Birthday Blog

"Writer's bug"

Looks like instead of writer's block I seem to have well and truly caught the writing bug.

I recently found myself lucky enough to be involved in the co-writing of a sci-fi feature film script with top tier writer Trevor Sands (Hyperion, Electric Church etc). It's now 'gone out to Hollywood', but I can't talk much about who is actively interested yet..

As a result it's rekindled my enthusiasm for writing and I've been delving back into Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's excellent screenwriting resources, perhaps more essential than any of the script writing books out there...
It's a funny little closing of the circle, because when I first wrote my concept that eventually became this script it was way back around 1998, not long after I was working for Dreamworks Interactive directly underneath Ted and Terry's office on the floor above in Bel Air. Maybe a few particles of their 'brain cloud' infiltrated through the stylish exposed ceiling structure down into my cubicle, who knows...?
I managed to get a friend to get my treatment looked at by a producer who liked the concept and told me if I got an A-list writer to help me turn it into a finished screenplay she could get it to one of the major studios such as Dreamworks.

Anyway ten years later I happened to be referred to Trevor Sands by his friend who was our writer at Insomniac, Brad Santos. Trevor wanted some concept art for a Route 666 comic adaptation pitch he was putting together for Zemeckis' ImageMovers.
In return I asked him to take a look at one of my script ideas. He liked the concept and was gracious enough to give me notes to help me try and bash it into a decent screenplay. After a few rounds I still couldn't quite crack the ending and tighten the story up enough, so it languished again while I waited for that flash of inspiration, which probably may well have never come....
And then a couple of years later something clicked in Trevor's mind. He came back to me and my shambles of a script, but with a new take on it. We talked about his idea, and I accepted it would basically mean reworking it from scratch with him as the lead writer.
After a few more passes and another breakthrough that added an additional cool element to the third act, It turned out great.
It's been a real privilege to be able to collaborate with someone who has mastered his craft so well, as well as seeing how the inside track of Hollywood works..