Saturday Morning with a Screenwriter

Tracy

There is a sprinkling of snow on the ground this morning, but the sky is clear and it is cold outside. I will walk to my appointment at 11:30 with screenwriting partner, Warren, and Tracey, an accomplished screenwriter who will help make our script hit all the marks required for a made-for-television movie.

There is a HUGE irony here: Screenplays are one of the most technically demanding forms of writing I have ever done. I have written speeches for ministers, manuals for computer programs, scientific papers for doctors and zillions of grant applications and other technical projects that now seem more open to creative innovation that screenplay writing. Screenplays for television are surprisingly structural.

We await one more session, arranged through Simon Fraser University's Praxis Centre for Screenwriting, then we start making our pitches to producers. I am perfectly positioned—loving every single step of the process but happily free of any expectations. My reward on the screenplay is Warren's friendship.