As a writer, I often worry that I'll run out of ideas or just keep repeating myself (as Aaron Sorkin seems to do brilliantly). But inspiration comes from so many places, that it's really just a matter of being open to whatever the universe presents to you.
For example, over the past year I have been helping to shoot a documentary about a group of elderly women who met at the Red Bank YMCA 15 years ago, and have been meeting for bagels and coffee ever since. These ladies share a great zest for life. And their story of long-term friendship is inspirational. It is a sweet doc.
As a writer, spending time with 20 very different women from 20 very different backgrounds has given me great "material". I feel like I could now write a part for an older woman that is well-rounded and interesting, rather than one-dimensional.
We're editing this doc now, and over and over again the same theme keeps popping up -- these gals would DO ANYTHING FOR EACH OTHER. Of course, hearing this has given me a twisted idea. What if a group of elderly friends really would do anything for each other -- INCLUDING MURDER?
They say you start every script with a "what if?" and that idea got my wheels spinning. I definitely have to write this. Problem is, I'm currently working on at least two other scripts first so this idea is going to have to wait. It takes me a very long time to develop feature scripts because I spend a lot of time creating the characters and their backstories. And I really do have MORE IDEAS than I'll ever get to in this lifetime.
But I'm really fast at writing TV scripts. I just get the natural structure of TV writing. And a half hour of TV is only 20something pages as opposed to a feature's 120 pages. It is also much harder for me to commit to the structure of features -- the telling of a story in three acts where "a hero must go on a journey, meet with increasing conflict, until all is RESOLVED". I like telling stories where we already know the characters, and stories continue.
So last week I had an idea. Rather than wait to develop a full-blown feature three years from now, I decided to steal from myself and plant my murder-minded senior citizens in an episode of My Name is Earl. I have been looking for an idea for an Earl spec script for awhile, because I've seen just about every episode and week after week it is consistenly funny and original, despite sticking to a formula.
After reading every Earl script online, and writing a short overview of my episode, the pieces fell into place rather quickly. After just three days of writing, I'm almost done with a first draft. Which means in another week, I'll have another writing sample to enter contests or send to agents.
Who would have thought that an inspirational documentary about senior ladies would give me an idea for a dark comedy which in turn would give me an idea for an Earl script? Crazy, huh?
In the past, spec scripts that I wrote for Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City were FINALISTS in different contests. I think I'm a better writer now, plus I seem to have a handle on the quirky tone of Earl. And I really, really think I can WIN this time. So cross your fingers.
Besides it's FATE! I worked with Jason Lee before he was Earl, hell, before he was famous. It's time for Old Lady Karma to take care of me.
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