Happy Friday!
It’s been a very exciting week for me: my Rewriting the Screenplay In Six Weeks class began with a bang, we released Episode #21 of JokeonaStick and last night I held my fourth free webinar, How To Use Screenplay Structure To Create The New Stories About Coping With The Pandemic.
I’ll be giving Part 2 next Thursday, May 28 at 7:00-9:00 pm. Please send me an email if you’d like to join me, and I’ll also send the link for Part 1.
I’m so happy to be able to share the idea that we need to think less about a “new normal“ and strive to create a “true normal.” Holding up the mirror of a “true normal” when people are confused is the sacred work of writers. Our job is to tell the truth and help others find their own.
During the quarantine, people have had an opportunity to realize that their values are skewed, such as putting work before family. Knowing how to reshape your life is the tricky part, and that’s what great stories can do: show us how to live better.
For example, a friend of mine, a film producer whose wife had recently given birth to a little girl. If not for sheltering at home, he would have been away at some faraway location, and never had the experience of sharing his daughter’s first months. He told me, “It didn’t occur to me that I had a choice. I never thought to weigh my daughter’s life against a job. “True normal” can be a place where we honor what’s really important: love, family, friends, and work. We can freshly embrace true values: courage, honesty, honor, ethics, kindness, and compassion.
Memorial Day recognizes and honors the men and women who have died keeping our country safe. My stepfather served seven tours in Vietnam. He received a Purple Heart and every other imaginable medal of honor. He was an independent thinker and very anti-authoritarian in spite of his choice of career. I asked him once what he considered a patriotic point of view? He said, “One where you’re proud of being part of a democracy; where you respect the office of the presidency even if you can’t stand the man who’s in it, and that as a civilian you are part of the army of America.” He was my second father, a wonderful man and a very great hero. I would like to express my admiration and love for him and thank him for his service to his country.
And all of our other brave veterans, both living and dead, thank you for your service.
Here’s to your successful writing,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
