Making changes

 As indicated by differences in my pre-script blogs, there were some changes made in my script. One big thing I failed to notice was that it is hard to access a casino. Most casinos don't allow filming on their casino floors. I am only 17 and in my state, Florida, one must be 21 to play casino games, much less enter the casino. This caused me to need some rewrites. I kept the recovery concept in the script, but changed it away from alcohol. I realized that portraying alcohol on screen without the ability to blatantly show bottles with labels was rather hard. I removed the alcoholism part of the story so I had a recovering gambling addict who reverted back to his old habits in order to pick up the pieces. I also used more therapy as a means of moving the story, which was inspired by the way "The Sopranos" uses Dr. Melfi to advance the story. I also thought that using Gambler's Anonymous would be interesting, even though Jim is the only one who speaks at it. I think that using this as a means of advancing the story is interesting. A large part of me wishes that I'd thought of these issues before I began production. These changes have been rather annoying. It took a lot of creative brainwork to realize that I could use these shortcuts. I also really like the way I'm able to use other media to inspire my own work. I realized I can make this script work without ever showing John explicitly gambling. I can keep parts that suggest he was gambling but get around a lot of the complexity without ever showing anything of gambling. Doing this will make the production come quicker and slays the dragon of a logistical nightmare I'd have to deal with. In the end, I'm glad I was able to find a rework for this, as it is critical to the plot.