The Art of Being Vulnerable5/5/2024 When I started writing ‘Americano’, I was on vacation with my now-fiancé’s family.
They vacation very differently than my family did growing up, and I was admittedly a little homesick. (Which is insane because my then-girlfriend and I were living together at the time.) But more than anything that time allowed me reflect and look forward. Being in that position allowed me to write my traditional outlook, the fish-out of water outlook, and multiple different female perspectives. (And if you didn’t guess, yes, it was me with my fiancé, her sister and her mom. A far-cry from the two boys, my dad and my mom house that I grew up in) But it also allowed me to think about my experience in my 20s, next to her sister, who was just about to graduate college. Combine that with the emotional attachment that I assign to the coming-of-age movies and sitcoms that brought my own family together and I was primed to begin a journey that is now going on two years since the initial idea was written down. The concept came together because I put everything that I was and experienced under a microscope. The desire to create a sitcom that morphed into a drama that morphed into a heist movie set next to the tropes that took on spiritual meaning to me growing up. But the most surprising element of writing ‘Americano’, was writing the character of Mak. For the first time in my life, I attempted to write sweet. But not pushover or corny sweet. Like hold-a-community-together-with-kindness sweet. Like fearlessly-loyal-to-almost-the-point-of-personal-neglect sweet. You get the point. I mention this to say, sometimes writing characters is putting on the page a version of you that you don’t show to anyone publicly or feeling inspired by a person or multiple people in your life to create a singular being of aspiration. For young writers, it is hard to get outside of your own perspective. And I firmly believe that opening yourself to others and new experiences will help you find a truer version of yourself. Sure, some of the best of elements of Mak are also the best elements of my fiancé, but it was the way she opened up a part of me and a view on others that helped form a character that is so much more than her, mine or even our family or friends’ perspective. It’s something new. A voice that helps guide others through a journey even if she doesn’t have the answers herself. (Try telling an actor to capture that on film. And yet somehow the talented Lei Nico was able to) And as I sat editing our film on a gloomy spring day in Brooklyn, I realized how much allowing myself to be vulnerable in my own life let me be vulnerable on the page. I hope that makes any sense.
1 Comment
5/11/2024 10:45:47 am
Very inspiring and true post! I’ve always loved reading and writing since a kid, and screenwriting (or just writing in general) is a field that I really would like to delve in someday, so all your recommendations and tips for young writers were very useful and inspiring! I totally agree on how stepping out of your comfort zone to see things from a different perspective is such an useful approach to improving/helping your writing.
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