So Rare are the Opportunities to Write Something Enjoyable

If you’ve ever read this blog, you probably realize how torturous writing is for me. The act is torturous in itself, but the topics worthy of words are often self-deprecating and embarrassing. So rare are the opportunities to write something enjoyable, and I believe I have dreamt up one of these opportunities.

I’ve been committing time to a project I think can: 1) actually help people, 2) actually entertain people, and 3) is cheap enough to produce not to worry about it being a controversial subject matter. I’ve never laughed more writing anything, and it feels weird not to dread writing. But I had me a vision, and you ignore visions at your peril.

I was lying awake in my bed, unable to sleep, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling seemed to crack open, revealing a bright, blue light. It felt like a spotlight from a movie set was trying to break through from another plane. Suddenly I was on the set of a television show, rehearsing lines with a beautiful actress auditioning to be my costar. Reading through the script, she’s laughing consistently. I give her pointers.

“Don’t think of it as comedy. Deliver it as if you’re in love with someone and deeply mean every word. Deliver the dialogue with an unwavering seriousness and commitment on par with the emotional and intellectual act of making love.”

“Okay.”

The audition goes swimmingly. We get what we want in one take. The editing staff reviewing on monitors in the other room has tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. It’s obvious she’s the one. Eventually, episodes of the show start playing for my mind’s eye. Dialogue is developed in my dreams. The possibilities are seemingly endless.

I awake exhausted. I feel like I’ve been working the whole night. I’m sweating as if I exorcised in my sleep. I immediately begin writing notes for a treatment. A title had come to me in the night, but which organization of the words sounds better. It doesn’t matter.

I start writing the pilot episode of the show, taking word-for-word from the episodes I envisioned. The beauty of this project is that it can be presented simply as a collection of nonlinear but interconnected instances. No plot is necessary. Or is it? Is it a television show streaming live on Hulu or just a viral YouTube show? The project should do more than simply entertain and offer ideas. It should also inform.

A plot begins to form naturally, as naturally as a child grows. Pretty soon I have a pilot with written and remembered notes for scenes, but the plot requires ample research. I’m writing about something of which I don’t know, but perhaps this information will someday be useful to others if not me. Lucky are those able to write something they enjoy, and luckier are those paid to do so. Often it takes the former to accomplish the latter.