I finished the major overhaul of Ozark Mile and now I’m in the touch-up phase. Act I is about as good as it’s going to get#–I like it, it makes me giggle, and I’m not afraid to show it to people. I couldn’t really ask for more than that.

As with most screenwriters, my issues are in Act II. I’ve rehashed some major plot elements and retooled four characters, creating another character (Pastor Mike) in the process. I’m really happy with the direction I’m headed, but it means going back to outlining and working out plot elements that I’ve already worked on.

Hopefully, as I get better, there won’t be such a need for a page one rewrite#–I’ve learned so much over the last year that what I’ve written in the past just screams at me "what were you thinking?"

The progress bar as actually receded#–but keep in mind it went up to 100% before it dropped back down to 15%.

Books read: Two.

Both good books, glad I read them too#–I now have a good idea what’s been bothering me in Ozark Mile. I won’t really go into detail except to say that I have the wrong character "petting the dog". If you’ve read Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, sorry… you’ll have to read it!

I also read Syd Field’s Screenplay#–a good read, but I prefer the Hunter book. Either is a good choice if you’d like to know more about writing screenplays: I didn’t necessarily learn anything new, but I felt validated (turns out the method I came up with on my own is almost identical to the Hunter method).

I feel obligated to admit I didn’t buy either book: a friend of a friend is moving, clearing out excessive junk, and I was the lucky benefactor. I hadn’t read either tome, so I thought "What the hell? Why not?"

Since I had to spend Father’s Day away from my dad(s), I occupied my time with this little conundrum: How to export a Movie Magic Screenlpay and post it into WordPress without having to type in all of the elements?

The result is a handy-dandy combo of tools I have collected here.

The included files are an amalgam of other tools, cobbled together to create (almost) automatic conversion. You can either post your screenplay in a WordPress post like this: 

Or, you can create a screenplay page that formats and prints (almost) correctly like this.

You must have Movie Magic and Microsoft Word to utilize the conversion macros, but the Screenplay Page template and CSS files can be used independently to write a script in WordPress.

I’ve added the ability to post in screenplay format. Why? I don’t know yet#–I saw it, it looked cool, I added it. Maybe I will post dialogue I’m working on… who knows?

What do you think?

I just finished reading The End of the Affair by Graham Greene and absolutely loved it. His characters are always so flawed, and yet so inviting. It’s interesting to me that many of his main characters are writers#–especially in light of his own exploits in hire of the British MI6. I wonder how much of his writing is based on his own experiences and how much is made up. If you haven’t read his books, pick one up. I recommend waiting on this one until you’re comfortable with his use of language#–he has an odd twist to his vernacular that takes some adjusting, and this book is just so good, I hate to see anyone squander even a moment rereading a passage for clarity.

I’m going to be doing another day on One Life to Live on the 29th; this time I will be playing a court reporter#–similar to what I did for Guiding Light last week. It should be fun, because I know two other people who will be on set with me.

Yay soaps!

How does an actor in Springfield, MO find work? Is there enough work to create a career? Is anyone doing it? How do I start?

The answers come easier than you might think. It’s very easy to get caught up in the idea of working on big movies and television shows—the things we normally associate with the work of an actor. But when you live in a small market—and Springfield is a very small market—it’s easy to assume that since those types of projects happen infrequently, an actor must not be able to work. In reality, acting work is available—just not in the mediums you might think.

Acting, like any profession, involves a range of “levels”. If you were trying to become an architect, you wouldn’t assume the ability to jump in and design the next Guggenheim without first developing your skills on smaller projects—the same is true of an acting career. And as an architect, you wouldn’t assume the majority of jobs to be big-name projects: in fact, the majority of jobs are those you might take for granted (supermarkets, gas stations, small businesses). Again, acting is no different.