My brain is soup.
I've never done so much writing in my life, all at once. And these teachers, they’re relentless! Every week they’re asking me, “Have you finished your pages? Are you quality-checking your formatting? Have you prepared your feedback for your fellow writers?” I mean, who do these people think they are?? (Oh, wait a tick, I paid them twenty grand to do that. My bad.)
If VFS (and, I'm assuming, any decent film school) could be compared to horseback riding, it would go something like this:
- Term 1 was a two-month long walk around the acreage, learning the names and personalities of all the "horses" in the stable (i.e. writing fundamentals like genre studies, style, dialogue, character, pitch, etc).
- Term 2 was our time to pick our favourite story ideas, then wash ‘em (build outlines), groom ‘em (write beat sheets), and saddle ‘em up (workshop in groups).
- Term 3, apparently, is when we put our boots in the stirrups, yell giddy up and realize there’s still a lot to learn about riding one of these things, all the while hoping to hell we don't fall off!
But we’re on the move, and that's what matters. Writing, collaborating, workshopping, sweating profusely, hoping we're good enough, realizing we're not yet, making peace with that, and pushing forward in our quest to become professionals. Above all, we’re learning how to stay on top of our horse, even when it sometimes becomes a nerve-wracking, sleep-depriving pain in the ass! (Which is still an infinitely better place to be than at home in our basements, dreaming of how great it would be to be a writer someday, one day.)
Term 3 curriculum:
1) Complete 1 full feature screenplay (first draft, beginning to end), to be workshopped in group and summarily beaten up, massaged, ripped apart, re-assembled and made as perfect as possible.
2) Complete 1 TV spec script (first draft, beginning to end) to be similarly assaulted, twisted and polished.
3) Comedy sketches - Scripts based around comedic situations, comic characters, the "rule of 3", etc.
4) Other regular class assignments
My various antidotes, vitamin pills:
- An amazingly patient, creative, enthusiastic (and ssssexy!) wife
- Yoga
- This blog
- Great friends and colleagues
- A mini-fridge full of beer and Riesling at all times
- And a pocket full o' dreams
Paying Attention to What's Not on the Curriculum
It's what not on the curriculum, though, that really deserves special attention. I'm talking about those flyers on the walls of your department floor, those emails, those hints and whispers in the air of imminent collaborations, seminars and projects. Those informal opportunities we'll probably never get again to work with other students and departments, as well as on projects and with filmmakers outside of VFS. I'm talking about those things that no one will necessarily tell you about from the front of a classroom, and which you'll never know about unless it happens to show up on the wall, in your inbox or in lunchroom conversation.
It's what not on the curriculum, though, that really deserves special attention. I'm talking about those flyers on the walls of your department floor, those emails, those hints and whispers in the air of imminent collaborations, seminars and projects. Those informal opportunities we'll probably never get again to work with other students and departments, as well as on projects and with filmmakers outside of VFS. I'm talking about those things that no one will necessarily tell you about from the front of a classroom, and which you'll never know about unless it happens to show up on the wall, in your inbox or in lunchroom conversation.
It might seem unfair that such opportunities aren't formally announced, but guess what? That's the way it works in the real world! Hollywood doesn't come to you because they heard what a wonderful and funny and gifted artist you are. Like it or not, it's our job to look, to investigate, to vigilantly pursue those opportunities, to constantly put ourselves out there, make ourselves known and available, and basically never say no unless there's a really, really good reason.
Everything else pretty much chalks up to hard work, ability and passion. I mean, how badly do you want to tell stories and make movies? That's the bottom line: what are you really passionate about, and what are you willing to do to acquire it?
Trust me, the older you get, the more everything else doesn't matter more than that.