Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Mmm... broccoli

This is probably too precious for its own good, but the "intelligentsia" are the intellectual elite1 of a society. What about the most hardworking members of society?

The diligentsia.

Screenwriting is a long, tedious business, truly rewarding (for me, so far) only at two times. One is when I'm actually writing in screenplay format. However, the only way I know to write a good screenplay is to spend a long time in outline format, intricately detailing the story elements; the screenplay is the bowl of ice cream after the outline of broccoli and boiled chicken. Like all sugary rewards, it doesn't last nearly long enough compared to the drudgery that came before it... so I take solace in the knowledge that broccoli is good for you.

The other rewarding time is what I non-cleverly call a "Hannibal moment," which is when a plan comes together and you feel great because you've just created something you know will knock people on their ass when they read it (or, Odin willing, see it on-screen). Unlike episodes of The A-Team, These are both rare and irregularly spaced; more like an orgasm than ice cream.

There is a third moment which I expect to be very rewarding, and that is when someone gives me a lot of money for something I've written, but I haven't yet been... diligent enough to experience that. Some people say that writing's not about the money, but I'm on Samuel Johnson's side as far as that goes.

1 Yes, formally it should be "élite." Kiss my ass. When a word's been used in English long enough, it becomes an English word, and English words don't have accents. Also, this is the Internet.