We are sparked by a vision that is both within our grasp and somewhere just beyond our full knowing.
We are fueled by embers of drama, romance, mystery, horror, fantasy, comedy, and adventure and further propelled by the promise of something wonderful. Our curiosity leads us through the greatest and worst of human behavior, the struggles of everyday relationships, and the mountainous climb toward spiritual and moral integrity.  We step into the frame of our imaginations and get lost in a unique realm of reality. Our main characters are deeply flawed yet deeply inspired to keep moving forward--and so are we. In spite of a seemingly endless road of trials, they persevere. Literally and figuratively, our protagonists rise and fall, time and again, as though nothing can stop them. We focus on these courageous and determined "people" not just because they provide us with interesting tales to tell, but mainly because we are deeply motivated to share "their" unique and insightful narrative with others. Outwardly, we aim to inform and entertain; inwardly, we strive to elevate the global perspective. We do this by honoring individuality and separation, while fostering oneness and unity. Assuredly, we delight in highlighting the traits of uniqueness if only to subtly promote our common need for love and affirmation.  From study and experience, we observe that love is both a great redeemer and an awful reducer. We recognize that love's many facets--as revealed in family, friendship, childhood, ambition, and everyday interactions--all serve to help us navigate our way through our highest of highs, lowest of lows, and every heart-pulling consideration in between.  It's a wonder we don't all write country songs. Ha! Or, maybe we do. Alas, we screenwriters don't just write from what we know and see. We also write from things we cannot see, things we are scarcely aware of--hidden in the deepest layers of our psyche--an untrodden onion of sorts where childhood fears, bitter failures, unrelenting grief, awful heartbreak, and soul-worn battles find refuge. Here also is where we find our deepest reasons for telling a particular story and the revelation that we are being "pushed" by something unrealized, unfinished, or painfully disassembled. Something that yearns to be healed. Wishfully, our subconscious is ever-trying to resolve or remedy situations that were less than ideal. Deep inside, we know that all this painful stuff isn't all bad, since it made us who we are, and so, we are reluctant to fully let it go. Nonetheless, a reckoning is in order. We must venture an inner exploration to determine which of our longest-stinging woes is fueling our stories and harboring an ugly or painful truth. If the deep sting stems from parent abandonment, for example, the truth we may need to admit to ourselves is that we had a parent that loved themselves more than us. Ouch. This is easier said than done. Admitting that painful truth to anyone, least of all ourselves, is not very human. Life can be hard, and trying, and then become really difficult. Somewhere along the way, in the midst of our coping and surviving, those painful truths get buried and possibly altered. Not dead and buried, but suppressed in a way that is nearly impossible to contain. Though most of us are unaware of this emotional seepage, it impacts our daily lives and how we see and respond to the world around us. Tragically, this emotional seepage can steer our stories way off-track. We may think we are writing about a romance only to discover, dozens of pages later, that our story is really about someone who is stuck in their own emotional seepage. Bottom line, we screenwriters must find the courage to unearth and embrace life's hardest truths if we are ever to tell a masterful story. Mastery in storytelling, I believe, begins with the profound understanding that we are in this game of life together--to learn, practice, and evolve--individually and collectively. Just as happens in life, our characters must fall and rise many times before they truly succeed in learning the lessons they are meant to learn. Hence, our characters cannot fully learn or embrace any lesson we have not yet fully learned or embraced. When we write our hearts out, we are writing from the heart of a painful truth, from a deep passion for our subject matter, and from a universal truth or message that reaches the collective heart. In screenwriting, we must also reference the time-honored Story principles of those who have pioneered the roads before us and have honed the simplest and cleverest tools for stacking the story blocks within every Plot, Scene, and Act. With reverence, we study and practice the highest regard for our audiences, as this greatly enhances our evolution toward masterful Story and Character Development.
                                                                        --T. Bear (Feb. 10, 2025)