And then Dan Fields reappeared to help us out.
Mr. Fields had presented a workshop earlier in this process and was able to come in and give the festival a week of hands-on help with whatever happened to be ailing them.
He had the privilege and honor of sitting through the first reading of Draft 10, the draft soon to be known as the former final draft.
The good news? We told the story appropriately. He understood the narrative. So point for the good guys.
The bad news is that we got the theatrical equivalent of a 'see me after class'. We asked for notes and he gently said that he'd give them to Dewey
He sat with Dewey for 45 minutes after the reading.
Without beer.
Not surprisingly it made an impact. There are only so many times you can see someone make the confused face before you get nervous. And (for the click averse) if the person making the confused face has big names on his resume you get that extra little bit nervous.
Dewey got nervous.
He wrote Draft 11 in 8 hours.
Draft 11 of course being a complete retelling of the story in a wildly different style. Impressive really. The show went from being "The Life of Brian: A Rock Star's Tale" to being "No Exit: Mars" in eight hours.
It wasn't what we were looking for for the show, but it showed very clearly what worked and what didn't in a straight linear version of the show, allowing us to be honest about what was working. It also show a much lighter touch with dialog in and amongst the polemic we've (where we = Dewey) woven throughout.
Which meant that the NEXT day Draft 10 ate Draft 11 and became what it ate. Keeping the bigger, more 'theatrical' elements of Draft 10, and the defter dialog from Draft 11.
Which by my math makes Draft 12 "No Exit from the Life of Brian on Mars".
Which may not be high art... but I'm pretty sure you haven't seen that show before.
If we're going to fail?
We're going to fail in technicolor.
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