The Perfect 10
And here's instalment 9:
Passion
It's not an easy thing to explain, but one of the most important things we are looking for is that true, unquenchable desire in the writer to tell their story. You can tell very quickly when the writer really means it - and you can tell just as easily when they are just going through the motions. If you don't truly care about the story you are telling, then why should we? Of course, passionately believing in your story is unfortunately not going to make the script work all by itself - but I think it's an indispensable part of why we get excited about any given writer.
But what do I mean by 'passion'? Well, I mean: does your idea and story keep you up at night? Have the characters and their stories really got under your skin? And have you got under theirs? Do you feel compelled to write? Does it feel like your story is already writing itself in your head without you putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard? Do you believe your take on an idea has never quite been seen before and needs to be seen by an audience? If you don't feel any of these things, then you need to ask yourself whether it's worth persisting with an idea.
What I also mean is: don't try to be expedient. An extremely common question we hear is: what do you want, what are you looking for? What we're looking for is a great writer who does the kinds of things that I've been exploring in these blog posts. What we're looking for is something we've never seen before. You can waste a lot of time and energy trying to write the kind of script that you think you ought to write because you believe/hope/assume it will get you to whatever next stage you want to be at. But you can't be this calculating. If a script is simply there to be expedient, then it's likely it will never really, truly impress anybody.
What I also mean is: don't try to second guess what people want. Because you will almost certainly get it wrong. If people in the industry were crystal clear about they want, then life would be so much easier - but it would also so much less interesting. The truth is, we are waiting to be hit between the eyes and in the solar plexus with something that genuinely surprises us. Because if it can surprise someone who is being constantly bombarded with ideas and scripts, then there's a decent chance it will surprise an audience.
And that is what we really, truly want.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~18~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
V glad you've included this one - it possibly wouldn't even be on some amateur screenwriters' lists, but it has to be - it separates the real writers from the casual wannabe writers or those that simply love the idea of being one - and there are plenty of that sort out there.
To add to your very good advice, I would say that even a dedicated and passionate screenwriter has to do a fair bit of prioritising of their projects to get focused on the right one for the right job, to remain as passionate and heartfelt as possible when creating the piece.
And without passion then the staggering amount of perseverance needed to get any dream project commissioned and produced is impossible, surely. It is hard enough with it.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Passion is definitely the *thing* readers want - a script full of what I call "heart" is ALWAYS going to get my attention, even if it has lots of mistakes in. There's nothing worse than reading a script that is soulless, no matter how well crafted it is. However, the problem with passion or heart is there is a certain level of personal interpretation of what it is on the reader's part; script readers are human, they have their own likes, dislikes, experiences, prejudices and when they respond to a script these can't *not* come into play. Despite this though, a writer must still write every project with passion - some people won't "get" what you've written, but that doesn't mean it's void. And of course there are always the people who will get it - which is why writers should show their work to as many people as possible, not hide it away.
Complain about this comment
Well this has been a good series Paul, well done. It may vary slightly to some of the so called manuals here and there, but this is modern TV scriptwriting we're talking about here, not general screenwriting, (and radio! ((yawn)) and clearly, if this is what you lot want then this is the set of guidelines to go by. I would have loved a little more depth on a couple of them, characters for one, or what I would label characterisation, but considering this is free advice I am not moaning no, no, no. Sadly there's only one more to come, unless you retitle the thing ('perfect 20' sounds nice), but I look forward to seeing it.
Hmm...wonder what the final one will be...have you covered VISUAL/NON VERBAL WRITING yet? Haven't seen it here I don't think. This is often talked up as being for pros or advanced screenwriters only, but for me personally, the way I write, it's one of the biggies (apologies to the radio writers, but I'm sure you've been catered for elsewhere in the series). I don't fancy it will be though, it's maybe a bit too specialist for a basic/essential list. I think it's more likely to be something like EDITING/DRAFTING/WHAT YOU LEAVE OUT/HOW TO GET THAT SCRIPT WINKING AT YOU/FINAL PRESENTATION or something along those lines. It's usually the last craft centered topic that all the general 'manuals' go with. Still, if it is, it's a very important one to learn to master. SHORT PAUSE Haven't you written it yet?
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS