A Fork In The Road

So the Pillow Crisis outline is nearing completion. It's looking quite lean and mean, and I think we've got something quite special herre. The movie appears to be greater than the sum of its two co-writers, which is the best possible outcome for a collaboration.

Meanwhile, the Academy's screenwriting competition (the Nicholl) is in early May 2007, and assuming that I am eligible for entry at that time, I intend to win it this year. That gives me ten-and-a-half months to complete two scripts. Pillow Crisis (none of these titles is real) is obviously one of them, but I need an additional project to occupy the downtime. PC is a project that happens in fits and starts, due to the fact that the co-writers live in different countries and one is raising a young child.

I have spent the past year assuming that my next project would be Waxahachie Air, a work of historical fiction. But synchronicity - in the form of my friends' collective opinion and random encounters with apposite media - suggests that I instead write the most ridiculous idea I've ever had. A movie that can be pitched in three words, and combines two of my most gleefully juvenile preoccupations: Lobsters vs. Butterflies.

The utterly puerile nature of Lobsters Vs. Butterflies seems to suggest a simpler story to write. It draws upon very classical archetypes and stories, which makes the job a little easier. It certainly doesn't require as much research as Waxahachie Air, although it will still require a lot. But the research will be more fun.

What gives me pause is that Waxahachie Air is clearly an easier sale to Hollywood. On the other hand, I think it's quite likely that WA won't be ready for showtime by May 2007, especially given the pace at which Pillow Crisis is moving. PC is going to be a huge time sink.

Lobsters vs. Butterflies feels like something I can have fun with and more importantly, get done quickly. I would be more than a little disappointed to emerge from 2006 with only one complete script, and looking at my current timetable, PC and LvB fit snugly (but not tightly) in the calendar.

But predicting what your writing experience is going to be on a script is near impossible, in my experience.