I submitted an application to the Universal Writers Program. Sent in Find Ray T for screenplay and Dair's Window for treatment, along with two letters of recommendation, a one-page resume and a 747 word personal statement. Notification for finalists is sometime late in January, and I would have to pay my own way out there for an interview, if I make it that far. Then, if I'm chosen, I'd have to be moved back to LA by the beginning of April to participate. It all happens on Universal Studios' grounds.
I want it...but the truth is I don't think I'll get it. I don't think I have what they're really looking for -- something like Crazy Rich Asians or Get Out, not Brokeback Cowboy light. Still, I plowed past my doubt and uncertainty and turned in what I think are both a damn good script and treatment. In fact, I so like the info I put into the treatment for DW, I'm thinking of doing that as my novel for NaNoWriMo, next month. It's like it's half-written, already, so it'd be doable...
Truth is, I like writing books, now. I can delve deeper into the characters' lives and histories and meanings...and there's a lot between Dair and Adam that could be explored. Made human. Same for Jacob; why is he so open to sex with either men or women? What makes him and Setsuko a tight couple? And Wallace's ambivalence...what's that all about? Things like that, which I can only hint at in the script due to space constraints.
Of course, I could make a mini-series of a script. One of the people in my graduate screenwriting program submitted a 360 page script meant for exactly that, dealing with the British military's insane decision to use pig or cow fat for loading weapons in India in the mid 19th Century, leading to the massive Sepoy Rebellion. She got her MFA off it.
I suppose it's possible to just write a long script, but a book is more interesting to me, right now. My only decision is -- shall I do it in first person or third? I rather like how third person worked with A65, but first person seems more immediate and alive to me.
Doesn't matter - it's entered and now I can shift focus to finalizing UG.
I want it...but the truth is I don't think I'll get it. I don't think I have what they're really looking for -- something like Crazy Rich Asians or Get Out, not Brokeback Cowboy light. Still, I plowed past my doubt and uncertainty and turned in what I think are both a damn good script and treatment. In fact, I so like the info I put into the treatment for DW, I'm thinking of doing that as my novel for NaNoWriMo, next month. It's like it's half-written, already, so it'd be doable...
Truth is, I like writing books, now. I can delve deeper into the characters' lives and histories and meanings...and there's a lot between Dair and Adam that could be explored. Made human. Same for Jacob; why is he so open to sex with either men or women? What makes him and Setsuko a tight couple? And Wallace's ambivalence...what's that all about? Things like that, which I can only hint at in the script due to space constraints.
Of course, I could make a mini-series of a script. One of the people in my graduate screenwriting program submitted a 360 page script meant for exactly that, dealing with the British military's insane decision to use pig or cow fat for loading weapons in India in the mid 19th Century, leading to the massive Sepoy Rebellion. She got her MFA off it.
I suppose it's possible to just write a long script, but a book is more interesting to me, right now. My only decision is -- shall I do it in first person or third? I rather like how third person worked with A65, but first person seems more immediate and alive to me.
Doesn't matter - it's entered and now I can shift focus to finalizing UG.
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