Screaming Inspiration

The year was 1996 and I was 16 years old. I already knew that I wanted to be a filmmaker. I was already making cheesy short films in our one and only film production class offered at my small high school. It wasn't until leaving the theatre that night though that my love of film really took a turn.

I went to see the movie "Scream" and was gripping my seat the whole way through. This movie had it all. It completely reinvented the horror genre and I couldn't get enough! I went back again and again. I must have saw it 4 times just in the theatre and that's saying a lot. I rarely see a movie twice on the big screen.

I wondered, who came up with this story and how. So I looked up Kevin Williamson, the writer of Scream, and it turned out it was his first script sold. He had another one optioned, but the movie was never made. I bought the Scream screenplay when it came out and read the foreword about how he wrote the script in 4 days! I knew then that I wanted to not only direct, but write.

My love of Kevin Williamson only got stronger as "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Teaching Mrs. Tingle," and "Scream 2" came out. By the way Teaching Mrs. Tingle was that optioned script of his and he got to direct it. How awesome is that!

In the midst of all this came one of his greatest creations, "Dawson's Creek." I watched this show religiously and it made me pursue my passion even more. I completely identified with Dawson, the young, in love, teenager who wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg. That was me in a nutshell.

I began writing my first screenplay shortly after watching Scream. I had good grades and studied hard, plus I played football and track so this was no easy task. I stayed up late, stayed in on weekends, and wrote over the summer. In about a year I had my first script. I never did anything with it and looking at it now, that's probably a good thing. It was not my best work, but boy was it fun. I've written several screenplays, features and shorts since then just honing my craft. I'm currently polishing one and It'll be the first one that I send out into this crazy industry. I'll keep you posted on what I'm doing with it and how things go.

I wrote this blog because I just watched Scream again and let me tell you, I'm about to pop it back in! I still love it to death. Pun intended. It's been a while since I've seen it and a long time since I first saw it. It's nice to bring back those memories and inspirations. Sometimes that's what you need to get that kick start or overcome that writer's block.

Kevin Williamson will always be one of my great idols and such an inspiration to me. Someday I hope I will inspire someone half as much.