The Non-User-Friendly Guide For Aspiring TV Writers: Experience and Advice From the Trenches (Million Dollar Writing Series) by Steven L. Sears

Author:Steven L. Sears [Sears, Steven L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Entertainment, Television, TV, Writing, Writer, Writers, Steven L. Sears, Xena, A-Team, filmmaking, film, screenwriting, screenwriter
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2014-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

IX. Some Creative Aspects of Your Script

There are two schools of thought about Creativity. Some say you can teach it, some say it is a gift that you either have or don’t have. Personally, I don’t think you can teach creativity. You either have it or you don’t. I do think, however, that you can be taught to release your creativity. The majority of the work is on your shoulders. You have to find it, you have to recognize it, you have to discover where and when it is best suited. And you have to do that without fooling yourself in the process. Not an easy task.

So, as to writing scripts, I’m just going to talk about some random elements that seem to be problems with a lot of people. I’m not going to pretend that I am able to teach creativity, but maybe I can show you a few tricks to use in the course of discovering your own.

How do you start?

I don’t know. How do you start? This is an extremely personal and individual question. Everyone is different. The first thing I would say is that you have to have something to say. A script has a purpose. Whether it’s a message that you want to get out or just to entertain, it has a purpose. Decide what that is.

Many times you will hear people say that you can’t write a script without a “theme.” That’s probably true for most cases, but I think you can get so locked on figuring out the theme that you forget to tell an entertaining story. Honestly, I always get stuck when someone asks me the “theme” of my scripts when I’m writing them, but I can usually give an answer after I’ve written the script. Sometimes I just write and let the theme find me. We all have points of view and we all have opinions on things. Because it’s a part of you, those things will find their ways into your script one way or another and will become a part of your theme.

I often get asked where my stories come from. I usually say “Everywhere.” And it’s true. No matter where I am or what I am doing, there is a part of my mind that is playing games. The games usually start with a little voice asking “What if …” That “what if” starts to become an avalanche of curious questions that I have to explore.

For example, let’s say that I am at the airport and I see a man buying a newspaper. Nothing unusual about that, it’s a common sight. But a thought might pop into my head such as “What if … that man is buying a newspaper for some other reason than reading it?” Okay, well that’s strange. Why would a man buy a newspaper with the express purpose of not reading it? What other use would he have for it? To cover something? To hide his face behind? Or is there something about the

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