In the past 2 weeks, I went back and re-visited a play of mine called Animal. Animal is a story about a woman suffering from mental illness and how that illness plays havoc on the family members around her. It is a story I first began writing back in 2008 and since that time have conducted several readings, the last one in June of 2014 with invited audience and feedback forms.

After that reading, I sent the play out to various competitions and theatre companies and did not receive the results I was looking for (ie, a competition win or a theatre company picking up the script). It left me discouraged, so I left the play alone. Sometimes you need to walk away from a script and let it lay low for a while before you can go back to it. Sometimes you have to ask yourself if it’s worth saving a script.

Back December 2013, I wrote a screenplay called The Porch and at the time I had plans to re-write it as I felt there was something worth saving…And there was. However, there just wasn’t enough. I wrote that screenplay in 2 weeks, barely had time to polish it and it shows.   The basic structure of that script was not strong and I came to the conclusion to just let it go. It’s not an easy thing to let a script die, but because I didn’t live with that particular script that long it didn’t feel as bad.

Animal has been in me for years.   I have done several drafts of the script, had workshops with actors and have worked closely with my dramaturge Jane Miller.   Jane recently helped me again with the latest re-write. I took a hard look to see what I could bring to this draft of Animal. I also read a lot of reviews of Broadway/Off-Broadway plays of successful dramas and I found the one common thread they shared is that audiences like “the funny”. In other words, you can give them a searing drama that rips their hearts out, but make sure they laugh.

Animal had laughs, but not enough. So one of the things I concentrated on this re-write was to bring some lighter, blacker moments of comedy in the story about this mentally imbalanced person living a mostly tragic life. I also cut out details in dialogue and backstory that were bogging down the story. Now, Animal flows more easily, the motivations of the characters can be better understood and it’s funnier.

I have begun to send Animal out to various competitions in the hopes that someone out there will embrace it as I have.

I am about to begin another screenplay. I am in the very early stages of thinking through ideas. Not one word has been printed, just thoughts in my heads…but here’s what I’m thinking in this very preliminary stage: a 21-year-old female protagonist, a nursing home and a politician. I have no idea how these elements relate, but it’ll make sense once I commit to writing. With all the political talk going on today about Donald Trump (and I do enjoy American politics – it can make a great drama as a backdrop), I just feel lead to write something in terms of a political angle.  My mother spent 4 years in a nursing home, so I want to tackle that as well. And as for the 21-year-old female protagonist I’m not sure if I’ve ever written for someone like that as a lead in any of my screenplays, so it’s time to do so.

I spent the first part of February re-working my play OverTime. I was not satisfied with the script I had written for the Toronto Fringe Festival (July 2015) and did not have enough time to re-write it. OverTime was one of the scripts where I wasn’t sure what to do with. Was it worth saving? I wanted to give it a go.  I’ve brainstormed and outlined an entire new draft, which I think will provide a stronger structure and give the characters more to do. For now, I am putting aside OverTime as I feel I need a breather from it.

One last note about re-writing; when you begin a re-write (particularly on a script you have not touched for months, or a year), you need to spend time back in that world. Which means you need to re-read the latest draft over and over so that the voices of characters get back into you. So that you understand the world you are re-entering. So that you have a sense of what the story is about. Re-reading a draft is critical so that you have a better understanding of where you might like that story to go.