Contributing Factors.

Well. It's been a heck of a week or two. Let's stick to the shop talk for now. I recently finished the first draft of Head Games. I was thrilled, I was exuberant, I was pleased with myself. I sent it to a few friends for their appraisal and the response has been unanimous; more or less. It needs work.

On the road this weekend for several hours, I found time to give the first act a once-over with a red pen and made some notes; aware on some level that the changes I was scratching down to implement later were largely superficial. Cosmetic. They wouldn't fix the underlying structural issues; they wouldn't fix the second act.

Tonight, it may have come to me. Something came to me, whether or not it ends up being any good remains to be seen; but that's why we save in drafts and don't just scrap what we've come up with previously.

Partly to thank was seeing the movie The Comfort of Strangers tonight. (Chris Walken at his creepiest. I couldn't tell if he was trying to do an Italian accent or not. Anyway. Good flick.) It opened my eyes to some interesting couple dynamics.

I'm going to give Head Games an overhaul. Dramatically (heh heh) alter the script. New arc, an added character. Steal a trick from Proof and weave in a scene or two from the past. I feel as if I may have been holding back before. This new draft will be even more complex, more convoluted, and hopefully more satisfying. I also hope that it will sound more like I wrote it. No more holding back. If the new draft sucks; I can always go back in and try again.

That's the news on Head Games. Other scripts of mine are getting some attention, and not from me. Yellow Brick Monologues will be produced in Maryland in the summer of 2009; if all goes well. Dead & Breakfast will be read through here in New York in time to possibly be put up for Halloween.

We'll see! I'm not counting chickens... For now I'm just watchin' em cluck.

Still. It feels great to be working on things. Truly great.