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zoetifex Studios Blog
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- 17 September 2019 /
- by zoetifex Studios /
Well, I'm certainly not deliberately posting every other week, it's just the way it's working out lately for some reason. That being said, I have a few things for this blog.
First, I have to address something that has come up a handful of times since we started writing this script. People want to know the name of the movie or if the movie is going to be the same as the book. I get this because many movies and especially Biopics have a different movie title than the book title. I didn't think it was important to address this but since it keeps coming up I will. We have a working title for the film. What that means is, we have all agreed on what we would like the title of the movie to be, but that doesn't mean it will end up staying that way. Like, the original working title for Star Wars was something like "The Adventures of Luke Starkiller" or something close to that. As you get closer to the production, the title is given a more serious consideration. If the working title still stands up, then most people just roll with it. If not, then a better title is put through the ringer. So, for this reason, I won't divulge the working title of the film. As you can see, it really doesn't serve a purpose to do that. Because, if it changes, and that name is circulating out there, then there could easily be confusion when the movie is finally made and released. So, for anyone who asks in the future, I will point them to this blog post for my answer. :)
Now, how is the story coming along? As I mentioned in the last post, the script was getting very long, and the focus was getting lost. That has since been very well corrected, and I feel the story is on a great path right now. All of the pages that were scrapped have been replaced and the story has advanced even more. In fact, I would consider this draft to be in the home stretch. But please keep in mind what I said before... getting the initial draft done is just the beginning. We have to go through the story with a fine-toothed comb and pick it apart. Make sure that what is there is solid and if it's not, figure out how to fix it, delete it, or replace it. We have to go through all of the dialogue and make sure it's as good as it can be. Other production companies and writers aren't very strict about this (as is evident in the final product), but we want to make sure that what is being said is accurate, and is also believable. I really don't like when you hear dialogue in a movie and you say to yourself "Nobody would ever say that. What are they thinking?" Well, usually they aren't putting that much thought into it. But Lacey and Josh are on the same page as me when it comes to this. Probably even more. So that will take a little time to get right also.
When I said that the story was getting long because Lacey had so many interesting things happen in her life, Josh jokingly said "That's why she wrote three books!" Funny - but true. So, while the movie is based on her first book "The Reason", I have been pulling stories from all three of her books to make a complete story. So hopefully those of you familiar with Lacey will appreciate that. It's making for some great scenes!!
Well, that's all I have for this time around. Thanks again for your prayers and your interest in this story and the writing process. Keep the notes coming.
Until next time...
- 02 September 2019 /
- by zoetifex Studios /
I know I took another week off from blogging, but that doesn't mean things have been slow. In fact, the opposite. This has been a very busy last few weeks. The script was just about complete, but that was just from a story perspective. After taking a long hard look at how it was shaping up, I just had the notion that the story was there, but the format needed some work. So I kind of did a little re-set and since then, I feel as though the screenplay is on a much better path.
Does that mean that we had to scrap everything and start from scratch? Not in the least. In fact, it really helped to do this. I was able to keep much of what was written, re-wrote a bunch of things to make improvements, and added parts to strengthen the story. We had so much story to work with that this was easily turning into a 4 hour movie. And since we are not looking at creating the latest installment of Lord of the Rings, the story definitely needed to be trimmed. And re-shaping things had absolutely achieved that. We are still telling Lacey's story, but now we are more focused on the greatest parts of her story. Once again, i'm not going to divulge much more than that so we don't give away anything. But for those of you who aren't familiar with the writing process, this is on par for how it's done.
I'm very familiar with the fact that some people just write a story to get it out there in a timely manner, without much care about how good the story is. And that's where a lot of movies fall short. But we're all about making sure that this movie will be something that we are all 100% happy with before any production begins. We are not just looking at cranking out "a movie", we are interested in telling the best "Lacey Story" that we can tell. I can tell you that the process we are going through is probably going to continue until we get there. We know you are all in a hurry to go to the theaters, but we still have a ways to go. Even when the story is finished, there's still a lot of work to do before we start seeing this come to life. But I am confident in saying - you won't be disappointed when that happens.
So hang in there, and just enjoy the ride with us.
Until next time...
- 21 August 2019 /
- by zoetifex Studios /
Well, it's been a super busy last few weeks. Lacey, Josh and myself have not been able to meet due to scheduling conflicts, but we knew this would happen before we started. That doesn't mean that we are not progressing. We have been in communication and in fact, it looks like primary writing of the first draft could be completed as early as this week. But don't get too excited, we still have a lot of work to do in order to shape this script up into a screenplay that can be used to make the movie. So we still need your prayers that God continues to guide us to the finish line with the best story that we can tell that will do Lacey's story justice.
That being said, there is still some excitement about getting to this point. It's been a lot of writing. Without a doubt, the longest script I've ever written. So that also means that there is going to be a lot of tough decisions made in order to cut the script down to a usable feature-length film. And that's not going to be easy. But I'm confident it will get done soon. I know "soon" is ambiguous at best, but it's the best word I can offer up right now.
The biggest challenge to writing this story so far has been trying to make it different and getting creative with making it flow in a way that will keep the audience engaged. We set out to make sure that the story we tell will not be like other biopic movies that have been told. So it has to be creative, but the viewer has to also be able to follow the story and in the end, root for Lacey. But I've always said that I love a challenge. Succeeding will just mean that we have created something very special for people to enjoy as much as we will enjoy watching it when it's produced.
We have to work in-between some busy schedules again this week. But after 9 weeks we have made so much progress from putting the story together and writing the script that it just feels like a huge accomplishment. But we need you to hang in there a little while longer. Although I can't wait to write the words "The End" in the script, those words hardly signify that the work is over. In fact, that just signifies that we are about to begin the next phase.
Until next time...