Andrea Berloff
(World Trade Center)December 9, 2008: Andrea Berloff
Hello Fellow Writers,

Here we are at the beginning. 120 (or less!) blank pages stare us in the face. It's exciting. Think of the possibilities! And yet... And yet it's also scary as hell. I've written script after script after script and every time, day one, it's terrifying. How are all these strands of ideas, characters, jokes, plot lines, tragic denouements, and spectacular action sequences going to coalesce into one integrated, kick-ass screenplay? The honest answer: sometimes they don't.

But, then again, sometimes they do.

And it's the sometimes-they-do that keeps me going, compels me to isolate myself from family and the internet and all semblance of a social life. Because nothing feels better than the sometimes-they-do. And if you're plunking down to write 10 pages for Cowrite, then something inside you must have once upon a time achieved a little slice of that sometimes-they-do. You know what you can achieve when it's just the blank paper and your brain and a sprinkling of magic that makes the whole thing come together. And you know how good it feels.

I'm honored to be the first Pro in the Pro's Take section of Cowrite. To watch a screenplay materialize collaboratively by writers from all over the world is an amazing opportunity for us all to find new tools and see how others use them. Never has there been a better opportunity to test the thousands-of-heads-are-better-than-one theory.

Maybe the final screenplay will be messy. But then again, maybe - just maybe - it won't be. Either way, the journey will be a thrill.

Good luck with your first ten pages.

Andrea Berloff

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