Growing up I always wanted to be an actor. My favorite movie was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang starring Dick Van Dyke. I loved the imagination that went into all of the characters, I loved the songs. Even as a kid I would always think about remaking it.
Sure, I wanted to direct it, but only to make sure it was done right. My true goal was to act in the role of the infamous Child Catcher that haunted me as a kid. Being homeschooled by religious parents, I was pretty sheltered. My peers had Goosebumps and Are you Afraid of the Dark? to keep them up at night. Not me. I had Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang -- Still gives me the creeps
I moved through my life deliberately after that. My Dad had a camera, which I would grab and make countless little movies starring my siblings. I would always be behind the camera due to the fact that, in my opinion, no one else knew how to point it like they did in the movies. Eventually, the acting bug was squashed and I realized where my true place was.
I ended up acting in my first directorial feature "Milk Mustache", along with four of my brothers.
In a screenwriting class in college, my professor said that you should always be writing. Just to build that muscle. Write throwaway scripts -- just to write.
At the time, I thought that was ridiculous.
Why would I spend so much time writing something that wasn't going to be produced? What a waste. I wrote, fully intending that every single word would be a frame in the final product. Looking back, I don't think I was wrong to feel that way. Hell, I think it's a healthy and realistic way to write. The real trick is to be able to look at it as a learning experience and move on.
I had the idea, I had a writing partner (Alex, the wedding second shooter -- See Pt. 1) who was on board with the idea. It was time to sit down and write. I had set a goal to write 5 pages a day. Rain or shine, no matter how I was feeling.
I never did character prep sheets. I figured I would get to know them as I wrote. Just as the audience would get to know them as they watched and I would double back and adjust their behavior in later drafts. Alex, unprompted did a sheet for one of the main characters "Johnny MacTague" and it blew my mind. I found it so much easier to write this character and I going forward I will do this for every lead and supporting character.
Character work sheet for the co-lead in County Line
Hindsight is 20/20, but doing this prep work would have saved me so much time in past projects. It makes dialogue easier to write, it makes it easier to know how the character would respond certain scenarios, it allows you to get inside of the characters head. Writing that makes me feel a bit crazy but there is a sweet spot when you are screenwriting that I only dipped into on this screenplay. A runners high. Where you are so in tune with your characters it feels like the screenplay is writing itself.
To be continued.