Back from the meeting...

So...had my meeting with my Screenwriting professor.

Still somewhat processing everything that went down.

I totally jacked up the first seven pages.  Conversion from Celtx to PDF didn't go smoothly.  Remind me to get Final Draft when my tax return comes in.  I can get it half price since I'm a student.  Ended up with 107/125 because of that.

When he went into the story, the first thing he said was, "Are you familiar with a filmmaker named...Dario Argento?"

My brain totally ejaculated.  I perked up and showed him my Suspiria tattoo.  He said "So I'm sure you're familiar with the giallo film..."

Why didn't I have this guy last semester?  He knew Deep Red and Suspiria and referenced individual scenes, too.

We talked about different angles the story could take.  Could it be an outright giallo or something more of a mystery where the giallo elements don't pop up until the end?

Though he did bring up the police procedural thing like last semester.  He feels I should make the script more about the investigation.  I've never wanted to go in that direction.  Maybe my attachment to Gia has been blinding me to the fact that leaning toward the investigation would make better sense.  Gia was never even mentioned in the meeting.

He did also think I should change the location.  I understand his reasoning (moving it to a rainier city, like Seattle, would force everyone to wear a raincoat, upping the giallo ante), but last I remember, prostitution isn't legal there.

That's another thing...the prostitution angle.  I had to set it in Nevada because of the brothel element.  I've done some research (and boy are my wrists tired) about the subject.  I might need to do more, but there was a bit of a disagreement involving how the working girls get paid.  I'm used to watching Cathouse, where she takes the guy to the back room and they negotiate services/prices/etc.  He said that doesn't happen...That one I might have to be stubborn with.  Worse comes to worse, I could tell him to Netflix the show.

He did mention how gialli are often known for their set pieces, and how I need to put an emphasis on these.  I agree on that.  The death scenes are elaborate.  If it were already a movie, the first and last two death scenes would certainly be talked about on Dark Dreams.

He did enjoy my love of the genre, and was looking for a book about gialli he had lying around, but couldn't find it.

Anyhow, I did get some good feedback.  And he did say I was on the right track but that the detective story wasn't quite there yet.

He said he looked forward to reading more.

All in all, quite informative.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm freakin' starving.

Later.
-Justin


P.S.-Amazon.com has Deep Red available to pre-order on Blu Ray for only $14.99!  GET IT NOW!