The Joy and Challenges of Writing a Screenplay

Writing a screenplay can be a thrilling journey for any aspiring writer, offering unique creative opportunities and challenges. If you deeply love writing, the experience can be incredibly fulfilling, full of a sense of purpose and the capacity to immerse yourself in different lives and worlds. However, the process is no less demanding, especially when you must rely on dialogue and trust a team of professionals to bring your vision to life.

The Unique Experience of Screenplay Writing

When you write a good scene with your soul, you feel the whole world's happiness within you. This deeply personal connection to your work often transcends into a profound sense of satisfaction. The imagination part is what makes it exciting; you have no limits to your thoughts, and you can do whatever you want on that paper. What sets screenplay writing apart is the element of collaboration. Actors, directors, set designers, lighting specialists, cinematographers, and many others must work together to realize your vision. This reliance on others can be challenging, but it also allows for a richness and depth that prose sometimes lacks.

The Challenges and Learning Process

For me, the process of writing a screenplay is quite difficult. It strips away the majority of powerful tools I use in prose like description and point-of-view (POV) filtering, leaving me with just one: dialogue. I must learn to rely heavily on the actors, director, set designers, lighting specialists, cinematographers, and editors to bring my script to life. This can often feel limiting, especially when I want to create vivid descriptions or specific POVs.

Novelists often overwrite dialogue, and I struggle with this even knowing that I should cut unnecessary dialogue. It requires constant effort to strip away the excess and leave only the essentials. Many scriptwriters enter the process thinking they are in control, but they are not. They are merely providing a blueprint, and it will be built by others. It's best to concentrate on what matters most: the characters and the dialogue.

The Descriptive Example of My First Screenplay

My first draft of my first screenplay was written when I was just 14 years old, after seeing 'Empire Strikes Back' at The Bank Theater in Pittsburgh with my father. I called it 'Jedis Get Revenge.' The story follows Luke Skywalker, who fights his way into Jabba's Palace using a blue lightsaber, and Han Solo, who is trapped in Carbonite. The adventure is action-packed, with Luke using laser grenades and the Force to overcome his opponents and rescue Han.

The screenplay includes some of my storytelling techniques, such as setting up the story, raising the stakes, and the 3-act structure. Despite the challenges and lack of support from my family, I was excited about the creative freedom of imagining how the story would unfold. However, life got complicated, and I lived in a van for a while, which taught me the importance of perseverance and planning. Years later, after serving in the Navy, I returned to screenwriting, equipped with the tools and discipline I had learned.

In conclusion, while the process of writing a screenplay can be challenging, it is also a rewarding experience. It is a unique blend of imagination and collaboration, and the joy of bringing a story to life through dialogue and the work of others cannot be matched.