Thursday, April 30, 2009

Poppy

The drug of choice for 19th century women.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Committed

I have been doing some planning, and here is a preliminary timeline for "Mad Woman":

2009
February-April: Research & rough script outline. Start blog.

May-June: Complete first draft of screenplay.

June-July: Complete second & third drafts.

August: Polish, 4th draft. Submit for coverage and feedback. Incorporate & make business plan (with budget). Set up LLC for film. Preparations for investor packets & presentations.

September: Raise starting funds. More script polishes and rewrites.

October: Submit script for coverage and review again, make changes accordingly.

November-December: Complete shooting script. Create preliminary production schedule based on progress with fund raising.

2010
Finish raising starting funds. Production schedule & casting TBA depending on financials.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Mad Woman

The working title for my screenplay: Mad Woman

Friday, April 17, 2009

MW2009 Writing Exercise

Today we had a writing exercise as a part of a social media talk giving at the MW2009. We had to listen to another person's life story, then write it on a postcard under a time limit. Here is what my partner wrote about me:

The life of Jennifer - an artistic soul born and raised in a small town in Alabama. A small town Catholic surrounded by the emotions and passions of a Baptist community, Jennifer strove to find her artistic identity, eventually making her way to Chicago to study arts and design under a scholarship. Returning to her native Alabama, she began to apply her artistic training in 2 tracks: development/marketing at a children's science center, and the creation of independent films, the most recent of which is called "Piece of Cake". She continues working on these two facets of her artistic career, and begins now to focus on developing scripts, most notably a script based on 18th century woman's experience in an Alabama asylum. Her future looks bright.

:)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Creating an Indie, in Indy!

Clever!

I have been in Indianapolis for the past day or two for the Museums of the Web Conference 2009. It has been pretty fun for the most part, and I have had PLENTY of time to work on my screenplay in my downtime.

I am still very much in the research phase, but am making real progress on a loose outline for my script. I even have another idea that I have been toying around with just to put some variety in my schedule.

While I am trying to take advantage of this alone time, in all honesty, I am losing my mind!! But, I am very grateful for the progess I have made. And the conference is pretty cool, too.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Screenwriting Class

Tonight, I am going over notes from an old screenwriting class that I took when "Piece of Cake" came to life. (Thanks Elizabeth!) That class changed my whole LIFE. Who knew I could write? I sure didn't.

Per those notes, I am ordering the book "How NOT To Write A Screenplay", by Denny Martin Flinn. I am also reordering "Scriptwriting For Dummies" (was lent to a friend a long time ago, and never got it back).

Another thing I am researching right now are adapted screenplays. I am not 100% certain, but I am very intrigued by the idea of adapting "Letters from a Victorian Madwoman". The book is a collection of letters written by Andrew Sheffield (a woman), who was committed to the Alabama Insane Hospital in 1890. I finished reading the book while in New Orleans this past weekend.

I also finally contacted Bryce Hospital (previously named the Alabama Insane Hospital), and getting in there is going to be a real challenge. Since it is still an operating hospital, the patients rights have to be their first priority. Though, I have a feeling that once they hear me out on the project, they will be more than happy to help.

What interests me most about Andrew Sheffield is that she wasn't insane, she was actually a criminal. While not to give to much of her story away, this tragic woman spent over 30 years locked in an insane asylum against her will so as not to disgrace her family by a prison sentence. There are actually several other similiar stories from women across the country during this same time period, and books were either written by them or about them. What makes these women different is that most of them were able to get released. Andrew was not so fortunate. Another thing that makes her letters/book unique is the fact that they were never intended for anyone else to read, other than the person they were written to. Because of this, she writes very candidly and you can get a raw sense of what her true experience was like in the hospital. And she wanted OUT.