One of the many things I took away from our conversation was the benefit of taking risks. As he pointed out, I took a risk when I introduced myself to him. I didn’t know how he was going to respond. “ His reaction could have been, “Oh great, another wannabe that plans to hand me a script.”
Regardless, I took the risk to approach him. He took the risk of moving to LA to write screenplays, something he never studied. If I didn’t take risks, I probably would never have gone to Fry’s Electronics and bought the cheapest (in budget) screenwriting software to begin my journey. It was time to finally take the chance, the risk of doing something I’ve always wanted to do as a kid.
So I got home, loaded the software, and dug out my notes on a story I had written in college XX number of years ago. I taped a sign next to my computer monitor reminding me of something Randall Wallace said, “EAT THE WOLVES” (more on that later). I read scripts, and books, and watched to writer/director commentaries on DVD’s. I immersed myself in my forgotten passion. I wrote and wrote and wrote. Sometimes shorts, most of the time working on that old story of mine. I would read parts, CRAP! I would re-write those parts – CRAP, CRAP! I needed to take a few steps back and gather my thoughts. I was getting upset that the story was too long and read like a cheap Penthouse forum letter (not that I have read or written any – and not that there is anything wrong with that).
This is when I remembered what Randall had told me. “Don’t get discouraged if your work gets rejected. It’s all part of the process. Great works have been rejected prior. You can’t let it get you down. You have to think of the path you want to take. There’s the path that goes nowhere. There’s the path where the wolves eat you. Or you can take the path where you eat the wolves. I say eat the wolves Fernando. You’ll never regret taking that path.”
To this day, I never have.
Thanks for reading my ramblings.