Forgive the lack of updates over the past week or so, while I haven’t been posting I have kept myself busy…
With the intention being to start planning and drawing pages next month, I decided to prioritize and focus on completing the script I’d formerly been piecing together alongside my concepts and research. As important as all other aspects of the project are, without a script none of it would count for much. Perhaps referring to it as ‘1st Draft’ is a little misleading since I reworked a lot of the material before I wrapping it up. In many ways this might be considered script version 1.5 given the number of rewrites the earlier sections have seen, though being completely honest a few of the later scenes and their dialogue could still use a little more polish before I take it into production.
What I am confident of though is that structurally speaking the script is sound, following a satisfying arc of developments up to the climax and conclusion. It’s still got a few problems but the story feels like it’s firmly in place now with the issues being in the surface details rather than its thematic DNA so to speak.
As you can likely see with the sample above the format is relatively loose compared to a typical film script but this didn’t strike me as an issue. While I have written more rigidly organised scripts in the past, since this is primarily for myself with a comic in mind instead of a film I felt like something closer to prose would be more fitting, while generally being easier to write.
My biggest worry right now is the length, as running around 83 pages it’s somewhat bigger than I’d planned; it’s all well and good planning to write a 50-60 page script, but once you find a flow it’s difficult to suddenly put the brakes on. That’s not to say I believe it’s unmanageable with over a year set aside for production, but it will require discipline on my part. I’m taking a risk, but I’d rather that than playing it safe with a more modest script I’m dissatisfied with.
It’s also worth baring in mind that much of the content is description (something I’m often guilty of overdoing) while should my schedule go awry there’s a fair amount of content I could afford to cut away without impacting the larger story much. It remains shorter than your typical feature film at least and changes are pretty much guaranteed when it comes to the drawing.
For now I’m focusing on refining a second draft for next week to make sure it’s as solid as possible when I start the actual pages. At the very least I’ve organised my ideas into something coherent now, bringing me significantly closer to realising this thing :)
Growing Branch 
It’s still much more detailed than what I expected for a comic script! The 83 pages is the text version or how many page is planned to be done? Since you say most of it is description.
@demontales: Thanks, though the detail I write with can be as much a weakness as a strength. Occasionally I have to take a step back from it and remind myself it’s a script and not a novel ;)
It’s 83 pages of script text anyhow. In film the rough rule is 1 page = 1 minute, but in comics there’s a great deal more fluctuation in page count given the variable timescale.
I’ll estimate 1 page of script = 1-2 comic pages for now but I won’t be able to say for sure until I’m further into production.