Knowing Yourself as a Writer
Last week was interesting. On Tuesday, I received notes from my managers on a television pilot that I've been writing for several months. At the end of the meeting, they asked me if I could turn the script around by Friday. "Next Friday?" I asked. "No, this Friday." I said Yes, even though Friday was only three days later, and I was supposed to drive to NYC on Wednesday and return on Friday. I wasn't 100% sure I could do it, but I was pretty sure... if I stayed calm and approached the next three days with focus and discipline.
To be fair, the notes weren't extensive. Some were just tweaks, but a couple were definitely more than that. They would require research, new scenes, and new dialogue. And the whole script would need to be tweaked to accommodate these new scenes.
I started that afternoon after the meeting by going outside with my dog and just thinking about things. I wrote nothing for the rest of the day except some ideas on a yellow pad.
Wednesday morning, I transcribed the notes from the day before (I record these meetings on my phone, so I can listen to them later). I organized the notes into "easy fixes" and "not so easy fixes," and for the rest of the day, made as many of the easy fixes as possible, checking them off as I went. In the afternoon I drove to NYC, using those three hours to again think about how to approach the rest of the notes. That night, I didn't write. I ate dinner, watched TV with my family and fell asleep.
Thursday morning, I got up early, made my coffee (I'd actually brought my beans and french press to guarantee there would be no hiccups), and did research for the two new scenes I had to write. By mid-day I was ready to start writing for real.
Now, I don't know how other writers work, but before I get into my draft with any structural or character changes, I first make those changes in the outline and character breakdown. I need to see the changes from a birds eye view. Only when I'm comfortable with how the changes look, feel and flow in these two documents do I open the screenplay.
So, I spent a couple of hours working on the outline and character breakdown, then another couple of hours working on the actual draft. Before taking a break to run errands and eat dinner, I printed out the script and put it aside. After dinner, I read the new draft, made notes, then spent a couple of hours that night revising.
Friday morning, I tweaked everything again, several times. I debated sending it before leaving, partly to get it off my shoulders and out of my mind, partly just in case something happened to me on the drive home - at least the draft would be delivered! But my instinct (and several wise Twitter followers) told me to wait until the EOD. Why rush?
Friday afternoon, I drove back home, arriving around 5pm ET. I still had 3 hours before EOD in Los Angeles.
Before unpacking, I printed the script AGAIN, read it, tweaked and tweaked (it was a good thing I waited). I emailed it to my managers at 7:00 pm EST.
And that was that!
I'm not sharing all this because it's a big deal. It's really not. But last week showed me that I am getting better at knowing for example: how long it takes me to do things, how best to approach the task at hand, how to stay organized, how to not panic, and so on.
Will the managers like the new draft? Who knows. It's all part of the process. I'm just happy I did what I said what I would do. And happy that I'm getting better at knowing myself as a writer.
Have a great week, everyone!