The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author . . .

So, I've been writing a particularly intense scene in Citizen Z.E. D., one that pushes several of my personal buttons.

And dammit, I'm letting the anger and vitriol flow. Mostly because it's a first draft, and that's what first drafts do--I can get this crap out of my system and then go in and edit it down so that it's not quite as painfully obvious. Nobody wants to get beat over the head with the message when they see a movie. Not even me. Not even when I agree with the message. Which I do, in this case, the title of this post notwithstanding.

It's coming along pretty well. I'm maybe a third of the way through it now. After I reached the end of the first act I thought I'd take my traditional week off before diving into Act II, but just couldn't stay away. Which is a good sign.

So, I'm going to keep banging away at this thing, and hopefully I'll be done with the first draft by the end of July. Or even sooner, maybe.

I know I've said this before, but it can't be emphasized enough--don't expect the first draft to be perfect. If something isn't working, don't worry about it. Get the whole story written down first. Then you can go back and start hacking away at it. It's amazing how much easier it is when you take that attitude. It's also amazing how often you'll think of something later in the story you can use to fix a problem from earlier. We're using computers now, so it's much easier to do rewrites!

Just so you know, episode two of The Metasaurs is available. Check out episode one, if you missed it. Just so you'll be caught up. I'm mulling episode three right now, when I'm not hammering away at the first draft of this feature film thing.

So, I've been hacking away most of today. I think I'm due to give myself a break and let the well of inspiration start filling up again. I'm also about to kill off one of my central characters, so I sort of have to brace myself.  I'll take a nice walk and let my subconscious start putting the pieces together. Nothing like moving around to get the juices to flowing!

Okay, that's all the unasked-for advice I'm giving out today.

Citizen Z.E.D. is in progress!

I finally got motivated enough to begin writing the first draft for this film project I've been thinking about forever.

Basically, I finally sat down and thought it through and came up with the ending. Unlike many writers, I need to have an ending before I get started--I need to know where I want to end up, before I set out. The hard part of this one is the ending is a realization of something that is key to the plot, something that the characters in the movie don't realize they've discovered until after the movie ends. My problem was dramatizing that realization.

In other words, how do I show that a character has realized something? That's tricky. In a novel it'd be easy because a novelist can always say what the character is thinking. In a movie you could do that, maybe with a voice-over, but it'd be kind of hard to do in a way that didn't seem overly manipulative or as just out-and-out lazy writing. You could have a character say, "You know, I just realized . . ." but that's only marginally better. No, you need a way to show the realization.

And that's really hard to do, especially in a way that is meaningful to the audience. Want a good example? Go back and watch The Blair Witch Project again. The ending to that is exactly what I'm talking about, and I've talked to people who are highly intelligent and perceptive who didn't understand exactly what was going on there. However, if you were paying attention, you'll know exactly what is happening, and that knowledge informs and provides a lot of emotional impact to that ending. It's powerful when that happens, which is why I love that movie so much. To me, it's a masterpiece.

So, after a lot of thought, I came up with something that'll be a little through-line for this film that'll turn out to be a key to the ending. Something that all of the characters think is trivial that'll wind up becoming the key to understanding the whole thing.

And, here's the kicker--the characters in the film won't even realize that they've answered the central question of the movie until after the movie is over, though the audience will know it immediately.

To see what I'm talking about you'll have to see this thing for yourself. If I can get it made. If, of course, I can finish writing it. I'm about to finish Act I so I am well on my way!

Of the first draft, that is . . .

Metasaurs episode 2