You know, I miss that feeling; the one from when that screenplay was fresh in my mind, and all the possibilities were both vague and endless. Now I've got this 40 scene thing to plot out, and let me tell you something - it feels a little bit like work. And this is what usually happens with these things and me: I get to this point and I'm all "yeah, I'm totally going to write this whole screenplay out by scenes, real detailed, and that way when I sit down to write it I just go off that," which then turns into "yes, I will definitely do that tomorrow," which turns into "for sure the next day I'm going to do it," and then "wait, I haven't done that yet?" Oh well, I'll just write the screenplay and I'm sure it will turn out fine."
No! It does not turn out fine! It turns into me struggling to make sense of the progression of events and then getting halfway through thinking "gee, it would have been nice to set this up in the beginning, but if I go back and do that, I'll have to change this, and then that can't happen, and why not just forget it. What's for dinner?" Not this time. A 40 scene breakdown may be the biggest killjoy in the lifespan of a screenplay, but it's important. It's like exercise. I loathe doing it, but I love not looking like a marshmallow (I'm very pale, so if I got real fat I imagine it would resemble a marshmallow. Anyway, I don't want to find out).
So I buckled down and white boarded out my 40 scenes. Sure there are too many second act scenes, and the third act only has two lines, but I did it and now it's just a matter of fixing it up, which is much easier than starting from scratch.
So, a lesson to be learned here? I guess. Lessons sound a lot like work. Basically, separate what you feel like doing from what you know is good for you and your screenplay, and just do it. Do it!
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