Who Is The March King?: April 2011

I've been pretty busy. The last month or so has been devoted to writing and writing and finding that creative energy that makes good writing possible and editing and reediting and finding that thread of sanity that keeps everything from just falling into a heap on the floor... the ideas, the gollum-isms...

"It's mine... my precious."

Because when I spend all my time writing or just thinking about writing I go a little insane. I begin to think of the words on the page as my words and no one else can have them because they're mine... and yet this obsessive tendency comes out of something that I really want to sell.

This is simply the wrong attitude. Even if I've stumbled into a piece of literary gold I cannot bind myself to it to that extent. Understanding the process of making a movie means, at some point, giving it up to someone more knowledgeable than myself. There do exist people who can make my script into a movie. I currently do not have such talents. I'm no director, though at some point I'd like to learn how to be one. The thing is... it's all practice. So if I cannot make this movie myself, wether it be through lack of financial support or lack of training as a director/producer, someone else has to have a say.

Creativity is a gift.

So let's talk about the process. My writing partner and I have been shooting pages back and forth, fixing things as we go. We come to the final pages and sit in the same room writing these as we did when we first created the outline. We conclude. Then we meet again and read it. We do initial edits. Then we gather actors together in one room to read it out so we can hear it and get feedback. It's well liked but perhaps a few things could be different. We fight in our heads with changing these things. We try a few options and realize one small thing that can fix this "problem". I quote it because I don't know how problematic it really is. Then we finish editing it. Mostly the action has been simplified because I wrote the thing like a book. This hurts me to do, but it must be done. Action is hard to write for a movie. It seems simplicity is key. But we don't want to lose that color and flavor of the world, so we push and push until we feel comfortable with our choices. Then we send it out... now we wait.

We wait. I'm waiting. He's waiting. We're waiting for professional feedback from someone who will hopefully help us get it made. It's painful to sit and wait. It's one of my least favorite things in the world. I like to go out and live my life. I like for things to happen immediately. That's why I always run into the middle of the field in Call Of Duty and get shot up by a million people... I lack patience. Funny how I used to pride myself on that concept. I used to have patience. I'm not so old that I must be wise. I need to live my fleeting life the way I want. Otherwise, what's the point?

And this is all over a Kids Film. Well, hopefully a Family Film. It translates to "something the whole family will enjoy" in my head... but once someone likes it enough to pick it up, who knows where it goes next? Who knows what the quality of the animation is? Who knows how the voice actors are? Who knows what the director does with it and if the producer doesn't want to change this, this, and that? It's a gamble. But it feels worth it. To enjoy that brief spark of writing it. To then be left waiting for the business to accept it and do what it will.

Then I say these words, "Creativity for its own sake. Enjoy creating because you love to do it." I couldn't live without creating. I love it too much.