Zigsta
Disney Film Director
Link to original post: [drupal=3999]What Drives Me: Mrs. McKellip[/drupal]
Time for entry number three!
Back in the day, school was pretty lame for me. I was in Gifted classes--essentially classes for smart kids. My best subject was English, but even then, I made something like a 93 tops. I knew I hated Math--it was always my lone B on my report card. I made good grades, but most of my peers made better grades than I did, so I never felt all that smart even though I was taking classes with the school's best. I wanted to be a vet because I loved animals, and people always told me I had a way with them. I actually got into the Gifted program by rattling off tons of animal factoids I learned watching my weekly Amazing Animals show instead of taking their standard IQ test.
Recess was legit, though. I was the fastest kid on the playground back in my heyday. I organized games of freeze tag that in its prime totaled nearly 50 students. And man oh man, did I LOVE to run.
But as far as classes went, nothing really turned me on. My day consisted of going to school and going home to play video games with friends.
That is, until 8th grade.
My English teacher was a royal pain in the batooshka, to put things nicely. Fortunately for us, she left on maternity leave our second semester, and we got a replacement teacher. She seemed like she could relate to us a lot better than our previous teacher. Her name was Mrs. McKellip.
After class one day, Mrs. McKellip asks me to hold back. I start running through my mind, thinking why she would ask me to stay behind. I was a good student who didn't disrupt class, so I couldn't be in trouble. Maybe I bombed my first English test. Which would mean my parents would take away my video games for a week as punishment. Oh sweet baby Jesus.
Turns out I wasn't in trouble, and I didn't bomb the test. Mrs. McKellip instead told me I was exceptionally talented as a writer.
I was downright floored. It was the first time someone outside my immediate family ever said I was particularly talented at anything.
She asked if I'd like to take writing classes outside of class, where she'd hone my writing skills. I accepted.
As the lessons continued, I was told I naturally had a certain variance to my sentence structure, and my conversational tone made my essays easy and fun to read despite the fact that they had some kind of important message to them. Naturally I was a bit hesitant to this idea that I had some God-given talent as a writer, but as I read other essays, I realized...I was pretty good!
A few sessions in, Mrs. McKellip suggested I enter a short story competition. So naturally I accepted. But as I began to write, I found myself feeling really involved in the world I was creating. Five pages later, I told Mrs. McKellip I couldn't submit this. I wanted to make a novel. So I sat down and cranked out an outline for the first book, with plans for a second and third book.
Since then, I've pitched that very same story to peers, classmates, and even people working in Hollywood, and I've gotten nothing but rave reviews.
As I grew up, I realized I hated writing prose. It's just so drab and dull and dumb. Blech.
So I opted for screenwriting. I want to make stories that people all over the world see, and as soon as I figured that out, I knew I had to turn my passion to movies.
But it all started with Mrs. McKellip. It all started with that one person to say, "Hey, you're really good at this."
Whenever I write, I write from the heart, as I feel I'd tell you if we were talking face-to-face at this very moment. And it works somehow. I've made people laugh; I've made people cry. I've had even had people thank me for being born just because of something I've written that touched them on an emotional level.
No matter where my dreams take me, I'll never forget how Mrs. McKellip changed my life.
Time for entry number three!
Back in the day, school was pretty lame for me. I was in Gifted classes--essentially classes for smart kids. My best subject was English, but even then, I made something like a 93 tops. I knew I hated Math--it was always my lone B on my report card. I made good grades, but most of my peers made better grades than I did, so I never felt all that smart even though I was taking classes with the school's best. I wanted to be a vet because I loved animals, and people always told me I had a way with them. I actually got into the Gifted program by rattling off tons of animal factoids I learned watching my weekly Amazing Animals show instead of taking their standard IQ test.
Recess was legit, though. I was the fastest kid on the playground back in my heyday. I organized games of freeze tag that in its prime totaled nearly 50 students. And man oh man, did I LOVE to run.
But as far as classes went, nothing really turned me on. My day consisted of going to school and going home to play video games with friends.
That is, until 8th grade.
My English teacher was a royal pain in the batooshka, to put things nicely. Fortunately for us, she left on maternity leave our second semester, and we got a replacement teacher. She seemed like she could relate to us a lot better than our previous teacher. Her name was Mrs. McKellip.
After class one day, Mrs. McKellip asks me to hold back. I start running through my mind, thinking why she would ask me to stay behind. I was a good student who didn't disrupt class, so I couldn't be in trouble. Maybe I bombed my first English test. Which would mean my parents would take away my video games for a week as punishment. Oh sweet baby Jesus.
Turns out I wasn't in trouble, and I didn't bomb the test. Mrs. McKellip instead told me I was exceptionally talented as a writer.
I was downright floored. It was the first time someone outside my immediate family ever said I was particularly talented at anything.
She asked if I'd like to take writing classes outside of class, where she'd hone my writing skills. I accepted.
As the lessons continued, I was told I naturally had a certain variance to my sentence structure, and my conversational tone made my essays easy and fun to read despite the fact that they had some kind of important message to them. Naturally I was a bit hesitant to this idea that I had some God-given talent as a writer, but as I read other essays, I realized...I was pretty good!
A few sessions in, Mrs. McKellip suggested I enter a short story competition. So naturally I accepted. But as I began to write, I found myself feeling really involved in the world I was creating. Five pages later, I told Mrs. McKellip I couldn't submit this. I wanted to make a novel. So I sat down and cranked out an outline for the first book, with plans for a second and third book.
Since then, I've pitched that very same story to peers, classmates, and even people working in Hollywood, and I've gotten nothing but rave reviews.
As I grew up, I realized I hated writing prose. It's just so drab and dull and dumb. Blech.
So I opted for screenwriting. I want to make stories that people all over the world see, and as soon as I figured that out, I knew I had to turn my passion to movies.
But it all started with Mrs. McKellip. It all started with that one person to say, "Hey, you're really good at this."
Whenever I write, I write from the heart, as I feel I'd tell you if we were talking face-to-face at this very moment. And it works somehow. I've made people laugh; I've made people cry. I've had even had people thank me for being born just because of something I've written that touched them on an emotional level.
No matter where my dreams take me, I'll never forget how Mrs. McKellip changed my life.
