Welcome to my Blog. I am "the hungry screenwriter" and I will be here every day for the next six months sharing with you the journey of my next feature film script. I have no money, no one is backing me, there are no development funds, I barely have enough to buy food and the rent is due next week, but I can't let that stop me from getting on with my next screenplay. I can't wait until someone arrives on my doorstep with a bag of money before I'll begin, I cannot wait for the circumstances to be right. I must start and have faith that I'll be given whatever it is I need to get on with it and get the job done. What else am I going to do...this is what I love doing?! So right here, right now is where I begin writing my next feature film script, sharing with you, how I do that.
What can you expect?
Robert McKee (I'll be mentioning him a great deal on this journey) reckons that, with a bit of luck and a fair wind, you can knock out a screenplay in six months...that's from first bubble of inspiration to last bead of perspiration. In his book 'Story' he espouses "writing from the inside out", a method that I've employed, maybe not totally, but at least for 60% of the heavy lifting of my previous scripts. On this journey, I'm going to employ this method 100% and do it in the prescribed six months and share it all. Every day I'll offer (1) a screenwriting "Tip of the Day" (2) what work I intend to do on that given day to progress the script forward and (3) share the triumphs, trials, joys & difficulties along the way.
Day 1 Tip: Write In Your Favourite Genre
Which script to begin work on? Most writers worth their salt will have any number of ideas kicking around in various stages of development: a synopsis, a half-finished Treatment, a sentence, a line, a quote. Feature film writing is for the long-distance writer, not the sprinter. You're better off modeling yourself on Finland's 5,000m & 10,000m runners of the 1960's and 70's rather that the current crop of Jamaican's. You could be on this project for the next 5-10 years of your life, so pick something that will sustain you over that distance, film matter that will continue to nourish. Ideas that stimulate you today may not fire you up tomorrow, topicality will come and go.....Genre is perennial. When in doubt, write in the film genre that you love. If you queue in the rain to see Horror, then write Horror. If you always hover around the Romantic Comedy section at the DVD store, then maybe that's the choice for you. When all the other reasons to write film have come and gone, your favourite Genre will always come through and be there for you. What's mine, what will I be writing?
I'll tell you tomorrow. So please, sign up as a follower.
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