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Archive for August, 2009

Feedback received – thank you very much

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Lest my last comments stand alone as testament to my frustrations, I thought I better update with the results of said feedback.

As it happened we both had the same concerns, although the solutions differed somewhat. My instant reaction was to cut the first half of the script, but writing partner, script reader and all round wheat intolerant demi God said, “no, refocus on this character.” Oh, it makes sense when you say it, but this character was hardly in the storylines, so I blame that, rather than myself. This character is the audience’s eyes and we want people to discover our world through her.

Great I can finally get back to work, but the play station is looking at me. Damn it, it is much easier to procrastinate when you can blame it someone else. So now I am off to the park with a print out to look at this character’s journey to see what I can do to make it more interesting.

Tags: character, feedback, procrastination, Script, writing, writing partners
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Waiting for Feedback – The problem with writing partners

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

So you slave on writing a draft and hand it over to your writing partners for feedback. The next day I get the thumbs up and thumbs down on a selection of first draft jokes – I’m sure it would have been more in depth but performance and a holiday got in the way for more detailed feedback. But hey, that’s why we have three of us… oh, she didn’t get the script and is living it up in Bristol. Damn it! I need to write. My fingers are itching and for once I’m not looking up from my laptop towards my Playstation, but up from Playstation towards my laptop.

So here in lies the problem with writing partners. You rely on them. Sure there are lots of good things about writing with others and I promise I will get to those eventually, maybe even by the end of this blog. But right now all I need is someone to say “right track there buddy” or “abort abort” and no one is around.

I am alone in the wilderness. My concern (not really a concern, more of a suspicion) is that the first 50% of the script goes nowhere fast. It is lots of great character stuff, the odd joke and more character stuff. It is not my fault the substance seems to be missing I used the storylines we slaved over for months and months. You know if this was my script, that I had toiled with for months I would have no problem scrapping huge chunks to drive the story, but damn it, those storylines are there for a reason and I can’t just abandon them. If I do when they finally read the script they will say…

“but what happened to xyz”.

To which I will reply “oh, you have to kill your darlings.”

To which they will reply, “but xyz”

To which I will reply “You should have a read the damn thing.”

Then we will fist fight till dawn.

The script is now being read, so stress over… at least until I hear the feedback I have been dreading – “right track there buddy” or “abort abort”.

Tags: critic, feedback, process, Script, writing, writing partners
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Blames Direct

Friday, August 14th, 2009

This week at the London Comedy Writers Alex Howley returned with another episode of his animated sitcom. This proved to be a unique experience because it was quite obvious that he had taken onboard all the feedback from his last reading at the beginning of the year. So was he successful?

I say it many times, but if you can get a laugh out of room full of writers you are doing good and let’s just say there were plenty of laughs. One of Alex’s strongest attributes is his writing style and his unique voice. I can point to nothing like it and this is a definite bonus.

A problem with readings is that any stage directions can kill a script. It is not that they shouldn’t be there, but in a reading they should be looked at to see if they are all really needed. Alex suffered from this in his last reading and so in this script he weighted it much more heavily on dialogue. The response from the group is that he went too far in that direction and didn’t take advantage of visual opportunities that animation provides.

Last time the plot was all over the place, loads of things going on and tons of characters, so this time Alex focused the script on one simple story and again there was the feeling he went too far in that direction. The lack of a sub plot meant that characters spent too much time discussing what was going rather than doing it (Like in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and a favourite character from the last reading was left in the wings.

Another interesting point was the name calling, the running joke in the show got big laughs in the first half but died off in the second. There was debate whether name calling got less funny or we just got bored of the joke. It was decided we got bored of the joke and that it should be used less liberally.

All in all a great night as we set the record for the most “Twats” in a single script (58 in total). Alex being an animator himself has plans to make a pilot at some point in the future. You can see some of his animation below.

Quote of the night: “I loved the Judge Dredd joke… and that was about it.” (meant as a compliment)

Tags: critic, london comedy writers, meeting, review, Script
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Procrastination

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

The hardest thing about writing can sometimes be actually writing. That’s the reason anyone who has written a script gets a slap on back for doing so by those who have not. However just because you have splurged onto the page does not mean it’s going to be good. So on top of the patience you need to write a script, you also need the dedication to do all research and story-lining first.

