In 2023, I wrote a screenplay for a feature film in less than a week. I made a video about it for Aralan, my friend JJ’s peer-to-peer learning site.
Since then, that same screenplay went through another four drafts (which took almost a year). And then, it was re-written into a TV pilot (which took another 6 months).
Now, two years later, both scripts sit in folders on my computer, along with all the other unproduced .fdx files I’ve worked years on.
Like my fellow filmmakers, I’m feeling frustrated and scared about our industry. I’m discouraged and tired. But even though I’m lingering in uninspired burnout, I did want to revisit the Lynn of 2023 who felt compelled to finish a story. For no other reason but to write it into existence.
So I asked JJ if I could share my class publicly, in hopes that it might energize one of us to keep creating.
The full video is above; here is the course intro:
This is not the first time that I wrote a script this quickly (it’s the third). In fact, the very first one I ever wrote, I Will Make You Mine, I finished in a week. I know this is rare. I know that not everyone works this quickly; even for myself! I don't always write this fast.
I have written several scripts since, and not all of them come together like this. But because I was able to do it, I had so many people reach out and ask me how. I thought about it, and I decided that I would make a video for all of you to share my process a little bit. Because much to my surprise, I guess I have a process! I mean, I must if I've done this three times.
I still have a little bit of imposter syndrome calling myself a “writer.” I am not a member of the WGA. I've never been paid to write, and I don't follow a lot of writing rules you read about in books like Save the Cat.
That said, I Will Make You Mine did end up getting produced and made and has a 100% Rotten Tomato rating. So it's not like I'm not a writer.
This is how I wrote a feature film in one week or less, not how you should write a film.
Unlike a program where you have somebody like the Coen Brothers or Spike Lee teaching you how to write a screenplay, (which is great — I mean, I definitely want to know more about that process), this is more peer-to-peer. This is like we're sitting in my office, which we are — having a cup of coffee together (or a giant tumbler of water, in my case).
So relax and let me tell you a little bit more about my process.
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