I've embarked on my next project and thought I'd post my progress here for anyone who is interested to follow. It's also a means to keep me motivated and on-track, whatever that means. 

My next script is called Cold Cat. It's a script I found on the net and the writer has given me permission to use provided it's not a commercial venture (it's not a commercial venture of course). The script can be found here but if you don't want spoilers then don't read the last two pages. 

http://www.simplyscripts.com/scripts/ColdCat.pdf

The short story is a friend agrees to look after some pets for another person while they are on vacation but things don't go to plan and the ending has a quirky twist to it.

My first step was to rewrite the entire script into Celtx. This lets me tag certain words that will be useful in planning production. For example, I can tag the word 'phone' and Celtx will tell me later that I need a prop that looks like a phone.

The other thing I did was 'lego-ise' the script. There are some things you simply can't do with Lego so I took those bits out. I also sanitised the dialogue because my youtube channel is family friendly. I made the two characters female instead of male so it appeals to my target demographic audience. To respect the original script, I changed as little as possible. The modified script is here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/808 … T%20v2.pdf

Remember how I said I can tag words? Celtx generated a report of all the bits and pieces my movie will need. It calls this a catalogue and lists all the 'stuff' I'll need before I can shoot. Here is the catalogue:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/808 … atalog.pdf

It shows me I need six sound effects, six props, etc etc. I can start sifting my collection at home to try and find all the bits I need.

There have been many threads on storyboards so I thought I'd share mine (unfinished):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/808 … atalog.pdf

In drawing the storyboard I can work out the logistics and camera angles. I also picked out a potential mistake: in the original script the first two scenes were both living rooms with a (different) female character. I decided that might confuse viewers so I changed one scene to a bedroom to mix that up a bit. Thanks to storyboarding, that correction took me about five minutes.

Next steps are to ensure the writer supports my adjustments and then cast two female voice actors. That typically takes a few weeks to get demo files and make a decision so while that happens, I'll be organising props and planning sets.

Also on my things-to-do is a shooting plan and shot list. More about that later.

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