Screenwriting: Getting back on the starting blocks

As I have said previously I first thought of ‘If We Aren’t Married’ around 5 years ago. The dialogue I originally wrote then was clunky and two dimensional and I shelved it. It was a real struggle to write.

So why did I go back to an idea that I shelved? The idea itself wasn't the reason I didn't continue with it, it was my writing style that needed improving. For me there are two parts to writing dialogue; obviously the words, but also the emotion behind them. Since thinking of the idea I've written a fair bit. Regardless of what standard my screenplays are at, I've had a lot more practice of actually writing dialogue. And without realising it also I needed to go through highs and lows before I could start writing as well.

I hadn't thrown out any of the notes or pictures I had for ‘If We Aren't Married’, so I started looking through what I’d worked on and I thought the characters were still pretty strong and I still had something to work with.

The first thing I did was figure out the plot. It was a multi strand narrative, with three couples (each couple being a strand of narrative) and the first big challenge wasn't getting their plots all on paper (this had been done some time ago) but actually combining them into one mega plot. So this involved a lot of chopping and changing in order, so the film didn't have a preference to anyone couple; although some people may feel there is a favourite couple and to others there isn't. Just this exercise alone got me thinking about how it could all work.

Now originally I did want to start writing the screenplay again last summer; although I found this too tough as I was going through a break up and surprisingly some of the things I was going through had actually happened to my characters….which I had created 5 years previously! Because of the coincidences and things still being too raw and emotional, it was too hard to start writing. However come September/October time I started to slowly start rewriting.

And then I stopped. After writing a 120 page screenplay in Marathon Money, I needed a break. When my dad said to finish a screenplay, I looked at what I had already written, which was 32 pages and it was a good foundation to work on. Being in a much better place emotionally meant I could write in a regular routine, and add depth and emotion to my characters that I hadn't been able to before. Also because of some of my life experience had happened to the characters, it gave me a chance to think of the ‘what if’s’ in my life. What if I had said this? What if I had said that? Those missed opportunities at last I had a use for. I put some of them in the screenplay for the characters, as they like I said they were going through similar things and it helped me look back on things that had happened in the past year as well, and in a way give some closure.

So my main tip for restarting a screenplay that you struggled to get off the ground….give it time. Live a little, listen a lot as people you meet in your life and experiences you get may inspire characters in your head.