If you've never had this happen to you, as a screenwriter, eventually it will. You give someone your screenplay to read, the one you've slaved over and given every thought in the world you had to give, and after reading it you get this: "that was pretty good...pause...have you ever thought about doing this story from the perspective of the landlady?" Okay, so get in the frame of mind here - you've just spent like seven months pounding this thing out, and now they want you to rewrite the whole thing from an accessory character's perspective? Really?
This one's classic too: "what if your main character was a girl?" Wha'? Oh sure, I'll just go through and change all the "he's" to "she's" and all the "Bills" to "Veronicas" and it'll be all good. Yeah, no, not quite that easy. You're basically asking me to write a whole new screenplay, just to see what that would be like. That's like saying, "now that you've made lasagna, what if we have veal parmesan for dinner instead?" No! I made lasagna, and that's what we're going to eat. It's a done deal. Maybe if you had said something earlier, like when I was pulling the noodles out of the box, or turning the stove on, but now it's too late - I already made the stuff, and you're gonna eat it!
Of course people don't say these things to send you into a rage. They're just saying it because there's something wrong with your story and they don't know how else to tell you you're a bad writer, so they figure they'll keep you busy for a while and hope the next script will turn out better (I use "you" to take some of the pressure off "me." Makes it sound like I'm not alone, and that you are as bad as I am at this).
So guess what I did? Yeah, that's right, I beat them at their own game. I did a whole beat sheet with my main character, then did a whole other one with my sidekick character. Ha! Take that. "What do you think about writing this from Jeffery's perspective?" BAM! There you go. Already did it.
In addition to being a great way to totally shut those kinds of stupid questions down, it was actually really helpful. I realized part of my timeline was off, and the mental picture I've had of this character has gotten a lot clearer, and changed quite a bit. He's actually his own character now, instead of just being a vehicle for hitting Anne's plot points.
I realize this isn't groundbreaking, and is probably what other writers who are way less lazy than I am do with all their scripts. The only mind I'm blowing here is my own, because I don't really think I've put this much work in before, and I can't help thinking that it is going to pay off, and the prospect of that is really exciting. Hard work. You can't get around it, so just shut it and make something happen.
1 comment:
Ha, yes, I had one notes session with a professional where they basically suggested I write an entirely different story. Entirely different. And I was like, "Um... that's a good idea, but... it's not my story."
But you've nearly pinpointed the point of advice like this. It doesn't mean you're a bad writer; it means there's something there that's not working for the reader. Often readers can tell what's wrong but not how to fix it. Which is fine, since that's the writer's job anyway.
The best thing about getting, "what if you did this?" advice is that at least it means there's potential. I've read scripts before where I had no idea what to say. If there's stuff to fix, you're on the right track!
The other good news is you haven't written this script yet, so all this tinkering and playing with what-if scenarios is happening at a much-easier stage than if you were trying to do it after you'd done a draft. So, congrats on that! And keep up the good work. :-)
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