You know that old psychological trick where you flip a coin, not because you want it to make the decision for you, but because you want to be forced to confront which option you really wanted?
Yeah, reading books about screenwriting has been like that for me. I don't feel like I learned anything useful from "Save The Cat," for instance, except "yes, Hollywood screenwriting is its own stylized artform and, no, you absolutely do not want to work within it, especially not for Parallax."
These books would've been great if I'd wanted to write the next Guardians of the Galaxy. But honestly, if we're going it alone, without a studio -- and Peg may feel very differently, here -- I want it to look more like Star Trek by way of Jean Cocteau dressed up like David Bowie, glitter makeup and all. We don't have to care if you don't like it. XD It took so long for me to learn that this is OKAY.
I think watching Orphée with Peggy might have really screwed my head up. Productively so.