I’m at a pivotal point in the screenwriting process.  I thought for my own piece of mind I’d share the journey it took to get here.  I don’t know where this story will end.  I certainly hope it has a happy ending.  Let’s start from the beginning.

I’ve written a lot of screenplays.  Most of them were through my twenties.  I burned all my bridges in radio and television, moved back to Michigan and had the first “real” job of my life working in a Toys R Us.  Over the next few years I went through my Kevin Smith phase.  I first wrote my “Clerks” about a guy who was working in a big box toy store cleverly called We B Toys.

Next when I was in an unhappy relationship and feeling like I was hundreds of miles from where I wanted to be, I wrote my “Dogma” about a couple in an unhappy relationship who die and get stuck in Purgatory…which happens to be a small town in the middle of nowhere.

After that, the unhappy relationship ended so I wrote my “Chasing Amy” about a guy who ends his unhappy relationship and starts a non-romantic relationship.  I guess it was also my “When Harry Met Sally”.  The main character in that one was a struggling stand up comedian.  At the time, I hadn’t stepped foot on the comedy stage yet, so it was just a way for me to get out the material I wrote without having to actually perform it.  Coincidentally, the arc of that character kind of mirrored what I ended up doing creatively in real life years later.

So, after those first few attempts at screenwriting I started doing stand up and seemed to have a knack for it.  Most of my creative juices flowed into that outlet.  Friends asked me if I wanted to partner up with them on scripts, but for one reason or another it never really worked out.

Last year a fellow performer named Lesley Braden and I met with some other performers about starting a sketch comedy group.  That didn’t work out, but Lesley and I found that we worked really well together.  She pitched me her idea for the story we ended up writing and I loved it.   It’s like what they say about love.  You find it when you’re not looking for it.  I wasn’t looking for the perfect screenwriting partner, I just happened upon her!

Next time, I’ll talk about the story.