Film Courage: We had a question come in from Jacob.
How do you share your ideas without getting run over by the other writers or bullying
them?
Erik Bork, Author/Screenwriter: Without getting run over by them or bullying them?
How do you share your ideas?
Film Courage: Yes…I’m assuming that it would mean people kind of poking holes in
your idea and allowing them (maybe) to sway you from your voice?
And I’m just assuming (sorry Jacob).
Erik: That’s the tricky part, you can’t avoid…I mean pick who you share it with
wisely and pick the time that you share it and the reason why you are sharing it and
what you’re looking for from sharing it and what you tell them when you share it but
even if you do all of those things, people are out of our control and they may come back
to you with opinions and reactions that are very unhelpful to you or emotionally discouraging
or devastating to you and you may not be able to avoid that.
I mean you can certainly work on handling your own reaction but you can’t control
what they’re going to say as much as you might try.
But if you’re conscious about all of those things and sort of being targeted about who
you are sharing it with and why and all those things and also noticing that they may say
things that I don’t like and I don’t have to let it destroy my opinion about whatever
I am writing.
However I’m open, I’m doing it because I’m open to other opinions and I want to
have a sense of how others are reacting to it.
Any one person is not enough though.
It’s probably you need a consensus of people and people who know something about what you’re
trying to do and people who understand the craft.
Unfortunately other aspiring writers might not be as valuable of opinion to you.
So you always have to take what others say somewhat with a grain of salt while being
open to if I get a lot of the same opinion maybe there is something worth looking at
there.
I think a lot of it is you have to be like a detective who is interested in knowing what
are the things that aren’t working for people and then I’ll figure out why and try to
solve them.
If they say you should do this other thing instead don’t listen to that.
Don’t try to do their fixes.
Listen to what their issues are because they may not be able to articulate it because people
try to be helpful and tell you “What if you try to do this instead?”
What you really want to know if why did you not like what I did?
People sometimes don’t want to say it because it was too hurtful like “I was too bored.
I didn’t care.”
Stuff like that.
Or they may not even know how to articulate it they just might know I didn’t like it
which isn’t helpful which is why we try to codify some of these things which makes
someone like or not like something so we can learn from that.
So I think it’s that trusting that your own voice has value and that you will find
your way to address whatever problems you decide and agree are problems takes the power
away from the other random subjective people who are going to say whatever they are going
to say.
Film Courage: I like that, I like ‘becoming a detective’ and trying to solve it.
Because in that sense you are taking out some of the personal feelings from it almost.
You’re acting as if you’re a third party and then you’re less upset about it.
That’s excellent.
So it’s not something that you’re able to practice on a daily basis.
I know 6:00 a.m. hits and it’s a new day for all of us in the many different things
that we deal with but it that something that you really try to implement?
Erik: Yes, I’m very careful and selective about when I share stuff and who I share it
with because I know I’ll have tendency to get very upset depending on what people say.
And sometimes it can threaten to derail me from whatever it is I’m trying to do or
thinking their is any value in it.
So I’ve really learned to be careful and to do it with the right people at the right
times for the right reasons.
Film Courage: At the right times, interesting?
Erik: At the right time of the process because sometimes you’re ready, it really helps
if you’ve gone on to another project and you’re not even thinking about this one
anymore and to then show it to people.
Because then if they don’t like it as much you already have this other one you already
have this other one that you’re interested in.
So I’m a big believe in putting one down, not even showing it to anyone right away,
work on something else, come back to the first one, and you’ll have a new perspective and
you’ll things you want to change so you can make your own changes, you never have
to show it to anyone at that point.
But eventually when you do show it maybe have a couple of other things that you’re working
on so that whole script isn’t your whole worth anymore.
Because when you’re working in it, it’s your baby and you better not have your baby
get abused by other people right?
So it helps to get that distance from it.
And a lot of it is you give yourself distance from it and are able to give yourself notes
that you couldn’t do when you were in the middle of it.
Film Courage: And you’ve finished it to some extent whether it was a first draft?
Erik: To some extent.
Film Courage: Whereas you’re not “I’m going to throw this thing away.
Forget it!
So and so said this.”
Because you’ve actually gone through it so that’s interesting and it’s almost
like a form of protection.
Erik: Yes, it’s another thing I got from The War of Art.
Steven Pressfield somewhere said he would finish a project every six months.
I said to myself ‘Well, I’m going to write two scripts a year.”
To the point where I feel they are kind of finished.
They’ve gone through multiple drafts of my own notes, maybe no one else’s notes
come into play but they’ve really been rewritten significantly based on my own notes and the
way I get there is by taking a pause, moving away, coming back a couple months later to
finish one but alway have multiple scripts in the hopper.
So some are done, some are semi-done, some we’ve just started so it becomes a little
bit more of like a factory.
As opposed to I have this one project that I’ve been working on for three years and
it’s all I can think about every day, if someone doesn’t like it I’m devastated,
that’s not the most helpful way to go and I’ve done that.