Introduce Yourself : Back in the saddle again! by Christopher Neal Fisher

Well, my title this time be an easy one to pick, because after moving last month (can you say “fiasco”, boys and girls?), and finally getting settled in, that’s precisely what I am!

So who (or what) am I? Well, I’m 62, retired, and just celebrated 36 years of marriage to my wife, Judy, on the 10th of this month. I’m not a father, but am a.stepfather, step-grandfather, and step-great-grandfather. I worked for 32 years for my state’s Department of Transportation, until I was forcibly retired in 2016. This turned out to be the proverbial “blessing in disguise”, as it allowed me to at last devote my time and energy toward screenwriting, which when I was in the “workaday world”, I found that I just could not manage — a 40 hour work week just ate up two much of both time and energy, and I could not come up with coherent storylines because of it.

One surprising thing that working on trying to establish a post-retirement career in the entertainment field has done has been to put me on a journey of self-discovery. One of the biggest things I’ve discovered, much to my surprise, has been the fact that of all the forms of screenwriting out there, the one I both enjoy the most and seem to be a the most natural at is serialized drama (aka “soap/telenovela”). I really love being able to unfold a storyline over several episodes, letting both the story and the characters expand to their full potential.

So what are my current projects? Well, the main one is, not surprisingly, a prime-time soap concept — in fact, I usually refer to it as a Southern Gothic Soap Opera, because that’s what it is! My working title for it is Bayou Noir, and it’s the saga of the dynastic Delacroix, the leading family of Bayou Noir, Louisiana — the town founded by their ancestor, a French Seigneur, 300 years ago. Imagine a show set in the middle of Louisiana’s famed Acadiana region, equal parts Faulkner, Dark Shadows (the original series, not the 2012 movie), and The Sopranos, and you have a pretty good idea of what its intended to be like — if I can find the right producer interested in it (and I believe I will, in time). I have a 59 1/2 page pilot script written (it’s been both a semi-finalist and finalist in various screenwriting contests), and am working on further scripts for a first season as well.

Other projects? Well, recently I came across a charming (literally!) and fun Missouri French folktale which I think is a good candidate for a short film, though I still haven’t figured out the best way to write it yet. Also, I have notes on another potential series, this one set in the Illinois Territory at the turn of the century — the 19th century, that is. I’ve given it the working title of Kaskaskia, since that’s the town it would be set in. At this point it’s basically just research notes, but with shows like Deadwood, 1883, and 1923 proving popular, I think a show set on the edge of the American frontier at the beginning of the 1800s, with its mix of peoples — Anglo-American, French, Native American, and Métis — could be a real audience draw. And while Bayou Noir, being in the Southern Gothic genre, absolutely has to be done as a serialized drama series in order to do justice to that genre, something like Kaskaskia could be done as either a stand-alone series or a serialized one (though I think you already know what I’d prefer to write it as).

I also have some things in folders that I might go back to if I can resolve certain plotting issues, like a show concept I originally came up with back in the 80s, sort of “The Wild Wild West, but set in the late Middle Ages or Renaissance” action-adventure show, and a film idea I had for a science fiction thriller that would combine elements of Apocalypse Now and The Island of Dr. Moreau. But frankly, I see both the as yet untitled short and Kaskaskia as better bets.

Other current plans: one of them, for sure, is developing my network. I do have a network of a little over 100 people, but I have to admit, I’m at a loss as to how to make my network a network, in other words, how to connect with those people in a meaningful way. I have to admit, I’m one of those people who for most of my adult life has been uncomfortable dealing with people until I get to know them well, or unless I know from the get-go we both have a certain particular interest in common, even if its a relatively trivial one. Plus, as you might guess, I’m also a bit socially awkward to begin with (i.e. I’m a 62 year old nerd), and while I managed to overcome a lot of that over the years, the isolation of the pandemic caused my hard-won, hard-fought-for social skills to take a real hit. Also, like many creative-type folks, I seem to have a fair amount of self doubt, which makes me question what things I can bring to the table in my relationships/connections on here. Ideas and opinions (hopefully intelligent ones!), sure, but as a 60-something pensioner, I have few material resources, and little in the way of “connections”. All these are things I must find a way to deal with and overcome.

Another thing I feel I need to try and deal with currently is something that’s bedeviled me since I first started trying to pitch Bayou Noir back in 2021, namely “How, exactly, do you go about pitching a soap/telenovela as opposed to a standard stand-alone episodic series?” Because I’ve tried very hard to find material on that, but unless there’s something in my web searches I haven’t tried, there seems to be none. No loglines for any soaps/serial dramas, whether prime-time or daytime, nor any pitch documents. And let’s face it, soaps/telenovelas often defy the established conventions of stand-alone episodic series. For one thing, often the series protagonist is a collective one, like a family or an organization/workplace, instead of an individual. Also, there are often several storylines going on at once, often intersecting at various points, and each one with its own protagonist from among the show’s characters. In addition, I seem to notice that the storylines usually openly defy the Campbellian “Hero’s Journey” template, and are open-ended to one degree or another.. As a result, I’ve had to wing it so far. While I’ve just revised my two-page pitch (and plan on having a pitch book made when my finances are a bit firmer), I’m not at all sure I’ve conveyed those essential elements that make a serial drama/“soap” different, and how I leverage their strengths in my show, in a clear fashion. Again, another thing to work on.

Anyway, that’s who I am, what I am, and where I am. The autumn is turning out very nice here in Southern Wisconsin. I hope it’s the same for you all, wherever you are. Take care, and of course, keep creating!