Part of being a writer is making adjustments, not only to your words but also to where you focus your attention. Over the past year, I have been all-in on screenwriting. Three NEW projects were my main focus. Two of which I worked on with my longtime writing partner Chuck Thomas.
Those two are both high-concept projects where we tried to
tap into the zeitgeist for inspiration. Both have garnered recent interest and
one of them has been entered into a screenwriting contest. It has been a decade
since I've entered a script into a screenwriting contest. Would I have entered
it if the pandemic had never happened? Maybe not. But with the world all off its axis in 2020, entering a screenwriting contest or two makes more sense these days, especially with three new
projects to test the waters.
I made an adjustment last year. At the time, I was finishing
up a novel series and a novella. I needed to freshen things up a bit. The novel
series is part of a package that includes a companion screenplay mini-series.
And the novella is part of a similar package that includes a second screenplay
mini-series.
I was all geared up to focus on the second mini-series after
I recently finished my third NEW screenplay. Over the past month, I have been
going over some of the feedback I received this year on my NEW projects. Even
though more and more productions are starting back up, the pandemic has changed
things in the business in the short-term.
As a novelist, I can think as big as I like. As a
screenwriter during the pandemic, there are understandable limitations to what
can be produced during this era. Hopefully, this era ends sometime next year and we can all return to some version of normalcy. Until then, I am making a slight change to my current writing plan.
The Plan to take me into the New Year includes:
1) Polishing and pimping one of my projects with Chuck.
2) Rewriting the pilot for the third New story of the past
year.
3) Writing one new screenplay that could either become the
pilot to a screenplay mini-series or be its own stand-alone movie.
Beyond this screenwriting plan, I am also expecting to make
a turn back towards literary work at some point next year. The novel series and
the novella are two of three literary projects that I look to refocus on next
year. The plan for those three projects is to have them ready for a staggered
release beginning in late 2022 or early 2023.
I have released a total of six literary works since 2012. Monarch
was released as four separate books over the span of a year. Psykosis was
released in January of 2015. In February of 2018, I did a limited-time-only
release of In the Wake of Newton. I did this as a limited release because it is
part of a novel series/ screenplay mini-series for which I have other plans.
It looks like I have enough to keep myself busy for a while.
I'll try and give another update after the New Year. We'll see how much my
plans have changed at that time.
