Writing Song Meme

Chris Regan bullied me into doing this. Luckily a song came up fairly quickly.

Find a song that sums up what you think it means to be a writer and post the lyrics on your blog and why you’ve chosen it. NB: It doesn’t have to be your favourite song, it just has to express how you feel about writing and/or being a writer. It can be literal, metaphorical, about a particular form or aspect of writing - whatever you want. Then tag 5 others to do the same (reprint these instructions).

Writer’s Brick

I am making some elementary mistakes (even Dr Watson would cringe) with my writing at the moment. Not only have I wasted loads of time trying to decide which project to work on next (and thus working on nothing) but I’ve also hit a wall of the brick variety when writing the script for a comedy drama.

I’m freeeee to do whatever I…

I’ve had one of those weeks where my head has been in pain trying to decide what to start writing next. I have one main project to work on but I always work better when I have two on the go, so I can mix and match depending on my mood.

Rejected But Not Dejected

“This week I’ve been mostly: getting rejections!” I must have nothing much to say if I’m revealing this, but as much as I hate airing my failures I guess its important to tell that side of the tale too (I’m sure I’ve just cheered some of you up!)

To be fair I was expecting them as I grossly under prepared for two writing competitions. The first one was with Movie Mogul where you had to write a treatment based on a logline. Then it bizarrely turned into a popularity contest as you had to get all your mates to vote for you (they even sent you emails saying just that!) and the top ten would get judged by a panel. I only discovered this competition two weeks before the deadline and although I outlined a story I liked, I left about two days to write the treatment and it came out bad. So bad that I told none of my friends out of sheer embarrassment and told only some supportive members of the BSG Forums who kindly voted for me. I ended up 11th.

When the 2008 Sitcom Trials was launched I decide not to enter it as I had a whole list of other ideas I wanted to focus on. A week before the deadline I decided I should enter. Not only that but I decided to conceive a sitcom from scratch and actually started writing the script with three days to go. I actually sent the script five minutes before the deadline and got an email back highlighting the fact. It was my third draft and I would have done another read-through but I had no more time. I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t get shortlisted.

So I don’t feel too dejected by these two ‘failures’ as they are mainly down to not having enough time to give it a proper go. On the upside I’ve been encouraged to do some more radio work and the synopsis of one idea went done well with an influential contact.

I’m also mulling over some ideas for the Comedy Lab. I have two ideas: a comedy and a sketch show. The sketch show will probably need to be collabrative and part of the sketch show pilot I’m going to get filmed next month. I’ll probably write the comedy in the last week, so I can complain about being rejected because of the time issues again - no I will try not to.

What’s Been Up?

Considering that I use this blog to warm-up for writing, and I haven’t blogged for a week, you might think nothing has been happening of late (for about a week). Well you might be wrong! I’ve hit that classic ‘can’t reveal too much’ stage, which is annoying as I want to tell my avid fan (not plural on purpose) about what’s been happening.

I can reveal that some of my sketches are being filmed in October now, hopefully in time to submit with others for the Comedy Lab 2009. I’ve also got two other ideas for the lab and I’m determined to submit them as going through the full process does make me a better writer - as well as a greyer one.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of podcasts of late, particularly the Creative Screenwriting Q&A’s that Chris Regan mentions in his podcast (plug). It’s amazing how people approach writing differently, which shows you should do whatever works for you. It was also frustrating to hear how easy writing Juno seemed to be for Diablo Cody. Two months! No removed scenes!!! To be fair I can only admire that. I’m genuinely not an envious person, people feel that hard to believe but success is inspiration to me.

So that’s a mini-update for now. There will be more shortly, did my fan miss me?

Learning to Love the First Draft

I’ve just completed the first draft of a sitcom pilot and its shockingly poor in places and I love it! Which means I’ve made a breakthrough.

Let me digress (note: you don’t have much say). This is the first time I’ve written a sitcom since a year or so of ‘education’ having started my first sitcom pilot by writing FADE IN. No surprise that I am still having problems with that first sitcom (after two years!), but have finished the first draft of my second sitcom in less than a week.

I was always far too precious over my writing, even if I had an outline. I hated waste. I just simply wouldn’t continue writing until I had perfected (whatever, I think that means) what I was currently doing. It was actually physical, I just wouldn’t type. However, I burst through this wall and realise how much you can improve your script by just writing any old crap and then going back to improve it. Especially as doing this helps you create other threads that improve the story and make you look clever, when really you started with a load of shit.

Dark Knight Sheds Light on Acting

One comment I get on my writing (amongst a lot of other things) is that I can sometimes direct from the page. In other words, I literally tell the cameraman where to point his thingy and describe exactly when an actor should blink. Apparently, this doesn’t make you many friends with directors and actors who want to express themselves… blah… blah.

