It's amazing how much I hate writing, but here we go again...

I am actually in the prewriting phase of my latest romantic comedy. And I hate the process so much. It wears on your mind. It destroys your self-confidence. It takes away months, years of your life. Writing is brutal. Don't get me wrong, I love having completed a screenplay. I get a rush just from the dream that I might be able to make a meager living at this in the near future. But for the time being, it's an excruciating, painful process.

And that's where this blog will get interesting.

Now that I'm beginning a script, it's the perfect time to write down my thoughts and strategies for all of the web to see (and to date, I don't think anyone's actually looked). If nothing else, it will be helpful for me to read through these posts and reminisce (which, by the way, is a word that I have never spelled correctly without the aid of a spell-check). Every script so far has had a different strategy attached to it. A different pathway towards success.

I came up with the idea for this romcom while doing a rewrite for my family comedy script. The timing was perfect so that I had to take a week long vacation for a wedding right between the two. I came back (1.5 weeks ago), and got started. So far, not much progress.

I know when I'm on the wrong track, and I definitely was with this. When I don't like the direction of a script, I suddenly develop acute ADD (I think they now put an "H" in there somewhere, but then I would have no idea what it stands for). I would stare at the last scene outlined on the whiteboard for hours. I would go play solitaire or watch an episode of South Park. I would do anything except write. It means I know something's very wrong with the script.

In this case, I kept feeling something was missing. There wasn't a big story to tie everything together. Nothing was building to a grand finale. But I think I had a breakthrough yesterday while waiting for a Smog Check (rip-off!).

It goes back to the ancient question - What is your script about? And that was what was missing. I had scenes. I had characters. I had everything that is needed in a trailer. But I didn't know what it was about. And then it hit me. "Directionless college grads." That was it! Like all my friends (and myself) who walk up to the stage, receive their English Diploma, or Communication Diploma, or Psychology Diploma and then say, "Great. Now what?"

It hits thousands of 20-something men and women every year. The dread of finally entering the real world. School is a train that you're placed on at the age of 6. Suddenly, at 22, it reaches the depot. Some people take the time to do nothing (Hi, I'm TJ!). Some people feel such anxiety that they run out and find the first job that presents itself. Others try to live dreams. Some run back to college to hide for 4 more years.

And that's what this script was truly about! It's an approach to the "Now what?" question.

Suddenly, the gaps were filled. The characters were fleshed out. The setup became clear.

But what is this vague screenplay characteristic that I had just uncovered? It's not theme. My theme is about entitlement. It's not premise. My premise is "the antics of buddies as they go apartment hunting."

What the hell is this? This grand unifier that makes everything else make total sense?

I'd call it "Foundation." And every script needs a solid foundation. "World" might be another word for it.

Bad scripts tend to have an amorphous quality to them. All the little quirks the characters have seem like sprinkling salt on cold soup. The reader just doesn't feel that these characters and this story is existing somewhere. Have you ever seen an action movie only to realize, "I think I've seen this before." The action's great. The characters have funny quips. But the entire thing is just unmemorable.

It's because the foundation/world hasn't been laid out. And once you pour the foundation, anything you build will ultimately be much more stable. Your characters will be more real. Your plot will have more of a point. The purpose will be there behind people's actions.

I feel I made a breakthrough yesterday. For the first time, I was able to breeze through a beat-sheet, filling in every space.

My script takes place in the anxious world of recent college grads. And it all makes much more sense.

And now, I need to hit the whiteboard. Let's see if this works.