No Wasted Pain

An actor I know posted this photo on his Facebook page and it really resonated with me.

Turn your deepest pain into art

This photo made me think of a text message I got from my cousin a year ago.  When my cousin found out that my husband left me, after his initial sorry-your-marriage-has-ended text, he followed up with, “I know you don't want to hear this right now, but this will make you a better writer. You got kicked in the teeth by life but you have talent and this will make it even better.”

Write what you know

I hope my cousin, and Walt Disney, are right. I feel like I'm a better writer now that I've gone through what I have. There's the old saying "write what you know." Nothing I’ve written is autobiographical but there is some kernel of me in every script. I don't know how it could be any other way. Be it a quick dialogue exchange or a funny incident, in every single script there is something that I have heard or that has happened to me. 

Then it gets interesting. I take the simplest nugget of something in my life and ask the writer's favorite question - "what if?" I put characters in different situations to help me answer questions that I have. It's an interesting opportunity we writers have, to look to figments of our imagination to solve life's mysteries.

Film is a journey

Others involved in making a film - producer, director, actor, etc.  – look for a project that resonates with them in some way. Yes, money is a driving force in making a film, but if a project echoes a question or feeling they have, all the better. 

And of course, there’s the audience. Even if it's a "popcorn flick," they are still spending their hard-earned money and expect to be taken on a journey. They want to sit and experience an emotional journey with the characters in which they can, from a safe distance, think about how they would act or react in a situation.

Beauty from pain

People have asked me about being a writer and I've described that magical moment in a theater when the lights go down and a crowd of people takes a walk through your imagination. That’s the fun part. The fulfilling part is if, while entertaining, you spark something in an audience member. That is a beautiful gift to both of us if the pain that birthed the project wasn’t wasted.