“The Quest”: Why is your passion for your story important?
I am pleased to announce “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” my attempt at creating a new pathway into Hollywood for aspiring screenwriters: A 24-week online screenwriting workshop which I will offer for free to as many as 4 writers. I introduced the idea in this post last week [if you haven’t read it, please do so now], and I will be talking about this initiative each day this week on GITS at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific to give readers a complete understanding of what it’s about. If you are interested to learn more, click here.
NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY LOGLINE SUBMISSIONS BEFORE TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012. PLEASE RESPECT THIS SCHEDULE!
If you did not read this post from Monday [“The Quest”: What is it?], this post Tuesday [“The Quest”: Why is story concept critical to your success?], and this post yesterday [“The Quest”: Why do you need to think in terms of genre?], do so now.
Today I want to talk about the importance of having passion for your story and how that relates to “The Quest,” but first let me make something clear about the philosophy, principles, and practices I use in this 24-week online screenwriting workshop.
I have spent literally thousands of hours researching and mulling over the craft of screenwriting. I have written over thirty feature length screenplays and TV scripts, read God knows how many scripts and watched a seemingly endless list of movies. I have posted countless pages of blog posts, class forum feedback, message board comments, and emails with fellow writers over the years. All of that has funneled into the approach I developed for “The Quest.” It offers a coherent, comprehensive, character-based approach to screenwriting, and I am proud of the content.
But even with all that, those caveats I have mentioned often on this blog still stand:
* There is no right way to write.
* Every writer is different. Every story is different.
* If you start with a formula, you end up with a formulaic story.
And this: In theory, you don’t need me or anybody else to teach you the craft of screenwriting. You can learn what you need by following my now familiar mantra:
Read scripts. Watch movies. Write pages.
That said, educating yourself about the craft of screenwriting will have value for most writers by facilitating the learning process and perhaps spare them from spending 5, 10 years or more wandering in a writing wilderness.
To that point “The Quest” is unique because it is not a program. It is not a system. It is not fill-in-the-blanks. It is not plug-and-play. Rather it presents an approach to finding the structure and soul of a screenplay that respects the organic nature of story… and you as a writer.
So if you were expecting “The Quest” to be about a script having this many of that, or this has to happen here, or that style choice is forbidden, it’s not that at all. Instead it’s about you exploring a unique way of looking at story, engaging your creativity, and helping you develop your own abilities as a writer so you give yourself the best chance to succeed as a professional screenwriter.
Why is your passion for your story important?
In my estimation, there are two things that take the words a writer writes and lifts them off the page and into the imagination of a reader: Talent. Passion.
Obviously some writers have more talent than others, but having been an educator in my spare time for a decade, I know for a fact through my experience in the classroom that talent can be honed and developed.
Passion can’t. A writer either has passion for writing or doesn’t. Sure, they may not know it until later in life when their passion for the craft explodes to the surface, but the fact is that passion was there along, it just hadn’t been realized yet.
So along with assessing your story ideas based on their concept and genre, as discussed the last two days, I ask you to consider a third litmus test: Are you passionate about writing this story?
This is not only about channeling that passion into your story, it is also about a completely pragmatic point: You will need to tap into your passion simply to get through the workshop.
During the eight weeks of Core, I’m probably asking you for about 10 hours of your time each week. During Prep and Pages, it will be more like 15 hours. The time required can be more or less, depending what type of writer you are, how complex or easy your story is, how your creative process progresses and so on.
That represents a significant time commitment. It will be a challenge. But if you are passionate about your story, you want more than anything to see it come to life, then that can infuse your pages with life and your soul with energy, helping you to complete your script.
So as you go through your list of story concepts, sit down with each one of them and ask yourself this question: Why am I passionate about this story?
A few words from Producer Scott: “So the desk jockey gave you the whole passion spiel, huh? Bet he used some nice, flowery words. Well, allow me to bottom line this for you as succinctly and simply as I can. MAKE ME FUCKING FEEL SOMETHING! You writing a horror script? Scare the shit out of me! A comedy? I wanna laugh til my balls drop off. Romance? You gotta turn these spigots on here so I’m a blubbering baby. Action, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, whatever the hell you write, I don’t wanna just read it, I wanna feel it! I read so many goddammed formulaic scripts. This happens on page 25, a big whatcha call reversal at page 60, uh-oh, it’s page 75, time for the guy and gal to do the nasty, bing, bang, boom… [slaps hand on desk]… pass! Fuck structure! Make me feel something! Like right now. I’m angry! I’m furious! I have no damn clue why, but this is what I want, gimme a story that gets me all riled up. JUST. LIKE. THIS! Now get outta here, I gotta call my shrink.”
NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY LOGLINE SUBMISSIONS BEFORE TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012. PLEASE RESPECT THIS SCHEDULE!
To fully prepare you for the submission process, you should read one last post tomorrow:
Friday, May 25: How should you write a logline?
“Go Into The Story: The Quest” is my humble attempt to do what I can to create an alternate way into Hollywood for those outside the system, and in the process provide participants principles and practices that maximize their chances of success as a professional screenwriter.
If you have any questions, please post in comments. Only email me if you have some personal matter related to this initiative.
Good news! Every single person who applies for “Go Into The Story: The Quest” wins a free 1-week Craft course taught by me at Screenwriting Master Class! You can check out those classes here under the Curriculum / Craft tab.
Good luck finding your passion for your stories!
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