Writing Teenage Bodyguard - A Screenplay

The Writing Process - On Names, etc. - Part 11

I thought I'd say a few things about names in this basically non-fiction screenplay. 

I have research on who did what from public documents, newspaper articles, books and court documents. I have the names of those I knew during the time of this screenplay.

In writing the screenplay I just put in all the real names in the first draft. On the second draft, I stated to change them, replacing people I knew with other names in testing those new names out. I wanted names that would evoke the original person to make it easier on me in the writing but safeguard the original individuals.

On the third draft I knew I had to resolve that now. So I made a list.

To help me keep it straight it seemed reasonable to make a list of scene locations.  Another issue was timeframes. I was in one scene at 18, another at 19 and yet another at 27. Another character was 25 then 26 though it makes little difference for him in that.

I just put the names as they were under each scene location, then their ages if I knew them. So I was in three scenes with three different ages in the list. Since I had changed a few names more than once, in parentheses I put previous names I was using in order of creation.

Then I went over the list and compared it to the screenplay so far and the documents I had. I actually used Ancestry.com for a name in my family to get the correct age for that date in the past. Then I went through all the names and tried to think up replacement names for the real names where necessary.

Finally I had a viable list with all the names and all the names that were changed to protect the innocent. Except for two which I left as they were mentioned but not in the film.

I had to go through the screenplay at that point and do a find and replace.

About that, maybe I mentioned this in previously parts but I had done a search and replace and screwed up some words throughout the screenplay. Dumb move. This time I was sure I selected find whole word and the same capitalization.

I had to do several run through to complete the task.

Monday, January 26, 2015, 8:50AM

I have added this to my mobile app as well as a tab for the Facebook URL:

http://bit.ly/18kt6mf

After an entire weekend spent writing on the screenplay, finishing up the third draft, I'm relieved to take a day and night off at very least and let my mind cool down. I feel like I've not had a weekend off at all. But the progress has been energizing and a kind of "high" once I completed the third draft yesterday. I feel more relaxed today. I believe I've made some very good progress.

I had thought I'd be done with this draft but considering I’ve added a possibly much needed court room scene, and still need to flesh out the end and cut some exposition or deliver it in a more creative and intriguing way, maybe one more draft and then off to the production company?

Overall, this is the most pleased I’ve ever been with a screenplay project. I think it is highly marketable and only getting more so with each draft.