by Sideshow Meg » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:31 pm
This is what he said, I'm actually bouncing off the ceiling
Dear Megan,
Thank you for your very flattering e-mail. You do not say whether your
"manuscript" is a play, a TV or film script or a story or novel. The term, at
least over here, usually applies to a work of prose. I’ll assume though since
you only refer to my TV work that it’s a script. Here are a few things that
have helped me and may or may not prove helpful to you.
Before you start actually writing your script try to map out your plot in
as much detail as possible. Start by finding a strong opening premise that
will draw your audience in quickly, then figure out how that situation will
develop in some interesting ways and, finally, how it will all resolve in a
manner that’s satisfying and not too easily predicted by the audience.
Know who your characters are; what their lives have been like before the
story begins. Know how they talk, how they differ from each other and, most of
all, what they want. This is especially true of your hero. In most good
stories the hero wants something very badly — the girl, the job, revenge, the
treasure, to win the game, to solve the murder, to save the world— and the
audience is eager to see if he’ll achieve his goal and how.
Anyway, mapping things out in advance will at least let you be confident
from the outset that your story works and keep you from writing yourself into
a corner. Many’s the time on Frasier that the lot of us would spend long days
coming up with a strong beginning and middle for a story only to find
ourselves stymied as to how to end it in a funny or surprising way. On those sad
and frustrating occasions we’d throw in the towel and start looking for a new
idea — but at least we hadn’t wasted our time writing two thirds of an
unfinishable script.
(By the way, once you have your outline you needn’t follow it slavishly. You
can change anything you like if a new and better idea occurs to you once
you’ve started writing it.)
I’d also advise you to read a lot. When I was your age I learned a great
deal about comedy by reading authors like Noel Coward, Kaufman and Hart, Tom
Stoppard, Alan Aykbourn, Saki, P.G. Wodehouse, Joe Orton, Neil Simon (early
Neil Simon, that is), Feydeau, Shaw and Wilde. They all have much to teach about
character, plotting and construction.
It would also benefit you enormously to see your work staged. Rather
than write film or TV scripts which, at your age, have scant chance of being
produced, try writing plays suitable for production at your school or any other
venue open to you. I did this all through my childhood and teens and trust me,
there’s nothing as instructive or exciting as seeing your work performed in
front of a live (and hopefully appreciative) audience. You’ll learn a lot about
what makes dialogue playable, how to tailor parts for individual performers
and how to rewrite under pressure when something’s not working. And the pride
you’ll feel when all goes well will do much to stiffen your resolve to keep at
it until you’re ready for bigger and better things.
You ask how you should go about getting your work noticed. Noticed by
whom?
If you mean by teachers, peers and possible mentors who might offer useful
advice and encouragement then just ask them to read your scripts or, better
still, as I advised above, get the work produced at your school then invite them.
If you mean noticed by professionals and producers who might help you
launch your career then, given your tender age, I’d suggest you not worry just
yet about getting noticed — worry about getting good.
For now you’re much better off honing your craft and making sure each
script you write is better than your last one. Believe me, every writer who
seeks it tirelessly enough will eventually win the attention of someone well
positioned to further her career. It’s vital though not to seek that attention
until you’re ready for it. It will be no help to you at all for a prominent
producer to feel you’ve wasted his time by asking him to read something that,
however "promising," is still too amateurish to warrant serious consideration.
How to know when you’re ready? That’s the tricky part. All you can do
is be just as hard on yourself as the pros whose assistance you hope for will
be. Ask yourself, "Is my script really as good or better than the stuff that
I’m seeing on TV? . . . The good stuff, not the crap?" No wishful thinking
allowed.
I wrote and produced plays all through high school and college. I was
twenty-two before I had a musical revue produced off-off-Broadway. I invited Ed
Kleban who’d written the lyrics to A Chorus Line and, though he offered very
kind and encouraging words, I squirm now whenever I recall how clumsy much of
it was. I was twenty-six when I began my first novel Blue Heaven, the first
thing I ever wrote that I knew on finishing it was of truly professional caliber
and deserving of a wide audience.
I’d also suggest you seek out and form friendships with other young
writers whose work you respect, whose opinions are worth hearing and whose support
and belief in your abilities will help sustain you.
I hope some of this is helpful to you. Just keep at it, be hard on
yourself, be patient, and know that the people you admire most had to go through
the exact same ordeal.
Good luck to you,
Joe Keenan
Meg - A 'posh bit of crumpet'