Beyond Words

Beyond Words was the name of the event I attended last night at the Writers Guild Theater. It was billed as "a conversation with WGA and Academy-Award nominated screenwriters". It lasted about an hour and a half and was fascinating. Beyond fascinating. Beyond words...

There were screenwriters there who's work I enjoyed this year (Stuart Blumberg & Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids Are Alright; Aaron Stockard - The Town; Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network) and writers there who's work I've yet to see (Paul Tamasy, Scott Silver & Eric Johnson - The Fighter; John Requa & Glenn Ficarra - I Love You Phillip Morris, Mark Heyman - Black Swan; Nicole Holofcener - Please Give) but it didn't matter, they all had fascinating insights into the screenwriting and television writing process, and more than a few fun anecdotes from the trenches.

I've attended my share of panel discussions and seminars since moving to Los Angeles to pursue my writing career. Sometimes they're a lot of fun, sometimes they're educational, sometimes they're downright boring and repetitive. (No, I don't want to know about an agency contract. When I get one, I'm sure someone will explain mine to me, thankyouverymuch.) But this panel was different. I walked out of the theater on cloud nine. Ready to write a movie. Ready to write another TV pilot. Ready to take the world by storm. Well, at least Hollywood by storm.

At the end of the conversation, the moderator (an entertaining John August - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.) asked about when the writers share their ideas with people, when they start to talk about their stories. A few people chimed in but it was Aaron Sorkin who summed it up perfectly for me (of course). He said he doesn't share his ideas with a lot of people until they're nearly done. Not because he's afraid someone will steal them but because he's afraid people will steal his energy and passion for the project. And I totally caught myself nodding. How many times have I told someone I'm a writer who's working to get her screenwriting career going and people are like, uh oh, yeah, good luck with that. You just know they're thinking, whatever, never gonna happen. They steal my energy and my passion. Same goes for story ideas.

So I've decided to take control, own my energy and my passion, and continue on, focused on my career. I want to write movies. I want to write television shows. I want to keep moving forward. And so I will with all the inspiration I gleaned from last night. It truly was moving beyond words for me...