Screenwriting My Own Story

All right, people. Let's get real. My Filmspiration blog that I absolutely love has been ignored... by me! I haven't posted in forever, because work, marriage, family life, my Halligan Entertainment & Media business and side projects, volunteering and graduate school have left me with literally no extra time. It's a shame, really! So, here's what we're going to do. Yes, I just finished my first year in grad school - getting my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Screenwriting. Between my full-time job and school, I NEVER stop writing. So, why not post some of my other writing here? The blog is called Filmspiration after all and I'm always inspired by film. Are you? Here's the letter I wrote to the Cal State University system last year (2019) when I was trying to get admitted. If you find yourself with some free time on your hands, relax and read, but most importantly, stay safe and healthy!
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Everyone has a story. I’m still writing mine. And I want to write yours, his, hers, theirs. I am genuinely interested in people, all people – the record collector, the wine collector, the garbage collector. I’m a collector myself – of true stories, big ideas, tall tales. I keep them stored in my head, on my computer, in countless notebooks I’ve kept next to my bed over the years. I have been a paid, professional writer for more than two decades, though I started writing journal entries, short stories, monologues, poems, songs and the like when I was about 12. Since 1998, I have written or rewritten literally thousands of news stories broadcast on affiliate stations across the country, more than 350 half-hour episodes of a t.v. series about movies entitled “Hollywood’s Top Ten,” which aired nationally on ReelzChannel, dozens of magazine articles and blogs, and countless informative and entertaining social media posts. But I’ve never written a screenplay.

Back in 1999, 20 years ago, while getting settled into my first t.v. producer position, I attended a screenwriting seminar at the Palm Springs Film Festival. My goal was and still is to one day write a screenplay. Movies, actors and performances have been my passion since I was seven years old. I grew up in Los Angeles and that’s when my favorite tradition began - gathering around the television with my mom and a big pizza to watch the Academy Awards every year. That Oscars tradition that started so long ago continues today, though more snacks are involved and I only invite one or two people to join IF, AND ONLY IF, they promise to talk only during the commercials.

A few years after that Palm Springs seminar I attended, I was reminded about my goal of writing a screenplay, and as someone who rarely procrastinates and feels a sense of accomplishment after checking off items on my to-do list, it was surprising to me that I hadn’t done it yet. Sure, I had started writing a screenplay or two in my spare time, but working the crazy hours of entertainment and broadcasting, and spending hours on end at my actual job writing, the screenplay fell by the wayside. It was time to get moving and finally make it happen. At that time, I bought “Screenwriting for Dummies” and obtained a script from a Hollywood friend to use simply as a formatting guideline. The internet, of course, wasn’t as advanced back then as it is now, so I needed some kind of a base. To be clear, I have read over a hundred screenplays working as an assistant to a talent agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and L.A. casting associate, but when you’re actually writing a screenplay, you want to make sure it looks right to people in the know. Back when I was reading scripts regularly, often times, I would wonder, “How is this being made?” or “It could be made better so easily. Give me an hour. I’ll fix it.” I think that when I see movies too. Seeing movies is my hands-down favorite thing to do. I used to see about five movies a week in the theater and a few more at home. I often thought, “Why did they do this?” “Why didn’t they do this?” “One or two simple changes could have made it so much better.” I brought that screenwriting book to a friend’s destination wedding in Hawaii in 2009, ten years had now past, and took it to the beach at Pipeline to finally read it. This will sound like a “dog ate my homework” excuse, but this really happened. I had just gotten set up on my towel and opened the book when a gigantic wave came from out of nowhere (well, it came from the ocean, but it was unexpected!) and completely engulfed me, my brother and my sister-in-law. I literally screamed out, “My screenwriting book!” as my sister-in-law yelled, “My spray tan!” and my brother was still trying to figure out why we were making so much noise, because he had immediately fallen asleep and had no clue what was going on. Needless to say, my precious screenwriting book got saturated. (Yes, there are warning signs posted, but we were sitting pretty far back, so we thought we’d be fine!) I kept the book and planned on reading it once it dried out. It did eventually dry out, but all the pages were stuck together, so I ended up throwing it away, but I had every intention of buying a replacement. That never happened.

Flash forward a few more years, I meet my now husband and he already has an established life in Laguna Beach with a nine-year-old son, who lost his mom to stomach cancer. I move to Orange County and have to rethink my career, because the commute to L.A. is, let’s be honest, a Stephen King nightmare minus the psycho cat, rabid dog and crazed writer experiencing serious cabin fever. No, this is not foreshadowing. Wait. Is it?

Anyway, a few months ago, I signed up for a stand-up comedy class in San Juan Capistrano, not because I want to be a stand-up comedian, but because life gets a little boring when it’s work, family, work, family, all the time. (All work and no play makes Lynda a dull girl!) So, I did it just to do something different and meet some new people. What I found was that it was like being in a writers’ room. Bouncing ideas off each other, being critiqued, critiquing others. That was the best part about it. I made a number of suggestions that other classmates ended up using, and at our showcase, those choices proved to be successful. That made me happy. It inspired me.

I’ve continued to write at my full-time job as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Orange County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and Editor-in-Chief of our organization’s magazine, but often times, it’s not creative writing. I also write for two lifestyle magazines right now, which is certainly more fulfilling… but my goal. Remember my goal? To write a screenplay.

Here we are in 2019, now 20 years after that first screenwriting seminar I attended in the desert. My compilation of screenplay ideas, titles, concepts, dialogue, scenes and so much more is growing like a 13-year-old future NBA player. Never one to not do my research, what do I do? I attend a screenwriting seminar at the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 27th and I again say, “I’m going to do this.” But there’s a difference this time. This time, I’m actually going to do it. But I’m not going to stop at one. I’m going to write more than one. And they’re going to be good. Will they ever get made? There’s no way of knowing. Sometimes, horrendous scripts get made. Sometimes, brilliant scripts don’t. And that’s o.k. Could I write a screenplay right now? Of course. Anyone can. Would it be the caliber that I want it to be? I highly doubt it. Would it be better than some that have made it to the big screen? I took a quick peek at my magic eight ball and “My sources say yes.”

I have always been a naturally curious person, possessed a grand imagination and excelled in English. Throughout all my years in news, I constantly found myself pitching to the news director, executive producer or assignment editor saying, “It’s a good story.” “That’s a good story.” “I’m telling you. This is a great story.” The best, most original stories I would suggest didn’t come from the newspaper, a city council agenda or someone calling the station with a tip. They came from conversations I had with the checker at the grocery store, my dry cleaner or a fellow customer at CVS. When you talk to people, you hear stories. When you log onto the internet, you read stories. When you open your eyes, you see stories. When you exist, you feel stories. Stories are everywhere and I want to share them with the world. In the very wise words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Attending graduate school at Cal State Fullerton in the Department of Cinema and Television Arts is an opportunity I do not want to miss. I’ve always wanted to further my education. I just didn’t know how I could pull it off while having such a demanding career. I graduated from U.C. Irvine back in 1991 when I was 21 years old. All these years later, I can’t wait to head back into the classroom, be a sponge and soak up all the information being tossed at me. Why now, you ask? Because, now is the time. Twenty plus years in the making, but NOW is the time.