Today is National Screenwriters Day. In the world of entertainment (I include film, television, theater, and music here), there are a lot of jokes about writers, mostly at the writers’ expense. You can find laudatory comments about screenwriters at “30 Quotes about Screenwriting from A-List Directors & Actors.”
The first on that list is: “To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script and the script.” – Alfred Hitchcock
I create a screenwriter who also is sometimes a playwright in the Neverending Saga. He doesn’t get a lot of story, but he’s connected in some way to all of the main characters. To give myself a challenge, I wrote the opening scene to one of his films (it isn’t in the novel, though it will be referenced), and it was fun but a lot harder than I expected it to be.
Without my screenwriter, my characters would be missing a friend, an advisor, an inspiration, a person who breathes life into their work, and some apt descriptions of them filtered through his perceptions. He gives me a chance to use humor and kindness. As every writer in every format knows, a minor character can have a major impact.
Thank you, Phillip. You’ve been part of my brain since the 1980s. ♥ Let’s keep collaborating.