I am still in the middle of two writing projects today, one freelance and one for a class, so it is safe to say that I am still in my pajamas and still waiting for the Muse to strike.
For the past three months I have been taking a screenwriting class, mostly because I suddenly started to notice the demand for screenwriters around town. Even though I have three fancy degrees in writing from two fancy schools, never once did I ever take a screenwriting class. I left that stuff to one of my brothers. He went to school in California. It seemed like the thing to do out there. He now makes way more money than me.
All I have to say about screenwriting is that it's hard. Not hard like words fail me, but hard because you have to know how to tell a story economically and thoroughly through images. Written. On a page. Maybe I'm making this out to be more than it is, but I can tell you that I've learned more about storytelling over the past three months than I did in all the years I was in the fancy schools.
I understand why people want to write screenplays. Hollywood seems like a glamorous place and I suppose being given a lump of money for your work is a good time. After seeing what goes into writing feature-length screenplays, the treatments, all the drafts, even the formatting, I have a greater appreciation for the craft. Sure, the writers get a lump of money, but talk about earning your keep.
I also don't understand how anyone could even attempt to write one of these things without ever taking a class or a workshop in it. Like I said, as someone who was a complete newbie the experience has been invaluable. I'm planning on taking others...not so much to make it a career or to hit the jackpot with some Charlie Kaufman-esque brilliance, but to just wrap my brain around the genre a little more. You can't learn to dance after just one salsa lessons, and I suppose the same is true with screenwriting.
OK, back to the real work.
