Fiction author Robin Brande talks about writing, reading, and other vital matters

The script is done! (If you’re just tuning in, tonight was the beginning of the 48 Hour Film Project, and I was the screenwriter for Tohubohu Productions.) It took me a lot longer than I thought, but Mother Reader (a.k.a. Pam, who is producing the film) and her husband Bill, who is directing it, said this was the earliest they ever had their script ready to go.

Just a little side note, when I was in fifth grade this boy who might have liked me drew me a picture and wrote on it: “You would make a great author. You’re a great student too. You get your work done too.” I kept the note, and it’s now framed in my office.

And while I love that first compliment, it’s really the third one that totally gets to me. Because one of the greatest pleasures of my life is when someone praises me for meeting–or preferably beating–a deadline. So when I told my husband what Pam said about this being the earliest they’ve ever had a script finished, my husband said, “You get your work done, too.” He knows me so well.

So what happened tonight is that Pam and Bill went to some location where this year’s competitors had to draw slips of papers to determine the “required elements” of each person’s film. Here’s our list. Then Pam and Bill called me from the car as they raced home to get started on pre-production.

We tossed around some ideas–most of them were from Pam and Bill, since I initially had nothing to give–and then I proceeded to the most important part of the writing process: taking Bear for a walk. Because walking not only gets the ants out of a certain dog’s pants, it also gives me time to loosen up my brain and get it working again.

A quick 20-minuter, and I was ready to write.

And did for the next three or four hours (not one, like I planned. What was I thinking?). I wrote most of a first draft, called Bill in between because I was totally stuck, got unstuck thanks to him, and went back to work. Sent the first draft over, got Pam and Bill’s notes on it, went back in for one more draft, done. Had it to them by 12:30 their time, which, apparently, beats at least one of their previous year’s schedule by four hours. Sweet!

But now my work is done and theirs is just beginning (they will be getting very little sleep until Sunday night), and I have to get to bed so I can drive to Phoenix tomorrow and still look all fresh for Stephenie Meyer’s Eclipse Prom, but I thought you’d like to know how it went. As far as I’m concerned, it went GREAT. It was a blast from start to finish. Love collaborating with other fun, creative people. Thank you again, Pam and Bill, for including me.

The film will screen in Washington, D.C. next Thursday, then will be available on-line later this month. As soon as it is, I’ll link to it so we can all see how it turned out.

Can’t wait!!

[tags]48 Hour Film Project, 48 Hour Film Competition, Screenwriting, Tohubohu Productions[tags]

Anyway.

Posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 10:34 pm under Writing . Subscribe to responses: RSS 2.0 Comment Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.