Me and My Big Mouth - Part Deux

The document I copied the page from yesterday had only 42 pages written in screenplay form. I stopped writing it and picked it up again a year later (November 1998) and did more outling. Then nothing until August, 2001 with another 42 page stab. By November, 2001 I had 119 pages of drek, followed by a rewrite dated mid-December, 2001. At some point in there I sent it to a few people. One being the guy who produced There's Something About Mary. What was I thinking? He read it - I definitely owe him for putting him through that - then called me and gave me encouragement. Something like, "great premise but we don't need ten pages of a Little League game...be brief, you don't have to spell it out. We know what happens at a Little League game." Ouch. Stupid me. I should have known better.

Finally, by February, 2002 I had a draft labeled #3. I think that's the one I sent in to the Nicholl because that was the year that I somehow, miraculously, made it to the quarterfinals. And in the Fall of 2002, I optioned the script to an Australian producer (not because of my Nicholl placement, btw) who had just finished making Ned Kelly. So, wow, I really thought I'd made it. I was going to have a movie up on the screen. No doubt. I spent the next ten or so months rewriting with the producer and the director he had attached. Great experience on every grueling level. Then the producer re-optioned for a second year. And then...nothing happened. He couldn't find anyone that wanted to come in with financing.

So, two years ago, I got it back. And then I read it. Oh my God...it sucked. But I still loved the premise and swore to myself that I'd get back to it. Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I was working on my third script of this year when I got that call about somebody looking for a suspense thriller. I blogged about it in my "Time Crunch" series Aug/Sept. Yup. This is that same script. And what I didn't report - I did get an option offer from said producer (I still don't know who it was) but turned it down.

Anyway, since it's been rewritten (and will be polished one more time at least...soon as I'm done with the artwork thing), I thought I'd post the current first page of the latest rewrite so you can judge whether I've managed to improve it from the first page of the first draft of my first script written so long ago.

(click to enlarge)