INDIAN RIVER ORANGES so far. . . .

Okay, so two years ago, I wrote a feature-length screenplay called INDIAN RIVER ORANGES. This week, it won second place in two competitions, but I have been submitting it to festivals and workshops for just over a year, now. Here's a look at how it has faired so far:


2nd Place, 2005 BLAZING QUILL SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
2nd Place, 2005 ACTION ON FILM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Honorable Mention, 2005 CAROLINA FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL
Semi-Finalist (Top 16), 2004 ALL ACCESS SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
Quarter-Finalist (Top 50), 2005 PAGE INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
Top 100 (Top 50 TBA 8.25.05), 2005 FILMMAKER'S INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
Top 400 (out of 2,000), 2005 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE SCREENWRITER'S LAB

While the two 2nd place nods are nice, I really believe in this script, and I believe it can be better. I can be better. So I've decided to begin working on a major rewrite. I think in a lot of ways my first draft was naive, and my subsequent drafts, while major improvements, were my attempts at softballing my way through the meat of what the script is really about. I've been playing it way too safe with this one.

I'm honestly a little nervous. A major rewrite is going to be a daunting chore. I wrote the first draft in 40 days and have since polished it over and over. But I have never attempted a serious restructuring. It will probably get worse before it gets better. I submitted to the IFP/LA screenwriting lab, and their rejection feedback was that we don't see deep enough into the four central character of the script. Well, it is a script with four central characters, so it is going to be a tremendous challenge to find new ways of exploring what's going on in their heads without adding 100 pages to the script. IFP/LA already complained that the script was "way to long" at 114 pages (that's an hour & 54 minute movie, by the way), so they really sorta fucked me over by saying I need to dig deeper and shorten at the same time. In any case, I guess we'll see how it all works out.