I had hoped to have mailed off my application for the Disney Writing Fellowship yesterday, but over the weekend I came down with an absolutely murderous coldy-fluey bug thing that prevented me from finishing my script.
Which, I’ve decided, is something of a blessing in disguise. If I’d tried to crank out a script in less than a week it wouldn’t have been indicative of my usual standards. And, as my friend Joe aptly pointed out, there are professional writers who wouldn’t take a gig with such a short deadline. It’s bad enough trying to mount a shoot on the beach when the tide’s coming in, but if it starts raining you can either soldier on and hope you’ve got something good, or you can cancel and remount when you’ve got more time and improved weather.
So my goalposts have shifted – I’m going to spend the next few months working on my script, making it shine, making it work, making it brilliant, and I’m going to submit next year. Really it’s my only option.
I think my dad was a little disappointed that I didn’t get my script finished and sent in for this year. He rather kindly went to a lot of trouble to get two recommendations from industry professionals for my application – two wonderful, glowing recommendations that I’ve had to pretend were written about someone else just to stop myself from collapsing in a heap on the floor, quaking with anxiety, a big nervous grin on my face – so I can understand why he’d feel that way, but it just wasn’t going to happen this year. I should be able to use these recommendations for next year, so that’s something.
Still, I know what my script is about. I know what I’m writing for, I have an outline of the beats I want to hit, and while I’m a little disappointed that things didn’t quite work out this year I know I’m going to have something ready for the next application window.