Thoughts About Identifying as a Filmmaker

It happened again this week. I mean, I guess it would make sense for why I’ve been asked about this more than once by now. When your day job oversees funding, distributing, and occasionally producing films (and a film festival), I can see how it would only be natural one would ask if you have any filmmaking aspirations of your own. So when a visitor asked if I am a filmmaker, I said no, but I did say that I am a screenwriter. He argued in saying that a screenwriter is a type of a filmmaker. But is it?

Advertisement

Present Day Writing and Insight into the Future

It’s a time of reflection of the past, and it’s also a time of insight over what we anticipate in the future; both in the coming year and the coming decade. What I’ve chosen to do instead in this case scenario is focus on the writings I am doing or plotting in the present; writings that, ultimately, will continue to take form in the future.

The Decision to Put My Third Novel on Hiatus

The title alone speaks for itself as to what this post is about, and to be quite frank, this has not been an easy decision for me to make.

Since my update about my third novel from back in January, I unfortunately still haven’t made a lot of progress with writing it. My most recent update on it is that I’ve managed to hammer out a fairly long chapter in it – and by recent, I mean that this was a little over a month ago.

When Writing Several Stories at Once

I’m in a unique position in my life at the the moment, and I’m not just talking about being in my mid-20’s and already the author of two novels. If anything, I’m talking about the writing projects that I’m currently working on. Yes, projects.

At the moment, I have several going on at once, and none of them are the collaborations that I’ve been involved with. I’m wrapping up work on my secret project (especially since I’ll be announcing it pretty soon), I’ve been working on a short stage play for a writing workshop I’ve been taking for the past month, I’ve begun the writing process for my third novel (all the while still in the development stage for it), and I’m in the midst of forming an idea in my head for what could potentially be a screenplay.

The Shrinking Appearance of Original Screenplays

Two weeks from now, Part 1 of the film adaptation of “Mockingjay” will be playing in movie theaters all over the world.  Based on the final book of the same name of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, this will continue the adaptations of the books for film, with Part 2 of “Mockingjay” set to come out next year.

It’s anything but unheard of for a book to be adapted for film nowadays.  While this has been a recurring venture that’s been going on for decades, it’s been especially common in today’s time where practically everything that’s being shown in the movie theaters are either based off a book or real life events- and if not either of those two common occurrences, then it’s based on a comic series or it’s a remake of a film.