Fade out

This week on the Jonah script, I arrived at FADE OUT, those blessed words that seem so far away for so long that you can't even really allow yourself to dwell on them. You just write a little bit more each day, and if you are able to string enough of those days together, eventually, inevitably, FADE OUT comes.

It came on page 49. Likens are a little different than regular screenplays, weighing in at about an hour, or around 60 pages. This version has song notes, so when the actual songs go in, along with action descriptions for them, it will be probably about 60 pages.

The day I finished the script, Thursday, we coincidentally had a conference call with a former NBA star and prominent Christian about possibly playing a role in this show. We ended up needing to send him some of the movies along with a script, so the timing of FADE OUT was fortuitous. I would have liked to give the script a day or two to settle, then reread it with fresh eyes and give it a polish before sharing it. But opportunity was knocking, so I took another hour and made a couple of small tweaks, then printed it out and shipped it off.

So far, I've received feedback from a couple of people close in the company, and the early feedback is good. It will be a little challenging to make, in terms of production costs. It will really require the series to be embraced by a much larger audience this holiday season in order for "Jonah" to see the light of day. But I really hope that happens.

To that end, we're pushing our little company about as hard as we can. Yesterday, we shot our fourth and final (for this round) set of commercial bumpers at the studio. It was for "The First Christmas." I didn't finish the script for the bumpers until the day before we shot them. A little close for comfort, but during this crunch time, most things are.