The Journey Begins

Hello and welcome. This is going to be the first post of many, where I’ll document all about my journey of writing my first-ever feature film. I want to be completely transparent and share all my process. So for some context, I am currently studying a master's in screenwriting, and as a project for the whole year, we need to think, plot out, and write a full feature-length screenplay, including a first draft and subsequent revisions. At the end of the year, we'll have a third version of our very own original feature film screenplay. Prior to this, I completed 2 years of film school where I wrote and directed some of my own short films. So I am familiar with the format and basics of a screenwritting.

Why am I documenting it?

The reason why I am writing this Newsletter is to document my journey. Going from never writing more than 10 pages for a screenplay to writing at least 90 pages (feature length). My intention is to be as transparent as possible, capturing all the highs and lows, all the obstacles that get in the way and how I manage to overcome them. I think that often there is a lot of gatekeeping and secrecy in the filmmaking industry. So people like me that are just starting out don’t really know where to start. This is my attempt at putting my own little grain of salt in showing you how it gets made. Lastly, I am no expert, just a guy that is starting out, with the dream of someday becoming a professional writer-director. So, if anything that I said before interests you, then join and take a peek behind the curtain of writing a movie.

Where am I currently at?

Right now, I am at the very inception point of the idea, meaning I have to figure out what story I want to write about. I have a screenplay development class, which is a class where a mentor will be helping us along the way, revising and giving back notes on our scripts. At the moment, we’ve just been talking about our ideas, discussing the genre and characters, a very basic synopsis, and trying to figure the story out by talking and getting feedback. At first, I had come up with an idea for a Noir murder mystery thriller, taking inspiration from 'Se7en', 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri', and the whole cop thriller genre. But to be honest, I wasn’t really finding the story. Something about the characters, the setting, and the overall tone just weren’t connecting with me. I like murder mysteries because they tend to have a strong conflict, and I have a somewhat good premise and I liked the overall themes I could explore with that kind of story. But I just felt like I rushed it picking the idea.

To be honest, I am a little nervous not having an idea yet, as most of my classmates already have theirs and have started to develop it. But I just can’t shake the feeling that there is another story that I want to tell. I felt like I hadn’t given myself enough time to settle on an idea that really excited me. Given the fact that it is going to be a long road in writing it, I know that finding the right idea is crucial. I still have my cop story in case I don't find anything else, though. But in the meantime, I am just in the hunt for new ideas.

How am I approaching this challenge?

Well, it is a little frustrating because no matter how much you bang your head against the wall, ideas are not something that you can just force. So what I've been doing is trying to get good quality input into my brain. I’ve been watching documentaries, films (both new and old), reading, overall just consuming a high variety of things. I think of these as feeding the mind. So I am trying to give it as nutritious and varied a diet as I possibly can. So this is as far as input goes. But what about actually generating the ideas? Well, I think it is all about routine and generating the spaces and the mindset for these ideas to appear. But how I am exactly doing this?

• I keep a diary with me at all times and I write every idea that I get, yes, every idea, no matter how bad, basic, or boring it seems. This helps me in a couple of ways. First of all, it ensures that I am capturing what I come up with daily. Second, it gives me a physical place to see my ideas, mixing and matching them with one another. And thirdly, and most importantly, it gets me into the mindset of putting out ideas without judging. I think that often we don’t write not because we have zero ideas, but rather because we are too harsh with the ones we do have. So allowing the 'bad' ideas to come out will help you enable the good ones by getting you into the groove.

• Look for creative spaces: I mean spaces where you allow the mind to wander and be away from distractions. I recommend getting out of the house, going for a drive, taking a walk, or a shower—whatever activity that gives your mind idle time to wander will allow you to process and come up with new ideas.

I’ll keep you posted

So this is it for now. I tried to keep it short and sweet. I hope you found some value in this post, and more than anything that you join me in this journey. I’ll be posting at least once a week, reporting on my progress. I’ll give it to you straight so that you can truly experience what it entails to write a movie. I’m still learning, so any and all comments to help me improve these posts are welcome. If you want to follow my journey click the botton down below and subscibre to my newsletter for a grand price of 0$ (can’t beat it) Hope you liked it, and see you next week.