Tag: Aaron Walker Sr

Cargo 3120: The Making of a Sci-Fi Franchise #8

CARGO3120Entry 8 The Pains of Cutting…

by Aaron Walker Sr.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)

Though we were able to reduce a grotesquely overwritten script from 117 pages to 90 in the first advanced class, there was still work to be done in the realm of overall story structure. I believe one of the most difficult creative writing skills to master is the ability to know what to put in, and what to leave out of the story. We tend to want to cram all of the ideas floating in our head onto the paper, but in doing so the story as a whole has the potential to suffer.

In the second advanced writing class we continued cutting and refining. But cutting was the hardest part.  As writers, I think we all tend to grow attached to the scenes we write. When inevitably tasked with revising or removing one or more of those beloved scenes, we feel like we’re removing a part of ourselves. That’s what happened when I had to remove an entire scene that I was absolutely certain needed to remain. But it pays to listen to those who have more experience than ourselves. read article

Cargo 3120: The Making of a Sci-Fi Franchise #7

CARGO3120Entry 7 On to the Advanced Class

by Aaron Walker Sr.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)

One thing the writing class experience taught me was the importance of planning before you write. A little preparation in the beginning helps to prevent writer’s block later. But as I mentioned last week, my failure to plan made the revision process difficult.

The first task Daymond, Lloyd Walker Jr. (our artist! and an outstanding one!), and I embarked upon was to go through the script and get rid of any extraneous scenes. You know, those scenes that are kind of just there, but don’t really propel the story forward. And believe me, there were a lot of unnecessary scenes to remove. read article

Cargo 3120: The Making of a Sci-Fi Franchise #6

CARGO3120Entry 6 On to the Advanced Class

by Aaron Walker Sr.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)

The advanced class was where things really got interesting. The class was down to only four weeks in length. On the surface this was a good thing, but in reality it meant you had a lot of work to do, and a short period of time to get it done.

The focus shifted from the mechanics of screenwriting, to matters of story and character development. The first hurdle was clear: The script was just too long. The first attempt at Cargo was meant to be a T.V. movie in hopes to get picked up as a full blown series, which was why the script was 117 pages. So Larry tasked me with trimming that bad boy down to no more than 90 pages. read article

Cargo 3120: The Making of a Sci-Fi Franchise #5

CARGO3120Entry 5 The Rebirth of CARGO

by Aaron Walker Sr.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)

The process of molding the story of Cargo 3120 was in a word: Grueling. I remember reading an article about an Oscar winning screenwriter saying that it took him a couple of years to tweak the screenplay that ultimately won him that illustrious award. I found that hard to believe, but I had to eat those words, because it took us over 3 years to get our story to where it is today (and we’ve never won an award!).

But it all started with the first day of the beginning writing class, which felt a bit overwhelming at first, as it seems everyone in the class was much more experienced than I. In fact, Cargo was the first screenplay/completed story that I had ever written. read article