The Script

Every writing class I’ve ever taken, I’ve heard the advice: “Write what you know.” Having just been through a horrendous downfall, I started working on a script about a girl named ‘Sophia’ whose life falls apart as she watches her dreams die.

But that was a tad bit depressing.

So then I started writing a script based on my relationship with Tony (see the below post). Kind of like a “Tuesdays With Morrie” set on the streets of LA. But that felt cheesy and false.

After thinking it over, I realized that I didn’t wanna write some coming-of-age-feel-good story. I'd barely come out of my downfall alive, let alone come out it ‘feeling good’, or being ‘of age’.  OK maybe I was ‘of age’.

But I didn’t wanna write some devastating “Requiem for a Dream” tragedy either. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a heartbreaking ‘ass to ass’ scene as much as the next gal. But I needed a break from tragedy.

The more I thought about all the ridiculous things I'd done during my downfall, the more embarrassed I felt. There was only one genre I could turn to to deal with the shame: Romantic Comedy. After all – comedy comes from tragedy, right? And, in my unfortunate experience, romance also seems to come from tragedy.

I started thinking about when I was at my most pathetic. What stood out most was how much I had wanted to find a boyfriend during this terrible period. I was clearly in no condition to be in a relationship because I was a broke, depressive, angry, drunken mess. But I felt so alone that I thought: if I can’t control my career I’ll control my relationship status. I’ll get a serious boyfriend who will be nice to me and help me through these hard times.  

What I’d not taken into consideration was that I live in Los Angeles.

Anyone who has ever tried to date in Los Angeles will understand what I mean. And for those of you who are single and live outside of Los Angeles and are thinking “it’s hard to find a good man anywhere” – please stay a spell in Los Angeles. You’ll return home with a new appreciation for the dating scene in your home town.

So the point is – I had a LOT of bad dating stories. Funny ones, humiliating ones, sad ones. And I felt like this is something EVERYONE (except maybe members of strict religious communities) could relate to. And the show “Breaking Amish” is fast changing that separation.

So I started feverishly writing these scenarios down. I worked like a machine, day and night, glued to my laptop. At the end of a few months I had a 300 page screenplay. I showed it to a few people and was told: “Hmmm it needs some work…”

This was disappointing. To be honest with you – I didn’t enjoy the writing process at all. It was exhausting. The last thing I felt like doing was going back and trying to make all these huge changes on my own.

So I got some help. I found someone whose work I had seen and read, someone I respected and found hilarious. Someone who had tirelessly studied screenwriting, who cared about structure, who was also VERY good at writing jokes, having been a stand up comedian for 10 years.  Someone who had very similar taste to me. I found Pete Carboni!

It also helps that we happen to live together. So I could hassle him every morning and night with statements like:

-       “Please help me with my screenplay?”

-       “Instead of date night, what if we just worked on my screenplay?”

-       “I’d love to do the dishes. But this screenplay won’t write itself.”

-       “Yes I can tell you where I’ve put your car keys. Can you tell me how to resolve the third act of my screenplay?”

The harassment worked! Pete took my story and helped craft it into a much better script, with structure that worked and punch lines that were funny and scenes that turned. The script is still evolving as we bring actors in to the mix. But we have the foundations of a great movie. Women in particular have responded very positively to the script. During the audition process SO many actresses coming in to read said it really hit home to them. Which makes me happy.

Okay, let’s wrap this post up now cause it’s been a long one. For those of you still reading, the moral of the story is: Write what you know. But if you’re not a great writer - find someone who is, tell them what you know, and emotionally blackmail them into writing it.