Derek Rydall is an accomplished screenwriter, screenplay consultant, and script doctor. He’s the author of two books – “I Could’ve Written a Better Movie than That!: How to Make Six Figures as a Screenplay Consultant – Even if You’re Not a Screenwriter,” and “There’s No Business Like Soul Business: a Spiritual Path to Enlightened Screenwriting, Filmmaking, and Performing arts”. I have found his methods personally rewarding, and have been particularly inspired by him to write my biography, Getting Lost is Part of the Journey, in an authentic way. Recently I had the opportunity to interview Derek.

SB: In life the moments when you ‘get lost’ are the most important and hardest to work through. It seems to me that the same applies to writing.

DR: In my own journey I have had a lot of dark night of the soul moments and have come to appreciate that those moments of being lost are the darkness and the darkness is in fact the light. Interestingly it’s like the soil that we feed on. That darkness of that soil is the very substance that life comes from. The same is true about the darkness in our own lives, it’s important for our own soul, creatively.

SB: The process of writing has been an important part of my development. Everything I have ever written has added to my own development and understanding. Not just that writing is as you say, a virtual life, to reflect into. What is your first memory of writing and do you have any feelings about that process as a child, was it more honest and true?

DR: Some of my earliest experiences of writing were in a journal expressing my pain and emotions without any censoring whatsoever. What it had was absolute authenticity, the uncensored expression. What it didn’t have was any type of craft. Some people can get confused – that if you express yourself authentically without any structure that is good art. That is just not true. But when you combine that with good craft and you know how to combine that in a way that communicates then you have got a powerful piece of work, whether it’s writing, acting or even painting. My earliest memories of that are very authentic, but as I have gotten into the business there is certainly a challenge or balance needed, to craft things in the way to sell between holding stuff back that people feel might be too outrageous and letting myself go. My scriptwriting has rarely been truly as raw as my private life.

SB: This authenticity you talk about comes from people who have been lost in their lives. Was there a moment when you were lost?

DR: My life is about being lost with moments of – oh yeah I know where I am at. There’s a term called the success of approximation. There’s the example of an aeroplane. An aeroplane is off course 90% of the time. But because the computer uses the success of approximation by bringing it back constantly on course then it usually gets to where it is going on time. We think that we are supposed to be on course most of the time but that is not certainly true. If you are willing to grow and to live for a vision then you are on what I call the emerging or creative edge. I think you are off tilt most of the time but if you have a vision and a purpose it brings you back on track. That keeps you constantly growing. As the saying goes if you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space.
I had to let go of the ways I did things before and dig down into my own spirit and discover who I was and try to emerge as I am now. Specifically in terms of my creative work and profession that happened when I had a brush with death and I had to re-evaluate where I was going. I almost became a monk, a minister and then I became a writer instead. As a script consultant I was successful but felt empty. I had to completely lose all that to become more successful as a writer. And even then I had projects that never got turned into films and it was like suffering a still birth over and over again and then getting lost and finally becoming an author of books. At each stage when I got lost and have been in the wilderness experience and allow the ideas of who I was and should be fall away another level of my purpose and clarity has emerged and put me on a path back to my real direction.

SB: What has been interesting for me is the painful experience of going into yourself. How important is that time in terms of creation in writing?

You can’t put onto paper more than you are as a person. Derek Rydall

DR: The very best fiction is really not fiction it is autobiographical. If you have done the work and been connected to yourself, when you sit down to create a fictional piece usually the type of story you are connecting to will tend to be autobiographical. You can’t put onto paper more than you are as a person. If you aren’t connected to your emotions on paper it is going to be hollow. The most important thing that a writer can do is to really live life fully and be connected to their emotions.

SB: Making a movie is a collaborative work, in terms of the industry how would you advise people that have developed and optioned a script who are then confronted with changes from the producers and director? How can you stay true to your purpose?

