Spyhouse Coffee Roasting | North Loop, Minneapolis
The spring I graduated college [2010] looked to be fairly dismal from my point of view.
What I Wanted: To be kicking major ass at a P.R. firm. Major ass. Mind you, this was prior to the introduction of ABC's 'Scandal.' When the 'Olivia Pope' character surfaced, I definitely thought: "YASS! THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO BE IN MY CAREER?!" Sans the Presidential affair / Secret Spy brouhaha. I don’t want those kind of problems.
Reality: I was trapped in a hybrid of data entry / customer service purgatory, courtesy of what I felt were, 'no-other-options-didn’t-do-enough-internships-or-make-enough-connects.' The highlight of my day was walking into the bathroom, only to hear: ♪♫ Our God is an AWESOME God ♩♬ ringing from the stalls.
John 11:35: “Jesus Wept.” As did I – I was dying a slow and painful death.
The economy was still crap and good jobs were either a) hard to come by or b) incredibly competitive.
"At least it's something stable," I thought.
My boyfriend at the time was housed a few hours away in Illinois [we were trying the long distance thing].
Life was pretty mundane: Get Up. Go to Work. Come Home. Argue with My Sister [she was my roommate and is an avid gamer; all of which led to the dumbest fights – typically surrounding the volume level of “Call of Duty”]. Talk to the boyfriend. Chill. Go to Bed.
Rinse and repeat.
The friends that I had graduated with, returned back to their respective hometowns, got jobs across the country or ceased communication while I stayed at the cross section of boredom and hell in East Des Moines clawing my eyes out with a fork.
[I love Iowa, but c’mon: If you’re not married, engaged or pregnant, there’s nothing to do. It is not the bastion of diversity in the least bit—activities / singles / having a social life, are very, VERY limited].
I can remember the exact moment between surfing hairsisters.com and shoving pringles in my pipehole that I decided I would embark on a new adventure. I would fully channel my inner Shonda Rhimes and become: a T.V. writer.
Hell. Yes.
Watching a horribly scripted show on VH1, I immediately, thought:
“This is trash. Who wrote this sh*t?!”
I should’ve known better: It’s VH1.
So it began.
I spent over a year, researching the execution—
Finding the Necessary Software
Formatting
Story Development
Pacing
Character Development
Outlining
I read a ton of pilot scripts, participated in a few forums, read a few books. Asked questions, got some answers. I was determined to make this work. I had nothing else to do, so ya know…
I was completely ensconced in the narrative; the characters and their life, became my life. I created a drama-comedy series that was a similar concept to the HBO show, ‘Girls’…before "Girls", became ‘Girls.’
I titled it ‘All American’. Add in a sprinkle of ‘Breaking Bad’ and basically: a show was born.
Booyow.
The other script I wrote is a half hour comedy pilot about an irreverent H.R. Department in South Dakota.
I remember sending my boyfriend the ‘All American’ script – his response was ambivalent:
“It’s ok. I mean – I wouldn’t watch it, but it’s alright.”
“Okay..?” I said.
“Well it’s for chicks, right?”
Heavy Sigh. Dramatic Eye Roll.
Later, I would spend a few coins on a professional script reading service [it was a hefty fee for someone barely making $11 an hour]. I needed sound feedback on my craft from people in the industry.
I had to know: was I any good?
I got exactly what I needed:
Welp. It was evident that I still had work to do – I wasn’t upset, it just needed to be polished.
I appreciated the assessment.
Artistry is subjective: you’re always toeing the line of valid constructive criticism - which I believe the above to be - and deconstructive criticism.
Not everyone is going to enjoy what I write, that’s OK. Take what you can and throw the rest away.
It’s interesting to go back and read older pieces of work that I have created over the years. I get nostalgic about those specific times in my life - the things that were going on - that inspired me to write in the first place. I am learning that this process is very intimate, very special.
A snippet from my script, “The Department.” In this scene, the H.R. Director is screening a few possible candidates:
How this all ended: I put my writing career on hold while I decided to apply to and [briefly] attend grad school.
For the amount of money I was spending, school needed my full, undivided attention.
Mood Music: Reminisce - Mary J. Blige