Orange County (2002)

Writer:  Mike White

The Quote I Quote Most Often:  

-          Tropical storm three miles off Laguna.  Let’s go!  Surf’s Up!

-          What about next period?

-          Twenty footers, man!  Screw your period!

Favorite Quote This Time Around:  “I have the sneaking suspicion that my English teacher is illiterate.” ~ Shaun

Blake’s Favorite Quote:  “I need a drink.  Do you have any beer, Coyote Ugly?”  ~ Shaun’s dad 

Character I Most Identify With:  Shaun Brumder

I am a sucker for any story where the protagonist wants to be a writer.  Shaun Brumder, an Orange County surfer, finds a copy of Marcus Skinner’s novel, Straight Jacket in the sand at the beach.  The novel changes Shaun’s life and inspires him to attend Stanford University where he can study with Mr. Skinner and become a writer.  When a mistake prevents him from getting into Stanford, he goes on a quest to find a way in.  Unfortunately, his friends and family members unwittingly sabotage his every effort to get into college.

This movie has an extraordinarily funny cast: Chevy Chase, Lily Tomlin, Catherine O’Hara, John Lithgow, Kevin Kline, Leslie Mann, Ben Stiller, Jack Black – but the actor who carries this movie is Colin Hanks, who has his dad’s talent for playing that “every man” character we can all identify with.  Hanks’ character, Shaun, believes that the only way he can become a good writer is to leave Orange County.  Through the course of the movie he learns there is no “one way” to become a good writer.

I spent several years reading books on how to become a writer.  I read lots of conflicting advice and I tried it all: I wrote in notebooks with cartoons on the cover, I participated in dozens of writing exercises, I took a creative writing class, I joined a writing club at a bookstore, I woke up early to write, I stayed up late to write, I avoided using adverbs, I avoided clichés, I wrote what I knew . . . and while I was following all of this advice, I didn’t ever actually write very much.  It wasn’t until I learned to put all the rules away and just write – without rules and without fear – that I was able to actually write an entire novel.  Then for revising and editing, I referred back to all those rules, and many of them became very very helpful.  But what I learned, is there is no one way to BE a writer.  The most important thing to do is to WRITE, and in the writing, find your own process.  

A lot of people who want to write talk about finding the time and space to write – as if you have to lock yourself away in a cabin in the woods to be a writer.  What I have found is that you have to steal away little moments in your life to write. You can’t put life on hold to do it.  In fact, if you put life on hold to write, what would you write about?  

***SPOILER ALERT***

My favorite scene while watching Orange County this time was the final scene where Shaun picks up Lonnie’s surfboard and runs for the ocean.  Shaun learns, as I have finally learned, that you have to live to be a writer.