Ernest Pysher
I write because it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
For Terror and Virtue, my process began when I realized that the French Revolution is the fulcrum on which all history turns. It was a Tuesday. I felt it would make for an extraordinary film or show so I figured I would go watch one. To my shock, the only significant works on the period were all biopics on specific characters. I had never written creatively before and felt that this was a perfect project to try it out. I sat down that very night and wrote the worst pilot you could ever read. It taught me a useful lesson – that I did not know anything about the French Revolution or scriptwriting. So I began months of research reading dozens of books on the Revolution and biographies of every major character. I also read the scripts of pilots I respected and every major historical series of the last decade. I eventually wrote a massive Series Bible with the full fate of every major character woven together in one epic ten-season arc. The pilot that won this competition is the first steps of that epic story, but it is at least the thirtieth major draft of the same events worked and reworked over the last two years.
For Terror and Virtue, character creation is easy because they are real and their mothers already did the heavy lifting creating them. I see my role as trying to accurately identify the major moments of these peoples’ lives and capture who these larger-than-life people really were and how they might have been on a personal level. To do that, I researched them and, in particular, looked at the key choices (and writings) in their life and tried to reverse-engineer their motivating philosophies. Most importantly, I hate caricatures and try to make all of the characters realistic.
Terror and Virtue is a complete telling of the French Revolution from start to finish. Its subject is the most extraordinary moment in human history – taught in schools worldwide – yet the full story has been confined to textbooks and non-fiction. Despite the success of historical television dramas, no one has brought the full story to the screen. The creative works on this period have narrowed their focus to specific moments or characters, but the whole story has always been greater than the sum of its parts. Terror and Virtue is my attempt to weave this incredible period of history into one epic television series arc. This pilot is the start of that series.
For Terror and Virtue, the extraordinary men and women who lived and died during the French Revolution wrote this story. If my unique voice is anywhere in this work, then it is despite my best efforts to just be a fly on the wall. I wrote with the assumption that audiences do not want to hear my voice. They want a good story and I have tried to faithfully recount one of history’s best for them.
I do not believe my vision should trump the brilliant creative storytelling visions that many producers, directors and other collaborators bring to the table. My role has been to recount this incredible story. I was frankly shocked to discover that it had not been told already, but it has been over two hundred years already so I figured I should try and get the ball rolling. I would happily take on every facet of this project’s creation – and I certainly envisioned every moment as I wrote this script – but I would be just as happy to be the guy on the curling team who just sets the rock in motion and then watches as the rest of the team furiously works to guide it to its final destination.
I have had many challenges along the way but the most important thing for me has been remembering how awesome this whole process is. It is a joy and privilege to be able to screenwrite. Whenever I did not win a competition, or hit a “block” in my writing or research, I remembered how crazy it is that I get to do anything like this at all and that the whole journey is what I make of it. If nothing comes of this script, I will still be richer for having tried. And, frankly, this will remain the best show I have ever seen even if no one else ever gets to see it.
I know nothing about the film industry. I am just a guy who decided to write a script and try to get it made because he found a story worth telling that he wanted to share. As a consumer of film and television, I wanted to see more truly original content instead of another tired variation of a detective or doctor show (or a doctor who is a detective, premiering soon!). I have tried to tell a truly different story in Terror and Virtue.
I myself am an emerging screenwriter who is just starting out and am in no position to advise similarly situated writers. For me, I found it helpful to follow my father’s advice that when you do something, do it 100% and work as hard as you can at it. I have many concepts for my next project – and I dabble with them when I need a change of pace – but Terror and Virtue has been my primary creative focus for years and has benefitted tremendously from my singleminded devotion to it. Conceiving is a lot of fun, but I find there is something more deeply satisfying about giving your all to one (or a few!) of your creations and seeing what it turns into.
My long term goal as a [screenwriter] is the same as my short term goal and the same as my desired legacy – to be a good person who made people happier through his [screenwriting].
