Carli's Kills, redux

Today I reworked CK to change it up. Meaning all I did was make the sheriff a woman instead of a man. Didn't redo the story or action or even much dialogue...and yet, it altered everything. Now the ending is even more horrific...and acceptable. Funny how that works.

Then I read a shooting copy of The King's Speech, which won an Oscar in 2011 for Best Screenplay. It's got so much in it that I've been told one should never do in a script...it's like the screenwriting gurus are handing out misinformation. It's got CUT TO's and camera directions and tells the actors what to think and on and on. It's amazing.

I also watched Spectre, the latest James Bond film. It was fun, but the script was very lazy. Things happen because they have to happen to keep the story going. Anything inconvenient to the pacing of the story gets ignored -- like totally trashing several cars of a passenger train, during a fight, then being let off at an isolated stop in the middle of the desert, without a peep...or visible injuries. And the ending was so damned obvious, it was an insult.

So it's not the quality of the writing or the beauty of the structure that gets films made; it's finding the person who so desperately wants to make your script into a film, they won't take No for an answer from anyone. Nor will they care if all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. And that is like finding one particular grain of sand on a beach that's 5 miles long.

All the screenplay competitions in the world won't do you a bit of good for that. Well...they might help you narrow down the search...and even increase your luck in making the right connections to get to someone who will get it done...but only if you're lucky enough to hit the right reader at the right time. Because if you get someone who's sick of thrillers and is assigned one, you're getting harshness in response. Same for guys having to read rom-coms. And that is something I need to reconsider, because the damn things ain't cheap.

No...what gets movies made these days is a producer, director or actor who will fight to get your script made. Writers have no pull in Hollywood...which is silly, because Hollywood wouldn't exist without them. But try telling that to the powers that be. Well, I'm not wasting my breath, anymore. I'm aiming for actors who have some pull but aren't so high up the food chain, they are unreachable.

I'm aiming for Russell Tovey, Aidan Turner, and Chris Salvatore.