Way back in the mists of time, well 2013 to be precise, I was commissioned to write my third feature screenplay. Over the last five years, the project has gone through several drafts, has been to Hollywood and back, was shelved, has stalled and been reborn. And today I handed in a treatment of the latest version ready to be sent to potential investors. It's been quite a journey.
There have been many frustrations along the way but we've always known the idea was worth investing our time in. The downs have been worth putting up with to see the project move forward and the version we have now is a great deal better than the original idea. What I have learned from the process is that an idea improves with age, much like a great single malt. A project may falter along the way, it may even be abandoned at some point, but ultimately the opportunity for the project to move forward will eventually come around again. No project is ever truly dead. At some point or another, there will always be an opportunity to resurrect it.
What was originally a thriller has now developed into a dark drama exploring what it is to be a child, the loss of innocence and more importantly examining what it is to be a parent dealing with loss and the responsibility that comes with it.
There's a saying, 'too many chefs spoil the broth'. In my experience, three heads are better than one. You may think that with one writer and two producers there might be some disagreement on direction, but the beauty of our project is that we've all been on the same page from day one. When one person suggests a new change the others have always agreed. Quite often someone has come up with a way to take that new idea to even greater heights. Between the three of us, we have developed a cracking idea that has already got people lined up to read the treatment.
I guess my message here is, don't give up on an idea or a screenplay. Revisit them now and again, see if they fit in the world at that moment. You may even surprise yourself.
Happy writing!
There's a saying, 'too many chefs spoil the broth'. In my experience, three heads are better than one. You may think that with one writer and two producers there might be some disagreement on direction, but the beauty of our project is that we've all been on the same page from day one. When one person suggests a new change the others have always agreed. Quite often someone has come up with a way to take that new idea to even greater heights. Between the three of us, we have developed a cracking idea that has already got people lined up to read the treatment.
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