The Reading

So, First draft was complete. And the reading happened.

I was very nervous at the outset. I imagined everyone I knew saying that my writing sucked, and this was a bad idea. I envisioned Sean and Christine Fitzgerald grabbing me and screaming, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY WORK?"

But none of that happened.

My worst fear is that it wouldn't be funny. It is, after all, a "Musical Comedy." I didn't do that thing that I imagine comedy writers do: Intentionally write jokes. But everyone was laughing, and having a grand ol' time. They were rooting for the right characters and booing the awful characters.

After a discussion about details that need to be clarified, (Employer would probably not fire someone via e-mail) we got into the story and characters. They seemed to approve of Kim and Joe staying together, and of Dan and Tiffany staying friends.

The big surprise, was that they all HATE Rob, but, strangely, they want to know more about him. Specifically, they felt that we need to see him interact with Tiffany more. We need to see him be a smarmy dick when he's around Dan, but see him be ultra nice around Tiff. We don't want Tiff to be falling for his game because she's naive or gullible; we want to see that ROB is the manipulator.

Also, we reinforced what I already suspected, which was we need more character development all around. What does Christine do, exactly? How old are these people? Where do they meet? How do they know each other?

So now, back to the drawing board. Writing some songs, and tweaking the script.

Home Stretch

My colleague Howard Beckerman once wrote in one of his plays that sometimes, when artists are given a deadline, that's a tremendous motivator. In his play, "Life After Life," and artist is encouraged to just set up a showing of his work. That's supposed to motivate him to finally finish these pieces and get them ready for the event.

I threw down the gauntlet recently. I set a deadline for myself. Memorial Day. On Memorial day, I'm having friends over to read through the first very rough draft of "Love Is..." This, of course, means that I need to finish the first very rough draft of "Love Is..." by then.

Since my last post, I finished the mega-scene that opens Act 2; Wrote the big final scene for Brian and Lena's plotline; was inspired for a song for Brian to sing in that scene; and today, a MAJOR hurdle for me, FINALLY wrote the rape scene.

Only thing to do now, is wrap up the final plotlines in a wicked finale, write the finale; then I want to go back and RE-WRITE the scnee where Brian gets fired into a scene where he tells Lena that he's been fired. There needs to be more about the two of them, and this allows me to bring that out. It also reduces the cast. We're a cast of 10, which is what I want. Add the Boss, and other characters, and this simple little love story becomes an epic musical extravaganza.

One week to go.... Then I get to hear others' opinions.  

4 scenes in one.

I haven't been blogging about it, but I HAVE been writing.

I finished the first scene of Act 2. Now, before you say "That's it?" you should know that it's a BIG extended scene. Actually, it's comprised of 3 scenes. First Brian enters the coffee shop and asks for a job. When Joe informs him that he already GOT the job, Brian retires to a booth and nurses a coffee. Then, Dan and Tiffany have their big fight. THEN Kim and Joe have their "discussion." And finally, Emily and Christine make up, as Emily reveals the big SPOILER.

I decided that all three scenes COULD happen at the Coffee Shop, and that would make scene changes SO much easier. It would mean fewer sets, which simplifies the production immensely.

I also decided that the "Rape scene" won't happen at the beach, because what the heck is up with THAT???? Tiffany lives in an apartment above the shop, so Rob will take her home, and make his move. The fight will happen and lead them out of their cars; in front of the shop, where everybody is. This will bring them out onto the sidewalk to confront Rob, and that's how THAT happens.

Also, in writing the Kim/Joe scene, I realized how weird it is that they're breaking up. It's over such a silly thing. And it's clearly both of their faults. I felt bad for Kim getting dumped through no real fault of her own, and I hadn't chosen to make her a BAD character. Nobody did anything wrong in this relationship, it's just not really working. This may cause me to re-think the finale.

Emily and Christine were not really altered, but the scene ended up clarifying a lot of their characters. And it made me aware of the character development I still need to do.

AVATAR is SAVED

So, when I write, sometimes I improvise a song. The lyrics are perfect, they're amazing. And then I make a mental note to remember them. And then I forget them. So, it's always great when I improvise them at the computer, and immediately write them down.

