Screenwriting; More Than a Hobby

Lincoln student, Izzi Rusch does screenwriting in school, and after school.  

by, Amelia Thorpe

About a year ago Izzi Rusch, a freshman, first started to become interested in screenwriting. It’s become one of her favorite hobbies. She puts her own spin on historical events, as well as creating her own stories to make into screenplays.

Screenwriting is the job of writing scripts for plays, movies, and T.V shows. The writing of a screenwriter must be highly creative so they can write innovative, and original plots, as well as solutions to problems that happen within the story. Screenwriting is great for people who love films and writing.

“I was watching “Doctor Who” really late at night,” Rusch explains about the time she first learned about screenplays. “The next day I couldn't remember the name of one of my favorite characters, so I did what all teenagers do, and went online, and I looked around. I found scripts for the “Doctor Who” episodes, and I read them, and realized there is actually a job for someone who had written them, so I kept reading the scripts, and printing them out and reading them, and then I realized I wanted to write my own.”

Ever since that day, Rusch has been screenwriting as a hobby. She has a good amount of time to write, even with homework, and cross country almost every day of the week.

“Screenwriting is something I put a lot of time into, but it’s not something that I make myself do, I want to do it, and I try to find time for it,” Rusch says.

She has even gone to the extent of making one of her classes during the school day an independent study for screenwriting. This helps Rusch have more time to write, and create more screenplays. So far, she has made a screenplay about the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, Arthur Conan Doyle. Currently, Rusch is thinking about writing a story about the Stonewall police raid.

“I really like to write about historical events, and people, and put my own spin on it. I also like to make up my own stories that are futuristic, so I guess I’m pretty varied in what I like,” Rusch said.

Hobbies, and her extracurricular activities provide Izzi with something to fall back on when she need something fun to do.

“Whenever I’m bored, or having a hard time, I can go into my own little world, and think about screenwriting, and my other hobbies,” Rusch said.

She believes that everyone should do writing in general.

“It can be great for anyone, even if it’s just journaling five to ten minutes a day, it activates your mind, and makes you think about who you are, and what the world is is like.”

Rusch hopes to be a screenwriter in the future. Although she has only written a script for a movie so far, she hopes to try screenwriting for many different types of display.

“I want to try T.V. shows and maybe a stage play,” Rusch said.