David provided me with some powerful stuff for the end of our first season. The beginning at this point is a splicing of his stuff and a touch of mine. The middle is a good mix of both. But the linkage is proving to be difficult to work through. I’m in the middle of redoing an outline because the changes are quite dramatic given the new stuff for the last few scenes of the season finale.

Perhaps the way we decided to go about this is too far forward thinking. I think I need to step away for a day or two. What I am finding to be the toughest thing about this whole webisode format we’ve settled on is the length. Trying to support such a complex hierarchy of story arcs with under 30 minute episodes – each needing to be self contained isn’t easy. I see why most more complex shows need episodes to be an hour long.

Then, David launched into writing and I built this illustrious website. When I finished the website about a month ahead of schedule, I was ready to jump into writing.

David and I were at lunch one day tossing around more ideas and sources of inspiration and we realized that we weren’t 100% lock-stepping on the story lines. So, David asked me to write some ideas down. So I wrote the premise as I saw it. Then I wrote treatments for the first six or so episodes. I was hesitant to give them to him. I mean this story is his baby and he’s been sitting on it for years. Right? My treatments introduced a lot of new story lines, plot devices, relationships, I mean I severely altered some stuff. I wasn’t sure it would be cool. But so far, David and I had been completely honest with each other about what we wanted to do. Before we even started shooting our first film was not the time to start holding back. Right? So, I e-mailed what I had to David.

David told me he liked some, hated some, and we started squeezing the shit out and trying to keep the good shit together. While this was going on, David started warming to some of the stuff he wasn’t sure about when he first read the treatments. Of course, some of it is still shit to be sure and there’s only so much you can polish a turd before you realize, no matter how it shines, it’s still a piece of shit.

But the parts that were good, are serving the story well. Devices driving the plot and developing the relationships are taking an already strong story and stretching it into a series. I’m excited.

So David is working on his master’s degree and is approaching midterms. He handed me the scenes that he’s written and said ‘go!’

So this weekend I finished the first episode. The execution of the story arc is a bit jerky. But it’s a draft and we’ll smooth it out. I am about 20% done with the second episode. The beginning feels pretty strong but it goes down hill pretty quick. Most of it will never make the finished first draft. But I’m excited. David and I are ahead of schedule. By original timeline, I’d have finished the website just a couple of weeks ago and launched this past weekend. We’d be just starting to write.

I am already thinking about things like casting, lighting, things I know I HAVE to take David’s lead on. I also know I need to stop and keep writing. And that makes me smile. I love this part. The writing. And there’s plenty of it. Write.

school will finish and the deadlines Walter and I have established will be met. not long now