Joyride

Sometimes on our worst days it’s best to watch the glow of a child’s face and know that everything will be alright.

Photo by Yaopey Yong on Unsplash

Cloudy day in Arizona. A rarity for sure. Otherwise a normal Monday while living under Covid - kids on Zoom for school, wife on Zoom for work, I’m on Zoom for work, too. Hell, we even put my in-laws in another room and ate dinner via Zoom just to be consistent.

I read Scott Myers’ interview with Jane Therese on her winning a 2020 Nicholl Fellowship for her script “Sins of My Father.” It’s a great six-part interview in which Scott and Jane talk about her background, how she ventured into screenwriting, what inspired her to write “Sins of My Father,” and other items related to screenwriting. The entire interview can be read on Scott’s blog Go Into the Story.

I love reading interviews like the ones Scott publishes on his website because I get a sense of the WHY and the HOW of a screenwriter. In my opinion, screenwriting for TV and/or Film is less about what’s on the page but how it got on the page. Every screenwriter’s life story is unique and inspiring.

Below are a few quotes I pulled from the interview that really stuck out to me, along with some thoughts about what those quotes mean to me and my journey as a working screenwriter.

To start, a bit of background on Jane Therese and her script “Sins of My Father.”

Jane Therese is currently a photojournalist but has quite an “eclectic” background (as she and Scott discuss). She has a website - Jane Therese - which hosts a ton of her photojournalism work. It’s fantastic.

The logline for “Sins of My Father” is: The Young Woman from Ireland grapples with the love she has for her father after bringing charges of abuse against him.

The script sounds absolutely fantastic: deep, dark, yet very human.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the interview I collected. But, do yourself a favor and make sure to sit down and read the interview in it’s entirety.

Scott asks, "It feels like just reading through your personal history, certain personality traits come through...passion, curiosity, empathy, and advocacy."

I often forget that as a screenwriter I’m selling who I am away from the page as I am on the page; meaning, I have to craft a story that represents me as person (or a commodity) that readers - producers, agents, managers - can easily recognize. I wonder what are five words that would describe me as a person, and if those five words find their way into my stories and scripts.

Abuse trickles through the family, generations, relationships. I wanted to show how no one comes out of this a winner.

Jane’s script is obviously very heavy in subject-matter, but no less important. In fact, her script (about family sexual abuse) is something that happens more often than people would think. I think it’s incredibly important that whatever story you write that it has something to say about the world around us. Sure, there’s always a need for films and TV shows that are just pure entertainment - but, I would venture to guess that if you spoke to the creator of silly, entertainment-only show that person would say their story is really about something much deeper and real.

The story couldn’t really have been told from a legal point of view. I find those really boring. I find the psychology of the person going through these moments more interesting.

Yup! Keep it 100. I think when we’re crafting stories we easily jump for what’s recognizable or familiar. And oftentimes that’s just boring. #truth. As writers we can’t afford to be boring. But Jane offers a really smart take on what is needed to craft a story: point of view. If I have an idea for a show, then I have to ask myself what the point of view is and is there a way for me to alter the point of view to offer something fresh and new to the audience. Oftentimes great stories become crappy because the audience is presented with a point of view that’s stale and overplayed.

The other part of this quote that really resonated with me is the idea of using story to illuminate the psychology of a character. I don’t know how many times the word “psychology” was used in this interview, but I know it was more than a few. As I’m developing characters right now for a new pilot, I’m investing a lot of time and effort into know each character’s psychology and how they see the world.

It was a last-ditch effort to say there is an epidemic, I want to be able to say that again. “There is an epidemic. We need to do something.”

Jane’s background involves a lot of documentary work and that sense of advocacy that Scott mentions resonates throughout this interview. It makes me think about my current pilot and ask myself - What am I really trying to say? Yes, we always TALK about theme but how often do we make sure that theme is the driving force within scenes and across character arcs? Like I mentioned previously, stories are always about SOMETHING. Make that something stick.

