SCREENWRITING: THE GREEK CHORUS THAT WRITES YOUR SCREENPLAYS
Deep within all writers — in an INSIDE OUT way — lurks a chorus of characters all battling for attention. This your own personal Writers Room. They act as shoulder devil and angels on every project. Within the psychology quagmire that is writing, they each play an important role, but understanding that they’re all there and working at their own separate agendas can help us figure out when we should listen to each one and when we should ignore them.
THE DREAMER — This project is THE BIG ONE. This is the one that wins Oscars, opens doors, puts you on the map. The Dreamer can’t wait to get this script finished and out there because it’s The One. The funny thing about the Dreamer…they’re almost always wrong. But they just need to be right once. And they’re positive it’s this time!
THE DO-ER — This is that side of us that gets things done. It’s most happy when it has a task to do. It hates the idea phase or the selling phase and is hitting its stride when it has Final Draft open and is just typing away. It’s a finisher, and it doesn’t care as much about quality as it does quantity.
THE CRITIC — We all know this jerk. That voice telling us we suck, telling us the idea is bad, the writing is bad. We should quit, we should work on something else, we just don’t have it anymore. Most of the time, the other forces are enough to keep us from spiraling…but when they don’t, this dude is usually the source of writer’s block and creative depressions.
THE ARTIST — The side of us that sees our work as something deeper, something more important — personal expression, changing the world, making a statement. It’s sometimes at odds with the others…valuing some deeply personal code over the other signs of success.
THE ENTREPRENEUR — Keeps all of these jokers in check. It has its eye on the big picture. It knows things aren’t as great as the Dreamer might think, but also knows the critic is a bit of a pain in the ass. But the entrepreneur measures itself by results. It knows crap won’t get us anywhere, but neither will lack of productivity.
THE DIVA — The Diva is a close cousin of the Artist. But the Diva is willing to sell out for “likes.” They live for adoration. They’re performers at heart…desperate for ego strokes and adulation…and in some ways they fuel the machine, pushing the pace of everything, but also the most sensitive to criticism…and can turn on the rest if things don’t go right and shut down everything. I’ve met some artists and writers who claim not to have this voice…I don’t buy it. In fact, I think all humans have this. Some might have it louder than others but it’s there and serves its purposes.
So…who cares? Well, I think it’s good to know all of these are in you and none of them should rule. Each of us have different relationships with each one — the DO-ER is prevalant in me, the Dreamer can lead me down wrong paths and some times the Entrepreneur can be in such a hurry I don’t listen to the Critic or Artist enough. But just knowing all sides are battling it out, I can nudge the volume up or down when I need it on any of them. Your more than any one of these. Take control of them as best you can. Never forget when it comes to this particular Writers Room… you’re the showrunner.
