Scripts

I'm sitting in front of my laptop at Signs of Life. There is a wedding happening right now upstairs. About 20 seconds ago, the bride walked past me. Her dress was being held by two, very stressed out bridesmaids. She looked a lot like Jessica Daily, minus the disapproving look on her face.

I am genuinely excited to see my script become a film. I know it'll reek of amateur, since it's being made in India. and by amateurs. But I can't seem to see it as a small win. It's a big win to me.

Last week was the first time I was unable to write a script for a competition. I don't know if the parameters were especially hard, or I just had too much going on. I just couldn't think of a story. For a year and a half I've been able to balance school with writing. I'm hoping this isn't a sign, and I know it's not. I was busy last weekend.  That hard part isn't isn't sitting down and write. It's not even hard to write something hard. The hard part is to look at your scripts afterwards and see a career. 

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"Emotions create emotions."

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For a month and a half I've been an intern at a correctional drug rehab facility. Last week, my practicum site had a "family unity". All 40 prisoners at my drug rehab sit in a room, leered by me and the rest of the counselors. We settle arguments, finalize treatment schedules, and talk about recent problems. Around the middle of the meeting, the head counselor explained to the clients how arguments lead to fights. He said, "emotions create emotions."

He was explaining that when you express your own anger, you create theirs.

But I like what he said. Emotions create emotions.

This is especially true in script writing. Good stories come from emotion. Your readers wont feel anything if you don't. You have to find somewhere you don't want to be, and write about it. Scripts feel through the paper. When you're reading a good script, you aren't reading words. You're reading what the writer is feeling You're feeling what the writer is feeling.

I'm a terrible writer. I always have been. Any words you learn after middle school, I guarantee I can't use in a sentence. 

But I understand emotion. And I know when people feel it. I'm aware of it, and I can generate it. I can't write words, but I can write a story. And that's what a script is. Scripts don't need big words or eloquent phrases. It needs a time, a place, and a story to tell. And I can tell those things.

It's an interesting idea; our emotions being products of other emotions.