Composing : Anyone else realize a piece only worked after you cut something? by Kat Spencer

I've done that with scripts, Kat Spencer. I save the scenes and ideas for other scripts sometimes.

Absolutely. I’ve developed the logic of my current script to the point where it feels like I have two different worlds under the same title, each with its own details.

I’m not afraid to cut parts, add new ones, or flip the story upside down. What matters most to me is maintaining the most accurate and coherent story logic.

For me it is easy, I did the least of writing on the holocaust screenplay The Final Solution, and the most of the editing. TFS started as a p145 screenplay written by Jerel Damon, it ended as a 97 page screenplay. How is this possible without loosing crucial plot points? I think because of a clear and strong basic structure; even after all the cutting, and taking on a third wtiter, the basic story, the basic structure, stayed the same; the third writer even found parts where she could add story lines to make it stronger by cutting other lines, and/or rewriting them in a much shorter, AND stronger form.

The screenplay went from p145 to p125, to p118, to p114, to p97. The last cut was only possible because of cutting in the final escape scene; this was made easy because the really interesting part, the psychological part, took place in the rest of the screenplay; the only focus in this escape scene was who survived, and the drama around it, end even that 'drama' could be shortend.

Now think about Schindler's List, you could call it's 'escape scene' the scene where Oskar convinces the SS to spare the Jewish factory workers, and why; yes, 'key psychology', a beautiful golden scene,; here don,'t cut, but if possible even add detail!!

Now let me just say that after cutting TFS to p97 it's director was satisfied, felt it was "up to par" and ready for production. Which it clearly, ?and proven?, was not yet; when I entered it into the Stage32 "Period Piece" contest, it did not make the quarter finals. But after the final cut it DID make the

Near Nazareth Festival (2025) -"Out of competition category" -- Semi-Finalist "The Final Solution"

I mean in this time of confrontation, I dared to enter a screenplay with the logline:

"After an SS officer's family is accidentally sent to Treblinka, he must save them before the commandant dismantles the camp and kills all inmates."

Yes, out of redpect, even purposely, entering the screenplay in the "Out of competition"' section, I've still played it on the EDGE, just as my screenplay's story did; now I just hope it wasn't only a 'tactical decision' of the jury to reward it.