked about a treatment for our adaptation with an IN-THE-KNOW EXPERT, ( an ally Dragon Slayer) he advised us to have copies of the book to send to the producers along with the treatment or script, whichever route we took with our marketing. After all, how could the production company see the quality of our adaptation without first having one of their readers actually read the novel; then, the treatment or script.

           

Note to selves: contact the publisher and see if we can get a number of copies at a reduced price.

That same Expert advised us to write ‘Act One’, ‘Act Two’, and ‘Act Three’ right in the format of the treatment. It would leave the producers with no doubt about which events were happening when, in case we were too succinct.

           

Tip number three from the Expert involved ending each paragraph in the treatment with a hook. Pull the reader through the treatment by sheer interest. “Put the ‘treat’ back into treatment.”

The clock started ticking down from 18 months on our option on Nov.30^th… anybody taking bets on whether we can get a synopsis, treatment and script written and marketed during that time frame? (Was it my imagination or did the Dragon of Dither just snore?)

Eyeballs to the monitor, fingers to the keyboard…GO!

It's happening. Stay tuned~~ 

Angela and Marla

Can Adaptation Be Completely Faithful To Character?

We are always more than happy to answer questions. One reader asked:

Q: When you write the characters, are you being faithful to the book?

A: Great question! Sometimes adaptations bear little resemblance to the original. Since GREEN DARKNESS is full of historical detail that is background information, which will have to be edited. We’re trying to be faithful to the core of the novel – especially the part of the book that deals with the past.

The “flavor” of the novel is very much dependant on Celia, the female character in the past. She is already a well-rounded and believable character, so we’ve pretty much left her alone. She is perfect for her time period.

On the other hand, her love interest, in the past, suffers from a one-dimensional portrayal. We’re beefing him up and fleshing him out (real beef-cake LOL-- he is portrayed as a hunk in the novel!).  Since he’s a monk and the religious turmoil of the times is a crucial aspect of the plot, he’s getting a larger, more pivotal role.

We’ve decided to bring the story right into the present because the 'present-day' in the novel is 1968 and just flipping the characters into modern day doesn’t work.  We have some updating to do to give our present-day characters more modern sensibilities. They were too stereo-typical, too clichéd for today’s sophisticated audiences.

Also, because of the reincarnation aspect, we want to make sure the present day characteristics reflect their past in some way--either as an enhancement or a complete opposite of a  past-life character trait.

We’ve had to combine several characters and eliminated one from the past altogether. No spoilers here! :)

I hope that answers your question!

We’ll be dealing with more questions in the next few blogs. Is there anything about the process that intrigues you? If so, let your fingers do the asking…

Angela