How I got inspired to write my first web series
The ideas are out there
When I was in my late teens / early twenties I was hanging out with my uncles and a couple of their friends. They were telling stories from their life in the seventies about the adventures they had and their friends from those days.
They told me about one of their friends who had started taking morning glory seeds. This person was taking the seeds for the psychedelic effects. However, over time they took on strange characteristics. They started walking around in a suit all the time. At their apartment, they had written on the walls with descriptions. Around the light switch was a drawing of a box with the word light switch.
This story lingered in my memory for many years.
Our lives are a resource for story ideas. The more present you are in your life, the better the chances that something will affect you. Our experiences and memories can be tucked away for years before something in the present begins to spark an idea. Journalling can be a great way to deal with stressful situations in the present and the notes you take may find their way into a story in one way or another.
In 2007, around the time I started screenwriting, a good friend of mine, Steven Arvanites, told me about the idea of Web Series. Filmmakers were making short TV episodes (4–12 minutes each) for the web and the newly video capable iPod. After a short conversation with him and the idea of reaching a new market, I remembered the story my uncles told me about the morning glory seed man.
I had the idea to center the web series around that character. He would we the same tattered suit every day and cary a briefcase.
For a long time, I’ve been a fan of David Lynch and I wanted to steal some strangeness for our web series.
The lead and title character, Squarehead would show up at his friend’s apartment wearing a tattered suit and carrying a briefcase. Squarehead wouldn’t remember how he got there, how he got the suit, or the briefcase. And his own memories would be out of reach. However, anything he needed for any given situation would be in his briefcase.
When I wrote the first episode, I was quickly inspired to outline the first season. Part of it was exploring who Squarehead is and trying to figure out what happened to him (he wasn’t dosing on morning glory seeds).
In the first episode, I tried to set the tone for the series, the main characters, and introduce some weirdness. As the episodes progressed, new mysteries would arise and new elements in the lore would be introduced.
Final Thoughts
We never know what will inspire an idea for a story. A mishap waiting in line at the coffee shop, a news article, someone you meet, or any other experience can end up turning into a story.
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