"Real" writing

i sometimes miss writing prose. i used to have a real knack for it (maybe i still do). writing for film is about crafting good images, and yes, it does involve good wordplay. bu that wordplay is essentially crafted to sell the script and communicate the vision. i.e., some of the best stuff won't be seen by anyone except as it is translated to image. and, even at its best, prose in a script is still depressingly utilitarian.

so i was thinking today about my idea for a new script. it was something i was going to write, at one point, as a novel. so i opened up my idea file for it, and read through the prose intro i had written, and a few other passages i had composed. and they were pretty good, in a douglas adams kind of way (i love douglas adams' novels, as slight as they appear to be, because he had such a gift with language and verbal play).

so i was reading my stuff and thinking, dang, now i don't want to write this as a script, because all of my really good ideas for it will be lost in the ether.

but, because i have to get tenure here, i can't just embark on a novel as my next project. a novel doesn't get me tenure. i have to sell scripts, make films, etc. but i really want to write this.

but, you know, that's just how i feel today. i don't know that i'll feel that way tomorrow or in a few weeks, and i do love film. i just miss writing words that everyone will see, as opposed to words that only the buyers and actors will see.