Why Do I Want to Tell THIS Story?

All writers share a common bond. They’ve all committed time and energy to creating something. Unless they used AI, in which case they aren’t writers, they’re jerks. Writing takes effort. But how many of us stop to think about why we’re making that effort? I’m not talking about why we are willing to spend hours, days, weeks, months and years working on one idea. I’m talking about why we’re so passionate about that particular idea at this particular time. From a screenplay viewpoint, if you can figure out WHY you want to write this specific idea right now, you go a long way to making your script more impactful and better.

There are as many stories out there as there are grains of sand. Don’t believe the morons who tell you there are like 7 original ideas, and the world’s story jar is empty. That’s stupid. Choosing what story to write can be a challenge. Maybe you have a few ideas rattling around that giant brain of yours. Maybe you don’t have any. Maybe you are thinking about the marketplace, the box office, about deals being done, and you’re trying to catch the wave. Maybe you kind of think you want to tell a story, but worry it will reveal too much and make your family worry you might not be who they think you are.

Usually…not every time, but often…you’ll think rational thoughts like ‘I should write this’ or ‘this would make a great movie’, and that idea lies in the back of your brain, and rarely comes to the front, because as smart as it would be to explore it, you just don’t have the required passion. But that other random idea about clowns on the moon…that one keeps pushing its way into your psyche. Why is that? Why are writers drawn to one particular story, at one particular time?

Humans, hopefully, are ever-evolving creatures as they meander through life. If you have all the same life perspectives at 50 that you had at 20...then chances are something’s wrong with you. From a writing perspective, this hopefully means your passion for particular stories is also evolving. Your underlying emotional state is also evolving, meaning you probably find yourself more attracted to specific stories, based on what’s specifically going on in your life right now. Not enough writers take the time to think about this, and it’s their loss.

Let’s say your kids are about to go off to college, and you find yourself toying with story ideas that involve loss. Or you’ve moved around a lot, and you’re drawn to a historical figure who fought to keep the family estate in the face of war/natural disaster. Maybe you hate your job, and violent horror stories feel more interesting than they did a few years ago.

I’m no therapist (yet), but based on the thousands of scripts I’ve read and the hundreds of chats I’ve had with writers, I’m confident in saying there is usually a strong emotional connection between the writer and the current script they are writing. And very often, the writer doesn’t fully connect the dots. Which means the script lacks the emotional authenticity it could have, because the writer is holding the script at arm’s length, and isn’t diving into all the possibilities.

Why are you drawn to this particular story, out of all the potential stories out there, at this particular moment in your life? What’s going on in your life that could somehow provide a link to your current passion project? Why are you less enthusiastic to jump into a rewrite of an old script? Maybe it’s boredom, or maybe you’ve moved on emotionally, and just don’t have the connection you once had? 

It's really important to figure this out as you are writing your initial outline. Think about the elements of the new story or the new characters that are appealing to you right now. Try to step back from thoughts of how cool the shot of the sunrise across the lunar moonscape will be, and try to focus on the heart of your story. The ‘what’s it really about’ stuff. The theme/subtext. Think about what’s going on in your life now. If you can’t figure it out, have a chat with a loved one, or a close friend about your idea, from the perspective of: ‘How is this in some way connected to my current emotional state?’ If you can crack it, and I’m confident that once you know what you’re looking for, you’ll crack it, your script will improve. Why do I know that?

Because you will instantly understand what emotional beats are speaking to you, and you will be able to come at them with authenticity, because they are beats currently resonating in your own emotional life. Which means you’ll be able to dig deeper. That connection is the reason you’re willing to devote all this time, energy and ink/laptop electricity into creating a screenplay. That’s the fuel driving your writing engine, not the shot of the clown wig drifting in zero gravity.

Even if a studio wants to pay you $1 million to write a script about Play-Doh, you still have an opportunity to figure out a theme that resonates with your current emotional life. That’s you, bringing your unique ‘voice’ to the pitch. Chances are, no one else will have your Play-Doh pitch, because no one else is feeling what you’re feeling right now. And chances are you won’t even make the same Play-Doh pitch in five years’ time.

That’s the beauty of writing. You’ve never been exactly the same person you are right now, and you won’t be again. Use that uniqueness. Your subconscious is already doing it, so the quicker you get on board, the quicker your scripts will find their true reason to exist, and the quicker you’ll know why you want to strand fifty clowns on the moon with nothing but a whoopee cushion and a jar of mayonnaise.