Dispatch From The Quest: Paul Wie
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: Paul embarks on his own Protagonist’s journey:
I write this entry from Waltham, Massachusetts, a quaint suburb of Boston, which feels like a foreign country compared to the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles I left behind just days ago. I don’t know if this visit will turn out to be a short vacation or a longer stay, but I feel like my time in the East Coast, however brief, is the start of a new adventure in my life.
After beginning the Quest, I found myself in an odd situation for the first time since leaving college — I had no ties whatsover keeping me in Los Angeles. I had recently moved back home to Orange County. I had no significant other in the picture. My TV job was weeks away from completion. And I had just totaled my car in an accident, which left me miraculously unscathed. Before I could commit to a new car, a new job — basically another significant chunk of my life spent in Southern California — I felt compelled to try something new — to be somewhere outside of my usual comfort zone and to live out some of the stories in the script I was writing. So I booked a one-way flight to Boston. One of my best friends works here, and he had been telling me come visit for some time. He had an extra room in his condo, and he said I was welcome to come write and live if I ever needed to. In the past, I had always brushed off this offer due to my commitments in LA, but now I found myself in a perfect situation to take him up on the opportunity.
So here I am in this small town with no definitive plan other than to write a great script and make this experience worthwhile. If an awesome job calls, I may move back to LA or NY, but for now, my future is up in the air. That’s exciting and scary, and given our lectures this week on Time and Destiny, incredibly fitting.
As we learned, the Protagonist of the story hardly knows what life has in store for him — he lives out the events we writers have created, and through these unforeseen situations and relationships, the Protagonist develops and grows into the person he is destined to be. Like the hero of my story, I am unaware of what life has planned for me. But I believe if I spend my time well, if I make the most out of the circumstances God has set out before me, then I am on the right path towards a beautiful destiny I cannot yet foresee. Until then, I’ll be applying our screenwriting principles to my own life: by living fully in the present, by maximizing every moment I have, and by working hard toward my goals. Because time is too valuable to spend without purpose and meaning — on the page, on the screen, and especially, in life.
How perfect is that: Just as we move into the story-crafting process, each Quester beginning their own writing journey, Paul takes the journey party literally, moving cross-country.
Perhaps because I’m a military brat and have traveled so much, I have an affinity for the road. There is something special about how a new place can provide a fresh perspective.
Paul, I wish you well in the Bay State. And to the other Questers as well as everyone who is going to Go On Your Own Quest, any time you sit down to write, you are in effect leaving your Ordinary World and entering a New World, even if the shift is only from the kitchen to your study.
The Adventure begins!
Tomorrow: Another Dispatch From The Quest.
About Paul: Director + Writer. Loves Spielberg, Truffaut, Abrams, Kurosawa, Attack the Block, cinematic stories beautifully told. @paulhwie.
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