by Judith Harper

Technical writing exists to communicate and disseminate technical information. And it's clearly a different animal from some other kinds of writing…say screenwriting.

So how do you define a techscreenwriter? See SWO Senior Member Mike Haap (aka techscreenwriter@cinci.rr.com).

"Screenwriting is what I'm doing," Mike says. "I added "tech" because I'm also a technical writer. One thing I try to be [in my screenwriting] is real and logical instead of some of this crazy stuff you get in films. I've enjoyed some way-out films, but I tend to be more logical and realistic."

Becoming a Screenwriter

So how does a guy with 30+ years of engineering, lab work, and technical writing morph into a screenwriter?

"In 1980, I started working at GE, in commercial publications–writing maintenance manuals for the CFM56 aircraft engines. Even before I retired six years ago, before I actually started to write [scripts], I had thoughts of trying screenwriting. I think I have creativity and imagination, so that helped to get me started."

At a film festival held at the Museum Center, Mike sat in on a four-hour discussion about how to sell a film script, and he was hooked. Oh, he still does technical writing, taking on assignments that interest him. After all, writing a script, selling it, and getting in production– that's "not a simple thing to get done," he says. But still: screenwriting is what he does.

A year or two after retirement, Mike found a local screenwriting group by searching the Web. "They welcomed me," he says. "We meet from four to seven on the first Sunday of the month at Border's in Northgate. There are usually six to eight of us." They share tips and contacts and mutual support.

Breaking In

He's learning the business, bit by bit. Remember the award-winning movie Seabiscuit? Mike was in it. "I was an extra, one of the folks in the infield. I had to drive down to Lexington, stay two nights, pay for my own food and lodging," he says. "I earned $75–which means I broke even."

But his progress is steady, with two scripts in the works. The first, Camp Century (which is partly autobiographical), is finished, and Mike is working through revisions suggested by a professional script reviewer. "Once I go through my script another time,' he says, "I will start writing query letters. Unfortunately, some people [in the screenwriting group] have the walls of their rooms plastered with rejected query letters."

The second script–tentatively titled Sailing Exhibition–is still very much a work in progress, and Mike is not ready to share any of its storyline. Even if a buyer is willing to pay for the rights to develop one of Mike's scripts, they have to commit millions of dollars to bring it to production. It's a matter "of getting the right actor, the right director, and the right money," he says. "If the [selected] actor drops out, the money might well go with him." Again–not a simple thing to get done.

Mike knows the odds. "Ray (the Oscar-winning biography of Ray Charles) took ten years from the time it was written until it got onscreen," he says. "There are 100,000 scripts written every year, but only about 400 or so major films out of Hollywood per year."

Mastering the Craft

Despite the odds, Mike perseveres. "There are lots of resources out there–hundreds of books on screen writing. I get Script Magazine and use  the Screenwriter's Bible for reference. In screenwriting, you just provide the basic stuff and the actor and director inflect phrases and set scenes up as they want to."

Mike know that the "capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible …to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people."

The bottom line? You can't keep a good techscreenwriter down.