The feature script for 'Dear Mr. Mailman'

I always intended to write the feature film, even when I was writing the short. I felt like the concept was strong enough that it could be developed.

After wrapping production, and while working through post-production, I decided I could take on the feature.

I spent the following months researching and structuring, then sat down and wrote a few pages on my computer. It kept gnawing at me that maybe I could do this script different than the other scripts I'd written. I kept looking at the typewriter on the shelf that we used for production of the short for Dear Mr. Mailman. This was the typewriter that Hank/Mailman wrote on as he wrote letters to Ellie Bellie. Could I write the feature script on a typewriter?

I mean, that's all they used to have back in the day. I wanted to experience that. I thought it seemed like something really hard, but I wanted to try it.

So I did. I spent days figuring out how to manually format the document so it looked like a normal screenplay. I'd print out a page from another script and line things up.

It was so hard. There's so many things that are taken care of for us with technology and the modern age. I had to remember and take note of every character I created and how to spell their names because it wouldn't be auto-populated like it is in final draft. I also had to write down EVERY location because again - no auto-population going on here. So I kept a little notebook that was essentially my script bible that helped me keep characters and locations straight.

Interestingly enough, the writing of the script, the creativity, the development was about the same process, but the physicality of writing made it quite difficult. Rewriting pages...sheesh. You want to go back and add a line into something you wrote up above? You either have to use a bottle of white out (which I did), or you'd have to re-type the whole page again so you can add in your line (which I also did many times). It was also easier to just write the page number in the corner as the pages rolled through. I also ended up scanning each page so I'd have a digital copy in case the place burned down or something. Oh, and that's another thing, after you number pages, and you want to add other pages previously? Yeah, you guessed it - back to the white out. It was so hard, and I absolutely loved it!

• 

• 

•