I had planned to write some kind of state of the media nation piece today. How there are people who work in the same industry as I, people I know, who are losing their jobs, left right and centre. How the industry I’ve worked in all my life is getting eviscerated before my very eyes. How, in the midst of all this carnage, the smirking manchild David Seymour displayed all the empathy of concrete. How I despair that this gormless feck is part of the Triangle of the Sad allegedly leading this country.
I even had what I thought was a cool title for it: When the Elephant is Bigger Than the Room.
But then the prospect of writing about all that gloom just made my heart sink to depths to which I really do not want to go. Also, there are others way better qualified than I to write about that sort of stuff, so I shall leave it to them. For now.
Instead, I needed to write about something fun; the most fun I reckon you will have, as part of the whole scriptwriting process, in fact. When producers take you out to lunch is definitely fun. Yes, it can be great fun sitting at a story table, tossing round ideas. And yeah, even writing the storyline can have some appeal, as you see the characters start to come to life.
(NB: it must be noted that writing a storyline can also be an annoying pain-in-the-arse grind, sucking the enjoyment out of everything, when all you want to do is to jump straight into the draft. Opinion is divided on storylines, even just in my opinion.)
To me, the most satisfying time you will ever spend on a script is when you are beavering away on the 1st draft. This is pure writing time, when it is just you and the characters (hopefully) coming to life on the page.
Don’t get me wrong, writing a 1st draft is not always happy happy joy joy. This is writing, so there will always be times when it feels like you are wading through concrete the consistency of David Seymour’s empathy. This is, unfortunately, the nature of the game. And why sometimes alcohol helps.
But, for me at least, it is writing the 1st draft of anything where things start to sing. It’s just you and the voices in your head, telling you what to say and do. There’s usually no-one else involved in the process at this stage, so it is the one part of the fun ride that you can truly own.
Of course, if there is one part of the 1st draft fun ride that can be less than enjoyable it is the getting started bit. The proverbial blank page – or blank Final Draft screen. But without wanting to sound too wishy-washy hippy about it, usually I find that the script will tell you where it wants you to start.
Sometimes launching straight into Scene 1 is the way to go. Get the ball bouncing and then follow it as far as you can. But the usual approach, at least for me, is to start somewhere in the middle. Some writers talk about identifying scenes they know for sure they are going need to write, in order to tell their story. Some even like to start with those scenes, to put in place the super-crunchy keystones around which the rest of the draft will fall into place. For me, because these are usually the hardest scenes, I like to sneak up on them. Or leave them right to the end, when deadline panic leaves you no choice but to confront the bastard things.
So I like to start by finding a bunch of scenes that come easy to me. Often these scenes will get cut when it comes to editing the draft, but the reason I get stuck into them first is that all I’m really trying to do at this stage is to hear the voices of the characters. By writing a bunch of random scenes, early on, I can get them talking to each other, in various combinations, so that by the end of my first writing day I hopefully have as many of my characters as possible, in my head, yabbering away. Also, this is a really good way to get your page count up and running, which is always a nice feeling when you call it quits at the end of the day.
The 1st draft is the time and place to experiment. Go off the storyline and see where it takes you. Let the characters lead you unexpected places. Sure, often your characters are lying to you and trying to send you down dark alleys so they can have their evil way with you. But there’s nothing wrong with a bit of this because you can always edit it out the morning after.
It’s a bit rich coming from someone who cannot read, write or play music, but when scenes are flowing they feel to me like music. They have a beat driving them, a rhythm making everything beautiful, voices singing in harmony. Each scene, when you get to its end, it’s like you’ve just created your own little three-minute pop song. Pause. Enjoy the moment. Move on to the next one.
Writing the 1st draft of a script is where you are building your own little world. Not only are you hearing the music, but you are seeing the images for the first time. This is as pure as it gets, before others start doing annoying things like giving you notes and reality comes crashing in to spoil the party.
Apologies for gushing, but in a weird, traumatic time such as the one we are living through now, I reckon it’s good to try and remember why creating fictional worlds is about the best job going – even when it isn’t an actual job.
Because the real world is inhabited by dorks like David Seymour.
Awesome stuff, thanks James!
I get that same feeling writing reviews - mining my brain and thinking about what I've just seen and heard, and putting it down on paper (screen) is super fun too. Editing less so.
Mainstream media, especially news and journalism... chickens coming home to roost?
Long before this, we have seen print media in decline... ditto legacy television.
Music and rhythm in writing, that is interesting. The drone for the atmosphere, some abrupt shifts with black metal or free jazz...