Chronicles 6 - Why did I want to write this script anyway?

Backing up a bit

So I got the idea for this script in the summer of 2000 and by September 2000 I had a few scenes and a collection of research material and ideas. Not much.

Why did I want to write this thing anyway? I knew it was going to be hard work with all the research and I wasn't sure if I could write comedy, least of all a romantic comedy.

I had written comedy before but it was mostly black comedy and I had no idea if I could write all that romantic stuff.

On a long, cramped coach flight to Los Angeles in November 2000 I decided to just get my pen and paper out and start writing the first draft or at least a partial first draft. A few scribbled pages later I looked at the lines and thought to myself, "Oh God, this is awful. It's cheesy, corny and embarrassing. I can't do this."

Then I thought to myself. "Hang on a minute. I felt the same way about the first draft of the very first screenplay I wrote. I thought the dialogue was corney and cliched then as well, but, then it got better, and better. Then the script ended up getting me meetings in Hollywood with some very respectable production companies."

So I decided to just write through the crap and kept on going. By doing this I would ocassionally stumble on something that actually sounded quite good. This gave me the impetus to keep on going and see this damned thing through.

Okay. To answer the question. Why did I want to write this script anyway? I guess it was the hook. It was about a guy pretending to be someone else to 'get the girl'. I love those types of movies where you are watching a character flying by the seat of his pants, having to juggle a whole number of different balls in the air, (like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie), and you know at some point the whole house of cards is going to come tumbling down. It's great entertainment. It's not going to feed the world or solve the Middle East crisis but it takes you out of your daily life for 90 minutes and, if its done well, makes you walk away with a good feeling inside. Hey, there's a lot worse things you can do than make people laugh, (or shed a feel-good-tear), right?

So, after ploughing through the first draft and second draft and getting encouraging feedback from the script consultant it was time to hit the agents! Success is right around the corner, right?

See Chronicles 5