On Finishing my First Screenplay
This morning, I finished my first feature length screenplay. It was 102 pages long. I printed it out, hole punched it, placed brads in the top, bottom (but not middle) holes, and turned it in.
It was satisfying. So satisfying I almost want to change the font of this website to 12pt courier. Almost.
In having finished my first one, I already want to start my next. I know I should be revising the one I just wrote or something, but in all likelihood, that screenplay would never be made into a film so forget the follow through.
My screenplay is called Written on Water. It’s loosely based on the life of Eileen Chang. Very loosely. If it ever got made into a film, fans of Eileen Chang would be screaming injustice.
I don’t know what I was thinking when I began writing. It was a hard first project. I should’ve done something I knew more about. Let it be a project for developing my voice as a writer rather than telling the story.
Like all art, one has to start with technique, then find their identity and define their content. I skipped right to the content. But who cares, really? I have a 102 page screenplay and it was damn satisfying.