Welcome to the Machine

Over the last few weeks we have had social gatherings to try and get to know one another.  For the most part I have been friendly but I don’t know how many people I would really say I feel comfortable with.  This has always been a struggle for me but I am pushing harder and I know progress is going to be slow.   Part of the issue is that I don’t really like to brag about myself or talk about myself at all and that might be seen as a barrier to friendship.

 Part of the process of making a better writer.

It was really funny how the personalities break down within each discipline.  The screenwriters all tend to be a bit shy – but like to drink too much, the production designers all look like they should be covered in paint all the time, the editors are the kindest, gentlest mole people you will ever meet, the directors are pretty much all narcissists, the cinematographers collect by themselves and tend to talk in a tech language no one can understand and the producers are out-going, friendly, and trying to figure out how best to use you. 

How does that joke go --- A narcissist, an alcoholic, and a Producer walk into a bar…. The Screenwriter says:  “I want to make this movie. “ The Director says, “I like your idea but we’re going to do mine okay?”  The Producer nods happily and says, “that sounds great, I know you can write it.”  And thus a team is born.

So anyway, I write the script and I think it is pretty good.  I invited the team over and they read the first seven pages.  There were laughs at all the jokes.  A look of worry disappears from the director’s face and we go down to the beach and have a great time.

I turned in the first draft and all hell breaks loose.  My team decided to not read it until just before the meeting with our mentor.  Which turns into the vague list of complaints.   The first session of this was about an hour and 15 minutes.  The next with the mentor was another 30 minutes.  So I was sitting there being critiqued poorly for about 1 hour: 45 minutes.  I left feeling self-conscious and down right shitty about my grammar, my script formatting, and general story-telling ability.  Needless to say I needed a beer.   And thus I fell into my own discipline’s cliché. 

Imagine taking two years to climb this hill.

Of course all of this is happening before classes officially start.  The opening ceremonies included a brief run down of who graduated from the school, a nice speech from the director of the board of trustees and a history lesson about beginnings of The AFI.  What was missing was the mortal combat theme song and someone yelling, “Let the games begin!”   In the afternoon of the opening day, alumnus Edward Zwick, (Oscar winner) screened his new film, Love and Other Drugs.  Turns out his whole production team (screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and editor) all went to AFI within a few years of each other.   It made me feel better that when he turned to the audience and told them he cried himself to sleep for the first two months.  That anxiety is part of the business and you need to learn to control it.   It was exactly what I needed to hear.