🤷 #298 - Okay, but why?

In the Scriptnotes book, John and Craig point out the frequently asked question in development meetings ("Why now?") in order to look at the positive and negative ways your story can feel of the moment:

For example, Get Out captured a specific vibe around the dangers of "nice white people" during the Obama years. Gone Girl explored and subverted the 2010s fascination with disappearing white women and true crime. They were movies perfectly suited to their times. If there's not a compelling reason to tell this story now versus ten years ago, consider that a red flag.

It's also worth asking if something is too timely. You're not the only writer keeping up with current events. If the trend of the year is polka dancing, you can expect a lot of screenwriters to be working on polka scripts. Do you want to be the twenty-ninth one on the pile?

For Scriptnotes episode 738, John sat down with Courtney Kemp (Power, Nemesis) and reframed the question so the answer can speak to not only the subject, but the writer:

Courtney: What I would say is if we’re talking about a TV show, it takes so long to get these things up that the why now may no longer be relevant. [....] I think actually having too much currency is lame. Just be like, why do I want to tell the story now is actually much more interesting than why would it do well now. If you can figure out a why do you need to tell the story now, then that’s probably the best way to pitch it.

John: I fully agree. According to what you’re describing, there is often called a why me. Why am I the person for this? You’re selling like, “Not only is this a good idea, but I’m the person who’s uniquely qualified to tell it. This is why I’m going to devote my entire creative process to this idea because I really feel it for me.” It’s making sure that it’s clear to the people you’re pitching to that why it resonates for you is important. [....]

Courtney: That is the most important thing. What you just said is so right. Why me is so important. Going into the why me is really huge. Why am I the person who has to tell this story? Even though it’s about two men who are a cop and a criminal, and I’m a nice girl from Connecticut, why?

How can you claim the story you want to tell? How can you explain it, to yourself and to others, so that you truly believe you're the one to put it on the page?

Jay Acunzo uses a framework for introducing himself that can also serve as part of an explanation to yourself, or a pitch to others about why this is your story. It ties together a mission, your background, and an anecdote about yourself as a cohesive package. The major change when introducing a story you want to tell instead of just yourself is how the mission becomes less about an overall life goal, but focusing in on what you see in this story, or the reason that you want more people to see this story.

Meg LeFauve suggests that making a story personal doesn’t equal making it autobiographical: you're finding an emotional connection with the narrative.

Andrew Haigh tells Erik Anderson about how filming All of Us Strangers in his own childhood home was part of the way he found to adapt Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers in a way that felt personal, connecting elements of his own past to elements of the story.

Karen Given approaches the question from a journalistic angle, suggesting many ways to find stories that you can feel comfortable claiming as yours to tell, but also how to distinguish “Why me?” uncertainty from Fear of Failure.

The stories you want to write are a reflection of the things that attract your attention. Even if a story isn't autobiographical, or it's not related to a trend of the moment, what's the emotional connection?

Ask yourself: How is your emotional connection to the story going to relate to an audience's potential emotional connection?

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In case you missed it...

In the most clicked link from our last issue, Mary Alice Miller collects prompts to explore what it feels like when you know someone is listening to you, and how to provide that same attention to others.

What else is Inneresting?

• From a conversation in the Highland Pro Discord (Thanks, Daniel!): Are croissants really French?
• Ruth Fowler's foray into training AI revealed a work environment set up like a cross between Snowpiercer and Catch-22.
• Simone Giertz shows the to-do list randomizer she designed and built, and you might want it as badly as I do.

And that’s what’s inneresting this week!

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