"Almost" Update

ryan-
this isn't really a question about your movie as much as it is a question about writing. how long should a screenplay be to translate into a typical length motion picture? i think i read somwhere that every page winds up being one minute of screen time. is that about right? i'm worried the script i'm working on might be a bit too short, in which case i would have to beef it up with extra dialouge, but just as something to go by how long were your scripts assuming you wrote them on a standard size composition notebook? if i have to push more dialouge and stuff into my script, i would not only have a little bit of difficulty trying to think up superfluous filler, i would also worry about putting stuff in that's completely dumb and pointless. thanks for any advice

When written in industry standard format each page of script equals about one minute of screen time (give or take). But that only goes for industry standard format.

And since I typed mine out from the get-go, I don't know how long they'd have been on composition notebook paper written in longhand.

Actually, that's not entirely true. When I originally wrote the first few scenes, I wrote them on notebook paper and they took up more space than the typed version did for the same amount of dialogue.

The only way you could really tell for sure whether the script is too short would be to read through it at the pace you want it to be in the finished movie and time yourself doing it. That would give you a general idea of about how long it would be.

If you're like me, you can probably find places to add stuff in the existing scenes if need be. Heck, even tonight, we had a rehearsal and we added some things to what we're shooting this weekend (including what could end up as my favorite sight gag in the whole picture).

And I took two pictures of the rehearsal so no complaining about how there aren't any "behind-the-scenes" pictures (of course, the pics are of Hoferer, Hogwood and Roger Sampson, and I suspect most people would prefer behind-the-scenes photos of Janet or Amy Jo).

And by the way, Hogwood (Patrick) reads this site, so don't say any bad things about him.

You took pictures? Me want see! And yeah, I won't say anything bad about Patrick...unless he sucks. That's not likely, though...I think he really looks the part. I thought of Patrick looking a lot like him when I first read the script.

Well, I learned a little thing about semantics today.

You see, I have been renting a camera to shoot with. I was going to purchase a cheaper model, but time was short so I rented an XL1 and really liked it, so I decided to buy an XL1, but I don't have it yet so I had to rent again for this weekend.

At any rate, the last time I rented, they gave me a one-day rate even though I picked up the camera on Friday afternoon and returned it on Monday.

I called up this week and told them I wanted the same deal, but this time the price was twice as much (and I didn't find out til I got there, which kind of threw me a bit).

Turns out that since I asked to pick up the camera last time on Saturday, they only charged me for one day. The thing is, I couldn't pick up the camera on Saturday because their office is closed on Saturday and Sunday. So this time, I asked for the camera for this weekend and they wanted to charge me for two days even though I would have the camera the same length of time I had it the first time when they only charged me for one day.

So the moral of the story is that you've got to ask for a one day rental rather than the two day when renting over the weekend. You get the camera for the exact same length of time, but they charge you half as much.

(In the end, I did get the one-day rate again after talking it out with them, but it required two trips to Harry Hines, and I don't like going down there).

I only took two pictures, and since I have a traditional film camera, I still have to get them developed. I'll shoot the rest of the roll this weekend and get them developed on Monday. And since my scanner works (I'm having trouble with my firewire card which is why I don't have the video up that I promised), I'll post them as soon as I get them.

And I didn't think you would say anything bad about John. I just wanted everyone to have fair warning. (And actually, I've been trying to goad him into posting. He outright refuses to do so, though. He thinks he doesn't have anything worth saying, as if that's ever stopped me from posting before).

Nothing worth saying? Has this dude read the "Badger" thread? Half of the posts on this site consist of people's opinions on things...or various quotations. Well, if he's reading this, I'd like to let him know he's more than welcome.

i'm having a lot of doubt over my script now. i don't know what the hell i'm going to do with it. i think it's too short, but i have no idea what i can add to it. i was pretty enthusiastic over it, too.

OK, these accusations have gone about far enough! I've being soaking up all of the info from the posts to think of worthwhile posting on my part. (Yeah, that's the ticket!)

By the way, thanks to all who have supported and/or shown interest in Almost. It's been great so far. Before long, Ryan will become the next John Waters or Oliver Stone. Some could say that those two have different styles, but what do they know!

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John C. Hogwoodhttp://www.dfwactors.com/414.htm

Of course, pick two people I hate to compare me to.

Don't get discouraged. For one thing, it may or may not be too short. More importantly, though, when you've spent some time away from it, you might come back to it later and think of somethings to add (or subtract) perhaps things based on suggestions from others (heck, I could add twenty pages based solely on suggestions we've thrown around during rehearsals).

ok, thanks i'm gonna try to take a small break from it, and then maybe see if i can't work it out a little more. hopefully, everything will go ok. i should be finished with it sometime in the next few weeks, and like i said, i'll most likely post it here when i do finish it. thanks for the advice.

good luck with your shoot

Well, we've been shooting since about 10 this morning, and we've been having a great time. We got lots of behind-the-scenes photos as well as some great behind-the-scenes video and a lot of outtakes. Talk more later.

Well, we're finished for the day, and we managed to shoot everything that we scheduled for today. Roger Sampson did a great job as Desmond. Amazingly, Sampson is completely done with the movie. We shot all his scenes today.

John did great on his first day shooting, as well. I think he's really got a good handle on the character. And Jeff was very good again as Sean.

We shot outside again today, and even though it was just as hot, it didn't seem to be as bad as last time. We're inside all day tomorrow, though, so that's good.

Cool. When do you expect to wrap everything up? And whos going to edit it all together? I assume yourself?

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Horror's Not Dead
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We expect to wrap on September 9th. I will be editing it together after that.

What are you going to use to edit it? What type of software?

I'm using Premiere

That was the weirdest thing ever, I posted the question and then when it went to load my new post, you had already answered...

I got Premiere 6.0 a while back, very good software. Easy to use etc. Good luck.

Well, I set it up to email me when someone replies to this thread, so I guess it emailed me quick and I answered right away.