Writing Commissions
Surprise, surprise. I ran my big fat mouth one day while critiquing someone’s work. An old director friend of mine wanted my thoughts on a script he was developing with a writer I never heard of. As someone with an extensive catalogue of scripts read, I could immediately pinpoint where the story fell short. My thoughts weren’t particularly scathing, but imagine my surprise when the director dropped the writer and asked me to rewrite the story from scratch. I wasn’t particularly interested in writing a neo noir, but as like any self respecting writer with a viable opportunity, I said I knew all there is to know and started the spec. As my character profiles and extensive treatments, I quickly realized something awful, the spark died down. I actually had no passion to write this story.
When it comes to big studio based productions, there are tons of writers who make their living based on commission. In fact, it’s a staple at this point. The listings you’ll commonly find are for long running I.P. or shoots in the middle of production. Huge tentpole films like Jurassic World, The Crow, and Pacific Rim have multiple commissioned writers working at once, all adding in their unique flair (or trying to remove someone else’s, lmao).
With all these comissions being posted throughout history, there has to have been multiple points where writers were completely stumped at the various requests. How are you supposed to give your all to a project when you’re not actually impassioned to be a part of it?
I had a few months of writing the script before the initial interest fizzled out. From there it was a carefully executed game of phone tag. I would give vague updates here and there (while I prayed he would forget about me completely). The neo-noir I was writing was uninspired and hit all of the plot points with a halfhearted slap instead of a knockout punch. I did the research and read the classics, but none of my interests in solving the mysteries translated to writing one. My muse was out galavanting around while I avoided calls and hid under my desk.
It would go on like that for about a year, until it hit me. I needed to force my personal interests in the plot. Suddenly the characters jumped out and my hands became alight as I went through scene after scene. It didn’t matter what the constraints of genre, character, and budget were. By figuring out where my emotional cores and the neo noir troupes intersected, I was able to freely play in a genre I previously had no interest in pursuing.
I believe, at the heart of all writers, there are a handful of emotional cores. These are conceptual themes and topics that you naturally gravitate towards as a creative. It’s not restricted by genre, aesthetic, nor structure (although sometimes simply harmonious to certain plots). They’re way too big to be completely explored in one project, so you can often see them consistently show up across a creator’s portfolio. For example, one of my “cores” is the concept of ambition. I obsess over every aspect of it. Is it good? Is it bad? Who deserves it and will it pay off in the end? Through various short and feature scripts I plan to explore every aspect of it piece by piece. (And of course ambition isn’t my only emotional core. How wonderful it is to be curious and multifaceted). You can find your cores by looking through everything you’ve created so far. Polished scripts, fanfiction, or even just doodles in the margins give insight into what you’re obsessed with.
The rest of the writing finally eased up. I cracked the code by making the main character a hyper-independent, lone wolf (another core of mine). It made the way she approached her sleuthing more fun to write. Her cast morphed around her and in turn everything became more stylish and dynamic. I would spend a few more months finishing the second draft with a renewed sense of vigor and a new found appreciation for mystery writers. (Like thank god for you freaks). It was a tough time, but I’m glad I was able to finish for their sake and mine.
Hopefully in the future, if I’m commissioned to write for someone else once more, I will be able to dive in head first by using what I obsess over to light the fuse.***
