About one year ago we returned from our Christmas break, December had been a relatively unproductive month, but before we parted we set some homework.  It was light homework, basically each of us had to write up in detail one storyline. Now the hard work had already been done, the story had been fleshed out into bullet points, so it was just a case of expanding on that.  When it came to Monday morning I panicked, I had done nothing.  I quickly sat down at my computer and tapped away so I would have something to show.

When we all met up I handed it over knowing it was piss poor, but something that could be built on.  Damn, someone had written it all up, but phew someone hadn’t. For me that was a turning point, I felt I had let the team down by not putting in the required effort, the fact that others had put less effort in didn’t help either.

So out of frustration a couple of us sat down and crafted a contract jam packed full of our hopes and dreams for what working in a group should really be like. Some of the stuff sounds crazy and may only have relevance to one of us; seriously “refreshments that match people’s requirements” relates to soya milk, hows that for picky.

• WORK HOURS
  • The day starts at 10.30 and finishes 5.30.
  • Lunch break is 1 hour.
  • Breaks are permitted and rightfully needed, but shouldn’t get out of control.
• HOME OWNER RESPONCIBILITIES
  • Sets the schedule for day.
  • Keeps order and times breaks.
  • Takes notes (as best as situation allows).
  • Provides refreshments that match people’s requirements.
  • Provides 1 meal a week.
  • Makes sure that everyone synchs up at end of the day and that notes are cleaned up and e-mailed that night (after all, they don’t have to spend the next ½ hour getting home)
• SEMANTICS AND DISAGREEMENTS
  • In the case of ongoing disagreements someone may call “Semantics” in order to get the point resolved.
  • Disagreeing parties must listen to the mediator who will give each person time to express there point before making a ruling.
  • The ruling does not have to be agreed to, but must be honoured and respected so the process can move forward.
• DEADLINES
  • Mini deadlines must be set on a regular bases.
  • Deadlines must be agreed on by all parties
  • All parties must do their best to reach said deadlines even if this means longer hours or homework.
• HOMEWORK
  • On occasion homework may be set, either to help reach goals or because independent work must be set.
  • Homework must be presented without excuse.  Even if the work is incomplete it must still be handed over to fellow writers so they can keep up to date with the progress.
• WRITERS BLOCK
  • The primary aim is to keep writing and keeping hitting deadlines. Even if work ends up not being great it must still be carried out so that least there is a base to build on.
  • When all seems lost the writers should call a “fuck it day” where they get out do something totally unrelated to the script to clear their head and have fun.
• NETWORKING
  • We must build and maintain contacts within the industry, this includes writers, directors, producers, agents and actors etc..
  • This is also linked socialising and seeing screenings, talks and other networking opportunities.
  • Maintain a database of contacts, what we know about them, what our relationship is and how suitable they are to the project.
• FUTURE GROUP PROJECTS
  • The ground work for future projects must run in the background of the writer’s mind.
  • Keep notes of any new ideas or expansion of old ones.
  • This should over time build into collection of treatments that are ready to go if requested.
  • Future projects must never come at the expense of the current project.
• EARNING MONEY AND SIDE PROJECTS
  • While the project is important, earning money and fulfilling other creative outlets should not be ignored.
  • There has to be an understanding that time may have to be taken out for work.
  • These dates should be stated as early as possible to aid with future planning and forewarning of any extensions should not be left to the day.
  • There should be a clear understanding of the stake in any creative outlets and what everyone’s roles is how they are expected to be involved and treated.  Unlike the main project where everyone has equal footing side projects can be weighted differently, but never outshine the main project.
• CONSEQUENCES and REWARDS
  • Failure to meet any of the above criteria will be met with a negative mark
  • MVP awarded to anyone who has gone above the call of duty will result in a positive mark.
  • At the end of the week the writer with the best rating gets to pick his/her choice for days at their own house.  Second place gets to pick two days and the loser gets what is left.
  • Trading for days is also allowed at the discretion of the individual writers.
• SOCIALISING
  • In order to remember why are doing this we must do things other than work.
  • Orange Wednesdays – seeing films on regular bases.
  • Seeing theatre.
  • PS3 tournaments.
  • Sunday Roasts
  • Playing games.

All in all I think we stuck to most of this and it really helped solidify our commitment to each other and the project.  We met up again today after our Christmas break and it will be interesting to pull this out and reaffirm our commitment to one another.

Looking at the contract now it still embodies my hopes for the project and our working relationship. anyone who says that working other people is easy, are filthy filthy liars. It is hard work, you need to swallow your ego and when everyone has an opinion that is hard to do. You need to take the time to understand what is happening their lives and know that perhaps getting this monster done is not the most important thing in the world.

A year on we are still hard at it. Looking back at the trails, tribulations, fears and tears I can say that it was worth it. Although we may fight, bitch, argue, back stab, hair pull, these are a couple of my finest friends.

Tags: commitment, process, Script, writing, writing partners

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 9:11 am and is filed under My Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.