Day 2: Continue rewriting Scene 1; overview opening impact, or lack thereof, of first scene
Michael Corleone in "The Godfather"Questions to answer today concerning Scene 1:
Am I setting the stage for the action to come?
Am I introducing the main character properly?
Is this opening scene dynamic? Does it have impact?
In other words, "Does the scene set up the action with a bang or with a whimper?"
And talking about "Bang" versus "Whimper..." In "The Godfather" Michael Corleone, frosty with Italian sang-froid, comments chillingly to Tom Hagen and Rocco about the killing of Hyman Roth. Either in the
written word or in the spoken word, life has taught him one thing with certainty:
"If anything in this life is certain; if history has taught us anything, it's that you can kill anyone."Thankfully, in my vision of the world: good may become bloodied but remains unbowed.
And, in the end, even if by the skin of its teeth, it defeats evil.
Day 1: Review and rewrite Scene 1 of screenplay that I haven't looked at for 6 months
As a fledgling screenwriter who is learning on the fly, my 2 tasks today are to:
Set aside 1 hour, at minimum, to write and make sure that I DO IT!
Review and elaborate on Scene 1:
- Try to see a continuum in the plot action and envision the plot as a whole.
- Ask the question: "Is this scene cohesive"?
- And, "Does this scene seamlessly connect to the next"?
So, at the end of my 1 hour of labor what do I have? What is my purpose today?
At the end of the day my purpose is... to paraphrase the paisani, "to do just enough to wet my beak."
...Or in the more fully articulated version in "The Godfather," as Fanucci says to Vito in Italian:
"Young man, I hear you and your friends are stealing goods. But you don't even send a dress to my house. No respect! You know I've got three daughters. This is my neighborhood. You and your friends should show me some respect. You should let me wet my beak a little. I hear you and your friends cleared $600 each. Give me $200 each, for your own protection. And I'll forget the insult. You young punks have to learn to respect a man like me! Otherwise the cops will come to your house. And your family will be ruined.
Of course, if I'm wrong about how much you stole, I'll take a little less. And by less, I only mean -- a hundred bucks less. Now don't refuse me. Understand, paisan?
Understand, paisan?... Tell your friends I don't want a lot. Just enough to wet my beak.
Don't be afraid to tell them!"
Now, as for my fledgling effort today, all I can say at the end of it is, "Airborne!"
Screenwriting is an excellent way to evangelize and do mission
One of my goals is to actually develop a polished and entertaining screenplay and get it out into the world... to complete my half-finished screenplay and submit it to a contest by the end of the year.
The trick is to write a screenplay that has a spiritually redemptive message without becoming pedantic and heavy handed.