DR: One of things I would advise people to do is to really master the ability to analyse story and to be able to articulate what works and how to make it better. My ability to articulate and understand story has allowed me to sit in a room and when the director comes in with all these news ideas I can be very diplomatic but be able to turn to the producers and make a well reasoned case of what is working and why. It becomes difficult for them to argue against that and they know I am not being a reactive writer. If people are seriously attracted to your work at the beginning trust that it resonates a part of them as well. We are all struggling with the same issues, in that way we are not unique so it is very likely that they were attracted because it plugged into that part of them. Look how their input might add dimensions, shades and tones to the piece so that more people relate to it and understand. Your goal is to communicate that to the most amount of people. Yes, it is a collaborative medium and these people are bringing their own piece in. If you look for that and try to support that it might improve it. And if you understand it you might be able to shape it so it stays consistent with the rest of the script.

SB: I wrote my book on the basis from today looking back into the past, showing that there is a repetitive process in life. I’ve always ended a situation in a battle of egos. This time I needed to pull away from trying to control the situation. How easy is it learn this process of change in your behaviour in terms of a script? How do you stand back and analyse a piece of work that you are close to?

DR: There is a reason why there is more than just one of us on the planet. Is it difficult to analyse our own lives. One of the best ways to analyse your life is to look out into the world and see how you react to it. Everything you have a negative attitude to is actually a reflection in beliefs in your own shadow that you have suppressed and are projecting onto the world. If there are things that piss you off, frustrate you or anger and revulse you, then you are projecting the personification of your own psyche. It is an incredible playground to see who you are by reacting to everybody else. That is a huge blessing if you are willing to acknowledge that is true.

Likewise everyone or everything that you envy, admire, respect, love, cherish, adore are also all reflections of your positive shadow and those parts of you don’t value or think are not worthy of being. All is who you are. We need other people to reflect back to us where we are at and who we believe we are. Whether it is therapist or a friend. Anybody can play that part because the reflection back to us is showing us who we are. And with our script it can be the same way. Anything in our story we are reacting to suggests there is something we should look a little deeper at or if anyone is giving us feedback and we have a strong reaction then that is an area to investigate because it is clearly pressing our buttons.
I am big proponent of getting feedback. Friends, family, professional consultants, readers, colleagues, what I call a 360 degrees feedback because we do have these cognitive blind spots. We just need to filter and analyse what is right for us.

SB: You are a proponent of Enlightened Entertainment. There is a plethora of books out there along those lines, and what could be seen as a movement in this direction. What role is technology playing in supporting the ideas of Enlightened Entertainment?

DR: Anybody with a computer or camera or even basic audio equipment can create their own entertainment, TV or radio station. That is becoming more and more common. Some of the people on youtube have bigger audiences that some TV shows and they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in advertising and the potential to build a business around your creativity is available right now. People are hungering for answers and solutions to their pain and suffering to create a world for everyone so anything that taps into that is going to have an avenue. And the more it taps into that from a grounded standpoint like the work you are doing is going to be hopefully powerful and accepted. Someone I was talking to the other day started a podcast and have a half a million subscribers. Everybody has the opportunity to put their authentic voice out there.

Derek Rydall …
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Amazing read! even makes me enjoy the ride in this packed train. thanks, steve. you rock!

I´m more then touched, as I see so many similarites, not only drugs and music, but my father issue is a very strong one and you touched something, which is really there and a reality with me!

Love the book, Steve. Started reading last night and I’m almost half through. It’s a must for everybody who loved and grew up with (especially the early years of) MTV Europe: The book is very funny and touching at the same time but always entertaining. Congratulations!

For me this has been a great week. The message of the book is coming through. If you haven’t read it yet then please get yourself a copy. It’s a good read and there’s something special in there for everyone.

One guy wrote ..

I loved it!!! I laughed, I had tears in my eyes and it helps finding new views on problems in my life as well! Wow!

Of course there’s not much time at the moment to continue writing a second book. But I’ll get there in the New Year. Until then I’m just enjoying being busy with a product, a book, that I am truly proud of.

Thank-you and I hope you liked reading my book.

