As every writer out there, I have to deal with the treated writer's block. The story is in you, but this big block just doesn't let it out of your system. And it's frustrating. VERY frustrating. But then, there's the opposite effect. You see something, you read something, you experience something and at that moment, this 'thing' destroys the horrible block and the words just come out of you and end up on the page ... or your screenwriter's sofware computer screen.
And this is exactly what happened to me this morning. I have been struggling with this screenplay I'm writing for months. The story is there but the way the story was being told just didn't feel right. In fact, it kinda felt boring. I needed a new way of telling the story. While my first idea was to have the story told by the lead character and making it a story seen through her eyes, I was afraid I was limiting myself. Yes, it would be a little easier to tell a story through one person's point of view, but what with all the stuff that happened around her, things that were very important in the whole scheme of things, but of which she had no knowledge of? (by the way, the script is based on a real, historical event). And then I read something and something in me went 'Eureka!'. Instead of telling this woman's story from beginning to the end, why not tell just a slice of the story, an event (think 'The Queen', 'Mrs Brown' or 'Capote'), and intertwine it with other stories, told by people who knew her. Kinda like 'Citizen Kane', in which Kane's story is told through the people that were involved with him.
Anyway, I'm off to my favorite coffee shop and will be writing a brand new treatment of the script. Some of you may know what I'm talking about and which screenplay this is all referring to. For the others, keep your eyes open. The concept and story has already attracted quite a bit of attention from a producer who was so passionate about the story when I pitched it to him that he has made himself the promise that he will make this movie, but the written reassurance that the movie would not be made without me involved.
To be continued ...
1 comment:
This is great advice. Prior to producing my features and selling them, I too wondered what it would take to call myself a "filmmaker." Thank goodness, I learned to never ask permission to make my dreams real. Keep up the great posts!
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