Connecting to Purpose, Self, and Process SOURCE: CLAUDIA HUNTER JOHNSON
PART 1: WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?
A screenwriter's purpose is to CONNECT.
"Only connect." Add this to the back of your tent card right now.
Connecting with your audience is the feeling that we are all after. It feels better than almost anything else in our world.
Audiences WANT to connect, even though they may not realize it. We all yearn for relationship, connection and meaning. Good stories satisfy this yearning.
The Screenplay Paradox
NOT ABOUT ME/ABOUT ME
Though our lives may be different, our desires, our needs are the same.
DIFFERENT LIVES/SAME DESIRES
NOT ABOUT ME/ABOUT ME
UNIQUE/UNIVERSAL
We strive and compete in order to connect. We need to win because we want to belong. It's the HUMAN MATRIX, a vertical pattern of striving with the horizontal pattern of connecting
THIS IS THE SOURCE OF A STORY'S SHARED EMOTIONS
So, as a writer, your PURPOSE IS TO CONNECT.
PART 2: WHO ARE YOU?
As a writer, you must next CONNECT TO YOURSELF.
In order to find your unique voice you must identify those attitudes, values and experiences that will energize your work as a screenwriter. In other words, you have to find your VOICE.
You've got to search deep within and find things that are SPECIFICALLY UNIQUE. Vague beliefs like "I hate war," or "Love your neighbor" aren't going to help you find any kind of unique voice.
The best short screenplays are deeply felt and highly specific.
back to the paradox
The best way to connect with others is through the honest expression of our unique experiences as a human.
Part 3: What is your process?
You must DISCOVER the madness of your method.
"It boils down to time, space, objects, and rituals. It's not what the environment is like that matters, but the extent to which you are in harmony with it." - Csikszentmihalyi
WHEN do you work best? Do everything you can to set aside that particular time regularly.
"One of the mysterious things about writing is the extreme susceptibility it shows to the influence of PLACES." - Tennessee Williams
OBJECTS will either help or hinder the allocation of creative energies.
"Small RITUALS we practice before practicing our art help dispel those doubts and fears that plague us." -Twyla Tharp
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings always wrote on the front porch of her home in Cross Creek.
When the weather didn't cooperate, she wrote indoors by the windows.
At home, I have two spaces where I most often work/write/edit (often simultaneously).
perfection is a form of self-hatred.
Lighten up and just do it. Something will come of it, even though you may not ever realize what that something is.
Credits:
Created with images by jonathan229 - "MS1470_1964_Marber_ModernClassics_JS" • ThoseGuys119 - "First Student #150194" • ThoseGuys119 - "First Student #170" • Unsplash - "typewriter book notebook" • alans1948 - "FloridaFall13-06696" • alans1948 - "FloridaFall13-06695"