Into Formation

Greetings, one and all! As of the time of writing, the second draft of the script has been reviewed and revised into the third draft, which will, in turn, receive its own review and revision cycle, as some of the alterations were significant. This third draft will also go out to a slightly wider reviewing pool. So good progress has been made on that front.

In other news, the stunt team got back together on Sunday, and ran through an updated version of an exercise we last ran almost exactly a decade ago, give or take a few months.

The team divided into two groups, and had to face off in battle lines, calling out maneuvering commands as they went. It was a mind-stretching exercise that required very precise cooperation and communication, and funnily enough balanced the playing field when it came to such diverse skill levels. All in all, a good day.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Second Draft

Greetings, one and all! A heavy round of people being sick at precisely the wrong times got the big family get-togethers back several weeks, all coalescing on Father’s Day. As a result, we had no stunt meet this week, which leaves the biggest event of note as The Script.

It is with great relief that I say that the second draft of our current script has been completed! In true writing form, you never show anyone your first draft, so this is the first version that will be sent out for review. That is where it is, at the time of writing. By the time you read this, I hope to have received the notes, and begun working through them. So not a very flashy week, but a decidedly productive one.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Catch-up Parties and Continuing Adventures

Greetings, one and all! So… this week was a bit different. What with half the team being sick during the Christmas party, and one of our stunties leaving for a while, we threw a consolation start of Summer/going away party, which meant, in the finest tradition of the stunt team, that I had to come up with an improv game. Ordinarily I have months to plan these things, but this time I had a week. Also I had to make sure that the whole narrative resolved in about two-thirds of the usual time. To simplify matters, I set it on the same island as featured in the Nine Isles movie, just on the less explored side of the island. In keeping with the very first game, our leads were sent to find an ancient artifact to pay off their debt to society.

A combination of avarice and poor diplomatic skills gave them some built-in competition, and the two parties raced to the end in fine style. There were many funny moments, some dramatic ones, and when the chips were down, some rules-lawyer level creative thinking. The entire cast had something to do that was essential to the story, and bring everything to a satisfying conclusion. All in all, a good time that I couldn’t have pulled off without them. Thanks, guys! Now that the blitz is over, maybe I can finally get back to screenwriting...

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Breaching Teams and Second Drafts

Greetings, one and all! This week, with brainpower returning, I had to come to grips once again with the script, and its second draft. At this point, you look for any inconsistencies, and ask the most important question: Is this even any good? The answer is usually “Well, pieces, anyway.” At which point you must strengthen what works, and excise or rewrite what doesn’t. Since I’m not a fan of my own finale, this is a particularly entertaining and challenging exercise. The characters being sensible makes it an anticlimax, the characters being emotional would lead to a whole movie worth of “getting back to the main plot” because they just got thrown into maximum security prison. So, in this case, the rewrite begins to feel like very delicate surgery.

On top of that, the stunt team met this week, and we continued the ancient tradition of it only raining on the day of stunt meet. So we met that ancient tradition with one of our own: Storming.

This one was shaken up with the team members rotating through as the opposition, with each pairing getting three chances to throw something unexpected at their teammates. It was very fun, and randomizing the time they had to prepare lent a certain urgency to the whole thing. Much was learned, and a good time had by all.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!