I got started, presumably, the way most people who try their hand at writing get started. I watched a boat load of movies. And by boat load I mean A LOT of movies!! At least four every weekend. (As I write this I'm half-heartedly paying attention to a silly film called "Doomsday".) The video store got to know me by name and cinematic preference. Small countries didn't pull down what I spent on films annually. And it was by watching the sheer amount of films that I did, that I came to be a kind of student of film; recognizing plot devices, character development, paying attention to dialogue and the way that the three acts are structured. It was in 1993, before the birth of my oldest son, that I decided to myself, "Hey, I could write a movie."
And so I wrote. And wrote. Attempt after attempt ended in failure and frustration. I wasn't able to make it ten pages into a draft without losing all semblance of logic and intelligence. Maybe this writing gig was gonna be harder than I thought. I kept telling myself, there are so many bad movies out there and all of them had writers. How could they have done it? I became all that more befuddled when I read through my material and realized that my stuff was even sub-par to the cream of the crap. I mean, my first few tries at writing made "I Spit On Your Grave" look like it was "The Godfather." Plain and simple, I was churning out literary fecal matter.
And then I had a breakthrough. Breakdown?
A story came to me. It was a simple tale about a man being released from prison after a long stretch and trying to adjust to the outside world. It was a small, independently-minded film. And at that time, with the success of films like "Sling Blade", "Memento" and "Resevoir Dogs", it seemed like the time was right to tell this kind of a story. It took me six agonizing months to write the thing. When finished, it weighed in at a hefty 138 pages. It was the first story I had written that seemed to come naturally to me. I was able to write without getting hung up on it. I knew the story I wanted to tell and it just kinda came out. It was my "Magnum Opus". And I was very proud of this seemingly monumental accomplishment.
The problem was...it sucked.
I had a writing teacher that called it "cinema of the lethargic", because the main character kind of stumbled through the film from scene to scene and didn't really do anything. Things happened around him. I still, to this day, don't know if the tag he gave my screenplay was meant as a compliment or if he was politely tearing it apart. Regardless he gave me very thorough coverage on it and he even sat down with me to go through it page by page with his notes. But it was a turning point for me. Why? Because he looked at me, and in all seriousness said, "you need to re-work this, but I can see the potential for you to be a really good writer. You just need to bring out that voice inside you." That was the first spark in my writing career. It encouraged me to keep writing.
Now, I'll try to be brief on this next part, just in case readers (if any) are dropping like flies.
A couple of drafts later...I finally found my voice! I felt so confident with my work that I sent out a bunch of query letters to literary agents to tell them all that I'd found my voice and that I was ready for representation. Fortunately for me, one agent decided to give the script a read and, in a matter of weeks, I was signed with a WGA signatory agent! It is still a HIGH I will never forget. I had virtually sailed over a major hurdle that stop most writing careers dead in their tracks...getting an agent!
I entered the script into a few contest, making it to the semi-final rounds on a few occasions. Even got hand-signed letters from big contest sponsors letting me know that "although my script received high marks for creativity, originality and story-telling ability, it was unfortunately not moving on to the final round." (I'm sure you tell that to all the boys) It was also around this time that I realized that my agent wasn't working for me. I would never talk to her. She'd only correspond with me through the mail! She couldn't be bothered to keep her client in the loop about what was going on with his script! So, I had to part ways with the only modicum of success that I had attained thus far.
It seemed that I was going nowhere fast. My writing career was on the same track as thousands of others. My stuff was not going to be seen by anyone.
I'll leave the narrative here for now, since this is getting really long! I promise to not be as long-winded in upcoming installments.
If you have read this article to this point - GOD BLESS YOU! And thank you!
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