Getting remotivated…

baby dove Okay so I was up all night taking care of a dove hatchling. A couple of days ago, one of my cats brought the little guy in and dropped it at the foot of my bed… It actually woke me up because of its screeching. I took an empty cranberry juice bottle, filled it with hot water, stuck it in the center one of the cat’s bed, tucked a towel around that and then another towel on top and the baby inside that.

Unfortunately, the poor guy had been punctured a few times on his body from the cats… I cleaned him up and got the bleeding to stop but it was touch and go for the first 24 hours. Since this happened in the wee hours of the morning, I took a piece of organic whole wheat bread and and some filtered water and blended it up. With toothpick in hand, the little guy did pretty well. He ate quite a bit but I’ve done this before so I was sure not to feed him too much.

The next day, he started to move around a lot more… He was hell of a lot more lively. And hungry. LOL.

I went out and bought some bird formula and then mixed that up and fed him. On top of that, I ended up buying a little enclosure for him. You fill the bottom of this thing up with hot water and then you stick an underwater heater inside so that you can keep the temperature constant. Everything was going well. He kept eating and drinking — no problems.

I set the clock for 0400 to feed him again and unfortunately, he didn’t make it. Now normally, I would just chalk this up to bad luck and of course the trauma the cats put him through and I’m sure that’s actually what happened.

But it still fucked me up.

What’s that got to do with screenwriting?

I just thought it was interesting that this happened to me after yesterday’s post… As if things couldn’t get any worse. For some reason, this little guy kept me motivated. I figured if I could bring him back to life, we’d both be alright.

Goes to show you how things you can’t control just happen no matter what you do to keep them from happening and they’re just going to keep doing that over and over and over again no matter what you do or what you say.

It’s fucking life.

And death.

Unk

No motivation…

Okay okay… I keep getting email from you guys asking what’s wrong. Why aren’t I making posts? Am I sick? Yada yada.

Nope.

I just haven’t been motivated to share anything as of late. I think some of that is due to the fact that so often I read the same kinds of comments over and over and over again. I’ve actually grown weary of arguing my points.

Why?

Because it just makes me tired… Like I’m beating my head against the wall… LOL. But that’s the way people are so no harm — no foul.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for debate and arguing one’s point if one believes without a shadow of a doubt that one is correct but folks… This is fucking screenwriting. LOL.

To me, there are certain truths that simply cannot be ignored and to argue them with me is pointless. I have my opinion and you obviously have yours. Mine is no more or no less valid than yours, is it not?

By the same token, I 1000% accept the fact that your opinion is no more or less valid than mine. In any case, we can always agree to disagree.

I don’t even feel much like explaining what I’m trying to explain here and now… To me, it should be obvious and like I’ve said, I’ve grown weary of spelling it out. Save your arguments for something worth a shit.

And if you’ve emailed me lately, please don’t fret… I’ve been on a whirlwind of travel lately and I will eventually get back to you. I’m just tired.

So today, I’m going to share an email I just finished writing to someone — a regular reader of this site whom I’ve decided to lend a hand to…

Here’s his email… I won’t mention his name because I don’t have his permission but I hope my answer makes sense of what The Unknown Screenwriter is all about…

Hey Unk,
I know you’re a busy man so only respond when you have the time… But then again you never do have the time. So maybe not. LOL

I think I already know the answer to this question but curious cause maybe there’s more than I thought (knowing me, there always is).

Script Doctors… What does it take to become one? I can only imagine it comes from knowing the script industry inside and out. Reading and writing tons of them. Education whether on my own or through school.

Probably the biggest aspect of it… Have a knack for it. Knowing what needs to be done and what doesn’t need to be done with a script.

The way I figure it. If I were to become one (obviously with time), then I would be able to write a script very well and know what to do and what not to do. If that makes any sense? That’s what I want… I want to perfect the art of screenwriting. I think perfection is impossible, but it’s a goal and I need goals.

