Plotting my escape

I spent my weekend at the Act One: Writing for Hollywood workshop in Nashville. I feel remarkably informed. Most of all, it renewed my hope that maybe, just maybe, I really can write (something other than press releases) for a living and do it in Los Angeles.

A brief chat with Chris Riley, author of The Hollywood Standard--which I'm sure nearly wrote itself after he spent 14 years editing scripts for Warner Brothers!--I discovered that being able to write stellar scenes, even without the ability to produce a stellar screenplay IS a valuable tool. There are in fact, people employed to do just that very thing. A fear I acquired after a semester of Playwriting and solidified after a semester of Screenwriting, is my inability to create an entire production and carry it to completion. I'm overly much an in the moment sort of writer. Some people might even say I'm funny and apparently, from what Chris was telling me, joke writers are quite the valued commodity...

At any rate, I was able to see just a glimpse beyond the idea of the grand concept of story. There is SO much beyond the story itself that needs to happen to make a movie work. I guess that explains all the rot that ends up getting produced on a regular basis...