PRETEND I'M DEAD

Just for the purposes of this issue.

April 23rd marks the two-year anniversary of this newsletter!

When I started I promised myself that I’d do it for at least one year. When that year was up I promised myself I’d do it for one more year, and here we are.

Every issue starts out as a conversation with myself, reflecting on what happened over the course of the week, how I approached the current work, and what I’m thinking about as I move through the world. Whenever I find myself questioning if this is a suitable use of my time I go back and read a random old issue and I’m so grateful that I have that record.

I heard a quote this week that reading books is like being in conversation with the dead. I’m very much alive but if I wasn’t, I’m grateful that the hundred thousand plus words I’ve written here would tell someone a lot about me as a person, my worldview, how my brain works, and how much I value art and creativity.

To that end, I went back and pulled a bunch of my favorite paragraphs, quotes, and tools from the past two year that are speaking to me at this very moment.

But first…

The big thing I’m thinking about this week is the potential for a writer’s strike. Last week I voted to authorize a strike along with nearly 98% of my fellow WGA members who actually voted. It’s painful. It’s scary. I have a few projects in various stages of development or out on the town. No doubt any momentum I have will grind to a halt, if these projects don’t disappear altogether.

But I know that it may be necessary.

There’s no guarantee I’ll ever get another turn at bat and put an original show of my own on the air. If that’s how it goes, I have no regertz. I made it to the top of the mountain and grabbed the flag, twice. Both of those shows started with an idea in my head. I sat down with a pen and paper and dreamed them into existence. Blank pages turned to opportunities, which turned into hundreds of jobs that put food on tables for families. They created the opportunity for the corporations who bought them to make money.

Unfortunately, neither show was a hit.

But, the next one might be.

If I sit here, alone in my living room with the dog snoring in her tent next to me, and I conjure up a story and characters that move millions of people around the world, or join a staff on a show that drives subscriptions for some streaming service that makes billions of dollars in profit a year, I deserve to be fairly compensated.

We all do.

Nothing moves until we do.

So even though I’m nervous about being out of work for however long this takes, I know that it will be worth the risk.

And honestly, if I was risk averse I would have never become a writer.

TOILING AWAY IN OBSCURITY ( issue #1)

Every one of us is a creator, and as creators, none of us are toiling away in obscurity. We are in the act of creation nearly every second we are awake. We're constantly building and shaping our future and the world around us, with every choice we make. And, we're sharing the fruits of our creation to an immediate audience of friends and family and the people we interact with at school or our jobs. Our work affects this audience directly. It creates a ripple in the world.

IMPROVE YOUR SELF-TALK

One of the most invaluable things I did as a beginning writer was to start journaling. I was studying Musical Theatre and needed a place to take notes and sketch out ideas for scenes and monologues. I picked up a purple, paisley covered, cloth-bound journal at Borders and before long I was using it as a way to process my emotions.

Ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, new crushes, heartbreaks, battling through self-doubt and temporary bouts of depression, all of it went in the journal.

At a certain point, I got self-conscious about how whiny I sounded so I added a new component which was writing down what I was thankful for and the goals I had for the immediate future.

Looking back now, one of the primary benefits was that I got really good at dealing with negative self-talk. I would start with, "I suck, I'm never going to make it, all my friends are more talented," and by the end of that entry I would have worked myself into, "I AM A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH!”

As a storyteller, the first and most important story is the one you tell yourself.

I had to teach myself to change my story.

JUMPSTART YOUR CREATIVITY

Now we’re all starting to venture out into the world again like cave trolls squinting into the sun, fumbling toward awkward and intensely emotional hugs with the friends and loved ones we’ve missed. No doubt there will be long term effects for all of us to deal with mentally and emotionally, but I'm hopeful we'll recover our creative drive.

If you hit the wall creatively over the past year, OF COURSE YOU DID!

There are any number of hidden reasons why in addition to all the of obvious ones. But if you're reading this it means you're alive. Whatever you did to get here, it worked. You survived a year of a global pandemic.

The good news is that our brains have the ability to build new neural pathways. Scientists used to think it only happened when we're younger but now we know that process keeps going into old age. Making art is one of the key activities for improving our neuroplasticity so if you can get that ball rolling again you'll be well on the road to recovery.

If you need a jump start, trying flooding your system with new. New routes, recipes, hobbies, music, weird subcultures, creative partners, art you're taking in, books or articles on historical events or figures you've always wondered about.

A neuroscientist once told me that the brain was the only true time machine. It can remember the past, be in the present, and imagine the future.

Your time machine may just need fuel.

Feed it new.

New things = new opportunities for connection.

DIALOGUE PASS CHEAT SHEET

1. Don't break up the dialogue with too many action lines. Set up as much as you can in the action line just before and let the dialogue flow in between before the next absolutely essential action line. Otherwise you never settle into a rhythm.