I have to say, it’s so much easier writing everything down as my treatment and then going to pages.

There’s a part in the interview when Jane talks about how she’s working with a mentor provided to her by the Nicholl Fellowship and the mentor wants her to write a treatment for this script. At first it seems weird to write a treatment for a script that’s already finished. But then I realized it’s not about writing the script, it’s about condensing the story for others to read it.

But, as Jane discusses, the practice of writing a treatment before writing pages helps the screenwriter understand what’s going to happen in the story and when and by whom. In TV we generally write an outline, which is great, but I think there’s a lot of problems just coming up with a story and then writing an outline. For my current pilot I’m drafting my version of film treatment but for a pilot. The intent is to write a literary-like version of my pilot script so that I know exactly what I’m trying to accomplish and why. It’s like getting a 30,000 foot view before moving onto the 10,000 foot view of the outline.

If you want to follow your passion and follow your bliss, it means putting in the hard work and doing it and doing it and doing it, and do not do it with an ego, and don’t think you’re above it all.

So inspiring to me. Right now, at this time in my life, my passion and energy for this is at an all-time high. It’s something I’ve wanted to such a long time - and creating this website and blog is a way for me to keep my fingers moving even when my story brain is stuck. But nothing anyone ever wanted was ever gotten by just wishing it into existence. The hard work of writing and rewriting, and reading and re-reading, and of learning and blogging all means something as long as it’s executed with passion.

This was really a fantastic interview for me because Jane seems like someone familiar, someone I can easily relate to. I come to screenwriting with a varied background and work experience that brings a sense of perspective to my work (I think).

Scott’s conducted six interviews. I’ve already read through two of them. Four more to go. Then maybe one day Scott will interview me for something I wrote and hopefully I can be as gracious as all these fellowship winners and offer inspiration, hope, and advice to emerging screenwriters.

Today’s Accomplishments

• Read Scott’s interview with Jane Therese and took notes.

• Wrote this blog post.

• Wrote a character spectrum for the Main Character of my new pilot by identifying a few characters that would the extreme versions of my MC’s flaws and skills. The intent of the exercise and notes was to create some events that would cause conflict between my MC and other characters.

Tomorrow’s Tasks/Goals

• Write a blog post about writing, creativity, and life.

• Revise the logline for my new pilot. I’d like to have three loglines ready to submit to my group: series logline, season 1 logline, and a developmental logline for my pilot (something that I can use to help steer my treatment document and outline).

• Write an actionable biography for my Main Character and Love Interest. An actionable biography lists out characteristics of a character and how those characteristics could pay off. It’s another way of generating events/scenes by way of character instead of just plot.

Today’s Story Worthy Moment

My in-laws gave my kids bikes for Christmas and they LOVE THEM. My oldest came into the bedroom at 6:00 am asking if he could go outside and ride his bike.

Between Zoom classes my kids went outside and rode their bikes - my youngest is still using training wheels. They were SO happy with huge smiles on their faces. They looked like kids again. Since March of 2020 we’ve been living in an apartment and had to get rid of a lot of stuff, including my oldest son’s bike. And, well, apartment living can be quite depressing, especially during a pandemic. Kids can’t be kids while living in a square box smushed between people above and below them. But today they got to be kids.

Admittedly, our kids are living in an apartment because of choices I’ve made. My decisions were intended to get our kids in the best schools but it came at a price. In fact, living in Los Angeles feels like it’s paying a hefty price for our kids. I struggle with pursuing something that deep down I know I can make work (screenwriting/writing) and putting my family in a challenging situation (high cost of living; living under less than ideal circumstances). I feel guilty most days and struggle with knowing exactly what I should do. It feels like whatever choice I make is the wrong one: wrong for my heart or wrong for my family.

But for today my kids got to be kids. And today I got to be a dad watching his sons play outside, ride their bikes, and smile away the overcast clouds.