Didn't Make the Semis? I'm So Outta Here!!!!

"I'm so outta here!" was my first thought within a few minutes after the initial sting of seeing that FLAT PENNIES didn't make it this month, nor would my script be part of the March Madness celebration I had been planning in my head.

How many of us here have thought:

"How could the readers not have seen the worthiness of my story"?

Or, "I've worked on my screenplay for so long, where's the payoff for my hard work"?

Or, "The AS readers are no good, they obviously can't see a great story idea if it fell on them"?

Or, "I guess my story isn't any good. It must be boring or something like that"?

Or, "Studios Steph doesn't like my kind of story... she just wants cheesy endings"?

Or, you bashed yourself up and thought it was you, your writing, your profile picture, your story idea, your story structure, your, your, your.

STOP RIGHT THERE...

Put your "screenwriter's truncheon" away and stop the beating-yourself-up process. (Or at the very least, just give yourself a few whacks and then move on to the brighter side of the planet.)

Be sure to read Gary's excellent post "To all the writers who didn't make the semis or finals" in the Commissary forum. He gets it. He understands how this extremely subjective game works.

The reality of it all is, every one of us has a great chance at AS. It's all about your story. And if your story didn't gel with this month's readers, give your story some wash and wax and see what happens next month. This is the only screenplay contest experience that I know of where you begin life anew each and every month. How cool is that? If you like to beat yourself up over not making the semis, keep reminding yourself that next month is almost here and you and your work begin life anew. A fresh slate. A clean record. No bad credit report. No cavities. You're new, shiny, the new month's "script to read."

Another great aspect to the AS Experience is the friends we've already made here on the forums. So many great writers here. With colorful personalities and insights. With so much to say. We have our sages. Our fountains of information. Our whiners. Our comedians. A lovely mishmash of every sort of writer available. I'd join so many of you at my favorite pub for a pint and a hearty screenplay discussion any day of the week, even T MAC, who would probably get logically 86-ed at some point. :)

And finally, you may have asked yourself, why is this post under the Gear forum?

Simple: I want each of every one of us who didn't make the semis this month to check ourselves for the most important "gear" there is with regards to screenwriting. Do you have fortitude? Thick skin? A can-do spirit? The ability to take a bad-review blow to the head? The desire and will to continue, to edit, to polish, to create a strong, attractive story? To have a plan of attack? To come back better, more powerful, more competent, eager for another month of contests and having your screenplay(s) hoisted upon a stage here under the klieg lights for all to see -- and for them to judge, sometimes harshly?

I have that gear. Join me if you too have same the gear.

My plan of attack I'll share with you. I'm taking Taylor Carmichael's review of FLAT PENNIES and I'm using his comments to work on my script. His analysis is pretty right on. (If you have suggestions, feel free to let me know. This is after all, the AS Process.)

I'm intensifying my inciting incident. And making my protagonist more likable. And giving the reader more "happy" light-hearted Rob-Ross moments.

Let's go April!

You go Robert, shine that penny up! :D

Thanks Angus!

I'm buffin' those pennies!

Good luck, Robert.

I have received some excellent notes (JG Edwards, Trevor, Dave Gist, Erica, etc.) along the way. Keep rewriting. May seem like you're beating a dead horse (and you might be). But you're learning along the way and will be stronger next time out. You'll have the best version of your screenplay you've ever had.

No guarantees in any of this. Just need someone who can write checks to think they can make a buck making your script into a movie. Keep it simple. What movies do you see at Red Box by new writers? 1-2 mill budget genre films (action, horror = two best to write and break in). Unless you're writing for yourself. If that's the case, write whatever you want.

Writer a script that can be shot for $2 million and then contact those production companies you see making those films. There's the elite/A-listers and there's the $2 million crowd. The mid-level writers are being wiped out because those films aren't being made. Plus, they'd hire someone with more credits than you. Best case your script would be completely rewritten. Or they'd just steal the idea and cut you out. Can't copyright a concept. So write what you can sell.

Thanks Stephen. You always have such great advice.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm Mickey Rourke in a fight in BARFLY, not knowing when to stay down (and being a smart-ass while doing it!)

Well, I have a real positive feeling about my new plan of attack for my script. I thought up the idea this morning actually, and I can't wait to see its affect. I'm going to use a back-and-forth hacksaw technique from the get-go, something akin to grabbing the reader by the throat and not letting go, at least until the story is firmly established. I think I've been coming off initially too weak, and like Taylor mentioned, I could have used a stronger inciting incident.

Sooooo, my new plan of attack for AS will work to perfection if three things possibly happen:

1) The Contest Gods favor me with some Fortuitous Sunshine.

2) My current spate of rewrites do their magic.

3) I read in "Variety" that movies about dead horses are all the rage!

Terrific, Robert. Good show.

Best,

SamR

Welcome Home Robert! Really great to have ya back!

Thank you Samuel.

Thanks Jack. Feels like I've never been gone! :)

You make very good points. I got my gear ready

Kenan:

Thanks. Glad you got your gear ready.

And congratulations on making the semifinals. That's awesome. Great to see your work get validation!

BTW, here's the footage of my comeback for April:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGuC3I-a6lo

@Stephen...

