Me and Ins Choi

I had the pleasure of attending a two-day tv writing workshop run by the man above,  Ins Choi, who is the writer of the play Kim’s Convenience and subsequent creator of the same show that ran on the CBC network.   I first met/saw Ins in a production of a play back in the early 2000’s called 2000 Candles – a musical celebration that takes a closer look at Christmas.  He did a subsequent one man show called The Subway Stations of the Cross.  It was during this time that I joined Ins in a writers group called the Engine Room.  Ins ran the group and we would meet once a month to work on writing.   It was also during this time he was re-writing his play Kim’s Convenience which was a smash hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2011.   It was this show that capitulated Ins to another level.  A few years later, Kim’s Convenience became a hit tv-show on the CBC network.    Just last last fall, I saw his most recent play Bad Parent, which premiered  at Soulpepper.

Although I am familiar with tv writing rooms, I have never been involved in one.  This workshop was a way of demystifying what a writer’s room is/how it operates, etc…  A tv show is run by a “showrunner” and that person is in charge of a group of writers, guiding to create premises/ideas for episodes of a season.    Ins ran this workshop, he was our showrunner.   We created a show from scratch, came up with a title, location, characters and a bunch of premises.  It’s quite an involving process (one that I’m not used to as I usually work alone), but it was highly creative and engaging.   Below is the group I was with for these two days.

After we created these premises, Ins than divided the group into three groups.  Each group would have to flesh out their premises to about a nine scene outline.  Within each group, we divided the scenes and would then have to write the actual script until we joined all the scenes together to form one script.  It was interesting working with the other two writers in my group (Troy and Tirza) as we all come from different backgrounds and experiences, but we came together and made decisions that worked for the script.  All through this process,  Ins read our material and suggested ideas to strengthen the script.  Once the script was written, we then read it out loud to the entire group.   That was  fun.  I love readings of my work because I’m barely listening to the script, but I’m always watching everyone else listen to see what hits people…what makes them laugh, cry, sigh or ponder.

Three highlights of the workshop. One is what I just mentioned, the reading of the script.  The second highlight was when Ins gave us a deadline to finish the writing of the script.   Each writer had to write three scenes, so we had to hustle.   I took my laptop and sat in the middle of the room.  I only heard the tapping of keyboards as writers were studiously working away.  I found this, although intense, relaxing and soothing.  It was quiet…it was just writing…and I was deeply focused on the scenes before me.  This workshop was really a kind of a refresh/ restart moment for me.  I’ve been re-writing my screenplay BREAK AWAY and finished it a month ago and most recently I’m working on getting two of my plays up on the Playwright’s Guild of Canada website.   But what I was reminded of is that when you have a deadline and you’re “forced” to write – you will write.  No excuses.   Make the time.  And just do it.  Good or bad.  I’m looking forward to writing something new with a kind of free abandonment.

Which brings me to the third highlight.  One of the writers asked Ins at the closing of the workshop what piece of advice would he want to leave us with.  Ins paused, then simply said:  “Just write.”   Writing is hard.  And the business of writing, even harder.  But if you don’t have the goods, then you won’t have the business.   We can get caught up in “making it” – I’m not even sure what that means.  What I do know is I like to write and don’t want that love to be lost in this journey.  Send your work out.  Make connections.   Get advice, critiques.   But always remember to  just write.  Remember that joy –  have some fun.  Fun group shot…

Finally, one bit of news I want to pass on.  I entered my screenplay A PROMISE I MADE TO MR. BAGELS into the Page International Screenplay Competition.   There was nearly 9000 screenplays entered and when the Quarterfinals for the first round of cuts were announced, 9 out 10 screenplays would NOT advance.   So you can imagine my joy when I saw my screenplay listed among the Quarterfinalists.  A small sample is listed below.  The semi’s are announced August 15.  Fingers crossed.