Act 2 Completed!

Woohoo! I've finally finished Act 2 of my screenplay. Wow was that difficult! It really is the marathon run of a screenplay triathlon. I feel a lot more comfortable tackling Act 3 after finishing 60 pages of mid-story content.

Syd Field's preparation for Act 2 was 100% essential. His approach of writing out key scenes and sequences on 3x5 cards was what enabled me to get through Act 2. It served as a vital tool for keeping me motivated. When I encountered a problem, when I didn't know what to write, I referred to the cards. However, as Field suggests, I wasn't bound by them. If I wanted to write something impromptu or alter the sequence of the cards I would feel free too. The key, for me, was to use the cards as a fall back position. This allowed me the most artistic control while being rooted to a story that was actually going somewhere.

A few things hit me about the process of writing Act 2.  I was forewarned that it would be a tiring process but I was still surprised by how completely exhausted I ended up. Even now as I write this, having just finished Act 2, I feel fatigued. So I should probably offer a belated apology for this probably not being the best written post.

I also realised that I was writing in spurts. I would run off around ten to fifteen pages in a sitting (which is why my earlier estimates were to have the Act finished by Friday) but would then spend a long time just processing. I couldn't write during these processing phases but I did do a lot of thinking. Once this period of processing was done I'd hit the screenplay again and hammer out another ten pages.

Finally, I think the most important thing I've learnt is that you have to set time to do writing or to at least think about writing. Right now I've got a decent amount of time to spend but even if I didn't, I'd still try to set some time aside, like waking up an hour earlier to get some screenplay time in before work. Once you're in front of a computer (and if you don't have good impulse control you should disconnect from the internet) you have nothing to do but focus on your screenplay. Even if you're sitting there for an hour just thinking, and only occasionally making notes, that time is still time set aside for the writing process.

OK. Act 2 is done. Yay. Now on to Act 3 and hopefully I can focus on making more blog posts again.

Picture source: BryanPrindiville.com