When the Power Goes Out

The power just went out. I have no internet. Even my phone doesn’t work unless I go out in the rain, walk down my heavily forested driveway and make my way to the paved lane we call a street.

I chose this life on an island that gets lots of blustery wind, and I chose my house on acres of old growth trees that can fall on power lines, but, man, I get bored fast when the power goes out. I panic a bit in the first twenty seconds. Luckily, I have a charge on my laptop and can access my beloved WORD documents and can write something. Or rewrite something. I might be able to access screenwriting software without a connection to the internet, too.

Sitting here with a lit candle on my desk, (it’s not nighttime, but it makes me feel proactive), I thank my lucky stars I can entertain myself this way.

I am a writer, yes, but specifically, I am a storyteller, and my first inclination when I realize my lifeline to humanity as I know it is cut off, is to find a blank page and tell a story while I wait for the electric company to find the alder that fell on a power line.

I have a generator. It’s in a box in the garage, unopened. I’m too busy writing to figure out how to hook that sucker up to the internet for next time, though. It’s a case of doing the fun things first in life. That, and my belief that writers are not handy people.

Not just today, but every day, I’m grateful to be a writer, a storyteller, a wordsmith, a sentence wrangler and paragraph organizer. Putting all of these together to entertain people also entertains me, and if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, I always say.

I wake up each morning knowing I have a story just itching to get out, and if I can grab writing time during the day to release that story, it’s a good day.

When they talk about balancing life with things that give you joy, I immediately think of storytelling. I get immense joy from the process of getting to know my characters and writing a novel or a screenplay. It’s almost like a vacation I can call upon whenever I need to get away.

Costs nothing, and no one even knows I’ve been gone.

As a professional writer desperately trying to remain so, I do a lot of other work besides writing that takes me away from what I most love to do. Work to support my writing, not a day job as a plumber. Nothing like that. My days are spent designing writing classes, teaching those classes, choosing images and text for pitch decks, talking to producers and execs on the phone or on email—people who might get me closer to a sale or greenlight, and I also work on other people’s writing for cold, hard cash.

Although I love the storytelling craft, I’m all about making a business of this creative craft. Selling books and screenplays is my goal. Show me the money!

That’s not to say I’m an A.I.-using writer, or someone who writes outside their favorite genres to make a buck, but I am doing absolutely everything in my power to sell the screenplays I’ve written and write more. I’m lucky to have most days completely available to work at my job and that includes Saturday and Sunday. My kids are raised. Writing is my life, aside from going to street dances with my neighbors at our local village.

Do I write for free? Yup. Like a roofer who bids for jobs, I have been known to work for free and hope I get the job.

I write specs if I think I have a chance of selling something. I make Pitch Decks and One Pagers and any other promotional material I can think of to support the possibility of a sale. I make supporting materials because I’m not the kind of writer with a team of reps at a fancy agency who sells to big studios. I sell to Indie filmmakers and small production companies who make micro-budget films that are distributed to small streamer sites and TV channels that often have commercial breaks.

Sure, I have bigger budget scripts, but the smaller, contained stories are my focus right now. Writing to that market is a skill I worked hard on—to give producers and networks what they can sell, what they’re looking for.

This might be controversial, but I’m going to say it anyhow: It does newbie screenwriters an injustice to tell them not to hustle and do everything possible to support their work because most screenwriters will never get a big studio deal. I may never, especially because I write to the Indie Filmmaker market, and hope against hope one of those people can see themselves making the movie. It’s those people I want to read my work because they’ll appreciate my contained story, small cast, no CGI or kids or dogs, sharks or elephants.

I write movies that can be made for a small budget on a short shoot.

Having worked on several movies I produced, I now have a Producer Brain and that thing keeps me from putting a car chase or a crowd scene at the Eiffel Tower in anything I write.

As I craft the story, I picture the movie. Do you?

I cast it with unattainable actors but save money on location changes, set décor and costume changes. I start scenes late so the MC can enter the room when things are heating up instead of showing her arriving in a Lamborghini, walking through a casino and then entering the room. Did you just picture a heroine getting out of a Lamborghini and walking through a busy casino? See? You’re visual, too. We all are.

