I’ve wanted to write a Christmas script for a while. I particularly wanted to write about some little creatures that populated my dreams. They’re clear to me, as well as cute, nice, intriguing, and in some indefinable way, connected to Christmas.
So, a few months ago I got out my computer and began a beat sheet. It’s usually one of the first documents I create when I’m working on a new screenplay.
I got the entire first act worked out, then got stuck. And by stuck I mean nothing, absolutely nothing, past the first act would come to me.
I was complaining to my youngest daughter about being stuck. She wanted to help me brainstorm and asked for more details about what I had planned.
“I want it to be exciting,” I explained, “like a thriller, or maybe a-“
“Oh,” she jumped in, “like 00Santa!”
Those words were magic. My brain whirled, there was a loud click, and just like that my head was flooded by music, scenes, and more potential ideas than I could ever possibly use.
I scrapped the first act I had written and started over. This time the flow of ideas continued all the way to the end. In two days time I had a completed beat sheet that mapped out my script.
Funny thing, though. While creating the beat sheet 00Santa became 00MrsSanta, and research revealed that there were no consistent descriptions of the woman, or even a consensus of what her name might be.
Bonus! That gave me a LOT of room to play. And play I did!
I had a few more bumps and swerves as I wrote the actual screenplay, but I finished the rewrites two days ago. As soon as I copyright the script, create a logline, and write the synopsis, I’ll reveal more details.
By the time I complete a novel or a screenplay I know it so well that it becomes real to me. Familiar. Sometimes too familiar.
I had the sudden fear that the screenplay might be too similar to other Christmas movies.
So, I did a deep dive into Christmas flicks.
I found nothing, absolutely nothing, that even remotely resembled this new Christmas movie that I wrote.
And that feels very good.
Like I have been given a gift. A Christmas present.
In the middle of summer.