I've definitely learned stuff, gotten better. Need more experience writing before this complex story concept is within my ability.
Need to drill on dialogue. How do I talk my way into Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice.
Time to focus on a simpler story concept, and rewrite x100 the dialogue. On to the next screenplay idea. Then maybe back to the first.
And maybe I'll win entry to The Quest, and have guidance I can afford.
Aurora Dawn by Herman Wouk is the novel version of Network, just as Apocalypse Now is the film version of Heart of Darkness. They aren't adaptations, they aren't remakes, they tell an entirely different story but they tell the same story, the same theme. One is radio, the other television, one is Vietnam, the other Belgian Congo, but they remake each other.
What I'm really saying is I want to read these notebooks of Coppola, The Godfather and Heart of Darkness books lined with his notes - "write down everything you feel, underline every sensation that you felt was strong." Add one more goal to the list.
And that's all I have to say about that.