Steve

A few weeks ago I bought some lining paper and cut it into
wall size lengths and pinned it to the wall. I’ve got three
rows of paper for each script that I’m working on at the
moment, twelve rows in all. One has been rewritten 9 times
and I’m still not happy with it. Another is a preliminary
draft. The third is a disaster. I fell out with my co-writer
on that project. To be honest Martin Alice and I weren’t the
best of friends to start with. Now we’ve reached deadlock
with the script. There are two versions, his and mine. I
don’t like the structure of his, he believes we could never
send mine out. Apart from my qualms about the structure
there’s something lacking in both versions. At the moment I
can’t be specific what that is, I’m still searching.
There is interest in the story. A lot of interest. And that
script, that story is very important. The characters are
closer to me than any other work. One of them is me. The main
character. The story is about a particular time in my life.
That’s what makes it probably the most important of all the
ideas I’ve had. Of all things I have written, co-written. And
now I’m lost. That’s why I’ve decided to write this book. The
one that will take shape on those three blank pages on my
wall. Since I discovered this parallel road to life – writing
- this is the way, I feel, I can best examine myself. I hope
to find out why certain relationships and partnerships
haven’t worked.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to find a solution in my
working relationship with Martin, although I am not sure
whether that can ever happen.

As you can see at that time I felt there might not be a solution to our problem. But if there was to be a solution maybe it lay somewhere in my past. There had to be something that I could learn from my experiences that I could use again. At this point I did not know where this idea would take me. I was embarking on a journey. And I knew I would get lost along the way. Getting lost was definitely going to be part of this journey.

I’ve got to dig deep into the head of
the protagonist, researching and interviewing the other
characters in his life, revisiting some of the places he’s
been. This book is the story of me. A story of a process, a
journey into the past. And on this journey I am going to meet
up with former colleagues, friends, even people that never
liked me but were all there at important moments in my life.
And something will happen when writing this book that always
happen when I write: I will lose myself in the writing. And
when I am completely lost, I’ll send what I’ve written to the
two people I always trust in this situation. Because on this
journey of self-discovery I will need some feedback in order
to understand and develop my thoughts. This will be the story
of my whole life. And in getting lost in the writing I intend
to find my way again because Getting Lost Is Part Of The
Journey.

I wrote a list of possible interview partners from my past but keep my mind open in order to be able to change that list and react to my writing. But it was in the end the writing that led my choices. I wrote stories about my past and analysed them. I asked two trusted colleagues, people who had in the past offered critical examination of my scripts, to react to what I was writing. To offer interpretations and ideas of the importance of what I had written. I opened myself up which is sometimes a painfully honest process. This was the only way that I knew I could come to a result that would be effective. And if key themes or words came up I acknowledged their importance and pinned them to my wall. To give you a specific example of how this works here’s an example from the book again when I meet a former colleague at MTV, Bea.

The Nordic countries also became a regular destination. I
went on many of these trips with Bea. In Iceland we
interviewed Bjoerk of the then Sugarcubes and featured other
bands. Another interview was conducted literally in the arms
of the world’s strongest man, who held me up high while I
talked to him. The isolation of Iceland makes it special. Two
thirds of the population live in Rejkjavik. And it’s a
culturally interesting country. At the time Iceland had more
authors per capita than any other country in the world. There
are film directors, video artists and of course musicians.
Iceland had and still has a vibrant music scene, particularly
electronic and independent music. The success of The
Sugarcubes and Bjoerk as a solo artist inspired others. I
hope that we at MTV also played a role in their success.
Stockholm in Sweden was also a regular venue for MTV News.
Neneh Cherry, Roxette, Army of Lovers, Ace of Base, Papa Dee,
Rob n Roz and Leila K all became regulars on MTV. Meeting La
Camilla of Army of Lovers was my highlight. She’s a
wonderful, slightly eccentric, beautiful woman. For many
years we remained friends, holidaying together in Greece. One
time I had the privilege of interviewing the men behind
Sweden’s biggest selling band Abba. Benny and Bjoern had a
studio in central Stockholm. They were impressive. They had
remained unassuming despite the fact that they had written
some of the catchiest pop tunes since the 1970’s. But what
impressed me most that day was the roof on their studio. At a
touch of a button it opened up letting the summer sunlight
in.
Bea reminds me of another time in Stockholm. We had been
filming in the day and in the evening we had been invited to
the opening of a new club. As the taxi pulled up there were
hordes of people outside. When they saw us they just stared
and the crowd parted. This is what Bea means when she says
that I was like a cat being stroked. When we entered the club
we stood at the bar and a circle formed around us. People
just gawked. This adoration made me feel I existed.
Sam had been right with his analysis of my main character. I
did question whether I was alive. “TV was your way of
existing”, said Bea. At that time it was true.

