69 pages into a feature, is it worth finishing?

[nix]

Title: Alabama Ave.

Synopsis:

Sick of his trite life, Gregory Grey quits his cushy corperate job and uproots his family, forcing them to move to a white trash neighborhood. As a result, his wife leaves him, sparking a bat of self punishment and suicide attempts. When his young son discovers the nextdoor neighbor's startling secret, Gregory finds a reason to be.

The script takes place in one day, has an oniciant narrator, and several flashbacks. The first 60 pages came really fast, but the last nine were like pulling teeth. Did I just run out of steam? Do you guys think it's worth finishing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Nix

[nix]

please help. I'm going insane.

[nix]

hellllllllllllllllp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  

[Cecil]

well at 69 pages, how much more are you planning to write? another 20 pages, or 50?

maybe you should just put it aside for now, maybe start something else and get back to it later. or maybe what you need to do is have someone read what you have so far, if they like it then thatll probably push you to keep writing.

[nix]

okay, maybe I'm not making myself clear enough.

Judging from the synopsis, do you think this script is worth continuing?

[Weak2ndAct]

Well, summaries can be deceiving, but my advice: drop the narrator, especially if they're omniscent.  It rarely works, and most readers will think 'amateur hour'.  Most of the time, you'll find that the narrator is just basically repeating what we're seeing.  There are always exceptions to the rule, of course.  I had narration for the first and last twenty pages of a script I wrote and ended up just getting rid of it all.  I'm not too keen on flashbacks in movies, 'specially when the tend to just vomit out exposition, but sometimes they work (25th Hour comes to mind).  No matter what, you should try to finish the thing.  Good or bad, it's a finished script, you'll probably learn something when it's all said and done.  Better to have a finished script under your belt that doesn't quite work, rather than one that never saw the finish line.

[Xixax]

Hey, Nix. You're in Nashville, too?

Did you get the e-mail from NFF about the Nashville Film Festival?

[Ghostboy]

So the last nine pages were like pulling teeth...but were the results good? If you're just trying to stretch it out to feature length, you should stop. You shouldn't force a script to be longer than it needs to be. Think about what the focus of the script is; sometimes you'll find that there are other things that need to be expanded, other things need to be deleted, etc. Try to just tell the story you want to tell, and make it to the end without worrying about the page count. Then go back and think about what you need to change. If you don't know how to end it yet, or if you don't think it's turning out the way you want, you can either put it away for a while and work on something else, or else sweat it out through typing/deleting.

But via the synopsis you provided, I don't think you can expect any sort of honest advice. It'll all just be shots in the dark.

[nix]

Thanks guys.

All repys have been helpful. And I think you're right Ghostboy, the synopsis really says nothing about weather or not I should finish it.

[nix]

Xixax,

I got an email via my filmschool. Watkins. Have you heard of it? I've yet to attend a NFF (formally NIFF), but I hope to this year, since I plan on submitting a short film. Nash veagas film geek unite!

[nix]

weak2ndact,

I took all of that into consideration before writing. The narrator serves two purposes, the first being a touch of irony, and secondly as an exposistional tool (I had Y Tu Mama Tabien in mind), and the flashbacks are very nessisary (they're not actually characters thinking back, but are prompted by the narrator). When your story takes place in a 24 hour period, it helps to have flashbacks.

[soixante]

Many good films have voice over narration -- Badlands, Days of Heaven, Taxi Driver, Thin Red Line, Sunset Boulevard.  Flashbacks aren't necessarily bad, either -- think of Godfather II or Memento.  There are no rules.  Whatever works, works.  Quite often, people lay down rigid rules, and then someone like Tarantino comes along, disregards rules (such as having a protagonist to "root for" whatever the fuck that means), and makes a great film.  Breaking the rules won't necessarily lead to making a great film, but slavish adherence to dumb rules like "no flashbacks" and "no voice-overs" is absurd.  What about Ordinary People?  It had flashbacks, and it won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Annie Hall had voice over and flashbacks, and won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.  Midnight Cowboy had flashbacks, and that won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Amadeus had voice over and flashbacks, and won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

[soixante]

Nix, you've got an intriguing premise.  But what is Gregory's motivation?  Why would someone quit his job when the economy is in the toilet, and every job is valuable?  What if Gregory got laid off, and his life went into a tailspin.  Then we can believe that he would take drastic measures.  Everybody is getting laid off nowadays, so that would work better.  When people get laid off, they tend to reassess their life, get plunged into despair, and this crisis can either lead to self-improvement, self-destruction or self-realization.  Let's face it, if someone gets laid off, and they don't have dick saved up, and they've got $1500 per month mortgage payments, well, you've got instant drama and conflict.

Of course, it could also be intriguing if Gregory were self-destructive for the sake of being self-destructive, and quit his job just out of perversity.

[nix]

soixante,

Yeah, I was kinda going for the self destructive thing, but in a way, I like your idea better. Not only is it based a bit more in reality, but it also adds the kick in the balls to the protagonist that my fist five pages was missing.

Thanks.[/quote]

[DigitalFriend]

keep writing.

You're probably at that phase where I'm at.  You know the end is in site.  You just got to make it happen, but you keep beating around the bush.  Just keep writing.  Even if you write 20 shit pages.  Who cares?  Come back to it later.  Fix the ending.  Just keep writing.  If you came to 69 pages, then it's worth finishing.