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This
week's answer:
Stress
is not Your Friend
I think stress helps screenwrters
be more stressed, and, when they are stressed and write,
I'm sure their stress somehow shows up in their writing,
but saying that that kind of "stressed
writing" is better than writing that emanates from
an unstressed writer does not seem to make a lot of
sense. It's not that being stressed doesn't help a
writer understand that state and be able to write
about it. But being stressed and
writing is not the way to go, at all. Stress
actually blocks creativity. And nobody wants his
or her creativity blocked. That would be too
stressful. And that would block your
creativity. And on and on we go.
Here's an example of stressed
screenwriting. See if you can tell when the
screenwriter became stressed while writing this scene:
EXT. PASTORAL KNOLL
The flowers are colorful and
majestic. Emily traipses through the tulips,
gathering berries as she hums to herself.
Everything is right with her world. She notices a
frolicking squirrel nearby.
EMILY
Hello, little fury one. How can I
The whole Goddamn world's against me and I'm going to
show them all. They'll see who they're
dealing with. Just let 'em try and put one over on
me, the losers. Why I'll...
make your day even more pleasant, Mister
Squirrel?
You think so, huh?! Well... #^%$%$@ to all of you,
lousy #^%$%$@!
And... scene. Now, did you
detect where the writer could have been coming from a
less than serene place?
Stress is not your friend.
Serenity is. And producers who pay you six
figures for your screenplays. But you'll need to
write excellent screenplays to be paid that much.
But don't let that stress you. Just breathe deeply
and say to yourself, "I am a serene
screenwriter. I am a serene screenwriter. I
am a screenwriter." And on and you go.
DcH
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