Words to Graduates

Tuesday 6/2/09

Eight months ago you came here, wanting to write a screenplay. I could see in your eyes that you weren't sure you really would. Most of you have been writers your whole lives. You've started things, but you haven't finished them. Or you've had ideas, but life and family and work have gotten in the way. This time, you wrote a big check, you cleared your calendar of over 100 hours of class time, and more than that for writing. You asked to be held accountable, and you took a shot.

And look what happened. A whole room full of screenplays! Fully-realized original feature screenplays out of whole cloth. In this room I see the screenwriters of funny, exciting, unique, surprising, twisted, terrifying, charming, disturbing, and delightful screenplays. Congratulations.

But there's more.

Because this year you've done something more important than the tremendous achievement of finishing a first screenplay. You've learned how to tell a story. You've learned that good stories have a purpose, and a shape. You've learned that stories come from deep inside, but that no matter how much you wish to share your soul with the world? The audience demands that you take them on a satisfying, cohesive ride.

Life is full of people with a ticket and a box of popcorn. They want to witness a story that will move them. These people don't just sit at the movie theater. They sit across the conference room table from you. They mozy over to you at cocktail parties. They look up at you when you tuck them in at night. These people are listening. And now you are one of those people who can mesmerize others with a well-told story. You know how to make it exciitng, where to add the twist, how to make the reveal visual.

This is when people start worrying about the movie deals and the agents and what to wear to the premiere. Good. Don't worry. The WGA will find you. The studio will give you extra tickets to the premiere. Diablo Cody has a stylist. Why not you?

Just watch great movies. Read great scripts. And keep writing. Keep telling everyone you know that you are a screenwriter. Because you are. You have a story to tell. You know how to do it. And I'm so proud of each of you.