I was working on the script tonight and got on a roll. I started adapting from chapter 14 on. When I got to chapter 17 I found material enough to construct an ending that is much shorter than the original book and doesn't drag out near as long! That's one of the biggest complaints I've seen about "Cirrostratus" and for this film adaptation, I've fixed it. The new ending is a moment of redemption at the end of a rather gritty story about people on the fringes of society.

Kobi has told me to sleep on it, but I feel pretty good about it from where I am right now. My first draft is a comfortable length for a screenplay, 108 pages. Most screenplays are between 90 and 130 pages so 108 is long enough that it doesn't look like I deliberately did the minimum amount of work, but it's still short enough to be a summer flick.

Best of all, it doesn't interfere with the sequel in any appreciable way! On the very unlikely chance that "Escape From St. Arned" gets picked up for production too, I could be faithful to the original story and it would work. That just proves how pointless those last two chapters were!

I feel like I've really hit my stride with this project. There's an energy there, a good one. I'm seeing so much more enthusiasm for this than I ever saw for any of my other projects. Even my mother, who has told me all my life to stop daydreaming, seemed supportive and even enthusiastic when I told her about the project and said I wanted to use the proceeds to pay off my loans. It really meant a lot to me that she didn't think I was unreasonable for trying to get out of debt this way.

I'm so excited. I'm almost afraid to put the project aside and if not for the fact that I've got a novel and a translation to work on (plus taxes to file) I'd love to just lavish all my attention on this. I'm shooting for the moon here, and it feels awesome.