Oliver here. Douglas Adams once said, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” Working with a specific time restriction in mind forces you to be creative. That isn’t always ideal, but in this case it helped knowing that specific day when the 1st draft had to be finished. I wasn’t exactly optimistic about finishing by then since it would requite hours of work to get to a point of completion, but as it turns out those hours were worth it. Kristen and I began working last Wednesday and finished late Saturday night around 11ish.
There’s an odd moment when you finish a project, even if it’s just a 1st draft. There’s such a creative high you get from working that when it’s over you expect a spectacular finale. Some kind of mass celebration where hoards of adoring strangers exchange high fives and congratulatory baked goods. Instead you type the last word and all that happens is a gradual realization that you don’t have to write anymore. At least until the next draft and by then you have more direction.
When I jumped on board to help finish the 1st draft the page count was at about 60. After a while we reached about 75 pages. Then you get a wonderful moment where you wake up the next day and delete the scenes you just wrote because it turns out they don’t work or you thought of a better idea. That can be a bit frustrating, but it’s all part of the process. Despite my annoyance at the constant onslaught of outlines, many written by myself so there’s some self-loathing there too, we end up gravitating to old ideas. The main plot thread went back to the first outline. This made it easier to develop; yet there were still loose ends here and there. Every possibility must be explored, no matter how absurd. Believe me, the ideas thrown around didn’t all work.
The last writing day was a muted endeavor. Sleep was not on my to do list the night before so I was in a slipstream state of consciousness. The first moments of my morning routine consisted of attempting to wear a shirt as pants, so already productivity was at an all time high. After mass consumption of coffee and tea, the script was complete. There were a few moments where we had no idea how to proceed, or at least I didn’t. You have to plow through those moments of self-doubt. Piece together the narrative and figure out what moves the story forward. It took a day or so for idea that the 1st draft was finished to sink in. My jubilance tends to be more internal so to outside eyes my mood was indifferent even bordering on morose. The exuberance is ever present so even if my nature is not one of obvious joy, it’s a mixture of exhaustion and euphoric understatement.
This is the part where I thank all those involved. First to Allen, without him this story wouldn’t exist. Then to Kristen who brought me on board and trusted my input enough to help her finish the 1st draft. Everyone deserves a mention, but that would take ages so just pretend your names are listed. There have been regrettable complications, but those are inevitable. No production is without it’s various issues, but we’ve overcome a fair share. I’m sure more will arise, but that’s just being realistic. When you pursue a collective idea there’s bound to be the occasional concern. I’m proud to be involved with this project.
The Production Bunch 
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