Once More Unto the Breach

Happy Friday!

It’s been a little while. I took December off from writing the newsletter, 1) because I didn’t have anything to say, and 2) because it was a tough month for my family.

In the space of a little more than a week we lost my dad’s brother, Doug, and my mom’s sister, Sheri. They were both incredibly special people and both made a big impact on my life. If you’re interesting in knowing more about them you can check out my Facebook page.

There were a lot of tears shed but also a lot of laughter. My parents are close with their siblings and it just reminded me how important it is to keep those connections and keep them healthy. I’m glad I got to be home for a bit.

Now I’m back in LA and figuring out what to do next.

All of my projects are on hold thanks to the holiday slowdown. I took advantage of the downtime to finish the third draft of the novel. I compiled all of the helpful feedback I got from round two readers along with my reps and got back to work in the beginning of November.

This rewrite was intense, a combination of reworking many of the existing chapters, writing brand new chapters, and tracking all of the changes over the course of 55k words. It took prolonged periods of deep focus, much more so than when I’m working on a script. I cleared everything off of my schedule after Thanksgiving so that it was the only thing I had to think about for a few weeks. I gave myself the early Christmas gift of saying no to everything that wasn’t hanging out with Ellie and Julie or working on the book.

Because this was such a leap into the unknown I opened myself up to a lot more feedback than I do with my specs. I sought out reads from friends and also a handful of people that I don’t know as well. I wanted to switch up my usual routine but I also wanted to give this process some structure, so I gave the second round readers a list of specific questions.

1. Do you feel like the story was clear throughout? Were there places where you were confused in a bad way, like maybe something was missing or out of place? Were there places where you were momentarily confused but realized it was part of the way the story was being told and found your answer shortly after?

2) Do you feel like the characters went through a change? 

3) Were their motivations clear and logical, from a story standpoint? Meaning, did any of them do something that seemed wildly out of character or that didn't track with what you knew of them at that point?

4) Where did you feel the story kick in? 

5) Where did you find yourself getting bored and starting to skim?

6) Were there any moments that stood out as genuinely entertaining or surprising? (Surprising in a good way, not “where the hell did that come from?”)

7) Did you find any of it genuinely suspenseful?

8) Was there anything that you felt was too rushed, or that you wished I'd gone into in more depth? 

9) Who was your favorite character, and why?  If it was Ralphie, who was your second favorite, and why? 

10) Were there any themes that you picked up on?

I felt like these questions would give me more constructive feedback. By that point I was committed to (and liked) the plot and the characters, so I wasn’t going to do a major overhaul, but I wanted to highlight some places where I could just make it better. It was a wholly positive experience, one that wasn’t demoralizing or frustrating in the way that can sometimes happen when you just hand someone a piece of your work and say, “Looking forward to your thoughts!”

A couple of days after I finished the new draft I took a road trip to pick Julie up in Palm Springs. On the way I listened to a recent episode of The Huberman Lab Podcast where he interviewed organizational psychologist Adam Grant. There was a whole section about receiving feedback that resonated with the experience I had back in the fall. Here were a few key takeaways from the podcast:

1. It’s less painful to get more feedback. With a larger sample size, “You realize that a few of the comments that bruised you were idiosyncratic and nobody else cared about those issues. But if five people have the same problem, that’s not taste. That’s a quality issue.”

2. Asking for feedback is not the best way to get help. “When you ask for feedback you get two groups, cheerleaders and critics. Cheerleaders applaud your best self, critics attack your worst self. What you want is a coach. Somebody who helps you become a better version. The best way to get a coach is to ask for advice about what you can do better next time.”

3. “The purpose of getting feedback is not to shame your past self. It’s to educate your future self.”

4. The concept of “The 2nd Score.” The basic idea is that the piece of criticism is the first score. The second score is how you take the criticism. He gave an example where he received some tough criticism and decided he was going to get a 10 on how well he addressed it.

A lot of people who give notes (me included) default to, “Here’s all the stuff that’s not working for me,” or, “Here are all of my problems with this existing script.” The focus, the language we use, is weighted toward the work that’s already been done. It’s often framed as backward looking, even though the goal is to make the next draft better.

