Dispatch From The Quest: Miranda Sajdak
Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding of the craft from the experiences of the Questers. I should also add they are a great group of people, so I expect you will enjoy getting to know them.
Today: Miranda shares her thoughts about road-testing an actual scene from the story she and Sandy are working on:
This week was a real killer.
Not only did we actually do our first scene (yay! I hope?), but this was the first week — for me — that I really began to feel the enormity of the task we’ve undertaken. Primarily, my feelings stemmed from the knowledge that some of the other projects I’ve been working on (in the producing and directing sphere) are heating up — something that’s very exciting in the world of film, but that brings to task a whole other set of responsibilities. As such, I truly became aware of how important time is for the screenwriter — setting aside those days/hours/minutes to really sit with your story and characters is imperative in building your script. I was successful in setting that time aside, and I know I will continue to be, but it’s a good reminder overall of how important time is.
Additionally, this was the first week we really started to put words on the page. I’m glad we’re starting this early in the process — it’s nice to be able to play in our world, and I know that this early excursion into the script’s universe will help solidify our style and our story as we move forward. That said, it’s definitely the first week of real pressure in that regard, too. There’s a vast difference between examining structural elements abstractly (or in relation to already produced features) and attempting to put your own characters and descriptions and events on the page.
However, all told, I feel like the instructions this week really helped inform my own exploration of scene descriptions. Where before I was mostly running on instinct, now I have a greater grasp of linguistic choices — the what, the why, and the how to implement them to craft stronger passages. While I had previously toyed with ideas for some of the scenes we put together this week, this was the first time I really felt like I could go into them closely in order to pick out those elements that weren’t working, and revise those elements that were, to make everything a more cohesive and exciting whole. The purpose, after all, is to give the reader an emotionally engaging experience — whether the story is action, horror, comedy, drama, or some mix.
While this week is only the tip of the iceberg (as far as my own workload increasing, and the amount of attention our script needs increasing), it’s been a good test run for me to manage my time well and get pages out the door. Definitely important in the life of any screenwriter, and feeling pretty accomplished with it all. Also appreciating the support of all the great commenters and former Questers, who have given us a lot of fantastic insight, all of which is really helping with my own process.
There is nothing quite like the feeling a writer has just before typing the first words of a screenplay. Excitement. Dread. Thrill. Anxiety. A new story so filled with possibility, yet also the uncertainty of the unknown.
One of the chief values of devoting sufficient time to developing a story in Prep is to help create a pathway from FADE IN to FADE OUT, which I find ups the positive feelings and minimizes the negative ones. After all, if you’ve immersed yourself in your story universe and gotten to know your characters really well, that helps to demystify the process and give you confidence as you plunge into writing that first scene.
Tomorrow: Another Dispatch From The Quest.
About Miranda: New Englander turned Angeleno by way of New York. Enjoys: high-powered action films, dark dramas, and ’90s legal thrillers. Does not enjoy: the dentist. Mushrooms. @ScriptChix.
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