Screenwriting isn’t prescribed as a mental health medication. But at a time when I had been put on long-term sick leave and my mind was an incoherent fuzz, it was a hobby exercise to stop my mind from turning to mush and gave me a structure and purpose to my day.
Screenwriting – the ultimate exercise in optimism
Screenwriters must be the most optimistic among writers. They say that, of the many thousands each year who take up screenwriting and type “FADE IN” at the top of their script, less than 1% will see their name in lights.
Equally, screenwriters are probably unlike most writers, except perhaps for content marketing writers, in that what they do is of necessity extremely structured.
Most screenplays are structured in 3 or 5 Acts and have key plot moments (the call to adventure, the big event, the midpoint, the low point, the catharsis, the closing, etc) that must be fulfilled. Although some novelists might aspire to this structure, many do not feel the need to be so proscribed – a novel is a much more fluid venture.
Becoming a hobby screenwriter
When I became ill, and was put on long-term sick leave, I looked for something creative to do to keep my mind active and stop it from turning to mush. I had written a screenplay in my 20s (albeit I knew it was a terrible one) and recalled how much I had enjoyed the process.
So I dusted off my screenwriting manuals, acquired some FINAL DRAFT software, and began to write. My first two scripts were pretty dreadful, but over eight years I improved. I entered some screenwriting competitions and was placed in two of them, even winning a spot at the coveted ScreenCraft Jamaica Residency where one of my scripts was mentored by Steven de Souza, the writer of DIE HARD and COMMANDO.
My scripts continued to improve, until now one has been taken up by a producer and executive producer, and is on the verge of being made.
Screenwriting as therapy
When I was a successful and happy lawyer – before mental illness ravaged me – I was very good at preparing structural charts for clients explaining how corporate or trust structures worked.
I could apply the same talent and discipline to screenwriting, and it was excellent for my structuring screenplays. I would set out the core points of the plot in an outline and then interweave the scenes with plot points and character arcs.
It was deeply fulfilling, and in some ways outlining was my favourite part of the process.
Some people write in a different way, which is equally credible but wouldn’t be for me. They write a “vomit draft” that comes straight from their soul and then do a thorough and comprehensive rewrite with the second draft.
Who’s to say which is the most credible?
The basic point is, however, that screenwriting gave my mind structure when otherwise it would have turned to mush. It was a considerable boon to my mental health, which definitely improved as a result.
As well as structure, screenwriting gave me purpose where before I was aimless. Obviously, I knew the odds of becoming a successful screenwriter, but people in the know were telling me that it was worth my while persevering and that I “had something.”
So, I kept at it, and now I am on the verge of being produced.
Screenwriting at the hub of creativity
Successful screenwriters are the first and one of the most fundamental parts of the film-making process. As Hitchcock was prone to say when asked what the most important element in film-making was, he would reply: “The script! The Script! And the Script!”
Screenwriting has been the perfect hobby for me. It has been excellent therapy and I have been able to watch myself getting better and better at it as each year goes by.
Structure and purpose… Structure and purpose…
Who knows, perhaps one day soon it may be my profession.
If I hadn’t taken up screenwriting, who’s to know what dreadful state my mind might be in now? But the bottom line is, I took up my screenwriting hobby with gusto, and screenwriting trained me to think in an ordered way and stop feeling sorry for myself.
And you can’t say fairer than that.
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