This brings me to procrastination. As you know (if you read my other posts) I write with 2 other people and at this stage of the writing we have separated to write different episodes. I say separated, but we still meet up to write and yesterday I was reminded why. With one partner having to work to pay bills, the other two of us were planning to meet up. But due to issues with showers and plans for the evening this fell through and we were to write on our own. Suddenly I had no reason to venture out my bedroom. No one asking me “how it was going” and all those little jobs like fixing the bin lid and watering the tomatoes became very important. 6 hours later I realised that I had done no work, I looked at my computer screen and couldn’t even read the first line before jumping on the net to check e-mails and the latest news on Obama’s health care plan.

That was it. I already knew my evening would be taken up the London Comedy Writers and so I grabbed a print out of my script packed a bag and headed down to London Bridge where I found a nice spot by the river and worked without distraction.

I obviously can’t be trusted to work at home alone and no matter how far I think I have come in these last 8 months without someone watching over my shoulder I still find very hard to focus on what I need to do.

Anyway a special shout out to Jude who took sympathy on me when my pen ran out and gave me a new one. Had it not been for that pinked hair angel my efforts to get out the house and write would have been scrapped before they really got underway.

Tags: process, procrastination, Script, writing
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The Shot Glass Factor

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

A few years ago I was working on a short film and as with many short films money was tight and everyone gave their time for free and we covered travel. Running a shoot like this, you have to have faith that everyone will do their job because you can’t do everything, you can’t build a set, frame a shot, put on make-up and prepare food… it is just impossible.

Anyway the person doing props took on their task and delivered a great table, oldy worldy phones, whiskey bottle etc, but when we came to shoot a scene were missing one key item. A shot glass. How could such a simple thing be missed? Easy. The props person made a list, saw shot glass and thought, “I have one of those at home” and crossed it off. When we came to shoot the glass was still at home. I had to run and find a new glass, dropping in on all the pubs I could find for about a mile. I finally reached Asda and brought one and ran back. We shot the scene but this one missing prop had left 2 hours behind. At the end of the night the tube were shut and we had to pay for cars home for the cast and crew setting us back over £100. Missing a £2 shot glass cost us time and money.

The moral of the story is, just because something looks easy doesn’t mean it is not important.

Tags: filming, money, props
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It’s all about character

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

I read the first draft of what is surely going to be a script subjected to an intense bidding war. 6 pages too long, crammed with on the nose dialouge and the feeling that there are way too many “fucks” for a pre-watershed sitcom. That said, I was not bored reading it, but I do have notes… lots and lots of notes. Draft 1.2 is in the works now with each scene receiving suitable scrutiny.

How did we get so far.

The fact is you are walking in at the end of an 8 month process. Almost like a dinner guest watching me drop the parsley on a finished dish. You don’t know the hours slaved away in the kitchen mixing spices through trial and error to find that perfect blend.

So here we flashback to the early days in the process. It was late last year, the markets were crashing as moved quickly towards the recession, America was in a fierce one sided battle for the presidency and I was out of work. My writing partners and I were looking at maybe 4 months to write the next big sitcom… This would be the first of every deadline we set and missed.

We all ready had a setting… lets say it was a school (it isn’t, but the setting is a closely guarded secret and I want to share without giving too much away). So now we need to populate our world with characters, different characters. We want all our characters to have different voices, see things differently and solve things differently. Confronted by a mugger one character might hand over the their wallet, another might run away, another might fall to the floor weeping like a child, basically not every character would do what I would do (Go Jackie Chan on their ass). So with a list of characters we then explore them, who are they, where did they come from, what do they want and how will they get it. 2 months later we had 6 Characters maps and 6 in depth biogs — One of our characters got it on with a rugby player at university and another collected PG tips trading cards; the audience will never know this, but we do. We were ready for the next stage… although at some point down the line biogs and maps were going to rear their ugly head once more.

Tags: character, process, Script, writing
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