That time I wrote a screenplay

You know who I want to be? Someone who’s brave enough to say “hey, I made this,” and put it out into the world instead of letting it moulder in a drawer. To build up a visible trail of creative work so that others might have permission to do the same.

From 2013-2014ish, I wrote a biopic about Carrie Nation. In 1900, she became the most famous woman in the world for her saloon-smashing antics. When I read her autobiography, The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation, I felt a strong resonance -- she was so funny, and willing to be candid about her experiences and feelings, and her actions made complete sense in the context of her own perspective. She was also a six foot tall woman wielding a hatchet and yelling at drunk men, so what's not to love?

I grew up in a strict evangelical household and Carrie’s description of her feelings and motivations – the aliveness of her words, and the boldness of her actions – felt unique and familiar.

She was also a pretty good businesswoman, in the sense that she knew how to capitalize on a world that was out to capitalize on her.

I remember how interesting to was to learn how to write in screenplay format; working in games, I'd always written in Excel or within proprietary systems in a very nonlinear way.

For this project, I used Scrivener's card format, or physical cards, to piece out all the different scenes and block them in one at a time. Now I use Obsidian for everything, and Fountain if I really feel like doing something in screenplay format.

In addition to Carrie’s autobiography, I also relied heavily on Carry A. Nation - Retelling the Life by Fran Grace.

Once you write a screenplay, it’s easy to see why the third act of a film often feels the way it does — damn, the writer just wants to be done with the thing. I'd like to find a better approach on future projects. Writing is a lot more fun when you can keep the life in it from start to finish.

It’s always tempting to go back and edit something before showing it, and it’s been a long time since I did this project, but I’d like to make it accessible if anyone wants to read it.

Some of the themes are still alive in my life, and certainly in the culture. If you want to help me drop it into Sally Field's yard by drone, I know she'll love it.