This proves my point about Pitch Decks, vision boards, and daydreaming material. Those things can be important for us down here in the trenches. I get asked for them a lot. Also, One Pagers. That’s why, at our event on X, ScreenPit, a pitching event with loglines, we promote the practice of making supporting materials in case you get asked.

I realize not everyone wants to go on Canva or Pic Monkey to make graphic slides, or Power Points, but you’d be surprised how visuals can push a project through the next door. They say no Pitch Deck is better than a poorly made Pitch Deck but take a class and learn how to make these things. I did.

I recently made a Deck to support a film project I optioned and will produce. Then the Director made a different Pitch Deck and sent it over. Both are good, but the second one is more polished, and we used hers when I went to AFM to talk up this Christmas Rom Com.

Here’s a good example how Decks might help sell a project. For American Film Market, I took a tablet with all Decks locked and loaded, ready to go. I had big plans to shove that tablet in the face of any producer with access to financing to show my production company’s 2026 slate by way of visuals.

Visuals are a lazy way to create interest through pictures. That’s why trailers are made for movies. You’ll wrangle up more emotion with pictures than words if you only have five seconds to promote something. A picture is worth a thousand words. Even at ScreenPit, where writers pitch loglines to industry folks/filmmakers, we recommend you post a graphic for their project. Views triple when a poster is involved.

Here's a little story for you. Gather round, children. Many years ago, I decided that the way into this business of being a professional screenwriter was through the TV movie, (specifically the Christmas TV movie) and set my sights on selling one of those. It took a while to break into that market, but one of my Christmas screenplays sold February, 2025.

After years of development and almost getting greenlights, one SOLD! But not before I’d written and produced a family adventure movie, sold a thriller screenplay and optioned my work many times over with hopes of eventual production. I’ve had lots of options fall out due to financing, executive changeover, time running out, but, in this case, the Christmas movie was bought, rewritten and filmed all in three months. Whirlwind!

At the time of writing this, I hope to see the finished product on my TV this holiday season.

An agent did not get me this sale, a lawyer did not oversee the sale, it was all me flailing around in the wind out here.

At this level, these contracts are pretty easy to read and negotiate. It’s a TV channel movie after all, not the Star Wars franchise. BUT, I did support this potential sale with a One Pager sent first, then was asked for the script, then the offer to buy, then they asked if I had a Pitch Deck they could use to help get distribution.

I put together a quick Deck, because I never say no, and voila, the movie was made.

I’m out of the loop now because I got paid but this deal largely became a reality because of a catchy logline, a good One Pager, a great script, and I’m hoping the fact that I sent a Pitch Deck helped it get distribution where the producer wanted and that my effort means this producer, who makes fifteen films a year, will work with me again.

I was easy to work with, had a product he wanted and supported the project by supplying promotional materials. Unless you have a team of reps who market your work to studios, making Pitch Decks is a skill to consider, IMO.

I do lots of work that isn’t storytelling, especially as I move into the producer world. My ten-year plan involves not just selling scripts but having a cut of the “box office” and getting royalties if someone will let me in on the production team.

If you know my story, you might know someone did let me in, and I spent the summer of ’23 on set every day on a family adventure movie I wrote. Lucky, right? I know not everyone wants or needs me on the production team, and that’s fine. I recently was on set of a Rom Com I co-produced in Greece and that was a sweet job. Three weeks on a Greek Isle?

I want to continue to make storytelling my main gig. Writing is so much more enjoyable than being on set (unless it’s a Greek Isle). Especially when you’re worried about distribution, cast, crew, weather, crew and cast health, budget, ferry schedules, goat herds, etc. The Producer life is stressful. The Writer life is glorious (especially if you can make a sale to keep the lights on.) And speaking of lights …

Mine just came on!

And so, when the power goes out, and I have no lights, internet or heat, I turn to the one thing I really can’t do without. And that’s my imagination and ability to write a story. Or in this case, to amuse myself with writer ramblings as I wait for the electric company to restore life as I know it and hope I can sell this collection of sentences and paragraphs to someone who thinks their readership will find it amusing.

And if writing feels like too much work during a crisis, make those supporting materials, like a One Pager synopsis or the perfect logline.

Final Thought from an Indie Writer/Producer:

Writing is not a choice, but a lifestyle and you get out of it what you put into it.

*Feature image by fran_kie (Adobe)