What’s in a Draft?
When I was in my last year at Chapman pursuing a degree in Screenwriting, I brought an idea to my thesis class that was maybe a little too abstract for me to even put on paper. My professor read my first ten pages and said “…this isn’t a movie.” I took that feedback and immediately transferred into another professor’s class - one who was more encouraging of the idea I was trying to realize. By the end of the semester I was only about 40 pages in, but The New Hippies were opening for Wu-Tang at the Palladium and I was chasing a dream, so my professor gave me an A and told me to keep going down this sacred path.
It’s been about six years and I’m deep in the woods. Turns out this path is mostly just uncharted territory. Or maybe I took a wrong turn. Who knows? The point is, I never finished that draft. There are concepts and ideas that I’ve held very close to me all along the journey but that draft lacked a structure that would make the idea palatable. I’ve since honed in the idea to try to imagine a more attainable goal and tell a clearer story. To be honest, it’s often been difficult and very confusing. I’ve started over about a thousand times and never made it past page ten.
When we went on our road trip in July, I had hopes to shoot some footage that I could make something out of, but that didn’t happen. I didn’t have the time, the focus, or even a desire really to pull out the camera all the time. I wanted to enjoy myself and take in new places. New experience is necessary to keep yourself fresh. Then, about three days before we were scheduled to get back on the road, an idea came to me. I was swimming - most all my ideas come to me in water, be it a pool, the ocean, a shower… that’s just where I think the best - and a framework finally made some sense to me. I put down the beats of the story in a note while I was still in the pool, and sat with it for the rest of the trip, letting it simmer.
Upon returning to LA, I set a new schedule for myself, reminiscent of the one I kept to when I felt the most productive last summer, at the very beginning of all this Beautiful Idiots stuff. I dedicated a two hour block to writing in the morning, and wouldn’t you know, after about eight days I had a full first draft of an idea I’ve been trying to get out of me for six years.
Now, the reality is that this draft is probably kinda shit. The bones are there, and I’m sure I’ll keep some stuff, but the most important thing was to get to the end. Now I can go back and find the heart of the story and hopefully make it into something that resonates with people the way it has with me for all this time. Very exciting.
-J.P.