A few years ago, during a spring training game between the Cardinals and Mets, a player needed to be identified.
Often, players in the minor leagues aren't easily recognized. A decision was made about that dilemma that would make the social media rounds. The name of the player was decided upon as 'Minor League Guy.'
It was laughable and a bit sad. The designation also summed up the 'Minor League Guys', those who are well-known and those who aren't, and never will be. Or those who never realize their big league dreams for reasons of circumstance, lack of talent to make it in the majors, and, sometimes, due to tragedy. As most of you may remember, that player was Oscar Taveras, a top Cardinals prospect. He died in a car accident in 2014.
The name 'Minor League Guy' stuck with me. Over the next couple of years, I started to mentally piece together ideas. I didn't write them all down, but they were there, waiting to be fully realized. In that time, I wrote two short works of fiction and published them as e-books. In that series, I fleshed out a couple of characters that would later resurface in the idea bank. I look at those books as proud moments, but also as learning experiences and inspiration for the next stage.
I'd written screenplays over the past few years, two baseball-related, one not, and yet that never quite took as something I focused on and truly felt called to do. If you've read anything I've said about writing, it's that I believe everything is a calling, and that's how I approach life and creativity.
A year ago, I was fully called to this story. The working title was different. But those three words came back to me without much effort: 'Minor League Guys'. I had an image in my mind that I held and thought about constantly. That image is the first scene of the story. And the conversation the main character, Kyle Moore, has is the same one I'd envisioned almost from day one.
I knew that scene set the tone of the entire story. I felt it in my bones. I also heard a song when that scene began: John Fogerty's 'Tomorrow Never Comes'. If you want to understand the story or the tone, this is the song that I listened to over and over. If ever this makes it to the big screen, what I wouldn't do to make sure this song is heard in the film.
I also began contemplating a way to bring in one character I'd created in those e-books; a top pitching prospect that's making a comeback after undergoing Tommy John surgery. There were many reasons I felt he was important to the story and he's special to me for several reasons.
Many different kinds of people and players weave together what's not just a sports story, or a story about the minor leagues, but is also about the working class. I was paying tribute to the journey of minor league baseball, just as much as I was paying tribute to the working class people I grew up with. They're in the story, in small but meaningful ways.
I have to clarify that I won't reveal the inspiration for any of the people in this story, who are all based on real players, and people that I've known. There's a lot of fiction and use of imagination. But it's mixed with real moments I either saw, heard or experienced in the minor leagues. Much of the dialogue is lifted from my many moments spent as a MiLB reporter.
Also, most of the characters, particularly the four central characters/players, are a composite of several people. With the players, you might recognize traits or have a guess as to who they're inspired by. Again, understand that every one of these people are based not just on those in baseball, but people I know who have nothing to do with baseball. And as any fiction/screenwriter knows, you have to find a part of yourself in each character you create.
The story focuses on Moore, a pitcher, and three other players at different stages of their careers. Other players have smaller roles in the story, but all are important.
Back to the composite. Kyle's based on a couple of people. I envisioned him in the first scene, and spent a lot of time figuring out who he was. But with any work of fiction, the people you're creating reveal themselves to you. The most exciting part about this process was bringing these people I knew to the table, and that they became more than what I had originally thought. If you're a new screenwriter or thinking about trying, I hope this helps inspire you. I'm no expert and, the more I wrote, the more inspired I was and the more clear their story became.
Many people that are part of the minor league world are here: reporters, scouts, coaches, managers, executives, and, of course, girlfriends and wives. One of the most important things to me in writing this story was creating women that were not just the girls at home, but women that were fully-fleshed out, with fears, strengths and lives of their own.
The other part of this process was just as important: research. While much of screenwriting is personal observation and imagination, it's also crucial to do a bit (or a lot) of research. And while I'm writing about an industry, sport, and level of the sport I have many years of experience in, I took great effort with that aspect, devoting a lot of time to checking and double-checking details so that everything made technical sense. With a sports movie, you aren't just creating story, you're setting a stage with many moving parts that have to fit. I read many articles, looked back on some of my own, and checked statistics and data to add to the accuracy. No reporter wants to be questioned for lack of accuracy. And that applies here as well. However, keep in mind that this is still a fictional story. Sometimes, you fit things as well as you can, but allow the story to dictate other things.
I don't know where this will lead, but I'm fully committed to spreading the word and reaching people in the business. If you're signed up at Blacklist or are a professional, you can read the screenplay there. I'll be setting up a website and you'll be able to contact me if you have interest in reading it. Drop me a line and we can talk. You don't have to be in the business to read it. You can find contact information for me here on this blog, or follow me on Twitter. I'm entering the screenplay into festivals and contests starting next month and I'll keep readers posted on progress.
Also, just a personally meaningful aside, I have a Spotify playlist under the name JQHeels and the list is MLG. That's the soundtrack to the story, both as I wrote it, and, admittedly, if this ever made it to a big screen, would be my dream soundtrack. The songs were just as much a part of the story. I was a little inspired by Martin Scorcese (songs that don't exactly make sense to the scene) and the movie 'American Graffitti', which is basically a musical. I read a few screenplays, as I do when I'm writing one. And none was more important than 'Tender Mercies'. If you've never seen that movie, I highly recommend it. I also read screenplays of well-known baseball movies to see how others balanced in-game action with storytelling.
This story is the most important thing I've ever written or pursued in my life. And I hope if you read it or, one day, see it on the big screen that it resonates and connects with you, whether you aren't a baseball fan, love baseball, or it's your actual life.
I look forward to whatever lies ahead and sharing the journey with readers.
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