Circling

It is disturbingly uncanny that my last blog was titled, “It’s like breathing.” I won’t try to plumb the mystery, but with Covid-19 being a disease of the lungs, and as we are now in the grip of #BlackLivesMatter protests, following the killing of George Floyd, whose last words were “I can’t breathe,” it has made me wonder if there aren’t antennas under my bed.

We are on a journey. No denying that. Whether foreshadowing or coincidence, the word choice has stopped me in my tracks and made me think about how much words matter. How words resonate with a power we should never underestimate.

I’ve been hesitant to choose a title for this blog, then the word CIRCLING seemed to fit the moment. That’s how I feel, and I daresay most us do. As though we are circling, not quite ready to land. Circling, not knowing if our destination is safe to land in. Circling, not knowing if we have a destination at all. Circling, not knowing if there’s going to be work once we do land. News updates circling from one bubble of confidence in one State, in one country, to another bubble of bad news from another. Circling within a current of urgency that’s turning lives upside down and inside out. Circling and marching at the same time. Circling around story ideas because there are too many to single out only one to focus on. Can we focus at all?

This image might suggest fatigue, or ‘Melancholy,’ as the sculpture by Albert Gyorgy is titled. Or does it suggest moral emptiness?

Truth is, many of us are experiencing fatigue of one kind or another but as demanding as it may be, we have to wrestle with the ups and downs that pull us this way and that; and ask ourselves…what drives us to write? With the glut of online entertainment and diversions, there have been times when I have felt that perhaps film is a vanity. That there are more meaningful ways to live my life. I am with you if you’ve felt depleted, felt the air has been kicked out of you.

However having gone there a couple of times, each time I’ve emerged from the fog, reminding myself that as screenwriters and filmmakers we can participate in steering the next leg of this journey. That we can make a difference, and that energizes me. Fills me with a sense of mission. Art can have such a profound effect on the individual, and on how society at large responds to challenge. With the pandemic as well as the cry for racial justice and police reform, here in the US, and echoed throughout the world, the human condition has come at us like lava from an erupting volcano. The earth has shifted on its axis with the only guarantee being; things will never be the same.

Luckily humans are adaptable creatures. We take a deep breath, we reset, and we reconnect with our passion and the joy of channelling it into our creativity. Tap in to our ennui for inspiration. Find new ways to tell our stories. Draw on the lethargy. Tap into the rage. Tap into the primal scream…and reimagine storytelling.  

Think of how with the use of technology, the ways we are experiencing togetherness has changed our interactions. How the now all familiar visuals in an average Zoom call, suggest multiple possibilities. The use of technology can become an altogether fresh concept for screenwriters to embrace. Films like Her and Where’d You Go Bernadette have taken a tentative stab. The other option, is to rethink logistics and write small, localized, tight, intimate stories, that need small manageable crews. And don’t forget animation. Paying projects vanished like the wind, but it is in our hands to shape the future. In a sense we are weightless and free.

When the pandemic first hit I was immersed in writing a screenplay. Then slowly it went adrift. And I walked away. Only to come back with what seemed like an alien creature at first. Then the story took over and I just followed, as it morphed from one day to the next. It has been a trip like no other. Now I need the summer to find a way to piece all the new elements together and hopefully tell a far more compelling story than I had originally conceived, and in a far more interesting way.

An exciting time, an important time…. a time for new beginnings.

Before I go, I owe you an apology. The last time I promised to write about how stories have to breathe but my focus got preempted. It is a subject I’d like to explore in some detail and will do very soon. For a story to resonate it has to have a rhythm that sits comfortably with the genre. Whether a hard hitting adrenaline pumping story or one with a delicate introspective pulse, the rhythm must be on the page. Thats’ only one thought. More on that soon.

For now…I thank you for reading my blog and as I always look forward to hearing from you, please do post a Comment in the box below. You can also receive my future blogs by clicking on the Subscribe via e-mail link below.

Stay well, stay safe and take the journey.

See you next time!

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