Yes, I've still yet to have anything on the telly, and yes I'm still offering advice. I know. And I've even said this already, but in the words of Fell In Love With A Girl, it bears repeating.
Outlines then. You need to do these, and practice these, and do them and practice them some more. I say this to any aspiring/baby/beginner writers passing through as if you've had a commision, you'll have experienced this already: you spend very little time writing scripts.
And when I was writing entirely on spec (which don't get me wrong, is still 99% of what I'm doing, and yes, I know I started not only a sentence but a whole paragraph with 'and', balls to you, I don't do prose) I practiced only scripts. Now, it pays to be good at scripts. This much is true. You're unlikely to get much in the way of script writing work if you can't do this, but... outlines. Nobody will let you get anywhere near a script without a decent outline. Unless you're big and famous. Which you won't get to be without getting good at outlines. Seriously, people won't let you write the script without one. And that's what you love doing, right?
... I'm repeating myself now, aren't I? Anyway, practice outlines. Worth it. I'll stop now.
So I haven't spent much time commenting on popular culture recently, so I'll just say a quick hurrah to the new series of Doctor Who, and post two videos that I've link-whored from other blogs. Will that do?
Oli Jeffery is a screenwriter, stationed in Redruth, the glamorous and cosmopolitan hub of Cornwall, where he's worked on sitcoms, children's TV and other lovely malarky. You can download extracts of some of his scripts here. Oli’s represented by Matt Connell at Berlin Associates.
2 comments:
I'm working on a six-part sitcom. Currently on edit #5 which is 'tightening up the dialogue'. But I'm a serial editor and never happy with anything. Ever.
That's good, to a point. There needs to be a point where you let go, or you'll never show anybody anything...
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