Writing Life: CONNECTION Named Semi-Finalist in Finish Line Script Competition!

I'm in complete and utter shock this morning: CONNECTION, my most recent pilot script, was just selected as a semi-finalist in the Finish Line Script Competition.

And when I say I'm in shock, I mean I feel like Carrie Page at the end of Twin Peaks: The Return where she — SPOILER ALERT! — hears the ghostly voice calling for Laura and she screams her heart out, plunging the Palmer house (and then the entire world) into darkness.

No exaggeration.

I kept refreshing the page where the Finish Line Script Competition people were meant to post the list of semi-finalists at 9 a.m. PT this morning. You know, casually. (Read: impatiently, nerves on fire sort of thing.)

There it was: the fourth entry on the page: CONNECTION by Jace Lacob.

My mind reeled. This feels... impossible, almost. (Rewatch that video above for my reaction.) Was I imagining it? Was this a dream? (But who was the dreamer?) But, no, there it was in black and white: my script's title, my name. I'd been named a semi-finalist. 

(I'd previously been named as a quarter-finalist in the same competition, in case you're reading this and experiencing a strong sense of deja vu.)

I hold no illusions that my script will advance into the final round (just three selections combining TV pilots and feature scripts), but to even make it this far, particularly against so much robust competition is amazing to me. 

I've learned so much through this process: outlining, writing, rewriting, editing, receiving notes, restructuring. At one point, I tore apart the entire structure of the script and shifted the entire perspective, shifting the role of protagonist from one character to another. It seemed impossible, foolhardy, mad. But it worked. It opened up the script in ways that I hadn't considered and I'm so pleased that I attempted this mad experiment in the first place.

I've never been someone who "wins" things, whether it's contests or Powerball or what have you. I've never tried to put myself or my work out there to be judged so rigorously, but I'm glad I did in this case. The role of a writer is often a lonely one, staring at a computer screen, trying to build whole worlds out of a blank white space. You're surrounded by these characters in your head but the reality is that the hard work is done in solitude. 

So I appreciate the recognition and the awareness. And the chance, most of all, to learn from this and to grow as a writer. It's humbling.