That's what happened with "Avatar," a song for Joe and Kim in Act 1. It happens during their first fight. The song points out the points of the argument when, online, they would have been able to tap out and sign off, and avoid the conflict. However, now, they're together in real life, and they can't. They HAVE to resolve it. It's the beginning of the end. I wrote some lyrics. They were awesome. Even if they get rewritten and adjusted as the show goes on, the lyrics can be placeholders for an eventual melody.  

I saved THIS revision on my little purple jump drive. I kept the little purple jump drive on my end table so that I wouldn't lose it. And then I lost it.

When I started writing the show again this year, I searched for the jump drive but couldn't find it anywhere! I went nuts. I was so angry! Fortunately, my wife had backed up the file and I was able to recover the script up to date. BUT... the version that was backed up was saved BEFORE I wrote "Avatar." So, while I kept the great scene with Emily and her father, I lost that song. And what's worse, I had absolutely NO memory of what I wrote.

Or, so I thought.

Today, as with all things that are lost, when I was not even looking for it, I found the little purple jump drive! And I immediately transferred the Avatar lyrics into the scene. AT LAST... the scene is complete again!

Act 2 Begins

I began a scene that was going to be the Act One finale, but then when I realized that Act I was going end differently, I moved the scene to Act 2. Brian goes into the Spoon Coffeehouse, and dejectedly asks for a job. Turns out that the job's been filled... by Joe.

So beginning Act 2, I looked over my outline notes. I realized that the way I envisioned the show going was subtly different than the way it's going to go. The characters are different characters fully fledged out, so they will go about the show in a different way.

One big difference will be the location. The first three scenes of Act 2 were going to happen in different locations, now they're going to ALL take place in the coffeehouse. Brian will be sitting there, contemplating, when ALL of the breakups, arguments, and revelations happen in front of him, and this will fuel his decision to give up on finding work.

Also, I realized that the texting that was done in the Act 1 finale sets up the scenes differently. Many of these texts were "Meet me tomorrow, so we can talk." This makes it more feasible that the meetings might happen at the same time.

I wrote the Tiffany/Dan scene. Good argument, vented a little bit. Now, she's going to her apartment above the coffee shop, and getting ready for the date.

I've been nervous about the "rape scene" for some time. I originally envisioned the date ending at a beach, or some other place where the rape would happen. The other characters were going to intervene which moves the plot along. But how do we get the other characters to the beach, or park, or whatever? Turns out, Rob's gonna take Tiffany home, park in front of the coffee house, and make his move there. It's going to turn into a major fight, and Dan, who is ALWAYS at the Spoon, will see them and intervene.

Act I FINALE

The Act 1 Finale's written!

I had the entire piece outlined, and for the Act 1 finale, I just had down, "Find something for them all to sing about." And I left it at that. Every other scene up until that point was fine, because I knew where it was going; if there was a song, what the point of that song would be. But Act 1, I was leaving ambiguous.

It's a lame excuse, but the reason I didn't write the Act 1 finale all of last year, was because I didn't know what to write about.

Then came this year. I resolved to finish the piece. So I had to. I still had not a clue.

But I DID go back to my initial idea to incorporate technology whenever possible. I also re-watched the film, and thought about how Christine and Sean and I came up with the idea and wrote the characters in the first place.

So brainstorming I tried writing down the perspective of all 8 characters (not Rob, because Rob's a dick; and not Jerry because.... spoilers) and that helped set up the coup de grace.

"Good To See You" was about how technology enabled people to communicate more effectively. At the end of Act 1, all the couples are having problems with communicating, So, Act 1 will end with a pseudo reprise of "Good To See You," EXCEPT, technology is holding them BACK. The couples text each other, but then say, to the audience, what they're really feeling. The theme for all of them is "Why can't I tell them?"

And just to bring it to a close, a reprise of the "Love is comfort..." opening with new lyrics relating to this point of the show.

Obstacle averted, onward to Act 2, where there's a rape scene I've very nervous about.

2016

Once again, I'm making it my New Year's resolution to finish writing this thing. I wrote EXACTLY ONE new thing last year. I'm so embarrassed.

I'm stuck on the final scene for Act I. I know that I want all the characters to be involved, and they should share a song. The song should mark their respective situations at this point in the show, but also should have something in common. It should also be thematic, something about the nature of love, or the nature of relationships; upon which we could comment from the points of view of the different characters.

Perhaps I'll leave it blank, and finish the show, then come back and deal with it later.

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I'll get back into it in '16.