I’ve been finding it difficult to create functioning narratives with my screenplays. Before I put down a single word, I need to know, atleast roughly, what is going to happen. Sure, I can write some bits of dialogue or a scene or two, but that doesn’t give me a film. My problem is that I think of images before I think of stories. Thus, I end up with a series of events; moments of action and dialogue that I try to expand into full, 90-100 minute stories. I know its possible, but I’m just having difficulty with it.
For example, I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks on this treatment I’ve been working on. Its about a family coming together for the youngest son’s bar mitzvah and under this premise, we begin to see why this family has been so estranged for so long. Its a story of maturity and masculinity at different stages in people’s lives. I really think it has a lot of potential, but for some reason, I can only sequence out the story through the 1st act. I know certain things have to take place in the future, but I can’ figure how to get from event A to event B.
Partially in response to this frustration, I’ve started toying with another idea. So far, I’ve only been brainstorming, nothing in print yet. Yet I’m finding myself in the same predicament. I know what themes I want to address, I know three or four images/events I want to include, but that’s it, and that is so far from what a story is. Its really frustrating. I can see these scenes so clearly in my head, but that’s all they are, independant, stagnant images. No cohesion, no arc, nothing. I’d like to think that as I develop a few scenes and just continue to write that a story will emerge, but I don’t think that actually happens in real life.
All I know is that I’m starting to disappoint myself.
