B Story to the rescue

Yesterday I wrote five more pages and then I realized that I was almost finished with my script. Except I was on page 44.

I figure I've got about 15 or so more pages to write, which puts me finishing at around page 60.

I cannot stretch 40 pages.

So I took a look at my script. Should I add some more scenes? Should I pump up the dialogue? Is this maybe not enough story to carry a script?

Then I realized where my problem was - I forgot my B story. Then I realized that explains everything. I have two major characters in this script - a boy and a girl - and I've spent all my time on the boy's story. I've had no trouble writing him and his scenes, but for some reason when the two of them are together I've had a hell of a time with the dialogue. I've got bright yellow notes at the end of each of those scenes that say "Fix this. It fucking sucks."

So when I realized I had completely neglected the girl's story, I also realized that's probably why I'm having difficulty with the dialogue they have in common. I know him well, but even though I wrote up her backstory I still haven't spent a lot of time actually writing her character.

I'm going to go ahead and finish what I've got and get to the end of the story, then I'm going to go back and add in the B story, which will of course make some adjustments to the A story, but it should fix both the story and the page count.

In the meantime, I'm stoked to tell you that I'll be having a few interviews coming up. I'll be interviewing the Emmy nominated creator of the Cartoon Network show Chowder and hopefully the CEO of PitchQ, and then I'll see what friend relationships I can exploit after that. So watch for those interviews.

I've got to go write some pages.