TV as a way of existing was a powerful statement from Bea that resonated with me. It was painful to contemplate this. And this was a phrase that I knew had to go on my wall. I had reflected on my life and through that process found out something else that I hadn’t known before.

This was part of the second stage of RP, I still had to go through the most difficult stage, Change.

From the plane the whole landscape is white. And when we
finally reach London, snow covers the streets. I can’t
remember the last time that I had seen that. When Emma opens
the door the signs of the oncoming Christmas are not evident.
She invites me in and we drink tea. I sit on the sofa where I
had regressed to my childhood, to where the journey described
in this book had really begun.
We talk at length about Martin, about how, I believe, he is
intractable, how he appears to have no respect for anybody
else’s opinion, only his own. Emma asks me about the
relationship, about all the therapy we had together. It was
almost a film in itself. Two writers go to therapy to solve
their writing problem. But that didn’t work. Why was it that
I dreaded seeing him, working with him, just bumping into
him?
“So what exactly is the problem with the script?” asks Emma.
I explain the whole story. I tell her what I had discovered
about myself, but she already knows.
“It’s a battle of egos”, she says.
I knew it was. But the script we had written together was
part of my story, part of my life. I would be personally
affected.
I tell her about Martin’s offer to send out different
versions to a script reader. And I tell her my fears. That
this was my chance to be a screenwriter. The opportunity, the
fast track to success. The dream. Emma asked me how I feel
the meetings with a future production company might go. I
tell her that I believe Martin cannot easily compromise and
that he might even end up at loggerheads with whoever he works
with.
“Is that a situation which will be healthy for your own
career?” asks Emma.
It isn’t. But I feel the options are limited.
“How would you feel if the film came out, if Martin wrote the
script?” Emma asks.
I think for a while. I’m not sure.
“What would allowing Martin to write the script give you?”
she asks.

The process of change came from this conversation. I already had the answers in my head at that point but I think I needed someone else to ask me the questions. Emma provided the key to change. I had to change my behaviour patterns and make a new decision. The key for me lay in the wall post that I had made about the Battle of Egos. The battle that I had gone through and had been so unhealthy all those years ago was repeating itself today.

The answers to these questions were now clear to me. There was only one option and that was to take an action that would free me from the negative situation I had found myself in. But what action? I think I already knew but a chance meeting with an old aquaintance Jacob in a tube train after seeing Emma confirmed my thoughts.

“You know when Princess Leia has been kidnapped in Star
Wars?” he asks. I did. I’d seen the movie with Charles at
University. I’d bought the screenplay.
I nod. “So what happens?” he enquires.
“She tells Tarkin that the more he tightens his grip the more
star systems will slip through his fingers”, I say.
And then the train pulls to a halt. I thought back to MTV,
but I hadn’t met him there. I had met him at Night School
over 25 years before.
“You operated the camera with Kevin”, I say.
“Yes, exactly”, he shouts, jumping off the train.
“Jacob?” I reply.
The doors close. He starts to bang on the window of the
train.
“You have to let go in your life. Let go”, he hollers.

STEVE (V.O.)
The first time in my life I had
ceded control. The first time I had
let go. I was no longer carrying
the bad feeling. I had now thought
about everything that had happened
between us and progressed. I had
gone through a process that I can
only describe as REFLECTIVE
PROGRESSION. These would have been
the last words for my wall but I
had no use for them here anymore. I
didn’t feel lost anymore.

And this is where Reflective Progression was born.