Every great script has a great surrender. In Terrence Malick's The New World, Pocahontas surrenders not only to the loss of love but the loss of what was once purer land, now part of the colonized world. In Barry Jenkin's Moonlight, a man surrenders to his true self, realizing there's nothing wrong with that self. In Chloé Zhao's The Rider, a young rodeo star surrenders to a dream he's already lived -- over before he knew it began.
But how do we find these types of surrenders that capture audiences? We discover them in our hearts via curiosity into ourselves. No matter the story we're telling-- no matter how far from our real lives it seems to be, there is something deeply personal we're endeavoring to express. There is a loss so significant that it has the power to, if identified, change our lives forever. It exists on the other side of a curious journey into what we fear or hurt from the most because seeing that hurt for what it really is can set us free.
Virtue, by definition, means behavior showing high moral standards. That gives us a valuable perspective on the virtue of patience. The world needs your story. It's hard not to feel things like--
"The industry's not ready for my ideas."
"The system is rigged."
"I have to abandon my artistic vision."
It's not to say any of these viewpoints are wrong. But notice that the definition of virtue does not say we must wait our turn, sit still, or shut up. It simply states that we show a high moral standard of behavior. And if the world needs our stories, we have a moral obligation to write and pursue their telling.
Faith means complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Consider putting such trust in your work -- in your screenplay. What does doing so bring up for you? Notice how untrustworthy you may currently be in your story. What happens if you believe in it entirely? Consider that turning our screenplays into films comes from actions taken within that powerful space between trust and confidence. We can fake both. But ultimately, when a decision needs its making, the truth of trust or confidence defines how fast, how well, and how graciously.