I should have mentioned in my earlier post:

Congratulations for making the semifinals yet again.

I'll be here as long as Amazon's option on my projects hasn't expired. I don't know if I'll post any new projects, probably not.

But for all of us "Fourth place winners" we should make plans postAmazon. Maybe form a marketing coop for our scripts.

In the meantime, I'll be using the networking process here to develop my scripts.

Ken, sounds like an awesome plan (re: postAmazon).

I like your marketing coop idea.

And speaking of developing your scripts while here, Stephen made a good point:

"But you're learning along the way and will be stronger next time out. You'll have the best version of your screenplay you've ever had."

So, Ken, good luck and wishes to you in having the best screenplay(s) you've ever had!

@Robert - Your outlook on AS is filled with so much sunshine rainbow lollipop goodness it's going to give someone diabetes.

Thanks Rob!

Well, after all, I did graduate from UC Santa Cruz!

We'll be the "postAmazon Six"

A revolutionary writing team comprised of visionary minds and freethinkers!

"postAmazon Six" -simply because it sounds cool, thee could be more. Great writers welcome ;)

Love it Angus!

The PostAmazon Six sounds like a group on trial. We'll have Stephen Hoover represent us!

Okay, I'm off for now. Heading out for IPA aplenty and doing research for my next draft of FLAT PENNIES. (Nice pun! Next draft! Hopefully, my screenplay and my beer won't be flat.)

Will have my iPhone with me and will check in later.

Have you seen "Source Code"?

It was a spec script that got passed around a lot in Hollywood because it had a huge flaw. How do you go from the original premise to one where you can change events? The set up was a body had been recovered from a train wreck, and they were using the damaged brain to gain information about the passengers on the train before the man died.

But... instead of sining into depression over a wreck, the author found a way to start a new timeline where the wreck never happened and the hero wound up with the girl.

What you need is the same result, but using a better plot mechanism. Not science fiction. Not a misuse of the words quantum physics. A solution. They pay screenwriters to find a solution.

There was an episode of "House" that did the same thing with a bus crash. You can draw a chart of how "House" dropped from 16 million viewers the first season to 14 million last season to 10.6 million this season. Viewers watch these solutionless dramas and change the channel.

OR... the hero dropped out of sight after the train wreck.

He sits in a trailer that he rented. No one knows his real name in the mobile home park.

Three people are put on trial for the wreck. He knows they were innocent, but nobody believes them.

His moral crisis is, does he show up at the trial, tell what really happened, and prevents innocent people going to prison.

William, you have a good story idea there, something that sounds like it would make an intriguing screenplay. I love characters that neighbors don't know very well. Makes the characters more creepy and suspenseful, doesn't it?

Thanks, Robert. Sometimes I read a synopsis or screenplay and I think, "It would be better if..." Same thing that hundreds of movie critics do in newspaper reviews.

However, I never know if it's a good idea until I write it down, let it sit for a few days, and go back.

What I do know is... your script got a numberical score. if you want it to earn a money award, you've got to raise the numerical score.

You've got to persuade AS to read the new version, not just keep your previous best score as ...

Deja Vu and Source Code had the same glitch. they explain how they are able to look back into the past. Then, they ignore the rules and let the hero CHANGE the past.

If you hero is only imagining the things, it would be possible for him to change reality...

Learned this about mobile homes. To sell them, you have to bring them "up to Code." When people move, they often rent the trailers instead of fixing them. So, a lot of stuff wouldn't work. Stove doesn't work. Toilets don't work. Adds to his depression. His neighbors could be the same kind of "just hanging on' renters.

But the audience deserves something better than "all these people you met were only in my dream."

From another site:
When it comes to adaptations, says Ryan, “what’s most often missing in the original work is a compelling protagonist that we want to pay $12, $13, $18 dollars to see in a movie theater on a Saturday night. That’s where I make my reputation and my money as a writer of adaptations: cracking the hero’s journey in a given property. The world of the story is usually fairly well thought-out; I have to make sure the main character is someone we give a damn about.”

Hear that sobbing? It's just me. I'm reading the new first 10 on FLAT PENNIES and my idea of the hacksaw-tooth approach is working to perfection. Back and forth, back and forth, the intercuts save the day! Trying to grab the reader by the throat and not letting go until the reader has invested in the story.

Okay, now onto strengthening the inciting incident, followed by tightening the action verbiage. Should make the deadline.

I'm hoping for some April Showers next month with FLAT PENNIES. I could use a good cry -- and I mean a happy one!

You introduce Alex first.

The reader is invested in him. Then, you pull the rug out.

Seriously, is this a lead character, a protagonist, that audiences would pay $12 to watch?

For Amazon Studios... they've said this over and over... they are looking for a script that can make a Warner Bros movie.

Give them a protagonistwho hits rock bottom, then figures out what he's doing wrong and tries an unconventional approach for the final victory.

"Luke. You've turned off the targeting computer."

"Use the Force, Luke."

Thanks William. The rug has been relaid! The cross-cut approach I'm using should prevent a reader departure. Lots of rewriting to do, but I have almost two weeks until the new deadline. I'll need all the force I can get!