It’s the Player not the Gun
Any of you who know me personally know that my leisure time sport of choice is Paintball. I’ve been playing now for about fifteen years on and off. My first gun was a trusty old used F1 Semi Auto made by Feral Sports (always loved that company name). I later retired the F1 and went with Spyder when that marker first hit the market. It didn’t seem to fit my style of play so I upped my game and picked up a used .68 Automag tricked out for Tournament play. Once again you’re wondering what does this have to do with paintball, bear with me, I’ll get to that in a minute. First you have to listen to a little history and then because it’s what I do, a story.
When I lived in the Fraser Valley in beautiful and wet British Columbia I was party of a paintball club full of really good guys. We’d get together once a month, shoot some ball at each other and engage in that other bonding sport of shit talking each other’s game. I still get together with the guys whenever business takes me back to the, “Wet Coast,” and we always have a great time. However moving to the, “Big Smoke,” put me out of touch with the paintball community out here and as there was a lot going on I didn’t get to play more than once a year for the first couple of years. That changed when my sixteen year old daughter discovered a boy she was interested in. He and I got to talking and it turned out he too was a paintball freak and because my daughter liked him… there was gonna be paintball.
The first day out on the indoor field showed me that the sport had changed greatly in the three years I had been absent. The technology shift in the markers was huge. My Automag had moved from the top of the technology heap to about the middle. I’m not a guy who likes to be stuck in the middle of anything so a new marker was in order. Little did I know but Worr Game Products was on the case making a their Trilogy™ Marker line. Their Trilogy Pro series Cocker fit the bill. I’d always liked the Autococker and admired their accuracy having been zorched more than a few times by guys carrying them. The down side to cockers was that they were markers that needed a lot of tech time, something my Automag never did. But WGP promised this Cocker didn’t need to be touched, just regularly lubricated. They were true to their word. It’s been a great marker, I haven’t had to touch it except for oil.
But who cares about the back story, you want a war story and you want to know how this relates to Screenwriting.
So here you go.
I’m what’s known as a Rec Ball player, which means I wear some old camo paintball pants and an old paintball shirt to play. My pods are nothing special and my marker is stock except for a powered hopper. In other words, I play for fun, not to reenact some sort of military action. Then there’s the Scenario players. You can always spot them as they’re wearing more gear than a paratrooper on D-Day or at least as much as your average SWAT team member. They have markers configured for maximum replication of the real thing. They like to play, “Tactical,” paintball. I’ve known more than a few of these guys over the years and a couple of them were actually good players. My first encounter this year with the particular group of Scenario players this year was at an indoor field. They walked in, in a ton of gear with markers done to the tits with extra gear. I walked over and asked if they’d mind if I hooked up with them for the next game. I was told, “No, we only play together.”
“It’s your funeral.” I said and walked off to join up on the other team.
The whistle blows and I go hard left right to the wall. The Scenario guys have a point man well in the corner. He and I trade paint but the Cocker’s accuracy pays off and he’s gone. I grab a couple of renters and have them send paint at one of the bunkers I’m pretty sure a couple of the Scenario players are crouch behind and I go all the way to the wall. And there they are, clumped together like a bunch of sardines. I hosed them down and they’re out. Time elapsed thirty seconds from the whistle, thirty five tops. They had all of the gear but they had none of the game. They got the respect they deserved… None.
Fast forward four months and I’m taking my daughter to her first outdoor paintball experience. I’ve played the field a few times and enjoyed and outdoor is a bit less frantic than indoor. Less new players, most of the walk-ons own their own gear so I actually prefer it. We meet the group we’ll be playing with, then the Ref and it’s off to play a few warm up games as we’re the designated walk on group for the day. So mid morning, who should show up but the Scenario players in all of their kitted out glory. They didn’t recognize me but then we all try to block out bad memories don’t we. I was hopeful that they had worked out their gameplay. That lasted until the first game.
It was real simple, center flag, opposing hang. We were in the field called, “The Back Forty.” It’s a nice field, with a sort of hill right in its middle, well populated by white ash trees. I’d played it before and knew it was deadly on its South side for the assault but near blind on the North if you knew what you were doing.
We got the East end of the field on the first match. The whistle blew and we went hard up the field taking as much ground as we could. I worked my way down the North tape to cut off any advance from my right keeping to the trees. Sure enough I picked up one of the scenario players in my twelve O’clock about seventy feet away. I sniped him out and called one. The player to my right got their second guy and then it was by the numbers as we picked them off one at a time. Their advance had been piecemeal and our line cut them to ribbons, we got the flag and the hang.
We switched field ends, same game.
“They’re weak on their flank. If you guys don’t mind I’m going up the left.” I said. My daughter and another Scenario player (though this guy was Tactical all of the way and could play) went up the left (North) tape real quiet like. I was point man so when I saw the flash of a mask I dropped and signaled everybody else that I had one definite target to our front. About that time our other element started to engage. The paint was really flying. I moved six feet to my left and kept up the advance. About twelve feet later the Scenario guys saw my daughter and opened up. I went left of the tree I was behind and there they all were, once again all bunched up like sardines, fully exposed from the flank. Four months and playing every other weekend and they’d learned nothing. I unloaded on them and then the rest of my team caught up. It was a hail of paint, they were done in seconds.
And now we’re at the moral and the link to screenwriting.
The Scenario players had all of the best gear. They spent good money for all of that kit and every doodad you could throw on their markers. But they had no game. So none of that means shit if you can’t read the ground or your opponent’s moves. Flash clothes and a cool marker do not a good player make. Cunning and steady aim, wins games. Much like screenwriting.
An expensive computer and the best screenwriting software available won’t make you a great writer. You’ve got to be dedicated to the craft. You’ve got to be cunning with your talent and willing to stalk your story down. None of the other stuff matters. You learn where you can from where or who you can but don’t dress any of this up. The only thing that will get you to the end of a project is tenacity and a certain looseness of the mind open all ideas.
You bunch up and you’re going to get out flanked, out shot and off the field of play you will go.
Rely on your mind and your skill and the flag will always be yours.
Good luck and good writing.
Steve Abbott
.JPG)
So there it is, we’ve had our screening and even though it was a pretty biased audience (most of us were in it, on it or both) it was a great success. .JPG)
The good news is that yeah, it all worked. The story was well served and it all came together. The audience for the most part were silent in their seats (never underestimate the fidget factor) except when they shouldn’t be, so they were into the film. The gore was over the top at times and well served by the sound editing. Which was what I’d hoped for. If we’d had a bit more money (or a bit less) who knows it might have spawned a cult classic, maybe we have, who knows.