Spoiler alert.

Denis indicated that he is covering the screenplay, "Johnny Blood," in an article. 
He needs quotes.
Denis and I had talked about his favorite Packer player, John Victor McNally, II, Johnny Blood.

He gave me permission to work on a screenplay adapting his book, The Vagabond Halfback:  The Life and Times of Johnny Blood McNally.
I didn't know that screenplay adaptations are the most difficult to write.
Denis noted what he would like to see happen in the play on twenty post its.

I wrote word after word.  In lists.  From the dictionary.  From old books. 
Signed up for a online class with Gotham Writing site.  Was told, "Come in late and leave early." 
Okay, that would be year "1929."  Green Bay's first NFL championship.

So now I need to do some research.  Microfich.  The Green Bay Press Gazette play by plays from Arthur Bystrom.  And the New York game by George "Cal" Calhoun.
Three Bears games.  The Polo Grounds, Wrigley Field, early football, the officials, the team standings, Chicago, Manhattan, Green Bay at forty thousand people, the players, the coaches, the owners, the game, and the size of the ball.  Mary Herber finds "soda shops" on Main Street in Green Bay from business directories of the year.

Before I had started this project, I had taken another play to Los Angeles.  Jonathan from "Larger than Life Productions," or something like that told me that my character didn't have an arc.  Johnny Blood's character is not unlike Forrest Gump.  Johnny inspires the best with his joie de vivre.

The story felt like it was close.  I sent it to David Trottier--he gave me six out of ten on it.
I had to find the story (it still looked like a list of games).

I worked for another year and had Arthur McClenaghan's favorite screenplay analyst look over the first fifteen pages for five hundred dollars--the guy's name is Robert Flaxman.  His comment was that there was nothing outstanding about the character.  I figured I had some more work to do.

I figured it would be a good idea to look at a number of "story books" and "tip books:"  Syd Field, McKee, Truby, Schetcher, Xander Bennet, Michael Hauge, William Akers.  I read the titles Your Screenplay Sucks!, Screenwriting Tips, You Hack, Writer's Compass, Foundations in Screenwriting, 20 Master Plots, and My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, among others.


Denis asked me, "Do you think at some point that you need to question the questioners."
I know he is right.
To me its always been about working harder than the smart people.
But this is what I know.  That when the story is fun for me to read, when it answers all my questions and makes me cry, then I will be done. 
It's not quite done.