Film Courage: Jay, we want you to think about the sacrifices that you've made in your life
to get you to this moment right now, right here, today.
What are those sacrifices? How many years would you say that's been?
Jay Fingers, Novelist, Journalist, Editor, and Screenwriter: I would say that I would
honestly say that I've probably sacrificed most of my life in pursuit of this I'm single
don't have a girlfriend don't have any kids and I look at all of my friends some of the friends that
I mentioned earlier from college and everything they've got beautiful families your lovely kids
great careers nice homes and those are things that I think I sometimes think that I might have if I
hadn't been pursuing screenwriting as hard as as I've been I think that I probably just would have
maybe done something else but settled into like you know that nice normal career and have you
know the home and the the family and everything like that another thing is family you know like
my sisters my nieces and nephews I didn't really go back to Memphis often to visit once I left
I mean I tried every once in a while but you know I felt that this is what I've got to do this is
you know this is what I'm pursuing and and one of my sisters even told me that she had that she had
this discussion with with the other siblings that jay's dream is bigger than the rest of us and he's
got to chase that and when she told me that she had that discussion it made me feel a bit guilty
you know because she's right in that I have kind of ignored them for this bigger dream
it's something that I'm i'm working on you know I'm trying to see family a lot more
you just make that time to to really live a life outside of the pursuit because I don't want to
achieve success one day and then not have anyone to share it with you know whether
we're talking about a romantic relationship or whether we're just talking about family
my parents have passed away and one of my sisters passed away recently and I sometimes yeah do feel
guilty it's like I've been chasing this and maybe I should have spent more time with them
so okay you know and I honor that and and I can understand how you might feel that way what if
you know you talked about being an outcast what if not everybody is meant
and and is really cut out for I mean you know just because someone has the quote normal life and nine
to five job and the trappings of success doesn't mean they don't have other like creative longings
and so it's it's a trade-off and so some people might know my creative longing is stronger than
wanting to have certain things right right and being okay with that and I know this
society doesn't always honor that I get that I understand as a woman who doesn't have children
so I understand how it can be looked at as you're selfish or whatever and and I'm okay
with that and and just I think that that's a curse a lot of creative people bear you know
is is is it okay that I haven't done these certain things
but I have something else that I I'm chasing or I'm actively doing right
and just being okay with that right guess it's up to the individual no you're absolutely absolutely
yeah I feel that I i feel like you know I have to now do this I have to achieve some sort of success
and when I say success I don't mean like millions of dollars and you know arms full of gold trophies
yeah I just want to make a living in this business you know I want to make a living as a screenwriter
and I feel that if I can do that then the sacrifices definitely would have been worth it so
what does sacrifice mean to you that's a great question
when I think about what I've just said
I don't know if sorry that's okay what what if I text you hey jay we're all at Friday's right now
for happy hour can you can you meet us there probably say no sure got these great potato
skins and we're having drinks look I love potato skins and I love alcoholic beverages
but if I'm working on something or if I feel that I have the time to to go to Fridays could probably
spend that time outlining or rewriting you know I feel like so much of my time is already taken up
by endeavors that aren't really serving you know this this dream you know I've got to give hours to
the day job and you know I still have to just take care of myself you know life things and so the
little bit of free time that that I have I often feel like I need to dedicate that to the craft
I'm sure every once in a while I like to you know have fun but
but I would probably decline I would probably decline an invitation
to just hang out I know that makes me sound like I'm not a fun individual I promise I am
you know I think after you now you can get some of that out of your system after a while I mean
I can only speak for myself and sometimes you see that some of that goes nowhere and then
what's really worth it to you we only have so much time right right so I don't think that sounds bad
but you know I'm like I said you know I'm making I'm making those efforts had like a fantastic
like overseas trip with my friends earlier this year you know we thought things were
safe and safe enough to go you know it was a blast you know and and some of them I hadn't seen in
years and it was great to see them and and see their families and and hang out with the you
know with them so so I'm making that effort I i am making that effort sure and then there's the
whole like john sales you know you've got to go out and have a life before you can write about
one kind of thing and that's understandable but I know especially here and I'm sure in new york
as well maybe other cities it's easy to get caught up with a lot of that oh definitely you
know especially when you're younger and then all the dramas that go around with that and you know
some of that it doesn't go anywhere so yeah it's making that decision yeah do you feel like you've
sacrificed enough or is there more you could be doing I mean there's definitely more I could be
doing but I i do think that I've sacrificed plenty it's about trying to find that balance I guess
you know when when can I take the break when can I attend to other things and just be confident that
the screenwriting pursuit will take care of itself you know to trust that things are
happening the way that they should which will then you know allow me to have that breather
to have drinks and Fridays and potato skins or to you know take a trip you know with the family um
right I mean you know there's there's some people that go on these like sort
of almost like monastic retreats within their own lives to work on whatever and
they shut everything out and maybe that is necessary they're they're less like tech
monk and they can't be bothered and they're doing whatever they're you know or or
none or whatever and I don't know I don't know how long does that really pay off
I wonder because I've i've done that you know I've taken those periods where I've kind of
shut everyone and everything out so that I can say work on a script you know get something done
and while you know I'm usually happy with the work that I produced or what have you
yeah was that was that sacrifice really worth it was taking that
period and shutting every everyone and everything out wasn't really worth it
I don't know what about the sort of Hunter S Thompson approach it's like gonzo journalism
where you're hanging out with motorcycle gangs and try you know infiltrate you know
going on the road with a band as a roadie or you know just like
would would you ever go on on sort of the the very opposite to come up with a story idea I could see
myself doing something like that yeah but because you know I understand what the goal is like
hanging out at Fridays I don't see you know what the goal is I mean aside from you know having
fun and getting drunk and you know potato skins I don't really see you know that turning into
something that would benefit the pursuit but as you mentioned with the Hunter S. Thompson
example you know I could see okay this is going to turn into a story this will turn into
a script this will spark you know an idea of something you know a creative endeavor
that is worth pursuing so yeah sure I can see myself doing something like that.
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