2) Revise toward specificity, honesty, simplicity. If your banter is just a warmup, give it a job (an action) or just cut to the heart of the scene.

3) Michael Green had a great tweet that compared writing dialogue to packing for camping. "Lay out what you think you need then take out half."

4) Get in as late as possible and out as early as possible. It's okay to come in mid-conflict and let the audience catch up.

5) Try to leave each scene on a question that the next scene will answer. Bad example, instead of a character saying "We should throw a party" then cutting to a party, you'd say, "You know what we should do?" Cut to a guy yelling "Cannonball" and jumping from the roof of the house into the pool.

6) Take a look at the first line of dialogue coming out of each character's mouth. Is it just a warmup into the real scene? Is it just a question that tees up someone else's expo? Find a sharper angle of attack on everybody's point-of-view coming into the scene then track it forward. It will keep everybody from sounding the same.

7) Is your lead character driving the action of the scene or are they just a passenger asking questions and taking in exposition? Are you, as Glen Mazzara puts it, "Giving them the stage?" If not, revise and put them in the driver's seat.

MY STORY DARWINISM QUESTIONS

"Is there an identifiable engine that’s going to power multiple seasons of conflict?"

“Why will the audience care?" This is different than, "Is my main character likable?" This is about how quickly can I get people invested in the protagonist's goals.

"Is there a role that a movie star would want to play?”

“What will be surprising to me and therefore surprising to the audience?”

BE RESPONSIBLE

It occurs to me that more important than the cosplay or castles we inspire are the ideas we put into the world.

ACTION IS CHARACTER, ETC.

One of the guiding principles of my life for the past twenty-five years has been, “Action is character, character is destiny.” The choices you make on a day to basis, the actions you take, those are the things that reveal who you truly are and shape the overall "arc" of your life.

If you view yourself as the hero of your own story, when you’re faced with adversity or difficult decisions, or even just navigating the day to day challenges of life, you can ask yourself, “What would this character do in order to achieve their goal?” Longer term, it's asking, "Who do I want to become?" then taking the corresponding actions.

It works for me.

Mostly.

LEVEL UP

A few months ago a friend of mine and I were sharing stories about pitching to people that we’ve idolized for years. I told him about the brief period of time I was working on adapting a short story by George R.R. Martin and the producer and I went WITH GEORGE to pitch the idea to Robert Downey Jr.’s company. It sounded like Robert himself might even sit in on the pitch, so that morning I was more nervous than I’d ever been to that point. 

I put “My Shot” from Hamilton on repeat and cranked it up the whole drive there and it was kind of helping psych me up but not really. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t belong in this room I was heading into. 

Then we got there and I found myself standing in the lobby talking to RDJ, GRRM, and my producer, and something in my brain said, “Whether you think you belong here or not is irrelevant. You’re here now, so LEVEL UP.”

And I did.

That became my mantra for every high stakes meeting after that. Whenever I’m dealing with impostor syndrome or battling nerves before a pitch I recognize that fear as an opportunity for growth. I stop looking at it from a place of fear and insecurity and instead look at it as an opportunity to expand to my full potential. It's a game, the object of which is to be the best, smartest version of myself.

“Level up.”

MOVE WITH THE LIGHT

If I get distracted by some sparkly new idea, I’m going to be like Monet and move my canvas where the light of inspiration is shining and not treat it like it’s some kind of defect or defensive mechanism in my brain. Even if it’s just for two minutes, I’ll add a few strokes to that canvas and see where I stand. Monet finished a number of masterworks over the course of a year, maybe I’ll get lucky and finish one of my own at some point.

ARISTOTLE’S 3-ACT STRUCTURE

Step one: PITY. You need to make the audience feel pity for a character. You do that by having them suffer some misfortune, injustice, or indignity which enables the audience to form an emotional connection to that character. Once they identify with the character you have some measure of control over them and you can move on to the next stage.

Step Two: FEAR. Put the character into worse and worse situations so that the audience fears for them.

Step Three: CATHARSIS. When you finally deliver that character from whatever jeopardy they’re in the audience will experience catharsis.

WISDOM FROM MIKE TOMLIN

I’m not really a sports fan so I’m not sure why I clicked on the link to watch this interview with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin but I’m so glad I did. There’s so much transferrable wisdom to a career in show business, particularly when it comes to leadership. 

The two major quotes that stuck with me were:

1. “Don’t seek comfort.”

2. “You can’t do ordinary stuff and expect unique results.”

Both of those hit me hard, especially as I’m going through all of these pitches and starting a new feature spec. Selling original ideas isn’t getting any easier, despite the number of buyers looking for new shows. You have to take risks to cut through the noise. Ordinary stuff isn't going to do it.

REMEMBER MARCH CHERRY!

“I have now lucked into this show that looks to be this worldwide phenomenon,” Cherry said. “And what makes the story fascinating is that I was less than nothing in this town. My career was, for all intents and purposes, over. It’s a fascinating story to tell, not a fascinating story to live. But it’s one of those things where I go, I’m becoming like a legendary anecdote: Don’t give up hope; remember Marc Cherry.”

