Awkward...

Friends! Family! Welcome!

As most of you know, I am currently enrolled in an Advanced Screenwriting class, and, as some of you know, I can't stand my professor. The reason is she just seems to skim over my work and not go into deep enough detail. Also, if there is something wrong with my script, she merely points it out and doesn't really discuss how it could be fixed; she just goes on and on saying that it doesn't work. So, to sum it all up, I don't really care for my professor, and this may be why I had a very awkward conversation with her.

Let me paint the scene for you. It's about 6:45pm. Everyone has been in this classroom since 4:00pm, and it is time to go. However, my professor is taking her time giving all of us individual assignments for the next week. I am the second person in 8 that she talks to, and the last thing I want to do is drag on a conversation with her when my classmates have somewhere else to be. Well, here is the conversation as best as I could remember it:

Professor:
Okay, Raymond. Are you comfortable with starting your second act?

Raymond:
Actually, I'd rather just revise my entire first act for next week.

Professor:
Do you feel that that is enough work?

Raymond:
Well, yeah.

Professor:
Did you change a lot?

Raymond:
Well, I made Lana into a character that is already present from the start rather than a new character in the protagonist's world.

Professor:
But we get the point, right? I mean, the dynamics don't change. Ozzie's always liked Lana.

Raymond:
Right.

Professor:
So is that really a whole lot for you to do?

Raymond:
The thing is...

Professor:
Because, let's say you revise your full first act...there's only ten weeks of school left. You have to crank out a second and third act in ten weeks. Isn't that a little too much?

Raymond:
The thing is that, because I made a slight change with Lana, a lot of scenes have to be omitted, and new ones have to be added in. So, I'd feel more comfortable just revising the first act for next week.

Professor:
So when will you start the second act?

Raymond:
I can start it by next week.

(Long pause)

Raymond:
Look, I can give you a revised first act and ten pages of the second if you want it.

Professor:
But what are you comfortable with?

(Long pause)

Raymond:
Look, I just really don't like talking, so if you could just tell me what to do, I'll do it.

Professor:
Excuse me? You don't like talking? This is a workshop. You are required to talk. I really hope you are being fecitious.

Raymond:
A bit tongue-in-cheek, yes.

Professor:
Okay, because look...I'm sorry if I'm bugging you to get pages done. It's just that my job is to show up every week and make sure you're pushing ahead.

(Extremely long pause.)

Raymond:
I'm sorry, was that a question?

Professor:
Yes.

Raymond:
Um...well, what was the question?

Professor:
Raymond, we are having a conversation here. That means two people talking back and forth.

Raymond:
I know, but I really, really didn't hear the question. I just want to know what it was.

Professor:
What do you feel comfortable with turning in next week?

Raymond:
My first act revised!

Professor:
Is that enough work.

Raymond:
Yes. To me, that's a lot of work.

Professor:
Okay. (starts writing down my assignment) So Raymond will turn in a revised first act. Just make sure you mark the revised parts.

This is as best as I can remember it, so there was probably a lot more to this conversation, believe it or not. As for that part where she said she asked me a question, I asked another student if she did, and she confirmed that the professor asked me nothing.

When class was finally declared over, I stayed after to hand in my revised treatment of the film. I then had another conversation with her that basically started off with her asking, "So, are we on good terms, you and I?" Ughh...I gotta keep remembering...12 more weeks...just 12 more weeks...