Thoroughly enjoyed the telling of this ... thanks so much for the insight!

I think I've got another year's worth of TBOS posts in me. If you or anyone else has a subject you'd like to see covered, feel free to post or email to me.

I would love to hear stories about the challenges in keeping/letting go of creative control of your script. Being open to legitimate improvement is obviously wise & important, but what happens when the powers that be change it beyond recognition -- for the worst? What do you do?

Erica, this is always a risk for screenwriters. Movies are primarily a director's medium. That is it is they who go off and make the movie. In the best of worlds, the director shares your vision and even has a collaborative relationship with you. And that does happen. But there are times when that is not the case. Moreover the process of losing control over the story can happen much earlier - in development with producers and studio. The only true way to avoid having someone 'fuck' with your material is to become a writer-director or write novels. You can also write / write-produce TV where writers have much more power than directors, but there you have to deal with networks and their input / control The reality is all screenwriters have to learn to accommodate themselves to the reality that the chances are significant your script will change. Hopefully those changes benefit the story. When they don't, you live with it. Every writer discovers how to do that... or else they won't have much of a screenwriting career.

Thank you! I appreciate this feedback. Yes, I could only assume it's a brutal reality. I suppose it's safe to say if we are willing to take the risk of being a screenwriter, then the chances your story/vision will someday be torn apart is simply part of that risk. You just have to press forward no matter what and scoop up any nuggets of wisdom that come from it along the way ...