Why write?

A guest post from Tom Benedek, screenwriter (Cocoon) and co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class:

Here’s a mystery story all of us live in. Why write? I ask myself that question a lot and then — I start writing. It always seems that I am measuring the next season, set of months against a project I feel like I need to start or finish. Creative efforts may be challenging, time consuming, frustrating, painful BUT they confirm our souls, allow us to discern existence to the world, celebrate life. Antagonists, Protagonists, Mentors, Attractors immerse our real lives. Finding a way to form them out in story, to interpret the emotional world we each live in gives coherence to life, I think.

Learning to write scripts is a lifelong process. With each script I write, I feel as though i am starting over. Hopefully, I accumulate knowledge about how to go about it. Still, it feels like this glorious and frustrating circle — the writing process — I must relearn, as I pick up my writing tools to start again on a new script or a rewrite. Committing to go from idea to page is step into wonder and frustration each time. No one can know in advance what the result may be. There is a path leading to greatness out there. And every fade in we write is the first step own that road. If writing a script is a walk in the woods, that journey itself may be as interesting as the destination. Or there may be a great and wondrous place awaiting the final footsteps. Either way, writing a movie is a divine thing of those of us who love film and love to write.

My Introduction to Screenwriting class is a good and safe place for new writers (and those who have written many scripts before) to get a script done. You can just work on your outline and pages or you can add in some time going over fundamentals and a few more advanced craft concepts. Here is the link.

We go over the fundamentals week by week, using some great scripts (Little Miss Sunshine, The Social Network, Gladiator, Michael Clayton, many more) as study models, but most importantly, class members work on story outlines and then write their own first drafts. It is always an adventure and great for most of us to have pacing, feedback, encouragement as we write.

If your answer to the question “Why write” is “Because I have to,” and you’re just starting out on your creative adventure, consider taking Tom’s class Introduction to Screenwriting. It begins March 24th. 

Comment Archive