I am an Aspiring Screenwriter so I Started an Independent Film Studio

Nov 4

Wow! What a crazy couple of months it’s been. And I am going to tell you all about it!

Over the last several months I’ve launched CLSC Studios, LLC, my independent film studios. I also launched The IMPROVE Podcast, the CLSC Studios Blog, and started building the distro-list for the quarterly CLSC Studios News Letter. All while pursing my real dream of becoming a screenwriter.

That’s like three GIANT projects. And let me tell you, each of those was a giant undertaking. I never realized how much work it would take to get all of these projects off the ground, but I did it, and I am super proud of that.

You might be wondering ‘why would someone go to all the trouble of starting a company, a blog, a podcast, all for the sake of wanting to become a screenwriter?’

Well, I’ll tell you.

I am a creative at heart. And my creativity has always manifested itself through the written language. Even when I tried to make it as a rapper in my early 20s, I was really just obsessed with words, and putting my words to music scratched a unique itch.

Just to prove how much I like telling stories, here is a quick story. When I was in high school I took a creative writing class just as an excuse to work on my high fantasy novel The Captain’s Apprentice (drafts of the early chapters you can still find on Wattpad, LOL). I knew we were going to be covering a variety of genera like poetry, and screenwriting, and odes, and I came up with a plan to somehow tie all of the work I did in those genera to tie back to my novel. So I every chance I got, I was actively working to insert my own story into lessons. Instead of letting my teachers expose me to the various mediums the written word can take form in, and letting the stories manifest naturally, I would shoe horn in my own stories. My teachers probably loved me.

So, to say I like telling stories is probably an understatement.

As a kid, this passion for telling stories felt empowering. As an adult, I know now that my passions can be so much more than just a feeling.

On October 5th 2021 I started writing my first screen play, an animate feature about an empathic heroine who goes on a quest to rescue her father from the evil Warden of the North. Now, keep in mind, I didn’t know the first thing about screenwriting, other than the couple weeks we spent studying the subject in my high school creative writing class.

By all accounts, I was a green, green amateur, but I probably knew more than the average person. This gave me a leg up when it came to formatting, and my experience with writing my novel gave me a leg up when it came to crafting a long-form narrative.

Over the 8 months or so that it took me to write this screenplay, I fell in love with the process of screenwriting. My story was great, and I loved it too, but the process of actually writing it in this specific format was so gratifying.

Having had struggled to write a 600 page fantasy epic when I was a kid, I was at least aware of the work it took to build a world that a reader could get lost in; how describing a character will forever impact the way a reader pictures them in their mind; how dialog needs to be snappy, yet realistic… it was a lot…

But when writing a screenplay, a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’ is left to other members of the production. What I mean by that is, if you are a screenwriter, who does not intend on directing the film yourself, then you are writing a story that will be finished by someone else. There are literally thousands of people involved in producing a film, and I’ve found that keeping that in mind takes a lot of the burden of ownership off of me. I am but a lowly screenwriter.

I could be wrong, and probably am. But that’s how I see it now, and that’s one of the reasons I love screenwriting. Because, at the end of the day, if I sell a screenplay or decide to produce I myself, it is a team effort to get this thing made. I don’t have control over every decision. I get to trust the individual who was hired to make that decision, that they made the best decision in service of the film, the vision of the director, and the vision of the writer.

Some people might find that lack of control concerning. But I find it comforting.

You’re probably thinking ‘okay… but how does Chase’s beautiful, unadulterated, and poetic love for screenwriting justify the creation of an independent film studio?’

Well, first of all, thanks for the compliments. Second of all, it’s actually pretty simple: I want to practice.

Let me elaborate. If you are writer, who is trying to get published, then everybody and their mother in the publishing industry will tell you to start a blog. It’s like an unavoidable requirement. A way of paying your dues, I suppose. There are several well established authors who still publish on their blogs to this day. George R.R. Martin’s infamous ‘Not A Blog’ and Stephanie Myers even post updates on a semi-regular basis.

I think the reason behind this unspoken rule is to 1, practice writing, and 2, provide updates to your fans about you works in progress! Here is a link to a more comprehensive reason why if you are a writer you should start a blog. I didn’t vet this, but it’s probably got some good information in it, right?

But what do you do if you’re a screenwriter? Or, not even a screenwriter, but an aspiring screenwriter?

Well, I don’t know if everybody and their mother will tell you this, I don’t even know if anyone will tell you this, but I decided that the best thing to do as an aspiring screenwriter was to start a film studio I can use to produce my own short films that I will write so I can practice my craft. Or in short, I can see how my writing translates to film.

See! That doesn’t sound too crazy, right…? Right?

So, we’ve established that I love screenwriting and I started a film studio to practice my screenwriting… if you’re keeping count, then you’ve noticed that that’s only one of the three things I’ve started in the last several months.

The second major thing I launched was this little thing called The IMPROVE Podcast…

Now, you’re probably wondering ‘why would you launch a podcast, when you really just want to be a screenwriter?’

Well, the first reason is because I’m a bit of a maniac… and the second reason is because I don’t know how to write screenplays, let alone how to produce short films! But, I plan on learning…. And in this age of the internet, launching a podcast just seems like the natural thing to do.

I have tons of friends (subtle brag, also a white lie) that are all highly motivated, extremely disciplined, and absurdly creative. But none of them are experts. We are all in our mid 20s. The only thing we are experts at is breathing.

So, I had the genius idea of bringing us all together to talk about, and document, all of our projects that we are working on. Talk about all our goals and how we are working toward our goals.

I would talk about my screenwriting efforts and my friends would talk about… whatever they got going on. It’s a pretty open platform, and worst case I just get to catch up with my friends once a week.

The first episode is actually out now where I go into more detail on why I started the podcast, but that’s the summary.

You should check it out if you like listening to people figure out how to do things on the fly. I’m not selling this very well, but the mission of the podcast is to build a community of creatives who can depend on each other for inspiration, accountability, and collaboration. Check it out if you want to!

Okay, two down one to go!

The final project I launched was this blog. You’re reading it now!

This is a monthly blog, meant to recap the things I’ve worked on over the past month. Sort of a way to keep me honest about my goals outside of the podcast.

This one is a little different because it’s the first one, and it’s covering like three or more months’ worth of stuff.

You might be thinking ‘Chase, you just said that writers start blogs, and screenwriters start film studios… why are you also doing a blog?’ and the answer to that is… I like writing. And for those of you who don’t like listening to podcasts, you’re in luck! Just think of this as a podcast, but the contents of which are written down in paragraph format… sort of like a blog. You can just think of this as a blog, lol.

Oh yeah, also the quarterly newsletter! That is going to be for more exclusive, big picture announcement stuff. The first one will come out in January!

I’m not perfect, I’m just doing things that feel right. And right now, what feels right is CLSC Studios, The IMPROVE Podcast, and the CLSC Studios Blog.

I have so much more to share with you all, and I cannot wait to tell you more. If you can believe it, I actually wanted to share more behind the scene stuff on CLSC Studios, not just my psychology going into it. I wanted to write about what incorporating was like, how I created my website, the distribution and production process of the podcast, how I’m getting involved in the Florida film scene, and a sneak peek at what’s coming next!

But, I think I’ll save that for next month. Or maybe a bonus blog. Who knows?!

I am an Aspiring Screenwriter so I Started an Independent Film Studio

The First Month of Being a Podcast Host