Whose World Is It Anyhow?

Whenever I type FADE IN on a new screenplay I'm entering a whole universe created to serve the story I want to tell. Sometimes it feels like I'm choosing the proverbial Door #1 or Door #2, because whichever one I go through will be my character's world for 120 pages. I have to choose wisely, or it'll be like planning a vacation to Tuscany and landing in Wasilla, Alaska. It might be interesting in a 'where's da bear?' kind of way, but it ain't no Michelangelo.

I'm writing a fantasy comedy, and to paraphrase the great Steve Kaplan: Comedy shows us who we are. Drama shows us who we want to be. Comedy is the ordinary person struggling against the odds and being forced to use whatever means necessary to achieve success. Comedy is the truth about being human. So I keep that in mind whenever a scene sounds forced or phoney: is it real?

Anyway, back to page one....I want to show my protagonist in his natural environment and how he navigates that environment in the best way he can. If the audience doesn't immediately relate to him (it happens to be a guy in this story) on a gut level, it's an uphill battle to get them invested in his or her journey. The old "first impressions" rule applies.

Looking back over most of my stories, I seem to gravitate towards seeing my protagonist alone or emotionally isolated in one way or the other. Do I marginalize them so I can bring them back in? Could be. We root for the underdog because we've all felt like that at some point in our lives. And if you haven't, then you're not a human I would like to spend an evening with. Then again, you're what I call the 'delusional' character who we meet living their life like they have everything under control - but the audience knows there's a brick waiting to fall on his or her head. The metaphorical brick is the circumstance that will bring them down to Earth so we can like them...an ordinary person. Then we're cheering him or her on towards their goal like our life depends on it. That's why we leave the theatre smiling and feeling satisfied...unless it doesn't work, and then we leave feeling like we spend 2 hours on a crowded Greyhound bus next to a guy who smells like a rancid baloney sandwich.

I can only hope my first draft won't be that sandwich.

Spring Has Sprung...cleaning out my closets and my mind.

Okay, anyone who knows me knows I'm not really cleaning my closets. I save that for before I go on a trip, because I'm paranoid of dying in a fiery plane crash and having strangers going through my closets saying "Wow, what a pig!". Notice how I'm more upset about the stranger's opinion of my housekeeping than I am about the plane crash?  If it wasn't for company I'd never clean my house...sad fact.

I just finished a rewrite on one of my optioned scripts, so now I'm feeling in the mood to start on something new. Here's where the cleaning comes. I have a half dozen scripts in various stages of disrepair: unfinished, only the outline, snippets of ideas in the form of loglines etc. They're like abandoned puppies all jumping up saying "pick me! pick me!". But much like a puppy I know it'll be a long commitment when I do choose, so I better be smart about it. Should I go with the one that has the most commercial value, or the one that would be a tough sell, but emotionally satisfying to write. Comedy, drama, or thriller? A few years of experience has taught me that the "idea" is the smallest part of the process. The execution is everything. The most important question: Can I pull it off?

Life is too short to work on something that feels like you're chewing glass - so I'm going with the one that will be a blast to write! It's going to be a high concept fantasy comedy feature - but the downside is that it's going to have a studio sized budget, and last time I looked I wasn't having lunch with Spielberg and my agent at the Ivy. But at least at the end of 6 or so months I'll have it in my back pocket in case that lunch ever happens....pass the Grey Poupon.

Getting Noticed...or "HEY I'm here!"

Years ago it became evident that my solo writing factory, churning out scripts, was useless until I found a way to get my product on the shelves. Back in the day,query letters (in real envelopes!) was NOT working. Especially when the assistants saw my return address. I couldn't waltz into an L.A. office and pitch my stories face to face.

Then I noticed a few names popping up on the Internet - names of writers who had won scholarships or screenplay competitions. It wasn't the prizes that caught my attention (and quite often the monetary prize wasn't that impressive), but the fact that in most cases producers would read the winners. Winning or placing high in these contests was also a way to validate my work. How did I compare to the thousands of other writers out there? Was I delusional thinking I could make this a career?

So which ones to enter? First I researched and found regional contests, then scrolled through screenwriter's forums (Moviebytes is a good one), for writer's comments on which of the hundreds of contests were worth entering. Then I held my breath and submitted.

Was it worth it? I won a Praxis Screenwriting Fellowship (in Canada), for a comedy that was optioned by one of the judges. Unfortunately she couldn't get it together to produce it, but it was picked up again and is presently in development with another company. A couple of shorts won or placed in the top three with contests, and in 2009 my supernatural thriller,Peripheral Vision, won a Bronze with the Page International Screenwriting Awards. It also won the top spot in the Thriller/Horror category with the StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest. I recommend them in my "Resources" links, not just because I won and I'm a big ass braggart, but because they are two of those highly respected competitions that get good reviews from other writers. When you do query producers and/or managers and agents, it's nice to have those successes in your first paragraph. It's human nature for industry professionals to want to deal with writers who show they are serious about their craft. Until we get something produced, this is one of the ways to do that.

I think of my writing as being on the end of a looooong rubber band that has to be sprung out there in any way possible. It's a lonely business, and once in a blue moon (my moon) it's such a boost to get an acknowledgement that you're on the right track.

Oh, did I mention I lose more competitions than I win? But hey, at least I'm in the race! And something about that gives me a jolt of optimism.