On the receiving end, it’s easy to come into a notes session with that same backward looking mindset. “Time to hear all the stuff I screwed up.” It can often feel like a critique not just of the work but of us, our abilities, our intellect, even our work ethic, so we put up armor to defend ourselves against those feelings.

If we go into the notes call or open up that long email with the mindset of, “We’re educating the future me who is going to write that next draft,” then we tilt ourselves toward action. We can start to visualize the gap between the existing draft of this script or novel (or any work of art) and the best version of it, then figure out the steps to close that gap. We feel activated, rather than demoralized.

When we’re on a contract we don’t really get to choose how the person on the other end gives notes. But if we’re working on a new piece and seeking input from friends we can absolutely set the framework for how they can be helpful.

In my ideal version of the book the story kicks into gear early. The reader gets hooked on the characters and wants to see what happens next for them. They understand who the characters are, what they want, why they want it, and what happens if they don’t get it. The bad guy isn’t a cardboard cutout. When the supporting characters take the wheel the reader doesn’t find themselves wishing they were back with the main characters. I take them down the rabbit hole of my obsessions but I don’t go so far or for so long that they tune out. There are genuine surprises but those surprises feel earned and logical in hindsight.

I picked questions that could act as a set of diagnostic tools to get me closer to my ideal version. Each one is like a piston in an engine. If one of those pistons has thrown a rod it’s not going to turn the crankshaft that creates forward motion. The questions, given to a wide enough set of readers, will help you zero in specifically on which ones aren’t working. The good news is, unlike a car, you may not have to completely rebuild your engine. Maybe you can just repair a piston or two.

One of the other great quotes from Adam Grant in that episode is, “Every decision is an experiment.” You try something, see if it works or not, and proceed accordingly. It’s such an important thing to remember in creative work. None of it is set in stone. You made a decision, you tried something, and the experiment didn’t yield the result you wanted. So you try again.

In terms of existing business, the new draft of the novel is now in the hands of my reps. I’m waiting on a list of potential directors for the feature spec. My new pilot and series doc is in the hands of the producer and director.

Coming into 2023 I was already working on ROAR, so my biggest goal was to finish that spec. I’m at a crossroads now. I don’t have a general goal of writing a new feature or TV spec. I have an idea for the next novel but there’s not enough meat on the bone. I think rather than focusing on the form of the final product I’m just going to focus on time in the chair, every week, devoted to something new, whatever shape it takes.

I’m going to keep going where the fun is. That worked out pretty well in 2023. I was happy with my creative output last year. I think I grew a lot. I learned some new tricks, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. But I also reached back through time and got in touch with the guy sitting in the booth at Renaissance, scribbling in his notebook after sneaking into a double feature at the AMC Empire.

The business is a slog but the work is a joy.

I’m still in it to win it, as long as that is the case.

Happy New Year, I hope this is a creatively fulfilling year for you!

My Favorite Rejection Letter

I used to have this hanging on the wall above my desk, now my dad has it pinned to a wall in a room in the basement. 2005, a full 8 years before I sold my first show. I kept it because I was just psyched that someone at Adult Swim had looked at my stuff. This rejection actually felt like a step in the right direction! (And it was also just… kind.)

Stuff That Inspired Me Recently

I loved this article on Scott Frank. So much of it resonated with how I’m thinking about things right now. The last line of the article is exactly how I felt about the book.

I loved the documentary, AMERICAN SYMPHONY, about Jon Batiste and his wife, Suleika. It’s on Netflix, check it out. He’s also in this inspiring roundtable of songwriters. In it, Billie Eilish talks about how much she loves the assignment of writing songs for movies. It echoed a similar thing I heard recently from Sir Paul McCartney in this episode of his podcast, A Life in Lyrics.

I thought it was cool that both of them relished the opportunity of having some creative restraints and putting themselves in the character’s shoes instead of their own emotional space. Although Paul does admit that he loves it because he also gets to do his own thing, he probably wouldn’t have been happy if that was the only gig.

It’s nice to have an assignment with some guard rails now and then.