First Printed Screenplay of "Back to Normal"

I finished the first draft of the pilot episode of "Back to Normal" today (October 15, 2013). It is one of the many milestones of this adventure that began about 4 years ago. In January of 2009, Ron Pokracki (pictured above, right) and I were driving to a video shoot in the heart of the Bootheel of Missouri and the dialogue that would eventually crystallize into the "Back to Normal" Television series began.


In the photo above I am commemorating that "red letter day" by presenting Ron with the very first printed copy of the pilot episode in the TV studio of the Cape Girardeau Career & Technology Center.

PILOT FIRST DRAFT IS DONE!

With bleary, red eyes, trembling hands, and empty cans of caffeine-laden soda strewn about, the first draft of the pilot episode of "Back to Normal" is done, this 13th day of October, 2013. I really don't know what my rush was, I've only been at this since the second week of January...2011. Almost three years...hmm...let's do the math:

Roughly, 60 pages in 21 months (630 days give or take) = 10 days per page. Ouch.

Now, in my own defense (since I don't see anyone else rising up to protect my pride), in all fairness, it wasn't until about the spring of this year (2013) that I really got serious about writing for this TV show. Yes, I had jotted notes down from time to time, yes, I had spent late night hours and car rides pondering, planning, plotting, and destroying my ideas, but the serious business of writing has largely been confined to the last six months.

Looking back at some of my older notes and journal entries, it is gratifying to see the changes and refinements that have come to this project. Name changes, title changes, character development, story arcs, and countless other facets, facts, and foes have emerged, and matured.

Having written three feature length film screenplays before beginning this project, it has been a steep learning curve of late gaining knowledge and skill in the area of TELEVISION screenwriting. Trust me, a screenplay is not a screenplay is not a screenplay. There are some deep and fundamental differences between the flow and structure of MOVIE scripts and TV scripts.

For instance, movies are typically based on the famous "THREE ACT STRUCTURE" formula, but television, especially hour-long TV shows, are based off of a FOUR or FIVE ACT STRUCTURE (some networks are moving up to SIX acts!). Films have to FLOW smoothly (most of the time) but TV shows have to pulse, they have "beats", and why?

COMMERCIALS

Movies aren't interrupted every 8-10 minutes by an advertisement. The entire TV script mindset is BUILT around commercial breaks. You must have segment cliffhangers every 8-10 minutes, people must be given a reason to not "turn" the channel. And each episode must make you hunger for the next episode...you can tie up your story in a nice neat little bow, but there better be at least a small, mysterious stretch of ribbon coming off of that bow that makes you crave to know "What happens next?!" And then there are season cliffhangers, and season openers, and teasers, and tags, and, and...oh, bother.

I think I've violated most rules of pilot episodes, including the rule to NEVER kill your main character, or main characters in the pilot. But wait, I don't want to give too much away already. I am going to print out the first official printed copy, sign it, and present it to Ron Pokracki, in honor of that fateful day, almost three years ago, when he said: "I had a dream..."

You know, Martin Luther King also had a dream, but his led to freedom...Ron's dream has led to my willing bondage, a self-appointed probation that has been a wonderful literary journey thus far. I can't wait to see where it goes.