Screenwriting from the Heart with Jay Carson

Screenwriting from the Heart

A course by Jay Carson
with breathwork guided by Carly Jo Carson

Screenwriting is almost always taught as an intellectual exercise based on rules and formulas and rigid structures. It is as though if the writer puts their “inciting incident” on just the right page, the script is as sure to be good (and get made) as water is sure to boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. 

But screenwriting is — when it’s great (or even good) — not an intellectual exercise based on rigid formulas and structure. To be sure, structure is important in all storytelling, but a perfectly structured script without depth and heart is like relying on a chain link fence for warmth on a cold night. 

The key to a great (or even good) script is one thing — HEART.

I’ve been a professional screenwriter for over a decade and a half. And I came to screenwriting after 20 years in politics had broken my heart. Because I didn’t know any better, I ignored the structure and just wrote scripts from my heart. I needed to heal, and a still small voice inside me told me that telling my truth would do that. And it worked. 

It also worked from a business perspective (which I was not expecting), because heart-centered screenwriting is SO rare that it jumps off the page for the producers, directors, agents (and fellow writers) who spend all day reading scripts that stay on the surface, focused solely on the formula or mimicking that other script that everyone else loves. 

I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of scripts, and I’ve spent a lot of time counseling new writers who are getting started in screenwriting. Almost all of them want to learn “the formula” — how many acts, where do I put the inciting incident, how do I ‘save the cat?’, etc etc. But none of those things make a great script. Over-focusing on them also robs the writer of the fulfillment and enjoyment and personal growth of writing and of being a writer. Whenever I stay on the surface of a story, whenever I am afraid (and it is often fear that holds me back) to go deeper into the story I’m telling and — most importantly — WHY I’m telling it, the process gives me about as much nourishment as eating sugar. And — here’s the rub — the script is usually unsuccessful too.

But when I go deep, when I plumb the depths of my heart, when I write about what scares me (I’ve had a post it on my laptop for almost a decade now with the Mary Karr quote: “What would you write if you weren’t afraid?”) the process is deeply nourishing and fulfilling AND the script almost always succeeds.

This is an imminently teachable and learnable process for any writer who wants to learn it. I want to teach this process to writers at all levels, from the novice screenwriter who has never sold a script to a seasoned professional who can’t figure out why they’re not enjoying (or succeeding at) screenwriting anymore. In my experience, writers can improve their lives and careers by writing their scripts and telling stories from their hearts and not their heads.

Bio:

Jay Carson is a screenwriter and producer. He is the creator and writer of the first Apple+ show, the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated The Morning Show, and was a supervising producer on the first Netflix show, the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated House of Cards. 

Jay is an avid surfer and outdoorsman, and is currently training to be an instructor at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Boulder, Utah. He was born and raised in Macon, Georgia where he attended public schools. He has a BA from Columbia University, and he currently lives in Topanga Canyon, CA with his wife, Carly Jo Carson, and their four children.