trying to write a screenplay

Keith and I had a good, productive meeting today about a movie idea I have. I didn't know what to expect, and our meeting certainly wasn't what I would have expected had I expected anything specific. I have a direction to go, which is good.

By way of background, this is my "Bleed Me a River" project. It started with a song that I've been writing for ten years or so. Yes, sometimes my songs take a long time to write. Anyway, the idea behind the song was to write a Louis L'amour novel in song form. And, yeah, it took a bit of a negative turn. About two years ago, we were in Keith's basement before or after the film class, discussing Spaghetti Westerns. I mentioned the song, and that "Bleed Me a River" would have made a great title for a Spaghetti Western. The guys agreed, and in minutes I had the basic idea for a plot. Coincidentally, it bore a strong resemblance for the story behind the story song I had been trying to write. Since then, I have been trying to figure out how to write a screenplay for the movie.

Through a series of emails and brief discussions, I got to the point where I had a two-page treatment. It includes (not in this order) an opening scene, an ending, and a general description of how we get from the beginning to the ending. I also included a few notes about the main characters and some potential plot holes that will need addressing. But I was stuck as to where to go. Do I try to flesh out with descriptions of other scenes? Do I start writing dialogue? Eeeek!

Keith graciously offered his time to help me figure out what to do. I honestly didn't know what to expect. Would this be a writing session, where we're sitting at the computer and putting this together? Would it be a technical discussion where we map out the plot?

We didn't accomplish either of those. Instead, it was a session where we talked about how to write. How to go about getting this swirling amorphous story from my head to paper. Ideally, he said, I should take three days locked in a room doing nothing but banging this out. Then we can deal with revisions, corrections and such. In reality, that's not going to happen. But if I can get a couple of uninterrupted hours each week, I can make some progress. We also discussed some of the plot specifics and holes, and how to develop the characters.

In a sense, it reminds me of what Maimonides considered the highest form of charity -- helping people to help themselves. Instead of helping me write the screenplay, Keith was helping me to figure out how to write it.

At this point, I hope to sit down and work on some dialogue, but instead, I spent this time writing a blogpost about it...