I heart Pilar. OK, I don’t, but I have a big crush on the lady. She is exactly
how she is on her podcasts. Not only is she super down-to-earth and sweet as
can be, but she really loves what she does. Our interview session Friday night
went very well. Despite having quit drinking coffee this week and suffering
from a bout of food poisoning, I was present and accounted for.
We covered a myriad of topics, starting with all the biographical
stuff–are you Latina, how do you manage your business, how many scripts do
you read in a week, how’d you get your start, etc. Then, we moved onto business
stuff–marketing, concept, getting repped, story analysis (aka what readers
want), fellowships, competitions, living in Seattle vs. LA, genre choices,
pitching, high concept ideas, etc.
As a self-professed “word
girl,” Pilar
excitedly advised and inspired us at the story, character, and dialogue level.
Her honest, yet hopeful insight gave us all food for thought, ammunition to
move on to the next step in our careers, and drove home that we need to get
that spew/vomit/shitty draft out first.
The Q&A was the best we’ve had in a
long time. I was amazed at how specific the questions were, including: how
do I format dialogue when people are speaking in different languages to one
another; how do I denote who is who in a body-switching script; how much description
is too much in a set-up; how to establish characters (via essence statements);
writing an adapted work; and many more. Great.
On Friday, Pilar’s energy level was infectious, which was easily met by the group’s enthusiasm. She said she wasn’t even tired after the day-long workshop. We went from concept to starting a rough draft, in five hours. This was truly one of the most important workshops I’ve taken and I know I will keep going back to the well with subsequent new concepts, first drafts, and rewrites.
All 25 of the attendees got to pitch their loglines, followed by each of us
contributing how our concepts were progressing through Pilar’s process. I was
impressed and excited by the ideas that the writers pitched, and the openness
that people brought to the workshop. If you missed it, don’t worry, we’re bringing
her back, for sure. But, before that, I highly suggest getting her ON THE PAGE
DVD. It’s basically a non-interactive version of her workshop,
which you watch over and over to work out your stories. Let me tell you, though,
the interactive part makes the live workshop all the better. Thanks Pilar 