When I was younger in high school. I was into baseball like no other, and Ken Griffey Jr. was and is my biggest baseball hero/idle. Watching him swing his bat effortlessly and knocking the ball out of the park. The way he plays outfield is so smooth. He has perfected swinging the bat.

Now times have changed and my goals have changed since high school. No longer playing ball… Just working for my family. I’ve always had an interest in screenwriting and was sick of putting it off. Let’s just say that you are Ken Griffey Jr. to me. So it really does go a long ways when you do what you have done and I really APPRECIATE IT ALL.

Kinda weird cause I could tell you all of Ken Griffey’s stats, but when it comes to Unk…. Well, I just really appreciate all of it. So only respond when it’s appropriate for you.

Thanks,
Regular Reader

LOL. I think you’re actually the ONLY person I am responding to lately… I put up a post about Charlton Heston dying but lately, I just haven’t had the interest in making any new posts… I keep getting a lot of email asking WHAT’S WRONG and I don’t even bother answering.

Just don’t have the motivation.

Maybe it’s because I just turned 50? LOL.

I doubt it…

I was discussing this very thing yesterday with someone else I’m trying to help become a screenwriter…

All the shit that I post on the site is basically written to help bring anyone interested up to a MINIMUM BASELINE. With this other person, I used the metaphor of driving a car.

When we learn to drive a car, we don’t know shit… We’ve seen everyone drive from having been a passenger but when it comes to actually getting behind the wheel, many of us make the same mistakes right off the bat…

-turning too tight
-braking too hard
-not braking hard enough
-not coming to a full stop
-too fast acceleration
-not looking in all the rearview mirrors
-and on and on and on…

Right?

We need that EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE WHEEL. Now to finally get our driver’s license and be legal to drive, we obviously meet the basic minimum standard. However, the more we drive the better we get.

We get to our destinations faster and just as safe. We anticipate oncoming traffic even better. We can stop and start the vehicle without any sudden jerks… We can park into a spot without more than one try. And on and on and on.

EXPERIENCE is what lifts you ABOVE the minimum baseline. Hence, the more experience you gain, the more people want to read your stuff. Hence, the larger network you have of people “in the business” that want to read your stuff.

This above the baseline experience is a totally new kind of experience. Those with natural talent will often rise above everyone else yet those of us who stick to it long enough will eventually rise above the baseline and when people read your stuff, THEY IMMEDIATELY SEE THAT YOUR WRITING IS ABOVE THE BASELINE.

This excites people because most of what we read day in and day out is SHIT.

So just like your baseball player, enough experience CAN get you above the baseline. Experience and talent can make you a superstar. And the timeline for everyone is obviously different because everyone works and learns AT THEIR OWN PACE.

Which is why I STRESS THE BASICS all the time… These assholes that argue semantics with me in the comments just make me tired. Everyone wants to break the rules. I have no problem with that EVER. Hell, I’ve broken more rules than anyone I know except my Dad… He was in prison for 9 years… LOL.

If you break the rules early on, it’s very likely that you’ll never actually MEET the minimum baseline of screenwriting and then, with enough rejection and people telling you that your stuff needs a hell of a lot more work, you give up. This happens to thousands of people just like YOU, every day.

This is why you learn how to put your script into perfect format standards. This is why you go through it 50 times to make sure there are no typos or spelling errors. This is why you learn basic story structure… So that you can MEET THE MINIMUM BASELINE.

Once you know all that shit backwards and forwards, you then start rising above the baseline and it’s usually THEN that your stuff gets noticed.

When your stuff gets noticed by enough people and even IF you don’t sell anything, you’d be surprised at how these people (in the business) will come to you when they need a script fix. Script docs (good ones) are so fucking expensive that many producers tend to go with those less known because of a few things they’ve read from that screenwriter EVEN if they didn’t sell.

Which is once again WHY you need to know the minimum baseline. Without knowing that, you can’t fucking fix a screenplay because you can’t figure out what the fuck is wrong with it… LOL.

Know this shit backwards and forwards and problems STICK OUT AT YOU LIKE A SORE THUMB.

And then you can fix them.

Above the baseline.

Make sense?

Unk