Halfway point.

I’ve been trying my best to pretend the other things I need to be working on don’t exist in an effort to get Hit the Big Time finished and so far it’s worked – I’m about 65 pages in. And while the jokes are poor and the dialogue needs some polishing, for the most part they’re 65 pages I’m reasonably hapy with and I certainly don’t feel like it’s been rushed which was my main concern. I have run into a few problems.

1. The page count. It’s 65 pages and I’m halfway through. That means the final draft is looking to be around 130 pages, which is way too long for a comedy. I don’t generally tend to work to a specific page count – anywhere between 90-120 is generally regarded as acceptable and my first drafts are usually around 100 pages long. But in this case I know it’s too long. I also know what I need to cut out of it as well – basically there’s a mafia subplot that has some nice ideas but ultimately doesn’t work. The problem is I’m unsure whether to risk losing the momentum by going back and removing it now.

2. At one point in the script Cooper and Crouch are trying to sell their life story to a producer and he tells them their story hasn’t got a good enough ending. This is also true of the script – I don’t have an ending either! Okay, I have the last ten pages worked out fine, but the last big scene before we get there, the most important scene in the entire film, just doesn’t work the way I've planned it. And as I’m going to hit that scene in the next couple of days I could do with working it out soon!

Otherwise it’s going fine, although I probably need a break as last night I started dreaming about it - never a good sign!

Film I liked most this week - Lasko Death Train. Monks on a train kicking terrorists! Who are also dressed as monks! With exploding helicopters! Films don't get much better than that.

Highlight of the week - Ten Dead Men was on Nuts TV again - this time Lee Latchford-Evans who plays Harris was being interviewed about the film, and they showed another clip!