THINK COMBUSTIBLE

I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago with a studio exec who used the word “combustible” when talking about the kinds of ideas they were looking for. I like that word so much more than the “undeniable” buzz word that we’ve been hearing lately.

"Undeniable" is ambiguous. It’s not actionable. But combustible… combustible is about having materials that easily catch fire. A high concept. A role (or roles) that great actors would kill to play. A star that moves the needle. Stellar execution. Timely themes. A fresh take on a familiar idea. The more of those materials you collect for your project the better chance you have of catching fire. 

POINT OF ATTACK

I remembered this quote about opening scenes from The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri, “A good point of attack is where something vital is at stake at the very beginning of the play.” I needed something fun that would establish clear stakes for this character and get people leaning in.

I spent a day coming up with a seemingly impossible problem for this character to solve, amped up and clarified the personal stakes of why she needed to solve it, then mapped out all the fun moves she would take to get it done. It’s a scene that I think any actor would be psyched to play. I pitched it to my creative partners and it was a hit.

While I was working on this pitch I watched the first few episodes of ANDOR, which I love. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it yet but the opening of the pilot is a great example of this idea. Not only does it set the dominoes falling for the character, it tells you who he is and what he’s willing to do in order to achieve his goal. It's a perfect point of attack.

Last word from Lajos, “It is pointless to write about a person who doesn’t know what he wants, or wants something only halfheartedly. Even if a person knows what he wants, but has no internal and external necessity to achieve this desire immediately, that character will be a liability to your play.”

ROBERT COHEN’S G-O-T-E

G = GOAL. Some people use the term "intention" or "objective." The bottom line is to know the character's overall goal and the goal in every scene. "What do I want to achieve? What would my victory look like in this scene?" It's the thing you're fighting for and you may or may not get it.

O = Some people say "obstacle." That's what I always thought too, but then I watched the video below where Cohen says O stands for "OTHER PEOPLE." Acting is interacting. You win something FROM or through that other person. (That other person is then your obstacle, in many cases)

T = TACTICS. This is the part I love the most. The tactics are the things you do to achieve your goal. It's how you get what you want. He breaks it down into two basic categories: THREAT and INVITATION. You can raise your voice (threaten), you can seduce (invitation). There are thousands of tactics - flatter, amuse, punish, humiliate, discourage, encourage, bully, and on and on - and the ones your character chooses (the ones you choose for your character) tells you a lot about who they are.

When you're an actor you look for the tactics you can use within the given text. But when I'm writing, I'm thinking about, "What are the most interesting ways for them to get what they want in this scene?" I'll often give a road map via emotional POV in the action lines. For example, "Addy can see this isn't going anywhere. Fuck it, she's done playing nice."

E = EXPECTATIONS. In the video he talks about feeling the character's expectation for a positive outcome. They're really trying to achieve this goal. Seeing that pursuit, trying and failing and trying again, is what helps the audience forge a bond with the character. We empathize with their hopes, dreams, and struggles to achieve their goals. I'm always asking myself, "Why does the audience care about what happens?"

INNOVATE FOR SURVIVAL

This is a service industry. It’s going through tumultuous times, the future is uncertain. How do I adjust my service and innovate for survival? I've been looking for ways around the IP problem, writing short stories and audio dramas and comedies, but my final goal is still film and television. What will that even look like five to ten years from now?

If you have been reading this newsletter for any length of time you probably already know that I’m obsessed with creative breakthroughs and innovation. I’m always in search of “the new.” Remember that journal entry from last week? A few pages later there’s a poem about Charlie Parker called “Bird Lives,” about this very subject. I was constantly thinking about this stuff as far back as twenty years ago.

This is why the description of this newsletter from day one was, “Thoughts about the writing process, creativity, INNOVATION, and inspiration.”

Because I want this newsletter to be of service, I went searching for some new tools that might help spark some innovative thinking for all of us, beyond the usual nuts and bolts craft stuff. I came across a couple of great articles on the website for Autodesk, the company who created the CAD software.

Autodesk has an “innovation strategist” named Bill O’Connor. Bill led a team of students who considered the 1,000 greatest innovations in human history and boiled them down to their essence. Much like mapping the human genome, they mapped “the innovation genome,” which consists of seven questions:

1. What could we look at in a new way?

2. What could we use in a new way for the first time?

3. What could we move, changing its position in space and time?

4. What could we interconnect for the first time in a new way?

5. What could we alter in terms of design or performance?

6. What can we make that is truly new?

7. What can we imagine that would make a great experience for someone?

My favorite picture from the last two years. It sums up exactly how I believe creativity works. Peter Gabriel's new song, "io" has a bridge that says, “Stuff coming out, stuff going in, I’m just a part of everything.” That’s what it’s all about.