Genesis

Recent history: In January of 2009, with all the innocence of pure idiocy, I began writing my first feature length screenplay. In my case ignorance was the well from which sprang creativity. In other words, if I knew then what I've learned since, I never would have started. Perhaps all journeys of creativity start from naiveté. Now that I've started though, I plan on succeeding. Here then is that story, as it unfolds.

Mid-February 2009: I type fade out. Thus finishing my first screenplay - The Last Stand. An action/adventure set during the Republican period of the Roman Empire. Pure unadulterated entertainment. Indiana Jones meets Gladiator. I proudly upload the opus to a peer review site and get kicked in the nuts.

No one cared about the brilliant storytelling, the exotic locations or the wise-cracking heroes. All they cared about was the lack of structure, the errors in formatting and the poor execution of the fundamentals of screenwriting. So I bought a book. I rewrote. Seven times.

Then I received my first affirmation that I wasn't a total hack. Found a different peer review site and the script hit their top ten. Then it garnered a consider from a professional studio script reader. That must mean something, right?

Wrong. No one really cares if you have a well-written script. They MIGHT start caring when you have five or six of them. A few agents and managers look at the script. They don't care. Yet.

April: I finish my second script. The story of those who fought back in the Warsaw Ghetto. Well really it was the story of the present day grandson of one who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto. By the time the fifth rewrite was done the grandson was no more. Actually, sixty percent of the script was no more. I truly hope there is no writers hell where we are sent for all the killing and destruction of characters we do, even figuratively.

July: Just finished the first draft of my third! Woot! Months of rewrite hell to look forward too. Now though I have learned a few things.

I need a body of work. Writing is important, but at least as important is marketing - of the writer and of the material. A screenplay writer that fails to realize who he is writing for is doomed to fail. Writers spout off that they write because they must. They write for themselves. It is cathartic and a deep-seated need.

Problem is screenplays are written to reach an audience. I have learned that once the story is written, it is no longer mine. Subsequent drafts belong to the audience and I now work for them. What I found good and bold, is to them tired and uninteresting. Characters I love, they want to see perish. Endings I admire must be changed to fit the audiences needs. So be it.

So now I have a plan. I'll write. I'll polish. I'll change to fit my audience until I have a half dozen screenplays under my belt. I'll show versatility. I'll show that I can produce. All this by the end of the year. Then I'll market. Let's see how it goes...