Today is the start of Script Frenzy 2011 and I will not be starting my official script until probably Monday, April 5th. Saturday is the screening and awards ceremony for the short film I did for the 168 Film Project entitled, “Up There With Pie.” It was nominated for six awards and the festival must take responsibility to a large degree for me attempting this crazy feature film idea. I was a producer, editor, dp and helped develop the story for “Up There With Pie.”
Another reason for my late start on my actual script is I am still working on some character development before I start on the script.
As promised I have included my first character’s monologue below. This character will likely change a bit as I develop her more but here it is nonetheless. So you know, this is my first draft and is unedited. The point of this exercise is to get you to understand the character and create someone who is memorable.
While preparing to write this monologue I tried to think of where she would be when saying this. I figured it would be her talking to herself and possible there would be other people around that might cause different responses to what she was saying. I then thought that she must be doing something when this all happens, so my scenario that this “monologue” takes place in is the following, enjoy.
LOCATION: On an airplane about ready to jump out, paratroopers.
Ten minutes to the jump point. Damn, you’d think that after the amount of of times I’ve jumped I’d be used to it by now. I hate this part, I hate every part of this job. No, stop, you gotta stay focused. They’re waiting for you, that’s why you’re here, keep telling yourself that. Stay strong. Shit, I want a cheese burger. Yeah, hell of a time to start having cravings, but man. A cheeseburger and fries, and a milk shake. Not just any shake, but a nice rich chocolate shake, the ones that have an extra container ’cause they can’t fit it all in the glass they gave you. I wonder why you cant choose how you want your burger like you can a steak. I wounder if Tommy would like hamburgers. Poor kid’s probably missed out on a lot. That’s not right for a kid to lose their childhood like that. What kind of people would take someone so young, so defenseless.
Dude, why do you keep staring at me. I’m not gonna bone you, I’m married. Damn it, Jeff, why’d they chose you. I’m not sure how much longer I can stand it. Not knowing where you’re at. Not having you to look at each morning when I wake up. All I got is this ugly mutt, Darren, to look at all day. Sorry, Darren, no offense. Damn it, Jeff, I don’t want to do this anymore, I want you home and I want to see our son. I want this war to be over but what scares me most is the thought that I may never see you again. I’m trying my best, I’ll find you, I’ll bring you home. Green Light.
Shit, I hate jumping.
There you have, that is one of the starts of my character development. Some things I feel I need to work on is creating a stronger flaw in the character, something she has to overcome or conquer in the story.
A few final notes. I added a donation button to the right for if you feel like donating to the “Indie Feature Film Experiment”. I’m gonna give a quick shout out to the resources I will be using for this whole process starting with the writing resources: Scripped.com, Celtx, The Script Lab. These folks are awesome and I highly recommend you take advantage of the tools they have to offer.
Also, don’t forget the Title Contest, happening now. Once a title has been chosen then the script can be submitted for a free movie poster creation over at Script Frenzy. We only have 30 days to to be able to submit. The sooner a title is settled upon the better. Then everyone can nominate the movie to get a poster made.
Lastly, you can follow my progress over at my Script Frenzy page in addition to here.