Film Courage: How does someone who hates reading their own writing continue to write scripts?
Chad Meisenheimer, Writer/Actor/Comic/Director: I was telling my friend the other day actually
about this where I only produce and write for the stuff I want to direct or act in.
I personally just want to be an actor/director.
I would love to just be an actor/director.
I like making my own content and telling my own stories.
That’s the main reason why I do produce because I hate producing too.
I’m good at it which is bad but I’m good at it.
Everyone wants me to produce their stuff and I’m like “No.”
My mom is also a writer.
She writes really well.
And I’m sitting there when I was younger saying “I’m not going to be a writer.
I’m going to be a director.”
I had no aspirations of being the next Quentin Tarantino or something like that.
I just want to be a director.
That’s my goal.
But I just kind of sit there and am like “Ahhhh…” and I say to my writer friends “Give me
constructive feedback.”
And they always laugh because I’m like “It’s garbage.
Tell me it’s garbage.”
I’m not looking for compliments because I’m the type of person, I don’t want compliments.
I don’t easily give compliments out.
I alway feel it’s an ulterior motive or an agenda when people try to do that.
I don’t do that.
My BS meter and tolerance for it…I have no filter.
I’m just like “No.”
So when I see it I’m like “Uggghhh.”
My last script I was working on, I sat there and “It’s garbage.
How do they want me to make this look like a throwback 80’s horror film but set in
contemporary times?”
And ironically it was me who pitched it and I was like “How did I pull this one out
of my hat?”
I don’t know how I did it?
I’m sitting there and spending five weeks [typing]…the…
That’s the other thing, one of my methods of writing helps me finish writing because
it would never get done.
I handwrite all of my scripts.
I handwrite them first before because if I look at a blank screen, if I just see a blank
screen and I’m like “Oh my gosh.
My life sucks.
I’m going to throw this computer out.”
Another method I do to make me finish the script, I always have an idea but I write
The End and I work all the way to the beginning.
The reason I started doing this is everyone has a beginning, middle and end and they start
from the beginning.
I was watching the film MEMENTO.
This was when I was young and I’m like “Okay, I’m going to take the end of my script which
I know how it’s going to end and I’m going to work my way back.”
Because then when I do that (my second or third draft) I can be like “Okay I have
a beginning and an end.
Now I can work forward to make it tighter.”
I always start with the ending first because this character dies.
No sequel!
That is what I do for it.
Film Courage: You have a great relationship with your mom you said earlier and that she’s
definitely honest with you about writing, which you appreciate?
Chad: Definitely.
She is very on point with my writing “Okay, this doesn’t work.
This works.
Try to go into more detail on this.”
That’s one thing she is really into, she’s a brilliant writer.
I’m surprised she doesn’t have some successful career as a writer?
I’m just a visual person when I write (I was explaining to her the other day) because
she asked “Why don’t you have this scene?”
And if I don’t see it in my head because…I see the whole movie in my head so my goal
is okay I see the whole movie in my head.
I’m going to write it how I see it because a lot of people they don’t do that.
They write the story and then eventually “I see the movie doing this and then that.”
I don’t write like that.
That’s also how I see scripts too.
A lot of people hire me as a director sometimes.
I can see the script in my head and I do exactly what I see in my head.
I see it.
That’s why I like working with other writers and working as a director-for-hire.
I will always be faithful to what the writer is writing and I know how to make it visually
entertaining.
A lot of people can’t do that.
One of my friends is a writer and I did one of his short films as a director a long time
ago (in 2010?).
He was really happy with it “This is how I want it.”
And I’m like “Cool.”
Because I visualize it and can see what is going on on the page where it’s a skill
set.
A lot of people who work with a director-for-hire have issues with that sometimes where they
start throwing things out of the script.
The script is the blueprint.
It’s the base, it’s the skeleton.
Why are you getting rid of it?
Just do it and come up with a creative way to make it work.
Film Courage: Do you send your mom drafts?
Chad: I just sent her a draft this morning because I wrote a new opening.
Of course I didn’t turn it in soon enough.
I wrote a new opening yesterday and I wanted a better hook because it’s a horror/fantasy.
The original beginning was good.
But I needed something to keep it in line when they are following this character.
“Okay, something bad is going to happen.
Is it during this moment?
No…something bad is going to happen.”
I sent it to my mom and even my writer friends.
I said “Do this work?
Is it too out of the blue?”
They are like “No, it actually wrapped the story up perfectly.”
Which I was just like “Yes!”
Usually I don’t have that happenstance moment.
I’m just tired “Throw the script away.
I don’t want to do this.”
But it worked for some reason because I was at Starbucks for 15 minutes and I was to the
point where I wrote it out and I’m like “Oh?
I’ve got to write this fast.”
I waddled home really fast and I’ve got to write this on my computer this is a good
start.
She digged it and she also helps with the spelling and grammar sometimes.
Certain stuff that I miss where she’s like “There’s a fragment sentence there and
that’s not right.”
And I’m like “Arrggghh…It’s a screenplay, not a novel.”
She gives good advice.
She really digged the story.
I was like “Oh well, okay.
I guess I am doing something alright.”
Film Courage: She used to write or still does?
Chad: She still writes such as a lot of poetry.
She has her own blog, she does a lot of arts and crafts stuff too.
But she is starting to write a lot more again.
She did poetry when she was younger and stuff that got published when she was in her teens.
She a really, really good writer.