This month (September 2020) I was a part of a class about “Multimedia Adaptation.”  The class presented the challenge of adapting O. Henry’s 1905 short story, titled The Gift of the Magi into a screenplay.  It was a challenge I was thrilled to take on.

My first goal was to turn the 1905 creation into a contemporary story.  I determined to allow the essential characters to remain a married couple, with a big boost in financial status.  The couple I created were well to do lawyers.  I also gave the couple a child.  In O. Henry’s original story the focus was all about the desire each spouse had to please the other.  In my adaption, the focus was what the couple wanted to give to their child.

As one who aspires to write screenplays professionally, the experience my class afforded me was extremely valuable.  Before the class, I had only imagined writing original content.  However, what I learned about adaptions has opened a whole world of possibilities.  It’s liberating to know that I can take an idea from another writer and create new content.  I’ve even considered what it might be like to find music under public domain, and create a visual story from the lyrics.  I know that I plan to invest time researching public domain stories and books involving youth with the hope of writing at least one adaption from what I find.

I actually challenged myself a couple of years ago to write a pilot for a series I hope to produce one day.  Needless to say, I placed myself under no pressure to get it done.  However, my school assignment placed me under entirely different circumstances.

For the first time, I was assigned a deadline, and to make it even more challenging, I was given restrictions that I don’t even think professional writers have to contend with.  We were told to create an episode, with both a teaser and a tag… within eight pages.

At first, I was really taken aback.  How in the world was I expected to be creative, or give any depth to my characters in eight pages?  In addition to that, the format we were instructed to use took up more space than that of a feature script.  It double spaced all the dialog leaving me even less to work with.  To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.  Nevertheless, it was a school assignment which meant it had to be done, so I dug in.

To my surprise, it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.  I simply wrote what I wanted, and then performed edits that would meet my instructor’s specifications.  I thought, at least this way, I could save what I really wanted to write, and give my professor what he wanted.  But, it turns out that what I wrote originally was not far from what was required, though I did have to “kill a few of my darlings” as they say.  However, to my surprise, I found that I was more satisfied with what my Professor required than what I originally wrote.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but then I love a challenge.  If I had to choose between writing Web Series or Features, I think I would choose Web Series.  I say that because I’ve also challenged myself to write a Feature.  Coming up with one-hundred and twenty pages that lay out the entire story was not as fulfilling as writing short stories or a short film.  In fact, the very first film I produced professionally was a short film.  Also, everything I wrote for the stage was written in the form of anthologies.  There was always a running theme, but the stories were always unrelated.

Therefore, my Episodic and Serial Writing class was not only a challenging experience it also led to a very important revelation.  Though I will need a couple of features in my portfolio as a writer, my focus will be to write episodes for a series.

However, I don’t plan to take the conventional path that most writers take to achieve my goal.  I plan to achieve it through a truly innovative idea my non-profit will implement, and pray that it works.

Recently I wrote a script for a short film title SHORTFALL. I’ve been challenged to write about my character, but with a different personality type than the one I originally chose for him. So, here it goes.

According to Meyer Briggs Personality Types (https://www.personalityperfect.com/16-personality-types/) my character, Stephen Jares is a Master Mind. As such, he really prefers to keep to himself, and given the unique type of fear he’s plagued with (i.e., anapirophobia) his personality blends well with his goal to avoid people as much as possible. However, he’s good at what he does. He’s considered the go-to guy when a problem needs to be solved. So, though his preference is to be alone, he’s able to throw himself into his work, which puts him into a zone where he at least feels like he’s alone.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

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