Post Holiday

Well, the holidays have come and gone (woohoo) and now it's time to get back to work.

I have a ton on my plate for January: two new scripts taken through at least one revision as well as my two pilots through at least two revisions and a quick dialogue polish of The Amulet.

Speaking of The Amulet, we are completely, 100%, no doubt about it funded!!!! Woo!!

We've begun call-backs (casting has been delayed due to holidays) and have started to location scout. Our first production meeting was Monday, and it seems that everything is well-in-hand and running on time.

My school schedule is still a little wonky, but that should get sorted out in short order. And my work schedule has been put on hiatus due to my hours being significantly reduced, so hopefully that leads to more writing (though, currently it's only led to more Doctor Who).

Today, I've begun outlining one of the shorts. It's based off of a true story, which should be fun for me; I enjoy adaptations.

I am, however, ridiculously behind schedule so I have quite a bit of work to do to catch up.

Luckily, I work quite well under pressure.

Ten Days and Counting

Well, here it is. The final countdown. I have about ten days before I have to be finished with the rough draft of my pilot. Ten. One zero.

I am screwed.

I mean, it'll happen but no one is going to like me for the next weekish. I am going to be unpleasant, stressed distracted, and (hopefully) completely in the world of my characters. This does not bode well for paying bills on time, homework, calling family to chat, and video games? HA! I've already forgotten that Skyrim and Sims 3 exist.

Currently, I have a teaser I'm not pleased with and an outline for the rest of it. By Sunday, I want to be half done. ~30 pages by Sunday. Yeah, I can do that (with the help of Ms. Amanda Palmer, The Dresden Dolls, and The Maccabeats).

Of course, I'm feeling upbeat and motivated to do this now (while I'm at work waiting for the toddler to wake up) but when I get home it's going to be "but I'm tired, I could play Skyrim..." le sigh.

Expect tons of updates if I get stuck, or don't expect to hear from me until February when my writing schedule slows to allow for filming.

Oh yeah! The Amulet!

It's coming along great. I have our WGA Registration number and we har started to cast :) We're almost there on our Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1214577909/the-amulet) $1435! Woo!

Soon, we'll be fully funded and it will be amazing! We shoot in February and until then it's all about prep and planning (which means I'm pretty uninvolved right now).

I'll keep you updated though!

Kickstarter! Complete Script! $17k!

Wow, this past month has been a whirlwind. I completed The Amulet script (barring minor changes that will happen after we have actors), we raised 85% of our budget, and we've launched our kickstarter campaign for the last $3000.

Seriously, this is exciting! We've raised $17,000! We just need that last little bit for film and processing (or car rentals and expendables, or food, or however you want to slice the budget).

We're almost there! Can you help us out?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1214577909/the-amulet

Websites, Facebook, Concept Art, and Projects on the Horizon

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading the blog, I hope you continue to do so. The Amulet, a short film directed by Andrew Dean and written by Alexandra Napolitano, can now be found at The Amulet Film as well as on Facebook at The Amulet stop on by and give us a Like!

I submitted the fifth draft to the director (and my directed study group) last night and I'm pretty sure I've got it. Just the polish, a table reading or two, and my part is (mostly) done!

Next on the agenda is working on the pilot based off of The Amulet. I'm so excited to move forward within this world and to be able to create something really cool.

Synopsis and logline of The Amulet will be posted as soon as I can get the approval of the director to submit the script to the WGA for registration.

Oh! We also posted the concept art over on Facebook! You can check it out here.

The Amulet!

The short that I've been blogging about has been officially titled! Woo! We're calling it The Amulet. The website will be up soon,  we're still tweaking the set up and finagling content and whatever else the template allows. For now, you can follow the film at @theamuletfilm, the writer (me!) at @aknapoli and the director at @_andrewdean all on Twitter.

I saw some more concept sketches today for possible posters and promotional material and it looks amazing. I can't wait to show everyone. This weekend I should be able to post a quick little synopsis of the short and if you keep your eye on the twitter, there might be a sneak peek into things as production gets closer.

Is it February yet?

Concept Art!

Just dropping in quickly to say that we got some concept art today! It's looking amazing. As soon as the art is finished, I'll post a couple of images so everyone can see it. I'm super excited to see how everything turns out.

Off to work on draft #4!

Writing is hard, yo

Quite a few people I've talked to over the past couple of weeks have exclaimed how if I make it into the industry I'm going to have the best job. They ramble about how I'll get to stay home, wearing pajamas and writing all day.

These people, they don't know what they're talking about :)

First off, writing is HARD. It's difficult to make everything sound genuine. It's complicated to give your characters a voice and an outlook on life and have them stick to it when it would be so much easier for your story if they were just a little more easy going/confrontational/purple.

Beyond that, though it's rather difficult for me to get into the right frame of mind to write. I'll spend two hours looking over my notes, rereading my script versions, and trying to figure out where and with what to begin. Then, finally, it'll hit me and BAM I've written six or seven pages in an hour... and they're good.

I've been trying to write a little every day, to get into the frame of mind that writing is just something I do - like checking my email. But even so, I still have to be in the right place to write well. I can produce endless pages of crap (which nothing ever comes of) if I really wanted to, but I'd rather use my time wisely and try to wait for the lightning to strike as it were.

Deadlines help. If I know I have to get something done, my brain just kind of shuts up and allows me to work. Sadly, artificial deadlines don't produce the same sort of urgency - which is really too bad.

I got notes on the third version of the short I've been working on yesterday, I think I'll end up writing the fourth draft this Wednesday or Thursday (depending on how depressing Tuesday is).

I've also got my first day of class for The Writer's Room tonight. Yay? I'm looking forward to it, but I'm hesitant to say whether or not I'll enjoy it. Then again, I'd better because this is what I've been hoping will be my career for the next forever. It's an undergrad class taken as a directed study, so hopefully it won't be filled with Freshman.

Alright, it's time to prep for class. Next time I update I will have a fourth draft and a TITLE. Wooo!