Arts and Recreation
Independent Film in Northern Ontario
Just Do It
- Gregory Tremblay
I’ve been sitting at my computer trying to figure out how to begin a
filmmaking workshop that will be taking place July 4th through July 7th.
The workshop will be an intense three days where-by a group of young
adults will learn how to put together a screenplay in one night and
amongst the group cast the script and then storyboard the following
day…as well as shoot the entire film. On the third day all of the
footage will be edited and arranged with original music. I have been
assigned the writing part of the workshop and have been, up until last
night, searching my mind for something to say to these eager
work-shoppers.
I began last week by gathering some of my writing books and upon
flipping through them I realized that I have never even read any of them
in their entirety. I sat and pondered over this realization for about
thirty seconds and came to the conclusion that the reason why I hadn’t
completed any of these books was because I became, for one, bored. Two:
the books were full of rules and were making me paranoid about making
mistakes. Three: in the time it took me to read one chapter, I could
have written a whole chapter of a kick-ass screenplay myself.
So, another thirty seconds later I knew that I was not meant to stand
before these people and teach them literal formalities, but rather show
them that it is more important that the idea is simply literally spewed
forth in all of its errors and discrepancies instead of meticulously
crafted word by word. Too many people have an idea and upon sitting down
to compose their brainchild find that the idea sounded much better over
coffee then it did when they sat down to pen it all out.
It was then that I saw the reflection of my T-shirt in the computer
monitor. “Just Do It.” stuck out like an impotent penis and I realized
that all of my accomplishments had been attributed to the fact that I
got up off my ass and ‘did it’… and then school was in.
Honestly, that never happened, the Nike thing I mean. But there you go,
the first thing that came to my mind, I wrote.
So… I decided to preach that it is a much more fortuitous effort to
write first and read later. I think it much better to do something and
then find out how wrong you were after the fact. This is also how
ingenious discoveries are made and the age-old ‘trial by error’ is
justified.
So write me and tell me how wrong I am.
