The Script Frenzy Has Begun

Now that the whole April Foolishness is behind me, I’m buckling down to write a new screenplay during the month of April. Why April? Well, it happens to be the chosen month for Script Frenzy — an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. This excercise in creativity and commitment is very similar to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) — which I have wanted to attempt in the Novembers of the past few years.

While I have never written a novel in my life, I have written a number of screenplays — eight to be exact. But, it’s been well over a decade since I’ve competed — or much less gotten past Plot Point I — in writing a new screenplay. I spent the last year and a half pounding out various comic book scripts, and with the current comic book freelance market the way it is, figured that now was as good as time as any to return to screenwriting. Many of my creator-owned comic book scripts, pitches, and outlines the last couple of years have pretty much been planned as springboards for feature films, so… Why the Hell not switch gears and tinker with a screenplay.

I speant much of March trying to decide which of these “springboards” to devote the month of April to and mold into a screenplay. A couple of my ideas I had actually pitched to various production companies last summer. The idea that eventually won out to get the “Hollywood treatment” so to speak is a “family film” of sorts — perhaps a bit edgier than most, but a solid PG rated concept. It’s about a group of kids that find themselves as the last defense against demonic monsters threatening to break free from their hellish prison and bring nightmares to life. The title — The Last Trick Or Treat.

I’ll try to post regular updates on my progress and my experiences of my Script Frenzy throughout the month. Stay tuned.

Script Frenzy

While I’ve got a number of projects on various burners of my writing stove-top, I’ve been enticed to throw together another creative stew to bring to a boil. In similar fashion to November being National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo), April is Script Frenzy month.

Yes, I did make a meager attempt to write my novel back in November with the rest of the NaNoWriMo participants — and I didn’t get very far. Five months ago I had a number of other comic book projects getting underway and I just didn’t have the time that was required to fully commit to attempt writing a novel. But this time around, April is the perfect time to work on a screenplay while I continue to work on my comic book projects that are now moving along. It turns out that I need to write a new screenplay.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a screenplay — maybe ten or twelve years. I’ve written eight altogether, but I really need something fresher in order for my manager to show of my writing-chops to Hollywood. So, I’m figuring that this Script Frenzy event can serve as a boost to get a new screenplay started, and completed.

The screenplay that I’m working on is an idea that I’ve been sitting on for about eight months now. I’ve got other screenplay ideas that I’ve been kicking around for much longer, but the pieces to this script just fell together and lined up nicely. But, I am hoping that once I really get rolling this endeavor will help to spur on the other ideas that have been quietly bubbling on the back burners.

I’ll still be hammering away at the various comic book writing chores that are currently lined up, as well as prepping and getting more comic book writing work lined up.

For the record, I knocked out the first five pages of my Untitled Script Frenzy Project last night.