Okay, so I’m investing considerable time and energy this year into learning the craft and the business of screenwriting. I want to write good screenplays, and I want to sell them. Who doesn’t, right? But the thing is, I’m willing to compromise my story and ideas in a lot of ways to write/sell a screenplay. As long as I keep my heart in the script, I’m cool with it. It’s part of the challenge of writing a screenplay. And it’s part of the reality as well. And I’m okay with that.
But what about plays? How much am I willing to bend? When I wrote Ready or Not for Painesville-Harvey it was a tremendous experience, and the play was pretty much all mine–aside from some updated lingo from the students. (They don’t call weed smoke anymore–they call it fire.) But that play was what I wrote, based on interviews with the students, and the kids loved it. But at Perry, it’s a different story.
The director/producer took the script to the principal, counselors and other administrators and in his words he felt like he got run over by a train. This particular script was very challenging to write because the school is pretty much perfect. Their motto is “get better every day,” and by most accounts, they do. But that’s not to say there aren’t problems, and there isn’t conflict.
Drama is conflict. It’s my job as a playwright to sniff it out and show it. So that’s what I did. And half of the powers-that-be loved it, and the other half are none-too-pleased. They want rewrites. They want to suck the heart of the story out and make it acceptable to them, and bullshit to the students. Right now, as is, I think the kids would have a great time with the script, but the adults…well…
The point of this project was to start discussion. Particularly about the dangers of teen drinking. And clearly that has already happened. But it’s really supposed to create discussion amongst students so why am I being asked to water it down? So the parents don’t get upset?
Like I said, screenplay I’d have no problem making the changes. But this? This…well….What would you do?
Tags: compromise, high school students drinking, playwriting, rewrites, screenwriting
