Posts Tagged ‘process’

Procrastination – A Masterclass

Monday, September 7th, 2009

One of the hardest things about writing is actually sitting down to write.  At times I feel this blog should be re-named “Graham Does Procrastination”.  Anyway other not getting much done, today I discovered that procrastination can actually get you into a world of trouble.

I was browsing through Facebook, one of the world’s most common and basic procrastination techniques when I stumbled upon a message from a friend, saying that one his friends was going to be appearing on the fourth plinth as part of Anthony Gormley’s One and Other project. That sounds like a laugh I thought and so signed up thinking that with little more than a month left I would have little chance of getting randomly picked by the magic computer.  Excellent I thought, 5 minutes wasted, that is some quality procrastination. Then the phone rang. ‘That’s odd.’ I thought, no one calls me.

Me: Hello.

Abi: Hello, is the Graham Trefler?

Me: Trelfer, yes.

Abi: I’m calling from the One and Other project and we would like to offer you a place on the fourth plinth… on Wednesday.

Me: This Wednesday.

Abi: Yes, someone dropped out at the last minute.

So with 48 hours before I ascend the fourth plinth I have no idea what I am going to do. So rather than continuing to finish the script, the brain trust and I must brain out something reasonably awesome, inspiring, amusing and not as pointless as the girl we watched having a party by herself.

So there you have it, 5 minutes of procrastination has been spread out to three days.

Any ideas of what you would like to see on the plinth please let me know.

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”.

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.

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.

The Writing Process

Friday, July 31st, 2009

For the past 8 months I have slogged away with my to co-writers on crafting an epic comedy. Does it really take 8 months to write a series? Well it turns out that the answer is yes… yes it really does. Well maybe not if you take into the account the amount of time wasted because we all arrived late, or spent 3 hours watching ‘Whose Line Is I Anyway?’ or life tragedies, of which there seems to have been every kind, from medical, to car, to lack of money to the death of a dear friend. We have come so far, but it is easy to see why people give up or not dedicate the proper time in prep. Writing is hard work and preparation to write is fucking hard work.

This week I finished the first draft of the first episode. Episode 2 has a first draft and although we have not read each other’s work there is a sense of accomplishment and a sense that the past 8 months where we fought over story lines and character quirks is really starting to pay off.


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