The Choppy McSeptember Monthly
Jumping in cold water & revising a script.
WHAT I PUT FORTH INTO THE WORLD THIS MONTH:
art video from my travels in May
a series of improvised Emmy-themed videos for Second City (x, y and z)
an improv show at Navy Pier as part of Chicago Live
my first Hot Reads show! (so fun)
ALBANIA
I spent the first week of September in Albania. First, driving north to a national park and staying in a remote inn. Then, to Tirana for a friend’s wedding. I drank a lot of espresso. These were my favorite sugar packets:
Twice we got our morning coffees from a hut by the river.
On the second day, I went in. It was remarkable, the coldest water I’ve been in.
THE CLOG
I want to write something new and sprawling this fall, but there is a clog in the pipe. The clog is a screenplay that I’m a few drafts deep on, something I’ve been sitting on for years and I must revise before I can start a new one. That’s not a universal rule, that’s the effect of my personal Clog. Whenever I reach for other screenplay ideas that will require months of work, the piece my brain that is a stern matron slaps my hand and says “finish what you started.” I must eat my peas before I can feast on the strawberry and cream cake. Of course, after a couple drafts, the strawberry and cream cake will also become peas that I push around my plate.
So when I got home to Chicago, I deemed it Screenplay Revision Month. Revising is one of those projects that I keep pushing off, because it requires a lot of time to get fully re-immersed and to think through everything, to keep it all in my head. It also involves no applause breaks, praise, after-show drinks, re-tweets, or external encouragement. It’s just me, wrestling with my own taste, and repeatedly googling “screenplay structure” and “screenplay structure one simple image with page numbers.”
After about ten days of working, I felt pretty disappointed with my progress, especially because I was spending so much time just staring into space thinking, sometimes not writing anything down at all. I began to wonder if I was being lazy, idle, precious.
To combat that feeling, I made a list of short videos and tasks related to those videos and I tried to smash out a task or two each day on top of the revising. So even if the bulk of my creative time was spent staring into space and moving scenes in my head, then at least I had done something tangible, like clean out a fish tank or find music for a video. I called this The Flurry.
If you’re keeping track, this means we just finished up:
The Sabbatical: Screenplay Revision Month: The Flurry.
Anyway, The Flurry is what spurred me to edit together this sketchbook video from May:
And it’s also partially why I started jumping in the lake every day. It’s nice to do something cold and bracing and clarifying for the mind. To be outside each day, before returning to my staring-couch.
I wanted so badly to have this be the final revision, to have some breakthroughs that make it short and snappy and perfect and then I’m done. But I’ve been working for three weeks and in these last couple days, the only way I’ve made real on-the-page progress is by accepting that this is not the Final Draft and I have to leave in some dissatisfying bits and weak lines and plot snarls. I’ve taken it as far as I can and now I’ll hand it off to some thoughtful friends for feedback. But I did it. It’s a new draft, it’s a new day, it’s a new creative phase that I write in my notebook in bubble letters.
CLOSING REMARKS
Last Saturday, I was at my parents’ house and I pulled a random clutch of old markers from the craft cabinet. I thought “I’ll just draw the chair” and then I ended up drawing the whole view.
This is how it goes for me almost every single time. In order to start, I (genuinely) believe I’ll just do a little bit. And then I want to keep going. Incidentally, that is also how my screenplay started, years ago.
Using what you have, on hand, to make something interesting that you didn’t expect? Everything’s a metaphor for everything! Markers, peas, cake, cold water, etc.
Bye!
Claire
I’ll write about what the cat is thinking.
I love the colors you used for the chair; seems to blend memories and feelings into the still life. So cool.
Once your screenplay is production ready, can I do the music?