Foiled Again!

I came up with what I thought was a great idea for a screenplay. The idea was original and interesting. My writing partner agreed that it had a lot of potential. The more we worked on it the more we liked it. We came up with a fantastic logline and title. We were making progress on story ideas.

And then it happened... again. My partner stumbled upon an article about a movie in development with a very similar premise. The movie appears to be stuck in development, but what do I know? In any case, we were unable to find any information about the plot other than a very general overview, but even then the major concept seems fairly identical.

So much for "original". Foiled again! (haha)

She Fell Flat

Yesterday I was in the mood to read a great script. I chose Thelma and Louise because it is one of my favorites. I had been reading less than ten minutes when a giant light went off in my head. The woman in my script is flat. She goes through motions, but lacks character. It was like a knife in my heart. I knew more about Thelma and Louise in the first 5 pages than I knew about my character in the first 58.

I will go back and fix it, but first I have a lot of thinking to do. I know what my character does in the story. In order to correct the problem I need to go back to the why. Why does she do those things? What is her motivation? What is her passion? What is her greatest desire? fear?

I was very depressed about my discovery yesterday. I am still a bit bummed, but it is a lesson. I will correct it and my story will be better. Hopefully, I will be better.