Over the summer I have been breaking a pilot episode of a new series.

The process has been equally grueling and surprising.

What started out as a simple limited series single character scope has turned into a dark and twisty tale with hooks and cliffhangers I never saw coming.

Personally, I’d like to blame my best friend.
She dangled an observation in front of me one night that had me reeling.

In fact, it had me reeling so much that the story took a 180-degree turn and has me going in a totally different direction with it.

What happens when everything you thought wasn’t what you thought at all?

A story for the ages and a story that may in fact rock my perspective for years to come.

For these write nights this coming season, I will be lighting a ‘candle’, pouring red, and letting a playlist move me into this tale.
Sometimes I may need to work from the couch, other nights I may need the privacy of my own writing room, either way…

it’s a delicious and equally nerve-wracking journey into a tale I was not expecting on weaving.

This year I was privileged to join Lynn Matheson with a project in development stage to Cynthia Knights five day crash course on creating a pitch document and a stellar logline through the PEI Screenwriters Bootcamp.

Both Lynn and I were tipped upside down with the approach Cynthia uses to the early development stages of a project.

In many ways, the information wasn’t new, and yet, that back to the basics approach that Cynthia gave us was was a game changer.

The Takeaways

• Courses with a writing/creative partner are always more fun. (built in support system)

• Spending the time reworking and truly honing a logline is a key that seemingly fundamentally simple will unlock the real story.

• Never underestimate what is beneath your ideas. You have to mine for gold.

PSA

If you have’t heard Cynthia describe the goals and intention of a logline, I highly suggest you find a way to get it straight from her.

As 2020 came to a close I began to feel a desire to well up within me.

She was whispering to me from a drawer.

I put on music to drown her out. I tried distracting myself with meetings, with the trappings of Christmas and the approaching new year to ignore her.

I caught myself thinking about the last time we sat across from each other.

Humilation, tears, disappointment and misunderstandings.

A gulf between us.

The louder I tried to turn up my world, the more persistent she has become from her spot in that filing cabinet drawer.

This is the way it is with projects and their creator. They don’t just come easily. They are an investment and sometimes they mean more to you than you’d like to admit.

Like an ex-lover who proved to be someone who couldn’t stick around when times got tough. Who just couldn’t explain themselves honestly and true enough for the world or you to understand them. They disappeared in the fog and stayed there while you floundered trying to fill a void.

It’s a bit like this for me and her.

We needed each other and then when I thought it was our time, she made herself scarce.

So I slipped her into a big fat file folder where she has been sitting and almost busting out of and for some reason she is choosing now to make noise about it.

This year, of 2021 to raise her voice and try to come back to me, in some strange and unknown format.

I am not sure whether I should serve tea when we meet again, or perhaps I should just uncork a wine bottle and pretend to have forgotten the glasses. See how she manages that.

Should I play Kanye West rap or Taylor Swift’s folklore?

Should I wear a revenge dress like Diana or just show up in sweats like Meredith Grey?

You might laugh at this. You might even call me fickle, but the truth is,

she was something. She was my proof that I understood the pulse of the creative world and to meet with her again, to look her in the eyes, means I have to open myself up to possibly see that she isn’t as perfect as I have remembered or that maybe we weren’t supposed to go the distance and that is that.

But there she is, making a fuss about being relegated to a file in a cabinet.

So off I go…

I think I’ll wear my oversized sweater and let my hair down.

Being sponsored through Screen Nova Scotia for the third week of teaching with John Yorke was a surprise. We had all only thought the series would be two weeks altogether.

Fresh off of being short-listed for a producer's program through the National Screen Institute, having yet another week with John Yorke was a great way to jump from one training opportunity to another.

Takeaways from the third week of classes:

Be willing to continue pushing a narrative to its next edge.

It's easy to think you have the narrative down. Here are the characters. Here is their world. There is the arc—the end.
Think more in-depth about subverting expectations, hone in on the more profound meaning and message, and ultimately practice thinking outside the box.

Understand your why's and the characters' why's.

Know why you want to create this story, with these characters, this way and with these people. Consequently, understand why your characters matter and why they do what they do. Know the questions they seek to have answered. Know how you want to answer them.

