Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Writing on Game day

Got the second to last action scene knocked out yesterday. It was a good day, twenty odd pages of writing. These are the days one struggles for months to get to. In a typical day, I will write five pages of words. However, these words are generally questions to myself, thoughts about the back story, forward story side story behind story, and so on. Meta writing is what we call it. writing about writing. It’s useful and necessary, but it can also be one of the more insidious tools of procrastination. So, when I say it was a good day, twenty odd pages of writing, I should say – twenty odd pages of screen writing.


INT. OFFICE - DAY

A small room, crammed with bits and pieces of electronics,
computers, video and audio editing equipment and musical
instruments. Sun streams in from the window in front of the
office desk, bathing everything in a golden light -- another
perfect California Day.

STEFAN AVALOS, a tall, dark and extremely handsome man sits
in front of his laptop computer, typing furiously. He taps
the keys with the furious speed of a man trying to beat a
clock. He mumbles to himself as he types.

STEFAN
AMEN! I'm writing! This Action
Scene kicks ass. This is such a
relief after the hell of circling
this stuff. Oh… that's gotta hurt…
that'll get the audience cheering.

The phone next to him RINGS. He lets the machine take it, not
stopping for an instant. The fourth ring activates the
machine's message - and BEEEEP.

PHONE (OS)
Hi, Stefan, This is Norm. Say, I
have an extra ticket to The
Clippers game tonight. Let me know
if you're interested. Call me as
soon as you can.

Stefan stops typing for a moment and stares towards the
machine with the now, blinking orange light.

STEFAN
(murmuring)
Clippers… That would be great, if I
can get these pages done and sent.

He looks at the cursor on the screen, caught in mid-sentence.

Then his fingers start pounding the keys of the notebook once
again.


That kind of writing.

So, last night, as you perhaps read in a screenplay somewhere, I went to a Clippers/Heat (basketball for those of you not aware) game at the Staples center. Excellent seats and an excellent game – a nail biter to the final buzzer. Basketball at the Staples Center - one of the ultimate L.A. experiences, it sure was a great way to reward a fine day of writing. Additionally, basketball is fun to watch, especially live. Not like Baseball. I’ve been to three Baseball games in my life. The second time was because I’d forgotten how bored I was the first time. The third time because it was at Dodgers Stadium, and I thought mayyybe it was a Philly thing. Ha.

Basketball – Any time. Let me know.

Final Score for the December 05:

Writing 22, procrastination 0
Clippers 101 Heat 97
Tequila 2 corona 1

I hope the above post looks right... formatting this bugger was a major pain.


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