I decided to count up the index cards I have for the screenplay in Final Draft Pro (160) and color code the scenes I’ve (roughly) written (42) to learn that means a respectable 26%.
But then after I wrote out 2 more scenes, I realized — since more index cards were being created when people left rooms for example or moments of time passed — I now have 165 cards and 48 written, an even more solid 29%.
No matter how you slice it, I’m getting things DONE.
This has lead me to muse briefly on numbers — I want to get to a definite 50% done tomorrow and I’m hoping an impressive 75% by Monday.
Thus, here are some more musings about age, numbers, relationships, movies, and TV.
Last Friday, I watched “I am Number Four” which was obviously ridiculous, but at least that guy knew where he stood. [And, come to think of it, when Number Six shows up, why doesn’t he ask about what happened to Number Five?]
And tonight, post another scene or two, I will be watching SUPERNATURAL, which I always find inspiring since I love super-good-looking people who fight crimes (preferably mystical ones.)
One number related issue I have with the series, however, is that the boy’s father is in fact only 12 years older than them. (Jeffrey Dean Morgan is 45 and Jensen Ackles is 33). Doesn’t it seem more like they should be dating than going to father/son events together?
This was also something that I was keenly sensitive to while watching I AM NUMBER FOUR.
Alex Pettyfer is only 21 but he looks a UNIVERSE away from any high school student I have ever seen. I don’t just mean the model-y thing; I just mean that he looks way too mature, especially when I think about all the 17 year olds I actually know in the real world. Do any high school students — even the jocks — look this sculpted from marble?
It’s almost like how when you look through a year book of high school students from the 40s or 50s and everyone looks so much older than kids seem to today.
Note: I think this obsession also has lots to do with my not quite getting over the fact that everyone thinks Colin Farrell is 10 years older than he really is (35). I am, of course, writing and re-writing with a specific actor in mind, one who just turned 31 and I think everyone will agree looks exactly that.
Of course, we all know how ridiculous high school casting is on TV — too many 90210 jokes come to mind — with mid-20s adults playing teenagers. Somehow, we’re OK — or we allow at least — that kind of suspension of age disbelief.
[There’s that famous moment in MOMMY DEAREST when Joan Crawford fills in for her daughter on her soap opera gig, playing a character 30 years younger than herself, but that was obvious to everyone but maybe Joan herself casting as a dizzy-headed publicity stunt. ]
I have one personal regret in this age scoring category.
When casting CHAOS THEORY –– a digital feature I wrote and directed for the teen website ALLOY in 2000 — I had settled on an actor I loved for one the leads. We were all set to make an offer but realized he was still 17 (or whatever the SAG defining age for minors was) and that would have required completely modifying the entire production schedule.
And now he’s one of the leads on my beloved VAMPIRE DIARIES — the usually better-behaved vampire brother Stefan. Paul Wesley (then still going by Paul Wasilewski) eluded me until a year and a half ago when I saw him while sitting outside Magnolia in LA on Sunset one night, just before the series was on the air.
I almost said something, but didn’t since all I had to say was “I’m the person who ALMOST gave you your first big break” I said nothing. Honestly, it’s one of my big regrets. Sigh … [And looking him up, I see his agent at ICM is someone I once gave a tarot card reading for about her career, two years before I encounter Paul W.]
By the way, Stefan is supposed to be an eternal vampire yet last season was still in high school (ie, 17). Paul turns 30 in July.
Anyway, in some ways, guys do have this numbers game easier. It seems always crueler on the ladies when they get saddled with children that couldn’t possibly be theirs in real life.
There is no more glaring example of number inequality than THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
Angela Lansbury famously plays Lawrence Harvey’s mother.
How much older was she than him?
3 years.
I rest my case.
[And now back to my index cards … or perhaps I’ll stick to page or even word count as new ways of keeping score.]
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