Who Writes Short Shorts?

Even though I've written for the shorts 4x now (and acted once), there's still those two moments that define every experience.

Emotion #1. Panic. That moment where I rather get into tunnel vision. I grab my wife (regardless of whether she's amidst conversation or not), hail a cab, and grab a pen and paper. It's usually a short drive from the theater to home, so I've got precious moments to plot, scribble, and create new curse words to describe my temporary contempt to the required parameters (our given line, theme, cast, etc.) A few times I've wisely pre set the coffee machine with a bit too much coffee and ready to spring into action with just the flick of the switch. Lap top starts up. Temporary work station created. And then that fleeting moment....."oh crap." My biggest moment of panic was last year as I acted like a petulant brat, whining about the prospects of writing about the '80s. In the end, it turned out to be one of my stronger 'WWSS' ventures, but there's always that moment where you wonder how, where, and what you'll pull out of the dark recesses of the mind.

The other moment is the sweet to the aforementioned bitter. That moment when you find yourself so immersed in your project that you become lost. There's a time or two where you laugh over something you've written. I don't even realize it until Christine asks me what's so funny. I'm brought back to earth but at the same time realize I did something good. It grows from there, often in leaps and bounds. Characters find their arc and have their conflict and resolution identified. The story has a through line and is funny (as possible within one's own humble opinion).

I guess you can't have one without the other. After all this occurs, I back up the file and get a few hours of sleep, only to see the cycle start again as the actors and directors enter into moment #1.

- Michael Weems