Paul Haggis and Crash...

I went to see a screening of CRASH as presented by Creative Screenwriting magazine, and the writer Paul Haggis was in attendance. It was cool listening to someone rather than being on the stage myself. Anyway, each time I see CRASH, the more the impact lessens, but then again, that may simply be the nature of the movie. The plot twists, the emotional moments, the coincidences, are all known, so the surprise is gone. But still, I'm not sure that it's going to hold up over the long term. But I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

I have done a third revision of my Hal's class Project X and I like it. I threw away a LOT and I think I have a better, more logical story. I'm really getting into this throwing shit away. I'm not wedded to anything in my scripts, so I feel nothing if something doesn't work. Keep trying.

I also did a sketch of ACT ONE, and tomorrow, I will do a finish our assignment, which is to tell the story in the first person from our characters perspective. That'll help me understand my characters and their motivations for what they do.

One of the fortunate things about having paid for high school is that your fellow alums are extremely generous with their time and are willing to listen to you. Two of my high school alums are agents in this town and they've graciously agreed to meet with me once I have a script done. Remember, I want to learn the fundamentals, write a good solid first script, get representation, sell a script, and then begin to experiment while in film school. So this first script may not have many Charile Kaufaman moment, I'll save those for 434 advance screenwriting, but it will be solid, even if I have to re-write it over and over.