Take 100: Wait, Let Me Rewrite That For You

It was so cold out there this morning, Sung Koo Kim, our celebrity panty thief, thought about taking some long johns. What weather.
Actually, I was relieved to see all the precipitation this morning. I was afraid we weren’t going to get our foot of rain this week.
I’m feeling good because I woke up around 6 a.m. and finally knocked out the latest script update. It’s weird when you get a little distance from one of these things, and read your words with a fresh head. If one of the studios just had the gumption to make this, it would be large. The producer calls this week, so it’s off to the copiers and the post office for the overnight to L.A. Something I’ve done dozens of times.
One of the fun little games this particular script calls for, is replacing the old with the new, without changing any lengths. It’s written pre-screen-writing program so if you change things around you have to format it from that point on. Boring! That must sound awfully primitive to any pro writers out there, but I will upgrade the script just as long as the new sentence is exactly as long as the old. Call it my commitment to artistic integrity.
Actually, you want to talk primitive? I once wrote a script in 8 days on an electric typewriter, which meant acute Whiteout poisoning. The positive thing is it forces you to think more clearly and commit before typing. That was the most pure experience I’ve had with these things. I used a yellow legal pad with a scene by scene outline but two thirds of the way through, I winged a new character - a significant character, too. The new guy went from inspiration to final draft in moments. That script remains the only one the producer was really thrilled with from the start. And by thrilled I mean $2,500 for a 5-year option.
Of course, it’s sitting on his shelf down in L.A., but the process goes on. This rewrite today was fun. I forgot how enjoyable it is to be lost in one of these things. Of course, I had plenty of motivation right outside with the relentless rain. These rewrites would work just as well sitting in a beach chair in Hawaii.