Week 2: Review/Preview
Reflecting on progress for the week of January 10 through 16, and previewing goals and tasks for the upcoming week.
Photo by Markus Winkleron Unsplash
Beautiful Sunday in Los Angeles. My wife and I took the kids to the park, had lunch, and played around. Since COVID struck we spend most of our time in our apartment, so anytime we can get out is a good day.
I read more of Beth Curry’s interview with Scott Myers on his blog, Go Into the Story. Yesterday’s post I shared some key quotes from Part 6 of the interview. Today I’m going to share a nugget of wisdom I collected from Part 1 of the interview.
There’s a part in the interview when Scott mentions Beth’s website and what seems like a mission statement she’s published on her website about her work.
“Beth strives to write stories that increase empathy. She loves telling stories that inspire someone to consider the other side of things, giving them a new perspective. She strives to include three H’s in her writing: honesty, hilarity, and hear.”
Reading Beth’s “mission statement” really got me thinking about WHY I wrote the type of stories I do. What are the themes present in my work? What am I REALLY trying to say through my stories?
I don’t have an nicely written statement like Beth, but I came up with a scattershot list of topics and pseudo themes I typically write about:
Ups and downs of parenting
How having kids changes your relationship with your spouse
Father - son relationships
How the past experiences shape a person’s character and actions.
Fertility/Infertility
Starting over/uncovering a secret
The impact of parenting on a child’s development and life
How to be secure with who you really are, not what others want you to be
Thinking about what I write about and why I write about these topics is something I need to do more of and be able to articulate clearly. I imagine any interview/meeting I have with a showrunner or producer or manager will inevitably have that question, so I gotta have something at the ready.
Successes for the Week
Finished an expanded story document for my new pilot, KNUCKLEHEAD. This story is something very near and dear to my heart and am excited to move forward with writing it.
Published 5 blog posts. Goal was to publish 7, so I only missed 2 days.
Met with my accountability group and got feedback on my new pilot and story document.
Met with my writer’s group and got feedback on my script, DADLY. Gotta lot of work I want to do with that script. Going to have to figure out when I can do that.
Got a read request for THE NOISE WITHIN. Super excited about this and hoping this will lead to something.
Started revisions on THE NOISE WITHIN. Got a lot to do, so my focus is just trying to make the story clearer and simpler to read.
Attended a virtual WGA event on transitioning to TV writing from a previous career. Really inspiring panel of TV writers. Hopefully one day that will be me sharing my story and hopefully inspiring emerging TV writers.
Misses
No work on my novella for THE NOISE WITHIN. I think I should push that project back until I’m done with my pilots.
No work on my query campaign research for DADLY. Kinda get backed up with work on my pilots that need to take prioirty.
Goals/Tasks for the Week
Revise THE NOISE WITHIN (or at least do what I can to make it better) and email it to the management company. Fingers crossed!
Publish 7 blog posts - 1x post a day.
Read 1 script. Don’t know which one, yet. I’ve also got notes on the scripts I’ve already read and will publish them on this site when I get a chance.
Write character sketches/bios for my new pilot.
Work on the free Craft Course I got from my accountability group. Anytime I can get something for free to help me improve my craft, I’m in.
Readings for the Week
Read the pilot for CASUAL by Zander Lehmann. Really great, crisp script. I read it a few years ago and based DADLY on it - from a structure and tone perspective. Re-read it again and took notes to help me with my revisions for DADLY.
Read more pages in the book “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. It’s a great read, and I spend a lot of time highlighting and taking notes. There’s tons of information that can be used in storytelling, specifically in how to introduce agendas/strategies between characters. I plan to do a full write up this year on this book and how I think it could be useful to screenwriters and storytellers.
