Success Rehearsal

Hello loyal readers (AKA, my mom). I had an interesting writing day yesterday. I, for a few precious hours, thought I'd FINALLY cracked my pilot premise. I was so excited. I might've even squealed with delight. A few times. Then, I realized it had some holes. Big ones. And, in my haste to get a premise that I loved, I was actually sacrificing some of the most important things I needed, mainly compelling emotion. It's easy to get into problem solving and superficial 'making thigs work' vs. organically letting a premise birth itself from the main character's emotional life, goals, and flaws. It's good to take wrong turns like these for two reasons:

1.) It's like buying groceries for a trip you don't end up taking. You still have snacks all week long. Meaning: there are still ideas, characters, concepts that can be used later.

2.) There is nothing like the FEELING OF SUCCESS even if it's a false alarm. It's good practice for the real deal.

I've decided to shelve the premise work for a couple days and focus 100% of my time on the four pilot scripts I have. I think that will help me in narrowing down the parameters of my premise. Sometimes I get a little Runaway Create Freightrain-ish and overwhelm myself.

One interesting thing I discovered today is that the "Ugly Betty" Pilot follows the 12 Steps of The Hero's Journey. Flawlessly. All in 49 pages while still hitting all the act breaks with a cliff hanger/mini-tease. Genius! Bravo Silvio Horta! I'll be sniffing that pilot for clues like a pilot hungry bloodhound! Watch your back amigo...

Words I Wish I'd Written: "I'll face my fear in the hopes of a greater freedom..." Tree (singer/songwriter)