Home Stretch

After a rowdy week in Mexico with Doug, its time to kick it into overdrive and finish up the year right. During the week outside the United States I spent my time wisely rereading Room 13. The novel was as good as I remembered it to be and could really visualize it as a movie. The characters are interesting, the dialogue witty, and the plot captivating. I have also finished The Complete Idiots Guide to Screenwriting. With these two books completed the final project is shaping up very well. I am now ready to sit down and actually start writing my first screenplay. Some obstacles to overcome first though, I don’t feel right adapting the screenplay without talking to the author first, so my next order of business is to email Henry Garfield. I will inquire about possibly buying the rights to the book if it’s cheap enough. Next, I have already created a teaser trailer in my head that I will film to show the class while presenting. It should be a great way to visually show my project and not just present a script.

In the upcoming week I will hammer out what exactly I want to do for my mid-fourth marking period project. I think I will write a paper that involves the differences between original and adapted screenplays, but it could spin off to be something that contains the whole movie making process in general. I will have to talk to Mr. Saxon again before I definitely decide. There are plenty of online and in print resources that will help me along the way. I'm not really excited to write the research paper, but I know the final project is going to be great.

Back With a Bang - 4th Marking Period Style

After a lovely three weeks off, Darren Bleckner is back to writing his Pulitzer Prize winning English blog. In the fourth marking Period I will be taking on the difficult task of adapting a screenplay based on a novel. I know what you're thinking, "Darren, an adapted screenplay? You're better than that!" While I know I am superior writer than taking someone else's work I have to say a few words about the novel. Room 13 by Henry Garfield is one of the best and craziest "horror" novels I have ever read. (I will of course reread it in order to adapt it, don't worry Mr. Saxon) It has every thing from werewolves to haunted paintings and crazy sex scenes. To give a small back story, after a tragic death a teacher moves towns into the haunted room 13. Sounds great right? Oh it is!

I'm sure they're are a lot more questions, like how can you write a screenplay? Luckily through the power of written media and the internet there are plenty of things out there. Such as websites like Screenwriting.info and Empire Contact. It doesn't just stop at websites though there are plenty of books that screenwriters should read before jumping into the long difficult process that is writing a script. I will also read at least two full length books about the process while reading the novel over and starting the screenplay.

On to my plan for this week! In class I will either be reading Room 13 or one of the screen writing books, the other I will read at home. I hopefully will finish both books and a ton of websites by the time we return from vacation. This way I can spend the last sevenish weeks purely writing. The final project along with the physical copy of the script will include a power point on my methods to how I wrote it. As well as both a trailer and story boards. Lastly it'll include a treatment and possible actors and directors that will be lined up for the project. Hopefully one day it'll get the greenlight and Room 13 will be a reality.