Deep in Camp NaNo Territory

It's Day 11. Normally when writing a novel, this would be the time where I'm either playing catch up to meet a word count or already throwing in the towel because I'm stuck. But this is a script project counted in minutes rather than words. So far there are 27 pages of a first draft, and thankfully I'm right at the start of a natural ending that both satisfies the specific script and easily leads into an episode two.

Two days ago I thought it was the end of the project. I got stuck trying to think of what act three would look like, and I didn't have a clue. So I moved from working on the script itself to working on the show bible, which I want to have ready even before I send this in for script coverage. It's fascinating to me how easy it was to get into creating the show bible, even though I don't really know what I'm doing. Before starting, I tried to get advice about it from articles and examples, but I quickly found out that the one example I looked at (Freaks and Geeks) was actually not the norm. So I'm winging it and making it short and sweet. I thought it would be hard to not only write synopses for the rest of the first season, but also a quick overview of potential seasons 2-5, but it was easy. Which leads me to being really attached to my characters and this story line.

Since I'm so attached right now, I didn't think I could see the obvious fatal flaws in the script. Nope. They are there and they are glaring. First, my writer character loves to over-explain the writing industry to the non-writer character. This kind of has to be done in a way, but it needs to be done in a more humorous way. That leads to the second fatal flaw--the script is not immediately funny. Reading through it, it doesn't lend itself to laughter. Of course if you picture an actor delivering the lines in a specific way, it is funny. However, no one is in my brain (thank goodness) and can't see it the way I do. I have to make the page lend itself to my vision. That's a headscratcher right now.

The last element I'm struggling with is the balance of swearing and adult content. Right now I'm on the fence with it, making it easy to sell to either network or streaming. Personally I would prefer it to be on a streaming service so the characters can get as wild and carefree as they want. But am I supposed to be thinking about this? I don't know what kind of influence or involvement a writer has beyond getting someone to take a chance and optioning the finished script. If I cater the writing to one type or another, am I setting myself up for failure? I don't know, and I can work this out during revisions, but I just want to get this one right.

So that's where I am at the moment. We shall see what the next few weeks brings.