Work as a team

From day one, we were thrown into groups to create a pitch. We had nearly four days to complete, cultivate, and refine a television series for pitching. I was privileged to find myself in a group with two local writers/filmmakers in my province (a surprise to all of us considering the class was full of others from Europe and other countries.) We worked together efficiently, passionately and in the end, found ways to hone in on each other's skills to create a pitch we were all proud of. Of course, given more time, we would have wanted to hone it in even more, but I would say the three of us were quite proud of each other and the process itself.

If I had anything I wish I could have had more from this series, I have to say it is just more time in class with John Yorke.

He has shown himself to be a passionate, self-aware and authentic filmmaker/storyteller while also bringing all of those elements into his teaching - a rare commodity in this world. Anyone can call themselves a teacher, but few actually create a safe space for effective learning.
To learn from someone who wants to share his knowledge, passion and help cultivate anyone to the next level of their learning and professional growth was a major privilege and honour.

Thank-you to Screen Nova Scotia for the opportunity & thank-you to John Yorke for teaching amidst the chaos we have all found ourselves in this year.

Last month was the last week in John Yorke's Storytelling for Screenwriters Workshop through Media Xchange (and for me, also through Screen Nova Scotia). The week focused on characters and their development.

Takeaways

The most relatable and memorable characters are three-dimensional and, therefore, a true reflection of humanity's complexities.

Characters are innately as simple as they are complex.

Understanding the background and fundamentals of psychology can help us better understand why characters do what they do and what their next action may naturally be due to their coping mechanisms in both healthy and unhealthy ways.

Characters deserve to have us as writers, take the time to understand them better to deliver a holistic view of humanity.

Characters are and should be in constant movement towards a change, whatever that change may be.

What I am Revved Up About

A sincere desire to take the characters I develop, be them fictional or based on someone, (e.g. a current project on my paternal grandmother.) and give them the time and depth of understanding they deserve.

Often I focus on making sure I have the wholeness of a story down, but the gaps in the story or the parts that do not flow are resolved once the character themself are brought into the place they are going and need to be. It would seem that both character and story structure are equally as essential and feed each other.

A recognition that discussing characters with other writers and storytellers gives the insight and springboard I need to press on with the work.

At the end of this two-week journey, I feel more comfortable in story creation, inspired and left feeling connected to storytellers on a global scale. One does not have to live in the same country or time zone to share ideas, gain insight and find the gold in a character or the story itself.

Thanks to Screen Nova Scotia, I was able to attend Media Xchanges Storytelling for Screenwriters workshop series with John Yorke.

An honour to be allowed to learn and dig deeper into my storytelling skillset. Something I have been seeking the next right opportunity to grow professionally. This turned out to be exactly what I needed.

What I’ve learned so far…

I learned to think more in-depth into the structural dynamics of the typical story/screenplay. Many screenwriters and writers, in general, have structures they apply to their work or writing. Three acts, five acts, beat sheets. All commonly used methods of mapping out a story. In this course, we explored not just a five-act structure but the deeper meanings and intentions behind why a structure can boost a story.

We saw this practically through examples and by applying it ourselves to commonly known work and creating our interpretation of a plot in group work. I was amazed by the joy and camaraderie I felt in the group work.

It was apparent everyone was happy to use their creative skill sets, bounce off ideas and work together. Seeing that collaboration is something I need to find and seek out more often. It's easy as a writer/creator to stay insular, but these moments of collaboration remind you why you do what you do.

To connect, share and find meaning. It's what drives storytellers.

How I am processing it & what I hope to work on in the next month…

John Yorke's Roadmap to Change structure technique was a mind-shift for me. You can know things intuitively, but having the words for them is also essential. That is something that I hope to hone in on and practice more in my craft over the next month and beyond. I believe I have a knack and skill set for a story, but I have lacked the vernacular to discuss the weak points, the strong points and the overall elements of a story.

Gaining this skill set is a massive part of what I have needed and am excited to be growing in.

Until our next session in two weeks, I’ll be putting this knowledge to use.