Well, I guess there was no better example of the validity of these comments than in Dark Knight, which I saw last night. Like WALL-E, this was another much-hyped film although I thought this one was closer to delivering. There was a lot more made of Heath Ledger’s turn as the Joker so I was ready for him to not live up to the almost unattainable expectations that had been set, especially as I’m not really that sentimental.

However, my expectations of Ledger’s Joker was emphatically surpassed. He brought a whole new life into a character that has already been portrayed well on many occasions. He was terrifying and funny, and brilliantly to watch. His facial tics, posture and presence had clearly been though-out and was perfect for the role. I can’t think of a better performance of a villain. Apparently, Ledger locked himself into a hotel room for a month before shooting to get into character - so he probably knew the character better than the writer and would of hated any directions from the page(!).

I’ve almost been in mourning today, thinking about the loss of Ledger’s undoubtable ability. For all the actors today that are labelled as ‘great’, how many actually perform signficantly different roles in other films? A Knight’s Tale, Brokeback Mountain and Dark Knight all had Heath Ledger in them, but only by name.

So I think I’ll keep my directions to a minimum now (he said, wiping a tear away from his right cheek).

Opening Swivelling Doors

My master plan to become a hugely successful writer started in seriousness (ie practising answers for Parkinson) about a year ago. I wanted to finish a TV sitcom pilot that I had been thinking about forever, but was advised by ‘the industry’ that to get noticed enough for anyone to even pick-up the envelope containing my masterpiece I would need some writing credits. The best way to get these credits is to write sketches for ‘open door’ radio shows.

OK, I relunctantly said, I’ve never done sketches before but I’ll look out for said shows and give it a go. Some tumbleweed went by and a few clocks chimed but no ‘open door’ shows appeared. Then two appeared in the space of a few months - both topical sketch shows.

OK, I relunctantly said, I’ve never been into topical stuff (football and The Apprentice aside) but I’ll give it a go, especially as these shows came along with claims that ‘this will be a great opportunity to get into the industry/discover new talent’. So I wrote some sketches, got some rejected but got some broadcast too - Halle Berry! I’ve opened a door!

Since then the tumbleweed has come back and I can here the chimes getting louder, so I recently contacted a producer and asked if someone with my writing credits might be able to submit stuff to any number of shows on the radio. The short reply was to look out for more ‘open door’ opportunities, ie. go back to square one. Despite previously stressing that only a small percentage of people who submitted stuff got it broadcast, I’m no better off than those that got nothing.

Thankfully, other leads are now developing well and I’m opening a few doors into actually rooms rather than back onto the pavement. But its frustrating to have followed advice from the same people that don’t exactly back it up. Oh well…

Not a Bunch of WALL-E’s

Pixar Studios are not only the finest animators but possibly the finest film-makers at present too. Toy Story(s), Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Nemo, Incredibles, Ratatouille and now WALL-E. Just look at their hit to miss ratio, can anyone boast better stats?

I went to see WALL-E last night and have to say that the hype doesn’t do it any favours. Its a good film, the adults maybe laughed more than the kids, visually it was amazing. The hype made the expectations almost unachievable though and WALL-E does look, act and sound a lot like Number 5 from Short Circuit (I wonder if he’s still alive?). I enjoyed it, but not as much as Toy Story, Nemo and Monsters Inc. (I do like toys and seafood).

The success of Pixar is that they not only produce visually amazing films but they have strong stories too. Also, the use of comedy helps it attract interest from all ages. WALL-E probably had the most adult-related messages and themes (Global Warming, litter, obesity = American’s) of their films but generally there is something for everyone. Although, Brits will notice Frank Spencer in the romantic musical footage WALL-E regularly watches. Seriously its hard to watch as a touching scene when you are thinking ‘when is he going to say, “Ooh Betty, I’ve done a woopsy in the corner.”‘

Another reason for their success is the fact that the stars of their films are not human in form but are so in nature. This means all races can identify with the characters giving the films greater appeal.

It’s a great setup they have, I can only admire and congratulate them. Through gritted-teeth, obviously.

Targets In Sight

So far I’ve been getting my movie education by watching at least one film everyday to make sure I’m up to scratch with all the famous ones as well as the ones in the genres I like (which is most to be fair).

More importantly there a few things coming up that I can talk about. First of all, I’m working on some radio comedy this week. Then, I’ve got three comedy feature film ideas I’m outlining over the summer (various deadlines). There is also the Sketch Show pilot that has finally been drafted and is now at production phase. And there are also a few meetings coming up with people who have various projects and actually want to speak to me (?). Any of you fellow writers can contact me too, now that I’m doing the rounds!

Finally, Watson’s Wind-Up has got another series so I’ll be sharpening my pen for that.

There we go - I’ve talked!