I’m working on a screenplay
This year’s stay at my seaside summer house came to an end today, and I am currently taking the train back to the capital. The last three weeks, starting from September 1st, were quite productive.
I have been working on this film project for over five years now. It started with a couple of years of research, and I have been at it on and off for the past three years. I have written one feature screenplay before, so I have a bit of experience, but this time the work is slow and difficult because I want to get it right. Deep down, I know I have struck gold with this material. The only thing left to do now is not screw it up—which is easier said than done.
After a few years of outlining and disliking the story, I hit a dead end. However, over the past few weeks, while reading a book on writing genre screenplays, I realized I need to just write a loose, pre-conceptual first draft. I already know enough. I analyzed my two reference movies act by act and understood that I complicate things too much, lacking a real grasp on cinematic density and flow.
I will write, and then I will poke at the things I wrote with a stick to see which parts are dead and which are beginning to move. Afterward, the final work will feel more like problem-solving, guided by my overall taste in film.