I have revived a screenplay from a dusty corner of the attic of my brain and polished off a mere concept, a character that unintentionally wills the manifestation of ghosts around her.
Knowing that I have a lot of overtime banked hours and unused vacation days at work I spent the month of May preparing to take time off and write a screenplay in June (seeing as travel or seeing family is off the table for a while). Or at least start. I am a firm believer in setting goals but with a project as large as a feature film I have decided to learn as I go. I have never done this before. My goal isn’t necessarily a finished screenplay, a draft, or even a complete outline (but, of course, I will strive for these things) my tangible goal is that I work on it every single day this month. Realistic. Attainable.
I devoured several books on screenwriting and say what you will about trying to learn an art or a craft from a book, but, I found the process useful. From each of the sources I read I have Frankensteined together a document to guide me through the writing process. I cherry picked what resonated and move on from the rest.
The books on screenwriting/writing that I read:
I have to whole hardheartedly agree that reading screenplays, watching movies, and dissecting them is the best teacher a writer can get.
The screenplays that I read:
These are some online resources that I find endlessly interesting, useful, and helpful
To settle into the world of ghosts I read and listened to:
Truthfully, I am likely forgetting a handful of other media that I consumed. I have been voracious this past month.
Here’s to hewing creative time. I am grateful that I am able to do so. It’s going to be joyful, hard, and exciting work.