I just about convinced myself I could re-write KAZN, an action-suspense script I wrote years ago about a young soldier seeking vengeance on the man he believes had his family killed, only to start falling for the man's daughter. In every way it was a very commercial script -- a hero who speaks little but does one hell of a lot, a love interest, a point in the script where I've been told by readers they honestly thought I was going to kill the guy off, intrigue, some major fight sequences and a finale where four different groups are going at each other in a closed space. Commercial in every way except the lead was Russian.
Well...I thought for some wild and crazy reason I could shift this story to one following an American soldier instead of the Russian. And tried to, this evening. And it was a struggle from the first moment. I finally tried to approach it as a new story...but that only made things a little better. So now, after hours working at it, I can see the script is what it is. It came to me correct and ready and for me to change its characters just in the hope of making a buck would be a violation of the story's integrity.
So...I'm dropping it. Learning, yet again, that once the story and characters are set, they're set right. And I mess with that at my own peril. Maybe the lesson will finally engrave itself in my psyche.
I have a number of scripts where things weren't quite right so messing with them made a huge difference and let them become right. Like "Still Life." For years I had it set in Houston and it worked all right, but I was never completely comfortable with it. Then I shifted it to Dublin and it fell into place. And now I can't even think of it being in Houston, anymore. Same for "Coby O' and the Pink Palace of Texas". Making Coby gay and the guy he's interested in straight-but-not-narrow with the whole thing being about gay rights being cynically used to cover up a crime gave the story life and heart and soul instead of just action. Now I know what it's about.
I have a couple other scripts that never settled down, so I may revisit them later on and see what we come up with.
Well...I thought for some wild and crazy reason I could shift this story to one following an American soldier instead of the Russian. And tried to, this evening. And it was a struggle from the first moment. I finally tried to approach it as a new story...but that only made things a little better. So now, after hours working at it, I can see the script is what it is. It came to me correct and ready and for me to change its characters just in the hope of making a buck would be a violation of the story's integrity.
So...I'm dropping it. Learning, yet again, that once the story and characters are set, they're set right. And I mess with that at my own peril. Maybe the lesson will finally engrave itself in my psyche.
I have a number of scripts where things weren't quite right so messing with them made a huge difference and let them become right. Like "Still Life." For years I had it set in Houston and it worked all right, but I was never completely comfortable with it. Then I shifted it to Dublin and it fell into place. And now I can't even think of it being in Houston, anymore. Same for "Coby O' and the Pink Palace of Texas". Making Coby gay and the guy he's interested in straight-but-not-narrow with the whole thing being about gay rights being cynically used to cover up a crime gave the story life and heart and soul instead of just action. Now I know what it's about.
I have a couple other scripts that never settled down, so I may revisit them later on and see what we come up with.
2 comments:
But now it's time for "Place of Safety" right, Mr. Distractomatic?
Right. Guilty as charged. You'd think I had ADD as well as dylsexia. But this whole little episode WAS an exercise in avoidance. No excuses.
BTW, Brendan's laughing his ass off at my obviousness.
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