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No Comments Script Frenzy 2012 Winner!
I just finished Script Frenzy 2012 and I won! Actually everyone who writes 100 pages of screenplay in thirty days wins, but it’s harder than you think. I chose to rewrite my first screenplay completed several years ago. It was a Western about a courier, called Ringo (my man with no name), originally titled: Gold Rush.
Gold Rush was the story of a courier who must transport a chest full of gold to a rich railroad tycoon. He is accompanied by a saloon dancer. They pose as a priest (nod to The Outlaw Josie Wales) and schoolteacher . They are double crossed and must fight outlaws, bounty hunters, and even Indians to deliver the chest of gold. Gold Rush was full of Indiana Jones style action and Robert Rodriguez style shootouts, but the story was a bit thin. Why wouldn’t the railroad tycoon simply put the gold on a heavily guarded train?
This time I titled it Western Express (working title) and focused the story on the courier and Sarah, a young saloon singer on the run from her father, a rich railroad tycoon. I was able to save a lot of the action and gunfights, but the story became more meaningful by focusing on the relationship between Ringo and Sarah. The story now flows much better and the second draft should be a lot tighter.
The most difficult part of Script Frenzy or NaNoWriMo (a novel writing contest where you write 50,000 words in 30 days) is you have to write more than three pages a day. If you miss one day you have to write nearly seven pages the next day. If you miss two days you have to write ten pages to catch up. That’s tough to do. While I don’t plan to keep writing at this pace, Script Frenzy does teach you how to set goals and write on a regular basis. That is a good thing.
