Hmm… Today is Wednesday. Wasn’t this post supposed to go up on Monday? It was except one important thing… My schedule has changed significantly this week. It works better now for me to post on Wednesdays. So! Let’s go. 🙂

Why not kick off my Wednesday posts with my theory that helped me to better understand screenwriting? It’s the one where I compared screenwriting to God. Huh? I knew that those two things seem unrelated especially since I don’t hold them on the same level. It’s just that they share something in common. Yes. It’s that they were both abstract concepts that people have tried to codify to make them concrete. An example was the ever famous idea of a man in the sky like the image attached to this post.

You can follow all the rules laid out about God, but that won’t guarantee you a spot in wherever you go after you die. Screenwriting was similar in that everyone and their dog’s cousin twice removed also had a theory about it. But having followed their rules wouldn’t guarantee that you would have a script. Words on a page would be your only guarantee. That also would be before one started to ask the tough question of whether or not those words together were any good. There were even more theories about that.

And there was even one book that claimed that it was the last book on screenwriting that you would ever need. Several of religious books also made that same claim. I called bullshit on both of those thoughts. God and screenwriting have evolved along with the human race and its understanding of how everything has changed while other things remained the same. I could attest with my own understanding of both. It was more a matter of blindly accepting them when I began my journey. But that didn’t sit well with me the longer that I thought about it. Therefore, I sought out more information.

Lo and behold! There was a shitload of information out there that was just waiting to be devoured. It seemed that there were some agreed upon “facts” for both. The differences rested in their nuances. But what was screenwriting and God beside a study of nuances? That meant that it was still an individual decision to determine your own definition of God and screenwriting.

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Okay. I’m going to switch to the present tense because I’m talking about right now. It’ll be the past once it’s posted, but it’s my present. I know that some of you may believe that this post is a cop out of sorts since I don’t give my own screenwriting theory. This is particularly due to the fact that I help others with their own scripts. However, I don’t have a theory. I only have an understanding that expands the more I read, live, and even breathe. It’s this dynamic aspect of screenwriting that continues to enthrall me. I honestly believe that I would have moved on long ago had I “figured it out.” Boredom is my kiss of death. 🙂

Any thoughts? Happy Wednesday to you!

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